44 THE CARBONIFEROUS. 



As I have been able hitherto only to describe four species of 

 trunks of tree-ferns, these are considerable additions. Among other 

 interesting specimens in the collection of Mr Poole, I also saw the 

 curious sigillaroid tree Syringodendron CT/closfigma, Brongniart, and a 

 species of Sigillaria new to Nova Scotia and allied to S. rugosa of 

 Brongniart, though scarcely sufficiently perfect for description. 

 Another remarkable form collected by Mr Poole is a flattened 

 striated stem about an inch in width, with two rows of punctiform 

 marks at the sides, and giving off alternate slightly curved branches, 

 at right angles, and in one plane. It may have been the stipe of a 

 fern. 



Another interesting fossil observed at North Sydney was an erect 

 Sigillaria, with that peculiar bulb-like enlargement of the base 

 figured by Sternberg on Plate xxxviii. of his great work, but which 

 I had not before seen, the Sigillarice found in Nova Scotia usually 

 enlarging regularly towards the base in the manner of ordinary trees. 

 This bulb-like appearance seemed to be a natural feature of the 

 growth of the plant, which had tlie markings of S. renif<rnnis. 

 Through the kindness of my friend Mr Brown, of the Sydney col- 

 liery, the specimen was carefully taken down from the cliff, and for- 

 warded to Montreal; and it now stands, a column five feet in height, 

 in the museum of M'Gill University. 



Since 18G8, the Coal-field of Campbellton, an extension northward 

 of the Sydney series, lying against the ancient Syenitic ridge ot St 

 Anne's Mountain, has been explored, and coal-workings commenced 

 in it,* and the extension of workable Coal-measures has been traced on 

 the west coast of Cape Breton, north of Mabou, in Broad Cove. These 

 have been reported on by Professor Hind. The boundaries of the 

 Millstone-grit and Carboniferous limestone in the vicinity of Sydney 

 Harbour have also been carefully mapped by Mr Fletcher of the 

 Dominion (Geological Survey. 



Lower Alembers of the Carboniferous. 



Tnrning now to the lower members of the Carboniferous series ; in 

 connection with a Report on the Fossil Plants of the Lower Carboni- 

 ferous and Millstone-grit Formations,-}- I have endeavoured to 

 classify these, and to indicate their equivalency with formations 

 abroad, a subject at present exciting some controversy among Euro- 

 pean geologists. 



Where most fully developed in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 

 these formations may be thus subdivided in ascending order : — 

 * Report Geol. Survey, 1873-4. f Geol. Surv. of Canada, 1873, 



