98 
j^atural Ilistory Society of JST. JB., Bulletin No. IV. 
tains have Cambrian strata been met with containing remains of ani- 
mals of tlie ancient type of those of the Acadian Provinces. 
Tlie crustacean genus Paradoxides is one of the most character- 
istic forms of this early fauna, and it has thus far been found in 
America only to the eastward of the Appalachian Chain. One 
sj)ecies is knowm to occur in Massachusetts and three in Newfound- 
land, but the genus is represented by a greater variety of forms at 
St. John, N. B., than elsewhere on this continent. This genus is 
considered to be characteristic of the Lower Cambrian rocks. 
The late Professor C. F. Hartt, by a study of the fossils of the 
St. John Group, was able to declare that they were of the same type 
as those of the Primordeal Zone in Bohemia, which Joachim Barrande 
had shown to contain the oldest of all known organic remains.^ But 
since Prof. Hartt made this determination the fauna of the Primor 
deal Zone has been further elaborated, and Paradoxides is now found 
to mark the lower part of the Primordeal or Cambrian System. This 
fact was ascertained for Central Europe by the illustrious Barrande, 
and for Great Britain by Mr. J. W. Salter and Dr. Henry Hicks. 
These savants discovered that while Paradoxides characterized the 
Lower Cambrian rocks, the Upper Cambrian could be recognized by 
the presence in it among other fossils of the crustacean genus Olenus. 
Dr. Hicks went further, and was able to divide the Lower Cam- 
brian formation of Wales into three groups by means of the different 
assemblages of animals wdiich it contains. He thus established the 
succession of the groups known as “ Caerfai,” “ Solva ” and 
“ Menevian.” 
Prof. Hartt fixed the age of the St. John Group as nearly as was 
})ossible in his time as “ Primordeal,” or, as we now" call it, Cam- 
brian ; but these later discoveries in Europe have enabled the writer 
to ])oint out more exactly the Cambrian group in Wales holding a 
fauna to w"hich the beds containing the St. John fauna described by 
Prof. Hartt corres))ond.^ This has been showm in an article to the 
Royal Society of Canada (1884) and elsewhere, and we now know 
that Ilartt’s species more nearly represent those of the Solva Group 
than those of the Menevian. In other words, it is the fauna of the 
older part of the Low^er Cambrian. 
1 That is the oldest known at that time. 
^ The two groups, one in Wales and the other in Acadia, are not 
necessarily on that account exactly cotemporaneous. 
