8 THE PLEISTOCENE. 



seems to have been improved. The clays deposited had few boulders 

 and many marine shells, and to the west and north there was 

 land producing plants akin to those of the temperate regions ; and 

 in places slightly elevated above the water, peaty deposits accumu- 

 lated. 



" The shells of the Lecla clay indicate depths of less than 100 fathoms. 

 The numerous foraminifera, so far as have been observed, belong to 

 this range, and I have never seen in the Leda clay the assemblage of 

 foraminiferal forms now dredged from 200 to 300 fathoms in the Gulf 

 of St Lawrence. 



" 1 infer that the subsidence of the Lecla clay period and of the inter- 

 glacial beds of Ontario belongs to the time of the sea beaches from 

 450 to 600 feet in height, which are so marked and extensive as to 

 indicate a period of repose. In this period there were marine con- 

 ditions in the lower and middle St Lawrence and in the Ottawa 

 valley, and swamps and lakes on the upper Ottawa and tlie western 

 end of Lake Ontario. It is quite probable, nay certain, that during 

 this interglacial period re-elevation had set in, since the upper Leda 

 clay and the Saxicava sand indicate shallowing water, and during 

 this re-elevation the plant-covered surface would extend to lower 

 levels. 



" This, however, must have been followed by a second subsidence, 

 since the water-woi'n gravels and loose, far-travelled boulders of the 

 later drift rose to heights never reached by the till or the Leda clay, 

 and attained to the tops of the highest hills of the St Lawrence valley, 

 1200 feet in height, and elsewhere to still greater elevations. This 

 second boulder drift must have been wholly marine, and probably not 

 of long duration. It shows no evidence of colder climate than that 

 now prevalent, nor of extensive glaciers on the mountains ; and it 

 was followed by a paroxysmal elevation in successive stages till the 

 land attained even more than its present height, as subsidence is known 

 to have been proceeding in modern times." 



I am quite aware that the above sequence and the causes assumed 

 are somewhat different from those held by many geologists with re- 

 ference to regions south of Canada ; but must hold that they are the 

 only rational conclusions which can be propounded with reference to 

 the facts observed from the parallel of 45° to the Arctic Ocean. 



II. THE TRIAS. 



The Triassic Red Sandstone of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward 

 Island and the associated Traps closely resemble the same formations 



