134 A. p. COLEMAN IMARTNE AND FRESHWATER BEACHES 



resting uiiconfonnably on the surface of the kame, about 320 feet above 

 the sea, and the onl}'^ shell observed is Macoma fragllis of unusually 

 large size. A few fragments of the same shell were seen in a gravel 

 ridge rising about 350 feet (aneroid) above sealevel on the south side of 

 the Grand Trunk railway, a mile and a half west of the last point. The 

 bed of gravel is 10 feet thick, rests on a floor of blue cla}'', probably till, 

 and consists of rather fine, well rounded materials distinctly stratified 

 and sometimes cross-bedded, having all the look of a beach ridge. Not 

 far off to the north of the railway there are rock cliffs which appear to 

 have been cut by wave action. 



While no marine shells are to be found west of this at i)resent, Doctor 

 Robert Bell obtained some many years ago at Brockville, 7 miles farther 

 in that direction, in clays i)enetrated by a tunnel under the town. This 

 is the most inland point at which marine fossils of any kind have been 

 reported. 



Doctor Gilbert states that chws and sands rich in shells like those 

 described above are common in the state of New York, south of the 

 Saint Lawrence, but on that side also they appear to cease before reach- 

 ing Morristown, opposite Brockville. 



Gravels, sands, and clays not unlike the marine deposits which have 

 been described occur at various places west of Brockville — for exam})le, 

 at Lyn, Gananoque, and along the bay of Quinte — and some of them 

 have been searched carefully for fossils, but without success, suggesting 

 that for some cause the marine fauna could not advance into the Ontario 

 basin. 



Old WATKii-LKVKLs TO THi<: West 



While the marine fossils disappear there are evidences of an old water- 

 level corresponding to the beach ridge found between ^^aitland and 

 Gladstone, extending on to the west. At L^m, a few miles beyond l^rock- 

 ville, rocky hills rise a little wa}^ from the river, but at their foot are 

 level cla}^ fiats at an elevation of 325 feet above the sea, corresponding 

 fairly well with the beach gravels at 350, since a beach ridge always 

 stands higher than the cla3''s and silts laid down in enclosed waters. 



Similar cla}' flats are found at Mallorytown, 8 miles farther west, and 

 at Lansdowne. From this i)()int to Ernestown, 35 miles farther, traces 

 of this water-level have not certainly been found, but beyond this it may 

 be seen from point to j)oint, and at Belleville a boulder i)avement at 

 323 feet above the sea probably rei)resents it. Near Brighton the lowest 

 water-level, which is well marked and has a shore cliff of boulder-clay 

 rising 60 or 70 feet above it to the north, stands at 309 feet ; and what 



