william8.1 DAWSON, PERRY, ROUTLEDGE. 255 



the lower 1,000 feet of the Coal Measures, with twelve beds of coal, they 

 attain only a total thickness of 51 feet. The author naturally asks the 

 question whether or not the Cape Breton coal fields may not have had a 

 total thickness equal to the Cumberland and Pictou fields? 



Sir W. Dawson, 1 in 1884, commented on ancient land floras, showing 

 how the floras of the Devonian or Erian period and of the Carbonifer- 

 ous period present many points of likeness, and are very distinct from 

 those of succeeding times. The conspicuous families are Rhizocarpece, 

 Equisetacew, Lycopodiacew, Filices, and Coniferce. The changes which 

 have occurred since the Carboniferous consist mainly in the degrada- 

 tion of the three first families, and in the introduction of new Grymuo- 

 sperms and Phaenogams, the latter event marking the later Mesozoic 

 age. 



In 1885 Permo-Carboniferous rocks were reported by Mr. Ells 2 as oc- 

 curring between Cape Bald and Bay Verte. Their similarity to rocks 

 of Prince Edward Island was noted. Rocks of the same character, con- 

 sisting mainly of soft red beds, sandstones, shales, and calcareous con- 

 glomerate, were recognized at Cape Brule and between Shediac and 

 Cocagne Head. The Carboniferous area of Xew Brunswick is made up 

 of four anticlinals. One is situated between Bathurst and Miramichi • 

 the second from Grand Lake to Eichibucto Head and Miminegash; the 

 third passes from Shediac and touches the island near Cape Egmont; the 

 fourth from Cape Tourmantine to Cape Traverse, Prince Edward Island. 



Specimens of Lepidodendron found by Mr. Joseph R. Perry 3 in a graph- 

 ite deposit in the coal mine at Worcester, Massachusetts, were re- 

 ferred by Prof. Lesquereux to the very rare species Lepidodendron acu- 

 minatum of Goeppert, originally from the Carboniferous limestone of 

 Silesia, corresponding to the American " Subcarboniferous." The great 

 disturbance and working over of the rocks containing the Carboniferous 

 deposit has transformed this deposit for the most part into graphite, 

 and in the specimen found the carbon is in the form of graphite, though 

 the scars of the plant are distinctly preserved. 



The Sydney coal field, Cape Breton, is about 32 miles in length by 6 

 miles in width, extending from Big Bras d'Or on the northwest to Mira 

 Bay on the southeast. The four basins of which this field is composed 

 are as follows, according to Mr. W. Routledge 4 (1886) : 



1. Sydney Mine section, with 25 feet 8 inches workable coal. 



2. The Lingan Tract, with 39 feet 5 inches workable coal. 



3. Glace" Bay section, with 55 feet 9 inches workable coal. 



4. Block House section, with 24 feet workable coal. 



'Dawson, Sir W.: On the more ancient land floras of the Old and New Worlds. British Assoc, 

 Report 54th Meeting, pp. 738, 739. 



2 Ells, R. W. : Report on explorations and surveys in the interior of Gasp6 Peninsula and Prince 

 Edward Island. Geol. Survey of Canada : Report of progress for 1882-83-84, 1885. l e -34 e , maps. (Sep- 

 arate in 1884.) 



* Perry, Joseph H. : Note on a fossil coal plant at the graphite deposit in mica schist at Worcester, 

 Massachusetts. Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 29, 1885, pp. 157, 158. 



4 Routledge, W. : The Sydney coal field, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Am. Inst. Mining, Trans., vol. 

 14, 1886, pp. 542-560. 



