010 E. M. KIXDLE CAXADIAX PLEISTOC EXE COXCEETIOXS 



where structures of undoubted concretionary origin have been considered 

 fossils by some geologists.- A number of fonns wliich have l>een de- 

 scribed as fossils are c-onsidered by some comj^etent students of concre- 

 tions to be partially or entirely due to inorganic agencies. As long as 

 diversity of opinion exists as to whether a large class of structures-^ are 

 fossils or c-oncretions. excursions into this imperfectly understood field 

 by paleontologists require no apology. 



I'ertain forms figured in this paper might l)e considered either concre- 

 tions or fossils, or neither, ac-cording to the predilection of the individual 

 observer. This border land in which nomenclature should lie applied in 

 no dogmatic fashion may be studied probably to better advantage in the 

 Pleist<xene than in older rocks because of the recent date of development 

 of the structures. Chiefly for this reason the writer has chosen to discuss 

 some of the Pleistocene concretions in his collectinn> instead of those 

 from older rocks. 



Some of the curious forms found in the C'hamplain clays of Xew Eng- 

 land began to arouse curiosity at a very early date. John Winthrop.* 

 the c-olonial Governor of Connecticut, sent a collection of small spherical 

 concretions exposed by a landslide to the Eoyal Society in 16 TO which 

 he described as "round bullets of clay" from the "inward l)owels of ye 

 hill." . . . "but how they should be within ye hill is strange to con- 

 sider." Sinc-e the days of John Winthrop many geologists have given 

 thought to the question which perplexed the old colonial Governor. 

 Various references to the c-oncretions of the Connecticut Eiver Valley 

 appear in the papers of Hitchcock and other Xew England geologists. 

 They have been more elalxirately described than any other American 

 concretions in a beautifully illustrated memoir.'" 



The concretions to be described in the following pages represent col- 

 lections from the Pleistocene clays of Labrador, where Pleistc^ene fossil- 

 bearing concretions have not been previously found : f r« >m the Slave 

 River, the Ottawa VaUey. and Endako. British Columbia. These were 

 collected by the writer with the exception of the specimens from British 

 ( "«>kmibia. which were obtained by Mr. (\ J. Kettyle and Dr. George 

 Hanson. 



- W. T. Bell : The remarkable concretions of Ottawa County. Kansas. Am. -Tour. 

 ScL. Tol. xi. 1901. pp. 315.316. 



* a. O. Holtedahl : On the occurrence of structures like Wakotts Algonkian alga* in 



the Permian of England. Am. .Tour. .Sci.. vol. 1. February, 1921. p. 196. 

 5. CJ. Abbott : Notes on concretions. Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. xxvii. 1910, pp. 192-197. 

 f. C. D. Walcott : Smithsonian Misc. Coll.. >H. no. 2. 1914. 



* John Winthrop: Mass. Hist. Colls. «5». vol. viii. pt. 4. p. 1>{.S. Winthrop Papers. 



* Mrs. J. 'SL Arms Sheldon : Concretions from the Champlaia clays of the Connecticut 

 Vallev. lambridge. 19(m>. 



