

256 THE DEVONIAN AND CARBONIFEROUS. [bull. 80. 



In the region of Cobscook Bay Devonian rocks are reported by Prof. 

 N. S. Shaler l as lying to east of Moose Island, with nearly uniform east- 

 ern dips. The section at Perry may contain Subcarboniferous as well 

 as Upper Devonian rocks, but apparently the most important section 

 is bearing the greatest likeness to Devonian rocks, is on Moose Island. 

 Here the black shaly deposits have a thickness of from 1,000 to 1,500 

 feet. 



Mr. Frank D. Adams, 2 in 1887, defining the coal-bearing rocks of 

 Canada, says the coal fields of Canada are confined to Nova Scotia 

 and Cape Breton, where there are three important basins, situated in 

 Cumberland, Pictou, and Cape Breton Counties, respectively. The 

 coal basin in the Cape Breton field extends under the Atlautic Ocean. 

 On account of the imperviousness of the strata overlying the true 

 Coal Measures they can be worked without any difficulty. The deepest 

 seam of the Pictou coal field at the Dalhousie Pit is 36f feet in thick- 

 ness. The coals of Nova Scotia are somewhat less bituminous than 

 those of Cape Breton. 



Sir William Dawson, 3 who has contributed so much to the elabora- 

 tion of the Devonian and Carboniferous formations, in one of his later 

 papers has given bis matured conclusions regarding their classification 

 and correlation. He retains the name "Erian" for the Devonian 

 system, following his modified usage of "Erie Division" of the Geo- 

 ogical Survey of New York. On the eastern coast this is represented 

 by sandstones and shales, and is compared with the Old Eed sand- 

 stone of Scotland and England. 



The beds abound in fossil plants and locally in remains of fishes. 

 Both plants and fishe s are " generically similar to those of Britain ; n 

 they are of " estivarian and littoral v origin ; and the author considers 

 them divisible into two series, characterized by different genera of 

 these organisms. 



The only truly marine portion of the system in the Maritime Province is the lower 

 part, corresponding to the Oriskany of the interior, and this may perhaps be regarded 

 as an equivalent of the Downton sandstones of England. 



The subdivisions of the Carboniferous system are described as 

 follows : 



1. A lower series corresponding to the Tuedian of the North of England and Calcif- 

 erous of Scotland both in mineral character and fossils (the Horton series of my 

 later papers). 



2. A Carboniferous limestone, associated, however, with gypsum, and marly and 

 red sandstones, but having fossil remains for the most part specifically identical with 

 tbose of England (Windsor series of recent papers). 



1 Shaler, N. S. : Preliminary report on the geology of the Cobscook Bay district, Maine. Am. Jour. 

 Sci., 3d ser., vol. 32, 1886, pp. 35-60. 



2 Adams, Frank D.: On the coal bearing rocks of Canada. Brit. Assoc, Report 56th Meeting, 1886, 

 1887, pp. 639-641. 



3 On the Eozoic and Paleozoic Rocks of the Atlantic coast of Canada, in comparison with those of 

 western Europe and of the interior of America, by Sir J. William Dawson, K. C M. G., etc., 1888. 

 Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc. pp. 797-817. 



The Brian or Devonian system, p. 813. The Carboniferous system, etc., p. 814. 



