USEFUL MINERALS. 641 



to be, so far as at present known, in very small quantity, I merely 

 refer to his Report. 



Iron. — The most important deposit at present worked in this 

 district is that at Woodstock. At this place the ores, according to 

 Professor Hind, are in " sedimentary deposits many feet in thickness, 

 interstratiiied with red and green argillites or with calcareo-magnesian 

 slates of a red and green, or mottled red and green colour. The ores 

 vary in composition, being both red and black. The black is some- 

 times feebly magnetic, but it derives its colour more from the presence 

 of manganese than from the black magnetic oxide." 



One or more furnaces are in constant operation at Woodstock, 

 and others are in process of erection. The iron is of a superior quality. 

 The ore yields 32 per cent. The quantity produced in 186-4 was 

 2750 tons. 



Manganese occurs in the Tattagouche River, and has been worked 

 to a small extent. 



Nickel, in the form of green silicate, is found in small quantities 

 associated with the antimony ore of Prince William. 



Zinc, in the state of blende or sulphuret of zinc, also occurs in 

 small quantity in Prince William.* 



Fossils of the Primofdial or Acadian Group at St Jo/in. 



These are the oldest organic remains which I can present to the 

 reader from the rocks of New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, and they 

 represent the oldest forms of life known to geologists, with the excep- 

 tion of the far more ancient Eozoon Canadense, and the few other 

 organisms found with it in the Laurentian rocks of Canada. These 

 fossils were originally discovered at Coldbrook by Mr Matthew, and 

 they were subsequently collected by Professor Bailey, Mr Matthew, 

 and Mr Hartt, at Ratcliflfe's Millstream and also near the city of St 

 John. The first publication in reference to them was the following 

 notice by Mr Hartt in Professor Bailey's " Observations on the Geo- 

 logy of New Brunswick," 1865. 



" My examination of the fossils collected last August, from the St 

 John group, at Ratcliffe's Millsti'eam, by Professor Bailey, Mr George 

 Matthew, and myself, and of a collection made from the same group 

 at Coldbrook, in 1863, by Messrs George and C. R. Matthew, is not 

 yet sufficiently complete to enable me to give an extended description 

 of them here. I shall therefore limit myself at present to a notice 



* For the information under the above heading, I am indebted to Professor Hind'a 

 Report and the MS. notes communicated by Professor liailey. 



2 T 



