18 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



because the water containing the peroxide of iron must have been 

 unfitted for support of life. Among the red strata, however, occur 

 dark shales which have yielded numerous remains of fishes. This 

 period is characterized by large deposits of gypsum and rock salt, 

 which were not formed in the open sea, but in more or less land- 

 locked basins, where the water evaporated, and being charged with 

 iron, a precipitation took place, producing the l)eds of gypsum and 

 rock salt. The flora and fauna of the Permian period are, there- 

 fore, little known. Yet the luxuriant vegetation of the carbonif- 

 erous period must have continued to some extent. Conifers ap- 

 peared and cycads, or palm-like plants. In fauna a great advance 

 is made by the appearance of the earliest known lizard, which, like 

 the living crocodile, has its teeth planted in distinct sockets. 

 Where found in Canada : Some in Nova Scotia are thought to be 

 Permian. They are absent in other places. The reason for this 

 will be referred to later. 



Mesozoic Periods. — Triassic : When we ascend into the 

 Triassic, we meet with a decided contrast in organic remains. A 

 new and more advanced phase of development presents itself in the 

 shape of a richer and more varied assemblage of plant and animal 

 life in Mesozoic times. The rocks of this period are a continuation 

 of the same red sandstones, marls, beds of gypsum, rock salt and 

 limestone of the Permian period, pointing to a similar origin and 

 similar conditions. The flora of the period has been 'preserved 

 chiefly in the shales and thin coal seams of some of the inland ba- 

 sins, and consists chiefly. of ferns, horse-tails, conifers, and cycads. 

 Of ferns, the characteristic forms are tree ferns Cycads increase 

 so in number and varietj^ that this period has been called " the age 

 of C3^cads." Occasional footprints of amphibians on the sandstones 

 give a glimpse of the higher forms of life that moved about on the 

 margins of the salt lakes. 



The crinoid is still a most typical form. A remarkable and 

 long extinct ordet of feptiles, the deinOsaurs, made its first appear- 

 ance. These Creature"^ had peculiarities of sti'uctlire that linked 

 them with bdth reptiles and birds, &nd in sige reseuibied elephants 

 afid fhiuoesroBe^* They isteuj lo Imve walkfcl mainly on theii' hinci 



