Personal and Scientific News. 67 
black bituminous graptolitic shales, etc., of the St. Lawrence and Hud- 
son river valleys whose position in t he scale of the geological formations 
of North America has remained so long an unsettled problem. The ge- 
ographical distribution of this formation throughout Canada and certain 
adjoining districts of the United States, its fauna and faunal relations, 
together with the bearing of the facts obtained to date in support of the 
validity of Sir William Logan's "Quebec group," are also discussed. 
An attempt is made to give this formation a resting-place in the lower 
portion of the Ordovician of America. 
The Potsdamand Calciferous formations in Quebec and east- 
ern Ontario. R. W. Ells. 
The paper describes the physical characters of these formations as 
originally understood, and their distribution in Ontario and Quebec. It 
indicates the intimate relation between the two, both from the strati- 
graphical andpalaeontological standpoints, and discusses the relation of 
the Podsdam sandstone to the underlying Cambrian and the propriety 
Of assigning this formation to the base of the Cambro-Silurian (Ordovi- 
cian) system, rather than to the Cambrian. 
Organic Remains of the Little Ricer group. G. F. MATTHEW. 
The first part is a brief review of the flora of this group as described 
by Sir Wm. Dawson. The flora as ah entity is compared with the sev- 
eral floras ranging from the Upper Silurian to the Coal Measures that 
have been found in the Middle States and northeastern America. Sir 
Wm. Dawson's genera are used for this purpose. The genera based on 
fossil woods, chiefly from the middle division of the Devonian rocks, are 
not considered, as they were investigated with the microscope. Of the 
thirty-three genera of the Little River group, nine are found in the 
Lower Carboniferons, and an equal number in the Upper and Middle 
Devonian, respectively. On the other hand, the very remarkable fact is 
brought in view that there are no less than twenty genera of the Coal 
Measures. Vet it is quite certain that there was no direct or near con- 
nection between the flora of the Little River group and that of the Coal 
Measures, as will he seen from the data given in the former article on 
this group. The explanation of the large number of genera common to 
the two formations probably is thai the Little River lime and group an- 
ticipated the climate and soil of the Coal Measures in a way that did not 
happen in northeastern .America, in any of I he times referred to earlier 
than the Coal Measures, so far as we know. The myriapods of the Lit- 
tle River group number six and are of five differeul genera. The most 
abundant fauna of a similar kind is that of the lower Coal Measures of 
Mazon creek, Illinois. Several of the genera found there occur in the 
plant bed of the Little River group. The most remarkable are those of 
t he genus Euphoberia. 
The Fossil Cockrdaches of North America. S. II. Scudder. 
Progress of Geological Investigation in southwestern Nova 
Scotia. L. W. Bailey. 
The only existing publications referring to the geologj of southwest- 
ern Nova Scotia are the Arcadian Geology of Sir William Dawson and a 
report upon the gold fields of the province by Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn, 1871. 
rn each of these cases the observations recorded were based upon cur- 
sor) examinations only, and were forthemosl pari confined to the sea- 
board. During the last three or four years a in ue 1 1 more systematic ex ; 
ploration of the region has been effected, under the auspices id' the 
geological survey, and the purpose of the present paper is to give a 
summary of the results attained. The paper is accompanied b\ a sketch 
map showing the latest results in the delimitation of the formations 
represented. 
