Geological Society of London, ' 235 



The author described the mode of occurrence of phosphatic de- 

 posits in various localities in Canada. Dark phosphatic nodules, con- 

 taining fragments of Lingulce, abound in the Chazy formation at 

 Allumette Island, Grenville, Hawkesbury, and Lochiel. Similar 

 nodules occur in the Graptolite shales of the Quebec group at Point 

 Levis, and in limestones and conglomerates of the Lower Potsdam 

 at Eiviere Quelle, Kamouraska, and elsewhere on the Lower St. Law- 

 rence ; these deposits also contain small phosphatic tubes resembling 

 Serpidites. The Acadian or Menevian group near St. John, New 

 Brunswick, contains layers of calcareous sandstone blackened with 

 phosphatic matter, consisting of shells and fragments of Lingulce. 

 The author described the general character of the phosphatic nodules 

 examined by him at Kamouraska, and gave the results of analyses 

 made of others from various localities which famished from 36-38 

 to 55-65 per cent, of phosphate of lime. A tube from Riviere Quelle 

 gave 67-53 per cent. The author accepted Dr. Hunt's view of the 

 coprolitic nature of the nodules, and inclined to extend this inter- 

 pretation to the tubes. The animals producing the coprolites could 

 not be thought to be vegetable feeders ; and he remarked that the 

 animals inhabiting the primordial seas employed phosphate of lime 

 in the formation of their hard parts, as had been shown to be the 

 case with Lingulce, Conularia, and the Crustaceans. The shells of the 

 genus Hyolithes also contain a considerable portion of phosphate of 

 lime. Hence the carnivorous animals of the Cambrian seas would 

 probably produce phosphatic coprolites. 



With regard to the Laurentian apatite deposits, the author stated 

 ihat they, to a great extent, form beds interstratified with the other 

 -members of the series, chiefly in the upper part of the Lower Lau- 

 rentian above the iJo^oow-limestones. The mineral often forms com- 

 pact beds with little foreign matter, sometimes several feet thick, but 

 varying in this respect. Thin layers of apatite sometimes occur in the 

 lines of bedding of the rock. Qccasionally disseminated crystals are 

 found throughout thick beds of limestone, and even in beds of mag- 

 netite. The veins of apatite are found in irregular fissures ; and as 

 they are found principally in the same parts of the seams which con- 

 tain the beds, the author regarded them as of secondary origin. The 

 Laurentian apatite presents a perfectly crystalline texture, and the 

 containing strata are highly metamorphosed. The author's arguments 

 in favour of its organic origin are derived from the supposed organic 

 origin of the iron-ores of the Laurentian, from the existence of 

 Eozoon, from the want of organic structure in the Silurian deposit 

 described by Mr. D. C. Davies, and the presence of associated gra- 

 phite in both cases, from the character of the Acadian linguliferous 

 sandstone, which might by metamorphisra furnish a pyroxenite rock 

 with masses of apatite, like those of the Laurentian series, and from 

 the prevalence of animals with phosphatic crusts in the Primordial 

 age, and the probability that this occurred also in the earlier Lau- 

 rentian. The position of the phosphatic deposits above the horizon 

 of Eozoon is also adduced by the author as adding probability to the 

 -existence of organic agencies at the time of their for.nation. 



