Mi\i^itiiia Scries of Xuz'a Scotia. — Woodman. 2.^ 
be of use stratigraphically is not known. 'Jhcv arc never, so 
far as I have observed, of as coarse texture as some in the 
Goldenville, wliich become grits ; but their color is in cases 
identical, and often only their association with earthy black 
or green slates distinguishes these quartzytes from similar 
beds in the lower formation. Hand specimens are insufficient. 
Continuity of strata. — It is impossible, because of the ab- 
sence of structural domes developed for mining purposes, to 
say whether the strata are widely continuous or not; but one 
fact is important in this connection. While in the Goldenville 
it is common to fxud blunt terminations to thin strata, empha- 
sizing their lens-like shape, such phenomena do not appear in 
the Halifax, to my knowledge. The finer texture of the sedi- 
ments of the upper formation also argues for a probable great- 
er equality of the conditions of deposition, hence more extend- 
ed laminae and strata. 
"Banded argillyte division . "■ — ^Very rarely within the form- 
ation, but abundantly near its base, occur strata of light ma- 
terial — "greenish, argillaceous and chloritic soft slate," of little 
thickness at the east end of the province, but increasing to a 
considerable thickness at the w^est end. A few layers of 
magncsian siliceous limestone have also been noted at dififerent 
places, at the base of the group, overlying conformably the 
quartzyte of the low-er division (Faribault, '99, p. 2) . In the 
w^est, Bailey ('98, p. 28) mentions gray, green, and purple 
slates, most of the green, purple and blue being grayish ; often 
alternate in color, and thin bedded. Some quartzyte strata are 
interspersed . 
It is this which Bailey has called the "banded argillyte di- 
vision" (loc. cit.) . He states, however, that there is a grad- 
ual transition between the quartzyte and banded argillyte. and 
between the latter and the black slate. In the east of the ])rov- 
ince these beds are never more than a few feet thick, and are 
often absent altogether. In the west they are said to attain a 
thickness of several thousand feet. In the former region, no 
one who has studied them has given evidence of a belief that 
they should be erected into a separate formation. In the field 
they appear merely as a basal phase of the Halifax. Traverses 
of a number of the areas in the western country have made me 
doubt the necessitv of such a division there, much of the meta- 
