NOTES ON THE LATE COLLECTING SEASON 



kind I have seen. In shape it resembles the tail shield of 

 an Acidaspis, but the parts corresponding to the spinal pro- 

 cess of the trilobite are covered with cell pores. 



Nothing was found in the chert layers removed last 

 autumn in deepening tlie Corporation drain. Their exam- 

 ination was very superficial, yet I fear the non-fossiliferous 

 beds alone were then disturbed. It was also seen that in the 

 adjacent fields little materird was brought to the surface by 

 the late winter frosts. This was owing to the non-dis- 

 appearance of the snow covering during the entire season, 

 a circumstance not common in recent yeais. 



On the wdiole I fear the prospect of a successful col- 

 lecting season at this early stage is by no means a very 

 bright one. There are no fresh fields remaining for investi- 

 gation overlying the Niagara chert between Hamilton and 

 the Little Horseslioe Falls near Albion Mills (base of the 

 Barton Niagaras), and few sponges or sections seemingly 

 are now obtainable in places where thej^ were formerly found 

 in considerable numbers. Foreseeing their gradual disap- 

 pearance the waiter secured man}' sections, beside the ones 

 in the City Museum. Near the mouth of the Corporation 

 drain, close to the road on the brow of the escarpment, a 

 clover field if ploughed up since I visited it late last autumn 

 may make matters a little brighter. It afforded me many 

 specimens formerly. Here I feel it necessary to state I never 

 considered the sponges or sections along there were depos- 

 ited in tlie same way as others nearer the city. The beds 

 there were unprotected by glacial clay. The thin soil and 

 v^eathering process rotted away the soft layers in W'hich 

 they were embedded. The plow and frost brought the 

 harder chert to the surface. Fevv' if any fossils have been 

 brought to the surface by frost during the past wnnter. 

 This the writer ascertained by collecting small heaps of 

 chert flakes to mark certain places where specimens w^ere 

 found, and burying one or two others near them, in 

 swampy places chiefly. The latter he found undisturbed, 



