Obituary — Mr. Charles 8. Beachler. 287 



The stratigraphical questions of Start Bay lie entirely outside my 

 province ; but 1 may, perhaps, be allowed to point out how little 

 they affect my position. 



In the course of a walk from near the Start Lighthouse to Dart- 

 mouth, we may notice the following rocks : — Westward of the 

 lighthouse, forming the cliff face, is a mass of compact greenrock, 

 which, previously to Mr. Ussher's survey, seems to have been 

 invariably overlooked by geological visitors. Immediately to the 

 north are the mica-qnartz-schists of Start Ridge, succeeded along 

 the coast by a series of mica-schists which pass into the ordinary 

 Devonians at Hallsands, with but slight indications of an important 

 area of greenrock inland. 



Devonian slates and sandstones are interrupted by volcanic rocks 

 at Torcross, and then continue to Blackpool, where volcanic rocks 

 reappear in force, and are considerably developed up to the entrance 

 of Dartmouth Harbour, where the Mewstone islet and the eastern 

 and western blackstones indicate the seaward extension of the 

 diabases. 



Now, from Hallsands to Dartmouth Harbour, the rocks including 

 the diabases are admitted to be Devonian, of some age. If they 

 are Lower Devonian, Mr. Hudleston tells us that in other districts 

 Lower Devonian diabases " are not by any means in evidence." If, 

 on the other hand, they are Middle Devonian, it is equally noticeable 

 that the limestones (the characteristic rocks of that horizon) are 

 absent. 



If the explanation be that Middle Devonian slates and diabases are 

 folded together with Lower Devonian slates and sandstones (with no 

 useful fossils to assist the observer) the difficulty of the case as a 

 purely Devonian problem is sufficiently obvious. But so far as the 

 main problem of the age of the metamorphic green rocks is con- 

 cerned, the question of the exact horizon of the Start Bay diabases, 

 whether Lower or Middle Devonian, is of very minor consequence 

 or interest. My point is that the sandstones, slates, and diabases 

 north of the metamorphic boundary are the analogues of the quartz- 

 schists, mica-schists, and green rocks to the south of that boundary ; 

 of which fact I do not entertain the shadow of a doubt. 



A. E. Hunt. 



GiBurnTT j^'Riz: . 



CHARLES 8. BEACHLER. 



Born November 5th, 1870. Died April 5th, 1894. 



We greatly regret to hear of the death of this young American 

 geologist, which occurred at Crawfordsville, Indiana, on the above 

 date, and was due to a complication of heart and lung trouble. 

 Charles Beachler's scientific studies were begun at Wabash College, 

 when he was fifteen years old. Here he became interested in 

 herpetology, and made a collection of the reptiles of Indiana for 

 the College at his own expense. Subsequently he was employed 

 by Mr. Frank Springer to collect Crinoids from the Carboniferous 

 beds of Crawfordsville, and the Niagara Limestone of Waldron and 



