120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL. SOCIETY. [Jan. 3, 



tion of impressions of footsteps, rain-drops, and sun-cracks. Attention 

 has not, however, been called to the fact which I propose to notice 

 in this paper, that much, if not the whole, of the marine alluvium of 

 the Bay of Fundy rests on a submerged terrestrial surface, distinct 

 indications of which may be observed in the mud-flats laid bare at 

 low tide, and in the deep ditches dug for drainage. 



In their natural state, the alluvial soils of the Bay of Fundy are 

 mud-flats overflowed by the high tide, and either quite bare or 

 covered in part with salt-grass. Large tracts have, however, been 

 reclaimed from the sea, and are distinguished by the name of "dyked 

 marsh," or more shortly " dyke." There are in Nova Scotia 40,000 

 acres of dyked marsh, and in New Brunswick perhaps 10,000 acres. 

 The soil of the marshes is everywhere a fine marine mud, deposited 

 in thin layers by the tides, and of a brownish-red colour ; except in 

 the subsoil and in the lower parts of the surface where the colour 

 has been changed to grey by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen on 

 the ferruginous colouring matter. Though remarkably productive 

 of grasses and cereals, no part of the marsh-land supports forest 

 trees. Dyked and salt marshes occur in nearly every creek and 

 inlet of the upper part of the Bay of Fundy, more especially in 

 Minas Basin, Cobequid Bay, and Cumberland Basin ; and it is in 

 this latter that the submarine forest to which this paper refers is 

 found to underlie the marine alluvium. 



Fort Lawrence is a low point of upland, resting on Lower Carboni- 

 ferous rocks, and separating the estuaries of two small streams, the 

 La Planche and Missequash ; the latter forming at this place the 

 boundary between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Both of these 

 rivers, as well as the other streams emptying themselves into Cum- 

 berland Basin, have at their mouths extensive tracts of marsh, and 

 in this instance the marsh-land extends beyond and overlaps the 

 upland point separating the rivers. At the extremity of the point 

 the upland slopes gently down to the dyked marsh, beyond which 

 there is a narrow margin of salt-marsh, scantily clothed with coarse 

 grasses and Salicornia. This margin of marsh without the dyke is 

 overflowed by the highest tides, and may therefore be taken as the 

 high-water level. Owing to the toughness of the upper layer matted 

 with roots, and the action of the neap tides, it presents at the outer 

 edge a perpendicular front about five feet in height. Below this 

 there is a sloping expanse of red mud, cut into many inequalities by 

 the tidal currents, which appear here to be removing the old deposit 

 rather than adding new material. On the surface of this mud I 

 saw impressions of rain- drops and sun-cracks, tracks of sandpipers 

 and crows, and abundance of the shells of Sangninolaria fusca"^ . 

 There were also a few long straight furrows, which I was told had 

 been produced by the ice in spring. Owing to the firmness of the 

 mud, they remained (in August) quite sharply marked, though in 

 places filled up with new mud. 



At the distance of 326 paces from the abrupt edge of the marsh, 

 and about twenty-five feet below the level of the highest tides, which 

 * Probably identical with Tellina Balthica, Linn. 



