104 J. E. AVOODMA>: PROBABLE AGE OF THE MEGU^IA SERIES 



status as organic forms, even the authors who described their occurrence 

 having later expressed grave doubt of their validit}". 



DaM'son (18T8, page 83) noted the presence of Scolithus in loose blocks 

 near the mouth of Saint Marys river. But this was not reported i?i situ. 

 and the form, while more abimdant in some ages than in others, is not 

 characteristic, nor has it been proved to belong to any single species. 



Bailey (1898, page 16) writes regarding western Xova Scotia: 



"The only specimens we have as yet been able to obtain . . . are certain 

 small circular or ovoiclal pit-lilie depressions found in the black shale drift, in 

 the vicinity of Bridgewater, in Lunenburg county, and again on the coast of 

 the same county near Heckmans island. In outline they bear some resem- 

 blance to brachiopods of the genus Oholella or Linnarsonia. but they are lack- 

 ing in markings or other distinctive features by which their nature can be 

 definitely ascertained, and for the present at least they are unavailable as 

 evidence." 



Xot only this, but as yet no specific description has established their 

 claim as organic remains. 



FOSSILS: MARKINGS AT GREENBACK, HALIFAX 



A few years ago Dr H. S. Poole found some forms in the slates of 

 Greenbank, Halifax, which resemble annelid tracks and burrows (1903, 

 page 153). As they have not j'et been described, it is impossible to refer 

 to them here in detail, but an illustration of the slab containing them is 

 appended. They do not appear upon examination likely to furnish any 

 index to the age of the rocks : nevertheless they are organic, and may 

 stand in importance above all other forms so far attributed to the series, 

 perhaps excepting Scolithus. 



CONCRETIONS ' 



At many places in both formations concretions abound in the coarser 

 strata. 



Hind noted them at Waverley as early as 1869 (page 20). At l)oth 

 East T\^averley and "West Waverley he mapped "concretionary quartz- 

 ites" ; but recent study of the structure of this mining district indicates 

 that these can hardly be the same stratum. Of the concretions he says : 

 "They frequently resemble fossil forms, and it is subsequently shown 

 that this quartzite is fossiliferous." It was from these beds that Palseo- 

 trochus came: but a close examination of the concretionary horizon at 

 West Waverley in 1896 and 1897 failed to disclose any organic remains 

 to the author. 



South of Black point, near Liverpool, the strata hold concretions up to 

 a foot in diameter, but there is no resemblance in them to distinct organic 

 forms. 



