Geology . 
429 
1876.] 
quartzite pebbles only 3 occurred in the breccia, while of 267 worked flints 
only 8 were met with in the cave-earth. The ruder implements were thus 
evidently the older, corresponding in general form with those assigned by 
De Mortillet to “ the age of Moustier and St. Acheul,” represented in England 
by the ruder implements of the lower breccia in Kent’s Hole. The newer or 
flint series includes some highly finished implements, such as are referred by 
De Mortillet to “ the age of Solutre,” and are found in England in the cave- 
earth of Kent’s Hole and Wookey Hole. The discovery of these implements 
considerably extends the range of the Palaeolithic hunters to the north and 
west, and at the same time establishes a diredt relation in point of time 
between the ruder types of implements below and the more highly finished 
ones above. 
The mode of occurrence of phosphatic deposits in various localities in 
Canada has been described to the Geological Society by Principal 
Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. Dark phosphatic nodules, containing fragments 
of Lingulce , abound in the Chazy formation at Allumette Island, Grenville, 
Hawkesbury, and Lochiel. Similar nodules occur in the Graptolite shales of 
the Quebec group at Point Levis, and in limestones and conglomerates of the 
Lower Potsdam at Riviere Ouelle, Kamouraska, and elsewhere on the lower 
St. Lawrence ; these deposits also contain small phosphatic tubes resembling 
Serpulites. The Acadian or Menevian group near St. John, New Brunswick, 
contains layers of calcareous sandstone blackened with phosphatic matter, con- 
sisting of shells and fragments of Lingula. The author described the general 
character of the phosphatic nodules examined by him at Kamouraska, and 
gave the ' results of analyses made of others from various localities, which 
furnished from 36*38 to 55*65 per cent of phosphate of lime. A tube from 
Riviere Ouelle gave 67*53 per cent. The author accepted Dr. Hunt’s view of 
the coprolitic nature of the nodules, and inclined to extend this interpretation 
to the tubes. The animals producing the coprolites could not be thought to 
be vegetable feeders ; and he remarked that the animals inhabiting the 
primordial seas employed phosphate of lime in the formation of their hard 
parts, as had been shown to be the case with Lingula , Conularia, and the 
Crustaceans. The shells of genus Hyolithes also contain a considerable 
portion of phosphate of lime. Hence the carnivorous animals of the Cambrian 
seas would probably produce phosphatic coprolites. With regard to the 
Laurentian apatite deposits, the author stated that they, to a great extent, 
form beds interstratified with the other members of the series, chiefly in the 
upper part of the Lower Laurentian above the Eozoon-limestones. The 
mineral often forms compadt beds with little foreign matter, sometimes several 
feet thick, but varying in this respedt. Thin layers of apatite sometimes 
occur in the lines of bedding of the rock. Occasionally disseminated crystals 
are found throughout thick beds of limestone, and even in beds of magnetite. 
The veins of apatite are found in irregular fissures ; and as they are found 
principally in the same parts of the seams which contain the beds, the author 
regarded them as of secondary origin. The Laurentian apatite presents a 
perfedfly crystalline texture, and the containing strata are highly metamor- 
phosed. The author’s argument in favour of its organic origin are derived 
from the supposed organic origin of the iron ores of the Laurentian, from the 
existence of Eozoon, from the want of organic structure in the Silurian deposit 
described by Mr. D. C. Davies, and the presence of associated graphite in 
both cases, from the charadter of the Acadian linguliferous sandstone, which 
might by metamorphism furnish a pyroxenite rock with masses of apatite, 
like those of the Laurentian series, and from the prevalence of animals with 
phosphatic crusts in the Primordial age, and the probability that this occurred 
also in the earlier Laurentian. The position of the phosphatic deposits above 
the horizon of Eozoon is also adduced by the author as adding probability to 
the existence of organic agencies at the time of their formation. 
At a meeting of the Manchester Geological Society, Mr. Joseph Dickinson, 
F.G.S., said that recently a member of the Society (Mr. Binney) en- 
quired of him whether, underneath the coal seams of Kilkenny and Queen’s 
County (Leinster coal-field) any trace was found of the Stigmaria ficoidez— 
