HAMILTON SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 15 



In 1884 discoveries were made of scorpions in the rocks of 

 Sweden, Scotland and the United States about the same time. Also 

 of an insect allied to the living cockroach in France. It is likely, 

 therefore, that other forms of land life existed. 



Picture of the aspect of the globe in Silurian times : No green- 

 ness of meadow, no flower, bird or insect ; land being worn away 

 and detritus carried out and poured into sea by the rivers. In our 

 own continent, the eastern part was gradually being formed. 



Position of these rocks in Canada : lyOwer Silurian in lyauren- 

 tian lowlands ; Hudson, Utica, Trenton, Black- River formations in 

 Ontario, and chazy and calciferous in Quebec. Several series also 

 in Manitoba. They consist of beds of yellowish or reddish sand- 

 stone, conglomerate, shales and limestone of various kinds. In the 

 Cordilleran region, near Banff, along Kicking Horse Pass, 

 rocks of this period are recognized. Upper Silurian rocks : in 

 Nova Scotia, Quebec, and especially in Ontario — Water lime, 

 Onondaga; Guelph, Niagara, Clinton, Medina. The Medina, or 

 lowest one, consists mostly of conglomerate, sandstones, and red 

 marls with, fezv fossils ; Clinton, of shales with a few bands of mag- 

 nesian limestone and iron ore bands ; Niagara, compact, cherty 

 limestone, abounding in fossils ; Guelph, light, cream colored mag- 

 nesian limestone with many fossils. Natural gas is formed fre- 

 quently in these strata. Onondaga and water lime, salt, gypsum, 

 and cement stores are derived from these— a light, yellowish, grey 

 magnesian limestone. 



Devonian : In general character resembles rocks beneath. 

 Contains both marine and fresh-water deposits. Upper part of this 

 period called Old Red Sandstone. In New Brunswick and Gaspe 

 upwards of one hundred species of plants have been discovered, 

 mainly flowerless plants, ferns, lycopods, horse-tails, reeds, etc. 

 There are traces of coniferous plants. Imagine the greenness of 

 the forests of those times. Insects' wings have been found — 

 ancient forms of the May-fly, one wing measuring five inches 

 across. Traces of land snails have also been detected. The flora 

 and fauna of the land, however, are only sparingly preserved. 

 Fishes of the time, called ganoid, had overlapping bony plates cov- 



