The Devotiian System in Canada. — Whiteaves. 211 
trict of the Dominion, and it is thought that a brief summary 
of the history of these discoveries and of the present state of 
oiu" knowledge of the Devonian rocks of Canada, from a 
palaeontologist's point of view, may be of interest on this occa- 
sion. In accordance with long usage in Canada, the line of 
demarcation between the Silurian and Devonian systems, in 
this address, will be drawn at the base of the Oriskany sand- 
stone. It will also be convenient to consider the information 
that has so far been gained about the Devonian rocks of Can- 
ada in geographical order, from east to west, under the three 
following heads, viz. : (i) The Maritime Provinces and Quebec ; 
(2) Ontario and Keewatin ; and (3) Manitoba and the North- 
west Territories. 
I. The Maritime Provinces and Quebec. 
Nova Scotia. 
In a memoir accompanying a geological map of Nova 
Scotia, by Dr. Abraham Gesner, published in the Proceedings 
of the Geological Society of London for May 10, 1843,* the 
following paragraph occurs : 
''Old red sandstone or Devonian Group. — Above the Silurian beds 
there occurs, in several parts of the province, a bright red micaceous 
sandstone or conglomerate, accompanied by thin beds of red shale and 
marly clay, and in some places containing seams of fibrous gypsum. 
Hitherto, no organic remains have been found in it. At Advocate Har- 
bour and on Moose river this sandstone is seen lying unconformably 
beneath the coal measures. At the latter locality the sandstone dips W. 
•21®, and the coal measures dip N. N. E. 60''. It is from a joint consider- 
ation of the mineral characters of this formation, and its relative position 
as compared with the coal measures, that the author has regarded it as 
the equivalent of the old red sandstone." 
This would seem to be the earliest statement in regard to 
the occurrence of rocks of Devonian age in Uritish North 
America, but Gesner then included in his old red sandstone 
group, certain outliers of Carboniferous limestone and possibly 
Trias, that are now known to be associated with rocks still held 
to be Devonian. 
Not quite two \ears later than this, in a paper read before 
the Geological Society of London on January 22, 1845, Sir 
*Volume IV, jiart I, page 187. 
