THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 1 2*7 



NOTES ON BURLINGTON HEIGHTS. 



Read before the Geological Section, June s'/th, i8go. 

 BY COL. C. C. GRANT. 



A young naturalist recently called my attention to a particular 

 portion of the continuation of " Burlington Heights," which prob- 

 ably may, to some extent, have escaped observation. The locality 

 in question is called "The Sand-pits," on the Dundas road. Here, 

 under a shelving bank containing cavities in a bed of fine, loose 

 sand, were obtained a large number of sub-fossil remains — teeth and 

 bones of rodents, land snails, etc. I excavated the bed to a depth of 

 ten inches or more. The sand had apparently fallen from overhead, 

 covering up many successive generations of the fauna in question. 

 I failed to obtain any specimens of fresh water mollusca or fish 

 remains, but a few of the teeth bear rather a marked resemblance to 

 some of the latter. They may, however, belong to some small land 

 animal — a bat, for instance. Two are submitted for examination. 



The caverns in the ridge were very likely known to the Indians, 

 and possibly may have been frequented also by the fauna of the 

 neighborhood. If so, we may expect to find their remains in good 

 preservation, owing to the cementing materials — carbonate of lime, 

 calc-sinter, etc. — which bind the gravels and sands together. These 

 would envelope and preserve the specimens by excluding air and 

 moisture. 



Since the officials of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada de- 

 barred the naturalists of our Association from their respective pur- 

 suits — not only along the line, but even inside the fences — the above 

 locality may afford, at least some of us, a fresh field for research. 



