ORISKANY FOSSILS FROM NOVA SCOTIA 331 



In the following year Dawson* gave a detailed list of fossils from the 

 Nictau ore and the neighboring beds as follows : 



Zaphrentis. Hipparionyx proximus Vanuxem. 



Favosiies, like cervicomis Edwards and Anoplotheca flabellites (Hall). 



Haime. Rensselseria oroides (Eaton). 



Michelinia problematic® (Goldfuss). Megambonia lamellosa Hall ? 



Stenopora. Actinopteria, like textilis. 



Stropheodonta magnified Hall. Tentaculites elongatus Hall. 

 Leptsena rhomboidalis (Wilckens). • Platyceras. 



Spirifer arenosus Hall. Bellerophon. 



Spirifer murchisoni Castelnau. Orthoceras. 

 Spirifer nictauvensis Dawson. 



Kegarding the age of these fossils, he remarks : " The above I hold to 

 be amply sufficient to prove that the beds in which they occur are ap- 

 proximatety of the age of the Oriskany sandstone," a conclusion undoubt- 

 edly correct. 



Doctor H. M. Amif has more recently studied this Nictau Oriskany 

 fauna, and states that — 



"The paleontological evidence at hand from the Nictau district shows the 

 existence there of strata which are for the most part referable to the Devonian 

 system. The following forms are present in several of the collections: Spirifera 

 arenosa, S. arrecta, Leptoccelia flabellites, Leptostrophia magnifica. These are of Lower 

 Devonian age and are selected from a considerable number of species as character- 

 istic of that age. ... 



" Nictau. — With the exception of the New Canaan limestone fossils, the collec- 

 tions from this region are referable to the Lower or Eo- Devonian epoch. The 

 most complete collection is to be found in the Peter Redpath Museum, and con- 

 tains 22 species of fossils. The fauna consists, for the most part, of brachiopods, 

 trilobites being very rarely seen. . . . 



" Bear river. — A very interesting collection made by Doctor Bailey in 1892 has 

 revealed the presence of some 21 distinct species of fossils, whose facies is that of 

 a transitional series. Brachiopoda are predominant, whilst not a single trilobite 

 has been recorded." This fauna is " either at the summit of the Silurian or at the 

 base of the Devonian epoch, the weight of evidence being perhaps in favor of the 

 Eo- Devonian." 



Saint Helens Island near Montreal, Canada. — In 1879, J. T. Donald % 

 gave a list of fossils derived from a " dolomitic conglomerate " of Saint 

 Helens island, opposite Montreal. This formation is thus described by 

 Chapman: § 



* Canadian Nat., vol. ix, 1879, pp. 6, 7. 



f Geol. Survey of Canada, Ann. Rept., vol. vi, 1895, p. 15 Q. 



% Canadian Nat., vol. ix, 1879, pp. 302-304. 



\ Exposition of the Minerals and Geology of Canada, Toronto, 1864, p. 191. 



