DISCOVERY AND INTEEPRETATION OF FOSSILS 305 



Mr J. A. Robert carried on a successful paleontological survey of the 

 Silurian as well as of the Devonian rocks of the region. The Silurian 

 fossils obtained were submitted to a preliminary examination by the 

 writer in that year, and a list of some 160 species of organic remains 

 was recorded in the Silurian formations of the Arisaig coast, referable to 

 the various subdivisions A, B, B', C, D, and D' of Dr D. Honeyman, as 

 adopted by Mr Fletcher, exclusive of the species recorded by J. W. Salter, 

 J. W. Dawson, James Hall, E. Billings, and Dr H. Honeyman. 



From the Devonian strata Messrs Weston and Robert obtained what 

 appeared to be series of obscure fishes, together with tracks and trails of 

 some organism. These were not determined, however, until the writer 

 undertook to submit the fish material to Mr A. Smith-Woodward, of the 

 British Museum. The result of the study of the fish fauna has led the 

 writer to conclude that instead of Upper Devonian strata in the McArras 

 Brook, Upper Knoydart Brook, and Upper Vamey Brook exposures, there 

 occurs a series of strata of lowermost Devonian age, equivalent to the 

 LoAver Old Red sandstone of Britain or Cornstone of England. 'J'he high- 

 est fossiliferous strata of the Silurian series adjacent are so remarkably 

 similar in their lithologic and })aleontologic or biologic characters to the 

 iacies of the Silurian of western Europe — especially to the Silurian of 

 the Ludlow type in Herefordshire, England — as to warrant a close rela- 

 tionship to be instituted with the European equivalents : quite distinct 

 from the Silurian succession as known in the Gaspe peninsula, in the 

 valley of the Saint Lawrence, on the island of Anticosti, and in the state 

 of New York or the province of Ontario to the south and west as defined 

 and described by Vanuxem, Hall, Logan, Billings, and other geologists. 



This Lower Devonian area is bounded on the east by the highest 

 member of the Silurian examined, the Stonehouse formation, and on 

 the south by a range of hills which has been assigned to the Cambro- 

 Silurian (Ordovician) by Mr Fletcher.* From this series, however, no 

 organic remains or definite paleontologic evidence of any value have as 

 yet been obtained upon which might be determined the precise position 

 of this older series in the Paleozoic succession. To the north and west 

 of this Devonian area are seen newer measures referable to three distinct 

 horizons of the Carboniferous system as developed in this portion of 

 Nova Scotia. These include— 



(a) The so-called " Carboniferous Conglomerate " formation described 

 in the above report.f This series is presumably equivalent to the BoniJ- 

 venture formation of Gaspe, and is doubtfully referred to it here. 



(6) The "Carboniferous Limestone" series with its marls, sandstones, 



♦Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1886, pp. 17 P and 99 P. 



t Loe. cit., supra, pp. 71 P, 85 P, and 124 P, and on page 173 P of the Annual Report for 1890-'91. 



