186 



river, fourteen miles south of Pictou, so situated as to lead to the pre- 

 sumption that it is an integral pai't of the inferior red sandstone groups. 



Thirdly, in Cape Breton, according to information supplied by 

 Mr. Richard Brown, the gypsiferous formation occupies a consider- 

 able tract, consisting of red marl with gypsum and limestone. In 

 specimens of the latter Mr. Lyell finds the same fossils as those of 

 Windsor, &c. before mentioned. Near Sydney these gypsiferous 

 strata pass beneath a formation of sandstone more than 2000 feet 

 thick, upon which rest conformably the coal-measures of Sydney^ 

 dipping to the north-east or seaward, and having a thickness of 

 2000 feet. 



To illustrate the gypsiferous formation, the author gives a parti- 

 cular description of the cliffs bordering the Schubenaeadie, for a 

 distance of fourteen miles from its mouth, to Fort Ellis, which he 

 examined in company with Mr. J. W. Dawson and Mr. Duncan. 

 The rocks here consist in great part of soft red marls, with subordi- 

 nate masses of crystalline gypsum and marine limestones, also three 

 large masses of red sandstone, coal-grits and shales. The strike of 

 the beds, like that at Windsor, is nearly east and west, and there are 

 numerous faults and flexures. The principal masses of gypsum do 

 not appear to fill rents, but form regular parts of the stratified series, 

 sometimes alternating with limestone and shale. 



The author concludes by describing a newer and unconformable 

 ' red sandstone, without fossils, which is seen to rest on the edges of 

 the carboniferous strata on the Salmon river, six miles abg-ve Tpukq. 



" A Geological Map of Nova Scotia, with an accompanying 

 Memoir," by Abraham Gesner, M.D., F.G.S., was presented to the 

 Society. 



The surface of the province of Nova Scotia is for the most part 

 very uneven, much of it being traversed from south-west to north- 

 east by long parallel ridges of rock. The height of the hills seldom 

 exceeds 800 feet. The geology, as represented in Dr. Gesner's map, 

 is as follows : — 



1. Granitic rocks. — ^The south-eastern coast of the peninsula pre- 

 sents an almost continual, though narrow band of granite, syenite^ 

 and other granitic rocks. A second band of very unequal breadth 

 commences about the middle of the south-west coast of the penin- 

 sula, and ends near the course of the Ohio river. A third appears 

 in the isthmus forming the Cobequial mountain, a narrow ridge 

 extending from east to west. The granitic rocks of the province 

 frequently send off dykes and veins into the stratified rocks incum- 

 bent on them. 



2. Stratified non-fossiliferous rocks. — A belt consisting of mica- 

 slate, hornblende slate, chlorite slate, greywacke slate, greywacke 

 and quartz rock, intervenes between the first and second of the above- 

 mentioned granitic bands. It is in the district occupied by these 

 older schistose rocks that the long parallel ridges, running from 

 south-west to north-east, are most clearly exhibited. 



3. Silurian group. — ^The stratified non-fossiliferous rocks are sue- 



