REPORT OF THE STATE PALEONTOLOGIST I9O3 1 35 



under a new aspect and in profuse development. jMore recently, on 

 a similar errand, the writer has exploited the same factors as de- 

 veloped about the village of Perce on the coast of Gaspe just south 

 of JNIalbay and about 20 miles due south of the north shore of 

 Gaspe bay. In due time the results of the studies thus made will 

 be presented in some detail for the comparison of these ancient 

 faunas with those of New York, for quite extensive collections have 

 been brought together from all the points mentioned, and we may 

 look for an important elucidation therefrom of some of the problems 

 to which reference has been made. 



In this paper, however, it is not so much the purpose to enter on 

 comparisons of results and correlations of. faunas as to expound 

 with some brevity the singularly interesting geologic structure pre- 

 vailing at and about Perce, as derived from observations made in 

 the course of assembling the fossil faunas of the region. 



The ancient fishing village of Perce is a spot of extraordinary 

 beauty of situation. It lies exposed to the full force of the sea on the 

 easternmost part of the Gaspe peninsula and no place could display 

 with more potency the tremendous destructive power of the sea 

 than this broken and deeply gnawed coast against which the north- 

 east blasts have beaten ages long. It is an old settlement, one of the 

 oldest in America. Soon after Jacques Cartier in 1535 roasted in 

 the Bay of Chaleurs and planted a cross at Douglastown on Gaspe 

 bay, fisherpeople from the shores of Brittany and the Channel islands 

 settled here under the overshadowing protection of the stupendous 

 and glorious Rocher Perce, from which the place takes name and 

 which today draws the amazed wonder of every passing sea traveler. 

 The narrow beach to the north of the rock and the long beach below 

 afforded a base of operations for the fishing, and here a settlement 

 was made long before Hendrik Hudson had wet keel in the waters 

 of New York. 



Isolated and towering stands the Perce rock at the angle between 

 the North and South beaches, cut off from the shore b}' an inter^-al of 

 300 feet, over which the waters roll, except at ebb tide, and beneath 

 which lies the zone of a great displacement of the rock masses. All 

 other presentments of the gnawing power of the ocean which the 



