Gold-hcariuf^ Mctaniorphic Scries. — U'ood))ian. 365 
Boundaries. — On its eastern end the series is bounded by 
water. It is noticeable and important that the prolongation of 
its strike would carry it south of the old rocks of southern 
Cape Breton. On the west watet: is also adjacent. On the 
south the series is bounded by the ocean, except in two local- 
ities. These are at the head of Mahonc bay and of St. Margar- 
et's bay, west of Halifax, where two small patches of Carbon- 
iferous rocks lie upon the upturned and eroded edges of the 
older strata. The unconformity is evident, although the actual 
contacts are not visible. 
On the north the series is in unconformable contact with 
younger rocks throughout the distance from the mouth of Sal- 
mon river on the east to the last exposures of the Siluro-De- 
vonian, near South Range in the town of Weymouthj on the 
w^est. From Salmon river east to the end of the mainland, 
Chedabucto bay bounds the series. West from the mouth of the 
■ river to latitude 61° 40', a distance of approximately 15', De- 
vonian is adjacent. Here the Carboniferous replaces it, lying 
upon both the lower Devonian and the gold-bearing series ; and 
continues westward to the vicinity of Kentville, whence Triassic 
and Siluro-Devonian alternate as the bounding formation to the 
head of St. Mary's bay. From this point westward, water lies 
to the north. 
The scries as a unit. — From the highest beds recognized in 
the series to the lowest now exposed, the gold-bearing rocks 
appear to be conformable, and to constitute one great structural 
unit. There have not been reported even those local uncon- 
formities shown in the large cases of cross bedding in many 
series. The first reference to these strata in geological liter- 
ature was by Jackson and Alger ( '28-^29). The authors re- 
ported no more than that there were clay slates and "quartz 
rock'' in a region embracing but a small part of that really 
covered by the beds. By '36, however, Gesner had recognized 
the existence of a definite series extending over a wide territory, 
although he did not separate it from the fossiliferous Devonian 
in the northwest of the province. The northern boundary on 
the map accompanying his paper is very generalized and incor- 
rect, but is the first attempt to delimit the old metamorphic 
strata. In '43 Gesner assigned the rocks of the peninsula to 
definite geological horizons, and called the southern or unfos- 
