734 FRANK D. ADAMS 
Carboniferous system, and to the whole question of the nature 
and mode of accumulation ‘of coal. He subsequently studied the 
paleontology of the Devonian and Upper Silurian systems of 
Canada, discovering many new and important forms of plant life. 
In 1884 he began the study of the Cretaceous and Tertiary fos- 
sil plants of western Canada, and published the first of a series 
of papers on the successive floras from the lower Cretaceous 
onwards, which appeared in the Zvansactions of the Royal Society 
of Canada. He also contributed a volume entitled Zhe Geologi- 
cal History of Plants to Appleton’s International Scientific Series. 
In 1863 he published his Azr Breathers of the Coal Pertod, in which 
were collected the results of many years’ study in the fossil 
batrachians and the land animals of the Coal Measures of Nova 
Scotia. The earliest known remains of microsauria were then 
discovered by him in the interior of decayed tree stumps in the 
Coal Measures of South Joggins. The results of his later studies 
in these creatures were embodied ina series of subsequent papers 
which appeared from time to time. 
On taking up his residence in Montreal his attention was 
attracted by the remarkable development of Pleistocene deposits 
exposed in the vicinity of the city, and he undertook a detailed 
study of them, and especially of the remarkably rich fossil fauna 
which they contain. He also studied subsequently the Pleisto- 
cene deposits of the lower St. Lawrence, and instituted compari- 
sons between them and the present fauna of the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence and of the Labrador coast. The results of these studies 
appeared in a series of papers as the work progressed, and were 
finally embodied in a volume entitled The Canadian Ice Age, 
which was issued in 1893 as one of the publications of the Peter 
Redpath Museum of McGill University. This is one of the most 
important contributions to the paleontology of the Pleistocene 
which has hitherto appeared. 
Sir William’s name is also associated with the renowned 
Eozoon Canadense, discovered by the Geological Survey of 
Canada in the Grenville limestones of the Canadian Lauren- 
tian, and described by him in 1864 as a gigantic foraminifer. 
