594 



APPENDIX. 



X. 



Mineralogical and Geological Specimens. — Page 404. 



The following is from SUUmarts Journal of March, 1863 : 



" Report on the Geological and Mineralogical Specimens collected by Mr. C. F. Hall in 



Frobisher Bay. 

 "To the New York Lyceum of Natural History : 

 "One of your committee, appointed to examine the collection of minerals and fos- 

 sils made by Mr. Charles F. Hall in his late Arctic Exploring Expedition, begs leave 

 to report that he found the collection of fossils small in number of individual speci- 

 mens, and limited in the range of its species, but possessing great interest to the stu- 

 dent of arctic geology. 



"The specimens are as follows : 



il Maclurea magna (Lesueur). No. of specimens 7 



Casts of lower surface. " " 3 



Endoceras proteiforme? (Hall.) " " 1 



Orthoceras (badly worn specimens). " " 3 



Heliolites (new species). " " 2 



Heliopora {< • " " " 1 



Haly sites catenulata (Fischer). " " 1 



Receptaculites (new species). " " 1 



"This collection was made at the head of Frobisher Bay, lat. 63° 44' N., and long. 

 68° 56' W. from Greenwich, at a point which, Mr. Hall says, is ' a mountain of fos- 

 sils,' similar to the limestone bluff at Cincinnati, with which he is familiar. This 

 limestone rests upon mica schist, specimens of which he also brought from the same 

 locality. Whether the limestone was conformable to the schist or not, Mr. Hall did 

 not determine. It is much to be regretted that this interesting point was not exam- 

 ined by him, as it is doubtful whether this locality may ever be visited by any future 

 explorer. 



" The fossils, without doubt, are all Lower Silurian. The Maclurea magna would 

 place the limestone containing it on the horizon of the Chazy limestone of New York. 

 The Halysites catenidata has been found in Canada in the Trenton beds, but in New 

 York not lower than the Niagara limestone. The Endoceras proteiforme belongs to 

 the Trenton limestone. The Receptaculites is unlike the several species of the Galena 

 limestone of the West, or the R. occidentalis of Canada. Mr. Salter speaks of one 

 found in the northern part of the American continent. This may he that species, or 

 it may be a* new one ; which it was we have no means of determining. The Ortho- 

 cerata were but fragments, and so badly water-worn that the species could not be 

 identified. 



" The specimens of corals were very perfect and beautiful, and unlike any figured 

 by Professor Hall in the Palaeontology of New York. The Heliolites and Heliopora 

 belong to the Niagara group in New York, but in Canada they have been found in 

 the Lower Silurian. For the identification of strata, corals are not always reliable. 

 Whether these species are similar or identical with any in the Canadian collection, 

 it was out of my power to determine. They are unlike any figured by Mr. I. W. 

 Salter. R. P. Stevens. 



" One of the committee appointed to examine the mineral specimens brought from 

 Frobisher Bay by Mr. Hall, reports that the specimens, though quite numerous, were 

 most ly of the "same general character. The rocks were nearly all mica schist. Some 

 of the specimens were taken from boulders ; some from the ruins of houses, and had 

 the mortar still attached ; and some were from the rock in its natural position. 

 There was nothing peculiar in the rock, it presenting the usual variations in compo- 

 sition. The other specimens were an argillaceous limestone, determined by its fos- 

 sils to be Lower Silurian ; a single specimen of quartz, crystallized, and presenting, 

 besides the usual six-sided termination, another pyramid whose angle was much more 

 obtuse ; magnetic iron, some of which was found in situ, and other specimens which 

 were evidently boulders, and had undergone for some time the action of salt-water ; 

 a few pieces of iron pyrites, bituminous coal, and nodules of flint or jasper. * * * 



" [The part of this report omitted gives reasons for believing the coal and siliceous 



