24 



2. Cherty limestone, beneath which is blue limestone with copper 

 pyrites, and foliated strontian ; — this last containing producti, and 

 corallines, in addition to the fossils above enumerated. The brown 

 limestone of Niagara contains cellular madrepores, pentameree, tro- 

 chi, trilobites, &c. ; and the junction of this limestone with the shale 

 is well seen beneath the table rock of the Niagara Falls. The shale 

 on the south of Lake Ontario is from 120 to 250 feet in thickness. 

 Its place is superior to that of the muriatiferous sandstone : and in 

 this respect the author conceives the order of stratification here to 

 be distinguished from that which obtains in Europe ; since the same 

 fossil remains have not yet been found in Europe above the salife- 

 rous sandstone. 



3. Arenaceous rocks, in the lower beds of which are brine springs. 

 The stratum which forms the floor of the salt springs on the south 

 borders of Ontario, varies from a red or greenish sandstone to a 

 greenish or red clayey slate ; and is occasionally 80 feet in thick- 

 ness. 



4. Another group consists of a quartzose. aggregate, from 40 to 

 60 feet thick, resting on grauwacke, either fine-grained or slaty ; 

 the finer varieties containing the asaphus latocaudatus, bellerophon, 

 and a bivalve resembling a sanguinolaria. No coal has been found 

 in this vicinity. 



5. Another portion of the stratified rocks is ranked by the author 

 with the intermediary limestone of Daubuisson ; the higher beds 

 containing organic remains resembling those of the transition lime- 

 stone of Germany and Wales ; while none of the organic remains 

 of the superior deposits are found in it. It occurs in many parts of 

 Lower Canada, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, Lake Simcoe, 

 Lake Huron, and Lake Superior. 



Near the outlet of Lake Ontario, cliffs upwards of 100 feet in height 

 are formed of sandstone, grauwacke, and conglomerate ; and for 

 many miles down the St. Lawrence these rocks underlie the inter- 

 mediary limestone. At the Falls of Montmorency near Quebec, the 

 conglomerate rests upon gneiss and other primitive rocks ; but at 

 Malbay it is interstratified with brown limestone, and contains spiral 

 univalves and various bivalves*. The author is inclined to refer 

 the formation to the old red sandstone. 



The porphyries of Gros Cap and Nipigeon on Lake Superior, contain 

 agate, chalcedony, fiuor, green earth, and vitreous felspar : they are 

 unstratified, and form serrated precipices. Near Gravel Point they 

 much resemble some of the porphyries of Arran in Scotland. 



The rocks of the St. Lawrence Valley, beneath the series above 

 mentioned, consist, in a descending order, of grauwacke, interme- 

 diary limestone, quartz-rock, primitive limestone, and various slaty 

 rocks, — including gneiss, mica slate, actinolite slate, with syenite, 

 greenstone, and ophicalcic rock. The prevailing direction of the 

 strata, for more than 1000 miles, from the River Saguenai, on the 

 north of the St. Lawrence, to the northern shore of Lake Huron, is 

 to the N.E. ; and the rocks are regarded by the author as the most 



* Some of the fossils of this formation have been figured in the Geolo- 

 gical Transactions, 2nd Series, Vol. I. 



