Review of Recent Geological Literature. 243 
the Archaean countr)'' that forms the watershed between Hudson bay 
and lakes Superior and Winnipeg. During the recession of the ice, it 
appears to have terminated for a long time near the middle of James' 
bay, its western border accumulating a moraine there, represented by a 
remarkable series of islands of unstratified drift. These include 
Charleton island and others extending a hundred miles north to the 
Twins and Grey Goose island, also the Bear islands, which lie nearly 
a hundred miles further on towards the northwest. They all rise to 
considerable elevations above the sea level, and are composed wholly 
of sand, clay, and boulders, with no bedded rocks in place, good sec- 
tions of sea-cliffs being seen in many places. Fossiliferous marine 
beds are found overlying the glacial drift along the valleys near the 
mouths of rivers on the east side of Hudson bay up to the hight of 
over 500 feet. Since their formation, which probably took place short- 
ly after the departure of the ice-sheet, the land has been slowl}'' rising, 
with intervals of quiet, as shown by the terraces cut out of the drift 
along the high land of the coast. 
Four appendixes contain lists of plants, of diurnal lepidoptera and 
coleoptera, notes of the breeding habits of certain mammals, and 
meteorologic observations. 
Second report on the geology of a portion of the province of Quebec. By 
E. W. Ells. (Part K,) The area here reported on lies to the south of the 
St. Lawrence river, and the report deals largely with the structure and 
stratigraphical relations of the several divisions of the "Quebec 
Group." It has special interest since the geological problems therein 
discussed have formed a fruitful subject for controversy among geol- 
ogists in Canada and the United States during the last forty years. 
The present report is to some extent a continuation of that issued in 
1886, in which the latest views as to the structure of the rocks of the 
southeastern portion of the province are expressed. These include 
very large areas of the crystalline schists now regarded as of pre- 
Cambrian age, and which in that section have a very considerable 
development, being the northern extension into Quebec of the Green 
Mountain rocks. In addition to the description of the geological forma- 
tion found in the area included in the report, which on the map is 
known as the northeast quarter sheet of the province, further informa- 
tions is presented regarding the economic resources of the district, more 
especially in relation to the asbestos deposits and the distribution of 
the serpentines in which this mineral is found. The forma- 
tions described in this report are five, viz: the Devonian, Silurian, 
Cambro-Silurian or Ordovician, the Cambrian and the pre-Cambrian. 
Of these the areas of Devonian rocks appear to be of very limited 
extent, only two localities being known, the largest of which has an 
extent of only a few hundred square yards. This outcrop is on the 
Chaudif;re river, [between the Famine river and the village of St. 
George ; the second and smaller area being some miles further north. 
