Revieics — Geological Survey of Canada. 179 



The beds examined consist of a belt of schistose rocks which runs 

 through the granitoid gneiss across the northern parts of the Lake 

 of the Woods, and has been hitherto regarded as of Huronian age. 

 Mr. Lawson, however, considers these rocks to be older than Sir 

 W. E. Logan's typical Huronian. His reasons for coming to this 

 conclusion are based mainly upon the lithological characters of the 

 rocks. Thus he finds (1 ) that Logan's typical Huronian is essentially 

 a quartzitic series, whereas in the Lake of the Woods series 

 quartzites form a very small proportion of the rocks. (2) Logan's 

 series is characterized by bedded limestones, but there are none of 

 these in the Lake of the Woods series. Further, the basal con- 

 glomerate of Logan's Huronian on Lake Temiscamang is described, 

 as holding pebbles and boulders, of the subjacent gneiss, from which 

 they appear to be derived. Mr. Lawson holds that the Lake of the 

 Woods rocks are not basal conglomerates, but " agglomerates " of 

 volcanic origin, the fragments in them being frequently sharply 

 angular. 



Taking these and other facts into considei'ation, Mr. Lawson is of 

 opinion that it is best to regard the Lake of the Woods rocks, at 

 least provisionally, as a distinct series, for which he proposes the 

 name of " Keewatin " ^ series, and adds that they " may be taken as 

 representative of an important division of the Archeean, extensively 

 developed in parts of the great Laurentian area." 



Mr. A. P. Low's report (pp. 5d — 55u) consists of geological and 

 meteorological observations in the region of Lake Mistassini.^ It 

 was found by this explorer that with the exception of the compara- 

 tively small areas of Huronian and Cambrian rocks, in the vicinity 

 of Lake Mistassini, the Laurentian gneisses and associated rocks 

 occupied the whole country from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to James' 

 Bay, along the route taken by the expedition. 



Appendices I., IL (pp. 34:D — 44d) of the report contain lists of 

 birds and of plants collected at Lake Mistassini, and along the banks 

 of the Rupert Eiver. 



Dr. Robert Bell's report (pp. 5dd— 27dd) contains brief observa- 

 tions on Geology, Zoology, and Botany, made in his capacity as 

 Geologist and Naturalist on board H.M.S. "Alert," on the Second 

 Expedition to Hudson's Strait and Bay, sent out by the Government 

 of Canada in 1885. 



The opportunities for gathering information were necessarily 

 limited, and advantage had to be taken of stoppages for the landing 

 of supplies, etc., to make a few rapid notes. The report embodies 

 the results of the geological investigations of previous years, dating 

 from 1870. 



Hudson's Bay, which has an area equal to about half that of the 

 Mediterranean Sea, occupies the centre of a wide depression in the 

 great Laurentian area. The Laurentian system of rocks prevails 



^ The Indian name for the North-West, or the North-West wind, applied to the 

 district within which the rocks occur. 



■^ Formed from two Algonquin words signifying "big-stone," and so called 

 because of the large boulders of gneiss that strew the west shore of the lake. 



