I. 





l^ t' 



204 



Cnnndiaii Mcconl of Science. 



collect l*re-ciiinltriiui fossils tedious and tlitlieult, as well 

 as often uiireiuunerative. 



Ill the present ])a|)er I }»ro))ose to notice some Tic- 

 camltrian — or ])ossil)ly Pre-canibrian — fossils, as much with 

 the object of directinu; the attention of youiiu-er oeolo^ists 

 to the collection of orj^anic remains in these rocks as for 

 any other purpose, sinc(^ our knowled<;'e of the l*re- 

 camhrian fauna is yet in its infancy, and may ])e ret^arded 

 rather as something to he lioited for in the future than as 

 a ]»resent ])ossession. 



I am dis])osed to follow ^latthew in jilacing as l*re- 

 cambrian, thougii still Paheozoic, the beds in Southern 

 Xew Brunswick designated by him as Etcheminian, and 

 holding a few fossils of l'ala'o/(»ic ty])es, and to corridate 

 with these the Signal Hill Series of Newfoundland and 

 the Kewenian or Kewenawan of Lake Superior.' JJelow 

 these, so far as yet known, we have only the Iluionian, 

 probably divisible into an ui)i»er and lower member, the 

 Grenvillian or Upper Laureiitian — the two constituting the 

 Eozoic grou]), — and the Lower Laurentian, Ottawa gneiss 

 or Ai'cluean proper. 



L Ckyitozoox. 



In 1(S82 Prof, James Hall described certain remarkable 

 stromatoporoid forms found by him in a limestone of 

 the (Jalciferous formation at (}reentield, Saratoga County, 

 New York, and which he named Onjptozoon proli/eruiiL^ 

 The specimens occurred abundantly on the surface of the 

 bed, and were of rounded form and closely grouped 

 together, as if by a process of lateral gemmation. Each 

 individual is descrii)ed as consisting of " a number of 

 irregular concentric laminte of greater or less density and 

 of very irregular thickness. The substance between the 



1 Miitthew, Trans. Acad. Science, N.V., Mait-li, 189t>; Trans. Koyal Soc. of Canada, 

 ISSil, etc. See also "Canadian Itecord ol Science," ISlHi. 



2 Tliirty-8i.\th Regents' Reiiort on New York State Cabinet. 



