390 



At Seaside park, at the end of the street car Hne, the 

 basic igneous rocks are exposed at intervals along the path 

 leading across the railway to the shore and to the Fern 

 Ledges. Where the path crosses the railway are exposures 

 of quartzose sandstone belonging to the Dadoxylon division 

 of the Little River group. The measures dip seaward (to 

 the south) at an angle of 30°. Similar measures are exposed 

 a short distance farther, but from this point to the beach, 

 to the locality of the Fern Ledges, the strata are concealed. 



FERN LEDGES.* 

 (Mary C. Stopes) 



Editorial Note. — Recently Dr. Mary C. Stopes has pre- 

 pared for the Geological Survey of Canada, a memoir on 

 the flora of the Fern Ledges. This memoir is not yet 

 published but permission has been obtained to make use 

 of the information contained in the manuscript in the 

 preparation of the following account of the geology and 

 flora of the Fern Ledges. Dr. Stopes was able to assemble 

 nearly all the original specimens of the Fern Ledges flora 

 and studied them as well as a great mass of new material 

 obtained from Duck Cove, a short distance west of the type 

 locality. The following account is essentially an abstract 

 of the unpublished memoir by Dr. Stopes. Certain 

 portions of the manuscript have been extracted word for 

 word; such portions are indicated by quotation marks. 



"The fossil plants of the St. John Fern Ledges in the Little 

 River group occupy a unique position in the annals of 



palaeontology owing to the extensive discussions 



they have aroused ever since (so long ago as 1861) Sir W. 

 Dawson began to describe them as representatives of a 

 Devonian flora. Sir W. Dawson from time to time named 

 and illustrated the majority of the species described from 

 the beds. At this early date comparatively few figures 

 of European and other American Palaeozoic fossil plants 

 were available for his use and so it is not surprising that 

 Sir William made new species from most of the specimens. 

 As a consequence, judging to-day by the list of species de- 

 scribed from the locality, one receives the impression that the 

 "Little River" flora is an isolated and peculiar one. In 

 quite recent years. Dr. Matthew has been publishing 



* See Map — Fern Ledges. 



