184/.] BROWN ON GYPSIFEROUS STRATA IN NOVA SCOTIA. 259 



Thickness in feet . 



25. Strong limestone 18 



24. Brown sandstone 12 



23. Red shales.... 33 



22. Blue shales 8 



21. Strong limestone, lower beds slaty, containing fossils, Pro- 

 duct a Lyelli,De Verneuil, and Encrinus, same species as that 

 found by Mr. Lyell on the Shubenacadie river and on the 



East River Pictou, No. 46, ' Lyell's Travels,' vol. ii. p. 222.. 17 



20. Mottled red and green marls 24 



19. Intermingled sandstones and limestones 22 



18. Blue shale 6 



17. Red shale 8 



16. Strong limestone 5 



15. Mixed grey and brown shales 12 



14. Concretionary limestone 4 



13. Soft blue clay 3 



12. Slaty limestone in layers 1 to 2 inches thick 47 



11. Soft blue marl, with pieces of gypsum intermingled near the 



bottom 32 



10. Gypsum 8 



9. Soft green marl 3 



8. Marl containing layers of limestone 28 



7. Coarse limestone and shales 44 



6. Crumbling porous limestone 50 



5. Calcareous breccia, containing partially worn fragments of red 



granite 24 



4. Mass of limestone, showing no lines of bedding (contains 

 fossils, Terehratula elongata, Schlot., T. suffiata, Producta 



Xye?/i, De Vern,, and fragment of Avicula) 60 



3. Compact slaty limestone 6 



2. Soft brown shale 6 



1. Brown and purple marls 40 



Total 1056 



The coal-measures whicli are seen reposing upon the millstone 

 grit half a mile up the Bras d'Or Strait consist of alternating beds of 

 shale and sandstone, the former predominating, and containing a few 

 traces only of coal plants. 



The millstone grit of the Sydney coal-field, which attains a thick- 

 ness of 2000 feet in some places, does not here exceed 200 feet ; it 

 nevertheless preserves the characteristic features of the formation, the 

 lower beds being coarse and pebbly, with few traces of coal plants ; 

 the upper, fine-grained sandstones abounding in impressions of Cala- 

 mites, Lepidodendron and Sigillaria, of which the last are by far the 

 most numerous. 



The only beds of limestone in which I found any fossils were 

 Nos. 4 and 21. In the first of these they are very abundant, 

 being disseminated through the whole mass of limestone, 60 feet in 

 depth, although apparently confined to a very limited number of 

 species. The separation of this immense bed of limestone from the 

 underlying stratum No. 3 is very distinct, but upwards it passes 

 gradually into the overlying bed No. 5 ; throughout its whole thick- 

 ness there is not the slightest trace of lines of stratification. 



No. 5 is a soft crumbling conglomerate of small pebbles of quartz 

 rock, clay-slate and red granite, united by a calcareous base. The 



