538 SIR J. W. DAWSON — FOSSILS FROM NEWFOUNDLAND. 



Mr. Howley informs me that next season he hopes to collect more ex- 

 tensively. 



The species present cannot be said to show any special conditions of cli- 

 mate or locality, other than the fact that, as in northeastern America gener- 

 ally, the assemblage of species is more accordant with that of western Europe 

 than with that in the coal regions west of the Alleghanies. 



Remarks on the Coal Formation of Newfoundland. 



Such details as are known of the structure and distribution of the Car- 

 boniferous system in western Newfoundland will be found in the general re- 

 port on the geology of Newfoundland by Murray and Howley,* and in Mr. 

 Howley's short report of progress for 1889. f Murray estimates the whole 

 thickness of beds seen by him in 1873 at 6,450 feet, composed as follows in 

 ascending order : 



a. Coarse conglomerate, with bowlders and pebbles cemented in 



a greenish sand ; also sandstones and sandy shales (this 

 probably corresponds to the lowest Carboniferous or 

 Horton series of Nova Scotia) 1,300 feet. 



b. Gypsum, dark-colored limestone and black shale, argillaceous 



and marly shale (this is probably the lower division of 

 the AVindsor or Gypsiferous or Carboniferous limestone 

 series of Nova Scotia) 150 feet. 



c. Gray and black limestones with marine organic remains and 



veins of galena, included in thick beds of variegated marls 

 and sandstones (this is probably the equivalent of the upper 

 part of the Windsor series in Nova Scotia) . . 2,000 feet. 



d. Brown and reddish sandstones and conglomerates, with green- 



ish micaceous and arenaceous shales ; carbonized plants 



(this is the " Millstone grit " series of Nova Scotia) . 2,000 feet. 



e. Gray and red sandstones, brown and black shales and clays ; 



abundant remains of plants; beds of coal (this is the 



lower part of the productive Coal Measures) . . . 1,000 feet. 



The sequence corresponds very closely in mineral character with that in 

 some parts of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, but the development of Coal 

 Measure strata appears comparatively small. Mr. Howley, however, in his 

 later investigations finds that the upper members should be greatly ex- 

 tended, and is now disposed to estimate these upper members at not less 

 than 7,500 feet, which would better accord with the thicker portions of the 



* London, 1881, pp. 85 et seq. and 309 et seq. 

 fSt. Johns, Newfoundland. 



