XII. 0// thi' lit'sulls i>/' .ReccDt K.qt'or.ii'htit^ nf Ei-rct 'freca rniitiiiiiinj An'imal licianiim 



in till' Ciidhfiii'inHtl'iu tif Xvi\l Scntid. 



liii J. W. Dawson, IJ..D., F.It.S., C.M.G. 



Received OetnlMT II, 1--<1,— Read January 12, 1882. 



[Pl.vtks 31)- 17.] 



TiiK occiiiTcnco (if remains of land animals in (lif interior of erect fossil trees is, so fur 

 as yet known, conlined to certain horizons in the coal-lield of tlic South Jo_if;/ms in 

 Nova Scotia. These remains wei'e first discovered liy Sir CilAKLlvS Lvr.l.L and the 

 writer in the sununer of 18a 1. They were found in fraii'ineuts of the .sandstone fillinL; 

 an erect Siijitlnria which had i'allen fnim the cliiV near Coal Mine lV)int. As oihc- 

 erect trees occurred in the heds from whirh tiiis was supposed to have fallen, search 

 was made hy the wiiter in suh.secpient visits i'or additional trees; hut up to 187(5 

 only three of those wlm-h hecame accessihli! ity the wastintf of the beds were found to 

 yielil animal fo.ssils. These, however, atlorded many additional specimens, and sevei'al 

 new species of Batrachians and ^liliipedes. The results of these explorations were 

 puhli.shed at various times in the Journal of vhe Geoloj^-ical Society of London," in ,i 

 work entitled ' Air-hieatlu is nf the Coal IVrmd,' and in 'Acadian tieoloyy;' and 

 Dr. Sn:i)Di:i{ descriln I the new species of Millipedes in the ^lemoirs of the IJoston 

 Society oi' Xatiual llisloiy. 



The lieds containing' the pruduclive tivcs heinj^' thus well known, and hein;^' exposed 

 in a dill' and in a reef extending,' into the sea, it .set-med prohable that many othi'is 

 lui^lit 'oe ohtained by (|uari'\ inn' opcrali'ins of no yreat dilllculty. In 1S78 the 

 subject was broui^ht under the nolice of the (Jouiicil nf the Iioyal Society, and a grant 

 of LTjO was made i'roni the Government Fnnil to aid in the extraction of these trees and 

 the (oUeclion of their contents. With the aid of this yrant, a thnniui^h survey and 

 examination has been made of the clilf and reef by Mr. Amikut T. IIlLL, C.ll, by 

 Mr. W. 1>. Dawson', C.l"'., and by myself, with the kind aid of 15. 15. liAUXIIILL, Es<|., 

 Superintendent of the Jon'^'ins Coal Mines. 15y the.so means, iilon;^' with the removal 

 of fallen debris and sand from the outci'op of the beds, twenty additional trees were 

 discovered and were extracted by cutting and blasting; alfordlng many additional 



• Vols, ."i., xvi., xviii., xlx. 



