432 Canadian Record of Science. 



A paper by G. F. Matthew on " Illustrations of the Fauna 

 of the St. John Group. No. IV. On the Smaller Eyed 

 Trilobites of Division I, with a Few Eemarks on the 

 Species of the Higher Divisions of the Group," deals with 

 trilobites including representaiives of the genera Ellipso- 

 cephalus, Agnostus, Liostracus, Ptychoparia and Soleno- 

 plura. The author proposes to avoid some of the confusion 

 as to descriptions of trilobites, by limiting the characters 

 by which the several genera are defined. The classifications 

 of the English, German, Scandinavian and American palae- 

 ontologists are reviewed. Different genera are compared 

 by tabulating their leading characters. The author points 

 out the difference in the young stages, and traces their 

 development. The necessity of recognizing the changes 

 which take place during growth is pointed out. Compara- 

 tively little is yet known of the origin of the primordial 

 fauna, and it is shown to be unlikely that the variety of 

 types found at the base of the Cambrian system, all had 

 their beginning then. It may be surmised that the ances- 

 tors of the primordial forms had their origin in some 

 hitherto unexplored part of the earth — perhaps the bed of 

 the Atlantic Ocean. 



The second part of the paper refers to the higher Cam- 

 brian faunas of the Acadian region. The St. John group 

 appears to represent nearly the whole Cambrian age. A 

 collection of fossils from Cape Breton, examined by the 

 author, throws some light on the life of this group of rocks. 

 The fauna of the Potsdam sandstone is considered equiva- 

 lent to that of the shallow-water deposits of the St. John 

 group. 



A paper of considerable interest was that presented by 

 Mr. Amos Bowman, of the Geological Survey, " On the 

 Gold-bearing Eocks of British Columbia." The author 

 described the formations represented in the Cariboo dis- 

 trict, with their characteristic localities and subdivisions. 

 The unconsolidated tertiary deposits of Cariboo, better 

 known as its deep-placer mining ground, was also consid- 

 ered, after which followed descriptions of other mining 

 districts in British Columbia, less noted than Cariboo ; the 



