66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETT. [Apr. 28, 



continuatioii in tlie Pictou Coal-field, I have observed no definite 

 development of the beds now under consideration ; but the middle 

 and upper coal-measures attain a very great importance, and the 

 marine limestones, red sandstones, and conglomerates are of great 

 thickness, and appear to rest directly on the older metamorphic 

 rocks*. 



On the northern side of the wide carboniferous trough of Cum- 

 berland, the beds (in the third column of the table) are thrown up 

 along an anticlinal, and represent the lower carboniferous coal- 

 measures in position and fossils, though in some respects diiferent in 

 mineral character. They are remarkable for their highly bituminous 

 composition, the presence of fishes in a very perfect state of 

 preservation, and the almost entire absence of plants. Deposits 

 corresponding to those of the Albert Mine appear to extend to the 

 westward for a considerable distance along the south side of the 

 coal-field of New Brunswick. 



On the northern side of that coal-field, on the Baie de Chaleur, 

 Sir W. E. Logan describes f great beds of calcareous conglomerate, 

 alternating with red and drab -coloured sandstone and shale, as 

 forming the base of the Carboniferous system. These beds, amount- 

 ing to a thickness of 2766 feet, afforded no marine fossils ; but some 

 of the beds contained carbonized remains and casts of plants J ; so 

 that, though the physical conditions here are different from those of 

 the lower coal-measures of Nova Scotia, the land rather than the 

 sea appears to have afforded the few fossils present in the beds, 

 which, except in their greater thickness, are not very dissimilar from 

 the lower conglomerates of Pictou, Cumberland, and Cape Breton. 



The sections represented in the fourth column of the table show 

 the most distinct exposures observed in Cape Breton and the ex- 

 treme east of Nova Scotia, where I have described a small series 

 of similar character as occurring at Right's Eiver, near Amtigonish : 

 the sandstones and shales of the valley of the St. Mary's River 

 must also belong to this part of the system §. 



In Nova Scotia these older coal-measures, as compared with the 

 . true coal-measures, are more calcareous, abound more in remains of 

 fishes, and have fewer vegetable remains and indications of terrestrial 

 surfaces. They occur generally along the margins of the coal-areas, 

 near their old shores ; and, as we might expect in such circumstances, 

 they are associated with, or replaced by, beds of conglomerate 

 derived from the neighbouring highlands, of Silurian and Devonian 

 rocks. Where these conglomerates are absent, we usually find very 

 frequent alternations of sandstones with sandy and calcareous shales, 

 giving a homogeneity of appearance, together with, at the same 

 time, very frequent changes and differences in fossil character. 

 The general aspect is that of muddy estuarine deposits, very slowly 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. i. p. 272. 

 t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 350. 



I The only well-characterized fossil plant obtained by Sir W. E. Logan from 

 these beds, is a Caulojpteris, closely resembling C. primceva, Lindley and Hutton. 

 § Report of Geol. Survey of Canada, 1845. 



