PARALLELISM OF THE QUEBEC GROUP. 25 



lived in some other tract of the ocean. I am inclined to believe 

 in the latter view. In the Quebec group, in Newfoundland, we 

 find in beds lying below those holding Bathyurus Saffordi and 

 the compound graptolites, several species which can scarcely be 

 distinguished from well known Black River and Trenton forms. 

 They are all a little different, but still so closely allied that I am 

 greatly at a loss to decide whether or not they should receive new 

 names. This can only be settled by first deciding the question of 

 the difference between varieties and true species. The fossils in ques- 

 tion are either identical with, or are varieties of the following 

 species : Murchisonia gracilis, M. bellicincta, M. bicincta, Or- 

 thoceras Alhimettense, and 0. Big sbyi, (the latter Ormoceras tenuifi- 

 lum of Hall). The first three of these species are, as is well known, 

 common in the Black River and Trenton ; 0. Allumettense occurs 

 both in the Chazy and Black River, but has not yet been found in 

 the Trenton, while 0. Bigsbyi seems to be confined to the Black 

 River. I think these species lived in the south-eastern region 

 during the period of the deposition of the Quebec group, and 

 (either they or their modified descendants) migrated north-west- 

 erly during the Chazy and Black River periods. 



If we compare the whole fauna of the Quebec group with that 

 of the Black River and Trenton, we shall find that the two can- 

 not be identified at all upon any known principle of zoology. 

 The difference cannot be explained away by the theory of distinct 

 zoological provinces, because there are places (such as at Mont- 

 morency) where the Trenton limestone, crowded with its own 

 species can be seen lying in horizontal strata, while just across 

 the channel which separates that locality from the Island of Or- 

 leans, (almost within gunshot) the enormous mass of the Que- 

 bec group with its compound graptolites and mixed fauna of pri- 

 mordial and silurian trilobites is grandly displayed. It is impos- 

 sible that two faunae, totally different could live for ages within a 

 mile of each other in the ocean, without any barrier between them, 

 and retain their distinctive characters. 



There is none of the true Chazy and Calciferous in the neighbour- 

 hood of Quebec. But at Highgate Springs, near Phillipsburgh, at 

 the northern extremity of lake Champlain, there is an exposure of 

 the Chazy, Black River and Trenton limestones. The two latter 

 formations can be easly identified by their fossils and lithologi- 

 cal characters, but the beds supposed to represent the Chazy con- 

 sist of sandstone shales and nodular limestones, and differ some- 



