SEPTEMBER 29, 1899. ] 
3. Grayish limestone, inter- 
stratified with dolomites, 
the lower part of which 
may be older than the De- 
SOMATIC ay spevctetalevevercistetelevere 2,000 feet 
(or more) 
The whole of the fossils collected by Mr. 
McConnell, Professor Macoun and Dr. Bell 
are from the upper part of the middle di- 
vision of this section. Of the fifty-seven 
species of fossils in the foregoing list, twen- 
ty-two are apparently found also in the 
Hamilton formation of Ontario and the 
State of New York ; ten (but only six addi- 
tional ones) in the Devonian rocks of Iowa 
now referred to the Chemung; and seven in 
the Chemung of the States of New York 
and Pennsylvania. On the other hand, 
there are strong reasons for supposing that 
the whole of these fossils are from a hori- 
zon nearly corresponding to that of the 
‘Cuboides zone’ of Europe. In the first 
place, three specimens of a brachiopod which 
the writer has identified with the Rhyncho- 
nella (now called Hypothyris), cuboides of 
Sowerby, were collected by Mr. McConnell, 
one at the Hay River in 1887, and two on 
the Peace River at Vermilion Falls in 
1889. It is true that Mr. Schuchert thinks 
that these three specimens should be called 
Hypothyris Emmonsi, but Mr. Walcott had 
previously expressed the opinion (in 1884) 
that “‘there is little doubt but that Rhyn- 
chonella intermedia, R. Emmonsi and f. venus- 
tula, Hall, are varieties of R. cuboides,* of 
the Devonian of Europe.”’ On the Hay 
and Peace Rivers the supposed Hypothyris 
cuboides is associated with Spirifera disjuncta 
(or Verneuili), and other fossils that are 
elsewhere supposed to be characteristic of 
the Cuboides zone are to be met with in the 
published lists of species from the Athabasca 
and its tributaries, or the Mackenzie. The 
discovery by Mr. McConnell, at the Ram- 
* Monographs of the United States Geological Sur- 
vey, Vol. VIII. (Paleontology of the Eureka Dis- 
trict), page 157. 
SCIENCE. 
437 
parts on the Mackenzie River, of two large 
specimens of a Stringocephalus which can- 
not at present be distinguished from S. 
Burtini may indicate a northwestward ex- 
tension of the Stringocephalus limestone of 
Manitoba. The still later recognition by 
Dr. John M. Clarke, in 1898, of Manticoceras 
intumescens in the cast of the interior of 
three chambers of the septate portion of a 
species of Goniatite from the Hay River, 
collected by Mr. McConnell and figured by 
the writer, would seem to indicate the ex- 
istence of the equivalent of the ‘ Intumes- 
cens zone,’ or Naples fauna at that locality. 
The present state of our knowledge of 
the Devonian rocks of the whole Dominion, 
from a purely paleontological standpoint, 
may be thus briefly summarized. We now 
possess a fairly satisfactory knowledge of 
the fossils of the Devonian rocks of Onta- 
rio, and of the relations which these rocks 
bear to the typical section in the State of 
New York. The fossil plants of the Gaspé 
sandstones have been described and figured 
by Sir William Dawson, and the remarkable 
assemblages of fossil fishes from the Upper 
Devonian of Scaumenac Bay and Lower 
Devonian near Campbellton have been 
worked out somewhat exhaustively, the 
earlier collections in Canada, and the later 
ones by the best ichthyological authorities 
in London and Edinburgh. We have now 
some idea of the fossil fauna of the Mani- 
toba Devonian, and have added materially 
to our knowledge of the fossils of the Devo- 
nian rocks of the Athabasca and Mackenzie 
River districts. But, on the other hand, our 
knowledge of the organic remains of the De- 
vonian of Nova Scotia is still in its infancy, 
and it would seem that the plant-bearing 
beds near St. John’s, N. B., which have so 
long been regarded as Devonian, may pos- 
sibly be Carboniferous. In the Rocky Moun- 
tain region of Alberta we have not always 
succeeded in distinguishing Devonian rocks 
