119 
mentioned in the paper, Panopea Bivone, Bulla ampulla, Arca 
papillosa, and Bulbus Smithit. 
A paper was then read, entitled, ‘‘ Remarks on some fossil and 
recent shells, collected by Capt. Bayfield, R.N., in Canada,” by 
Charles Lyell, Esq,, V.P.G.S. 
Several eminent conchologists having observed that the English 
crag contains shells, which seem to indicate a somewhat colder cli- 
mate than that which now prevails in our latitude; and it having 
been supposed that a similar inference may be deduced, with still 
greater certainty, from the abundant occurrence of many arctic 
species in the marine newer pliocene strata of Scotland and Ireland, 
Mr. Lyell was induced to examine carefully a collection of shells 
procured by Capt. Bayfield, and consisting partly of fossils from 
the most. modern tertiary deposits bordering the Gulf of Saint Law- 
rence, and partly of recent testacea from the gulf itself. 
The shells were obtained principally at Beauport (lat. 47°) 2 miles 
below Quebec and 100 feet above the St. Lawrence, but similar 
species are met with on the north side of the St. Charles, 3 miles 
from Beauport, and at Port Neuf, 40 miles above Quebec, in the 
latter instance at heights varying from 50 to 200 feet above the level 
of the river. 
The deposits near Quebec fill a valley formed in a horizontal | 
limestone, containing Trilobites and Orthocera, and they resemble 
those forming in the bed of the St. Lawrence. They consist of 
strata of sand, gravel, and stiff blue elay, the last composing the 
bottom of the series, and the first the uppermost part. Numerous 
boulders occur at different levels, not resting upon each other, but 
dropped apparently at widely distant intervals of time, from masses 
of ice on which it is supposed they had been floated. Some of the 
shells are broken, but many are perfect, and have both their valves 
together; and it is impossible to imagine that the clay, sand, gravel, 
and boulders could have been drifted together, into their present 
position, by a violent rush of water, as the fragile Terebratula psit- 
tacea is found perfect, and with its interior appendages complete. 
On first examining the shells, which are found principally in the 
upper sandy bed, Mr. Lyell was struck with their great resemblance to 
those which he had collected at Uddevalla in Sweden. The Savicava 
rugosa, so predominant there, is particularly mentioned by Capt. 
Bayfield as the most abundant shell in the tertiary strata of the 
St. Lawrence; and the Natica clausa and Pecten Islandicus are very 
common at each locality. The fossils of Beauport, however, con- 
sidered as a whole, by no means agree with the marine shells inha- 
biting the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but, as far as they have been ex- 
amined, possess a decidedly arctic character, the species ranging 
from the Gulf to the border of the north polar circle, or being 
found in the newer pliocene of Scotland and Sweden; and on the 
contrary many of the most conspicuous of the living testacea of the 
St. Lawrence are wanting in the tertiary deposits. 
The following list of some of the fossil species is given by Mr. 
