274 [Dec. 13, 



sections to be found in the neighbourhood. With the vie^lv of ascer- 

 taining their true relations, I examined two gypsum rocks, within 

 three miles of that seen by Mi*. Lyell. The first of these consisted 

 of white granular gypsum, containing, like most similar beds in 

 this province, minute disseminated grains of carbonate of lime, 

 and having, in one part, large rounded masses of anhydrous 

 gypsum, enclosed in the common species, an appearance which 

 I have not elsewhere observed. No other rock was seen in 

 connection with this bed, which appeared to be upwards of 

 100 feet thick, and to have a strike corresponding with that of 

 the nearest visible sandstones and liraestones. The other bed 

 examined was on Lime Brook, a tributary of the East River. 

 Here there is no good section, but the gypsum may be seen in 

 connection with soft sandstones mostly white, and having lime- 

 stones both below and above, separated, however, by intervals 

 without section, which have probably once been occupied by soft 

 sandstones removed by denudation. The limestone, underlying 

 the gypsum at Lime Brook, is without fossils, and rests uncon- 

 formably on the edges of slates with Silurian fossils, angular 

 fragments of the slate being included in its lower portion. The 

 limestone above the gypsum is of a lighter colour, and more pure 

 than any other limestone on the East River, and is also distin- 

 guished by containing a species of coral, not found in the other 

 beds. These limestones are seen at several other points, appa- 

 rently resting on the older slates ; and in some places appear to be 

 penetrated by fissures containing haematite and other ores of iron, 

 peroxide of manganese, and sulphate of barytes. * 



The limestones and gypsums thus resting on the Silurian strata 

 at the East River are separated from the productive coal measures 

 by hard reddish sandstones and shales, apparently of great thickness, 

 and containing (especially in their lower part) beds of marine 

 limestone. Where they approach the coal measures, however, 

 the sandstones are very much disturbed, and for this reason I was 

 anxious to obtain some additional evidence of the actual super- 

 position of the coal measvires. I therefore examined the section 

 shown by the Middle River, and found there a series of beds 

 dipping in the same direction with those at the Albion mines, 

 though at a higher angle, and beginning at about 5000 feet below 

 the main coal at the Albion mines. The uppermost of these rocks 

 is a thick bed of hard grey sandstone ; underlying this are alter- 

 nations of grey and reddish sandstones and shales, containing in 

 one place a bed of bituminous shale, with Calamites above, and 

 cylindrical leaves or roots, perhaps of Stigmaria, below. Beneath 

 these are several hundred feet of red and variegated sandstone, 

 with shale and conglomerate. Here there is a break in the section, 



* The balls of haematite scattered over the country, near the gypsums of the 

 East River, have been derived from these fissures in the gypsiferous rocks; 

 and their abundance is an additional evidence of the denudation which these 

 rocks have suffered. 



