166 , 
BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
Among- these I may first refer to a series of so-called caves 
occurring along the course of Corbett's brook, a small tributary 
of the St. John river just below Fredericton. At the point 
where they occur the brook occupies a well-marked and narrow 
valley, both sides of which are somewhat abrupt, while that to 
the north is for a quarter of a mile, or more, bordered by a series 
of blutts, which here and there show steep or nearly vertical 
masses of rocks. These are the grey sandstones and conglomer- 
ates of the coal formation, probably representing its lower mem- 
ber, the millstone grit. They are of course well stratified, and 
their attitude horizontal, a feature made conspicuous in places bv 
the extent to which certain beds are made to project, sometimes 
as much as ten or fifteen feet from the general face of the rock 
wall. In other places large blocks of rock are confusedly piled 
against the same wall, as though they had been dislodged from 
the latter by some powerful agency. Thus a variety of cavernous 
spaces have been produced, now the abode of numerous porcu- 
pines, the excreta of which cover their floors. In one instance 
a cavity of this kind, having a small entrance, is sufficiently large 
within to accommodate not less than fifteen persons. Others are 
remarkable for their narrow cleft-like character and for their 
parallelism with the general face of the bluffs. 
It might at first seem probable that the conditions above de- 
scribed would find a ready explanation in the wearing action of 
water, and would be comparable with those already described as 
due to this agency along the sea-coast. But apart from the fact 
that Corbett’s brook is altogether too insignificant, at least in its 
present state, to determine much mechanical wear, it is to be 
noted that the site of the caves is removed several rods from the 
present course of the stream, besides being twenty or thirty feet 
above its level. The direction, also, of many of the rifts and 
cavities, running in for considerable distances from the face of 
the rock, and at right angles to the latter, is opposed to the view 
that running water alone has been concerned in their production. 
Finally it is to be noticed that at several places in the uplands 
