364 Notices of Memoirs — Geological Survey of Canada. 



compiise a vast and important amount of geological, mineralogical, 

 and palceontological information, highly creditable to the Govern- 

 ments who supported it, and to Sir W. Logan and the staff who so 

 efficiently have carried on the work. 



The special reports contain papers chiefly by Dr. Steny Hunt ; 

 one on the Geology of Newfoundland, by Mr. Murray ; another on 

 the Silurian Fossils of Anticosti, by Mr, Billings ; at the same time 

 during the progress of the Survey, the Canadian organic remains 

 have been carefully illustrated, in four decades, the descriptions 

 being furnished by Messrs. E. Billings, J. W. Salter, Prof. E. 

 Jones, and Prof. Hall, besides the first volume of Silurian Fossils by 

 JMr. Billings, and the fossil plants of the Devonian and Upper Silurian 

 of Canada by Dr. J. W. Dawson, to be followed by others in 

 preparation. 



In the volume for 1871-72, besides the summary repox'ts of the 

 Director, Mr. Selwyn contributes the Journal and Eeport of pre- 

 liminary explorations in British Columbia, assisted by Mr. Eichard- 

 son, from which it appears the rock formations may be grouped 

 under the following divisions in descending order, although the 

 comparative absence of fossils renders their classification diflScult, 

 — 1. Superficial deposits ; 2. Volcanic series and coal and lignite of 

 Main-land; 3. Jackass mountain conglomerate group; 4. Upper 

 Cache creek group ; 5. Lower Cache creek group : the fossils 

 indicate a horizon between the base of the Devonian and the summit 

 of the Permian ; 6. Anderson Eiver and Boston Bar group ; 7. 

 Cascade mountain and Vancouver Island crystalline series; 8. 

 Granite, Gneiss, and Mica-schist series. The nest report is on the 

 Coal-fields of the east coast of Vancouver Island by Mr. Eichardson, 

 with a map of their distribution, and a note on the fossil plants by 

 Dr. Dawson, and the Analysis of the Coals and Eocks by Dr. Sterry 

 Hunt. Coal is found to some extent in the island, and the seams 

 vary in thickness from four to seven feet, or even more, and vary in 

 quality. The plants associated with the coal at Nanaino and North 

 Saanich belong to a flora which has occasioned some controversy. 

 " It was originally," says Dr. Dawson, " described by Lesquereux 

 and Heer as Tertiary, being indeed very nearly allied to the Miocene 

 of Europe." Newberry, however, on the evidence of the associated 

 marine fossils, and on the analogy of the Cretaceous flora of Ne- 

 braska, regards it as of the latter age, and this is, I believe, the 

 view more generally adopted. 



The remaining reports in this volume are of the country between 

 Lake Superior and Albany Eiver, by Mr. E. Bell ; the country 

 between Lake St. John and Lake Mistassini, by Mr. W. McOuat; 

 Surveys in the Counties of Leeds, Frontenao, and Lanark, in the 

 Province of Ontario, showing the position of the worked gold- 

 mines, and the course of the auriferous zone, by Mr. H. G. Vennor ; 

 on Geological Investigations in New Brunswick, by Prof. L. W. 

 Bailey ; and a Summary of the Statistics of Mines and Mineral 

 Produce of the Dominion, by Mr. C. Eobb. 



