4G rEOCEEDIXGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [NOV. 19, 



in all the stages of the sedimentary series ; and the not uncommon 

 marks of ripples, cracks, and mud-flows § in its quartzites and fine 

 grits render it possible that signs of animal or vegetable existence 

 may eventually be met with. Neither do we learn much from its 

 extraordinarily agitated and metamorphosed condition in many 

 places, for the same may occur at any epoch. 



b. Geographical distribution. — The geographical position of the 

 true Huronian beds may be broadly stated in the following words. 



With a breadth often small (10-20 miles), but often concealed by 

 jungle and morass, the northern mass extends 710 miles, as already 

 stated, along the north-west watershed of Upper Canada, and prin- 

 cipally along the borders of Lakes Huron and Superior. W r e trace 

 it for 150 miles from near Lake Tematscaming (R. Ottawa), 80 

 miles north-west of Lake Nipissing, south-westwards, to Shebahah- 

 ning, on Lake Huron ; and from thence westward for 120 miles to 

 Gros Cap, in Lake Superior. From this well-marked headland, 

 northerly and westwardly, the whole edge or coast of the latter lake, 

 with small and uncertain exceptions, consists of this formation as far 

 as the Pigeon River, near Grand Portage, about 440 miles ; and it is 

 amply exposed by the bare and hilly nature of the country *. 



Another aggregate of these beds occupies more than 3000 square 

 miles of the region south-east of Lake Superior, on the River Meno- 

 monee (a tributary of Lake Michigan), and the districts north and west 

 of that river. It is an area of very irregular shape, 80 miles wide in 

 one place, and having its highest points 1800 feet above the sea-level f. 



There is good reason to believe, according to my own recorded 

 observations, that the only three contiguous lakes in South Hudson's 

 Bay at all known geologically — the Lacroix, Lapluie, and the Lake 

 of the Woods — each a few hundred miles round, consist largely of 

 this formation. Besides being extensively developed in the Adon- 

 dirock Mountains of the State of New York, and probably also in 

 Missouri and Arkansas, the Huronian is seen to great advantage in 

 Norway, and is not wanting in France ; but of its occurrence in 

 these countries more will be found in the sequel. 



c. Lithological characters and typical form. — Table III. is a 

 Synopsis exhibiting the leading features of the Huronian beds, 

 wherever they are known with tolerable certainty. It enables us 

 to keep facts separate and distinct from suppositions. 



For the minuter details, the several authorities named in the foot- 

 notes may be consulted J. Of these I am most indebted to the mi- 

 nute and truthful reports of the Geological Commission of Canada; but 

 mv obligations to the other investigations are neither few nor small. 



By reference to the Synopsis (Table III.) at the end of this paper, 

 it appears that, on the large scale, the characteristic beds of 



* Sir W. E. Logan, Geol. of Canada, 1SG2 ; Murray, Canadian Reports. 



t Foster and Whitney, Geol. of Land District of Lake Superior, p. 31. 



\ Sir W. E. Logan. Geology of Canada, 1862, p. 50, &c. Alexander Murray, 

 Geological Reports of Canada, 1849, 1857, &c Thomas M c Farlane, Canadian 

 Naturalist, &c, vol. vii. p. 1. Foster and Whitney, Geology of Land District, 

 Lake Superior. Durocher, Memoires de la Society Geol. de France, vol. vi. 



