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WHITNEY LIBRARY,
IIARVAED UNIVERSITY

THE GIFT OF
J. D. WHITNEY,

Sturyis Hooper Professor

IN THE

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY

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THE

CANADIAN NATURALIST

AND GEOLOGIST :

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CONDUCTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE NATURAL
HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL.

NEW SEKIES.-Vol. II.

(WITH A PLATE.)

EDITING COMMITTEE,

J. W. Dawson. LL.D., F.R.S.,

Principal of Mc Gill College.
T. Sterry Hunt, A.M., F.R.S.

Geological Survey of Canada.

General Editor : David A. P. Watt.

E. Billings, F.G.S.

Geological Survey of Canada.
Prof. J. P. Darey.
J. F. Whiteaves, F.G.S.

MONTREAL :
DAWSON BROTHERS, GREAT ST. JAMES STREET.

1865.

Entered, according to Act of the Provincial Parliament, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, by Dawson Brothers,
in the Office of the Registrar of the Province of Canada.

CONTENTS.

Pagb
Contributions to the Chemistry of Natural Waters ; By T. Sterry

Hunt, A.M., F.R.S 1, 161, 276

On the Relative Powers of Glaciers and Floating Icebergs in Modi-
fying the Surface of the Earth ; By Sir Roderick I. Mdrchison.. 21

Origin of our Kitchen-Garden Plants ; By H. Coultas 33

On the Graptolites of the Quebec Group ; By Professor James Hall. 42

A few Notes on the Night-Heron ; By Henry G. Vennor 53

Notes on Post-Pliocene Deposits atRiviere-du-Loup and Tadoussac ;

By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S 81

On the Genus Woodsia ; By Professor Daniel C. Eaton 89

On the Occurrence of Organic Remains in the Laurentian Rocks of

Canada ; By Sir W. E. Logan, LL.D., F.R.S 92

On Certain Organic Remains in the Laurentian Limestones of Ca-
nada ; By J. W.Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S 99, 127

Notes on the Structure and Affinities of Eozoon Canadense ; By W.

B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S Ill

On the Mineralogy of Eozoon Canadense ; By T. Sterry Hunt 120

Notes on Nova-Scotian Fishes ; By J. Matthew Jones, F.L.S 128

Notes on Some of the More Remarkable Genera of Silurian and De-
vonian Fossils ; By E. Billings, F.G.S 184, 405

Gold Mines and Gold Mining in Nova Scotia ; By H. F. Perley 198

On the Extraction of Copper from its Ores in the Humid Way ; By

Thomas Macfarlane 219, 241

Synopsis of the Fishes of the Gulf of St Lawrence and Bay of

Fundy ; By Professor Theodore Gill, M.A 244

Geological Sketch of the Neighborhood of Rossie ; By Thomas

Macfarlane % 267

A Geographical Sketch of Canada 356

Review of the Northern Buccinums, and Remarks on some other

Northern Marine Mollusks. Part I. By Dr. Wm. Stimpson.. . . 364

A Provisional Catalogue of Canadian Cryptogams 390

Notes on the Meeting of British Association 409

Notice of some New Genera and Species of Palaeozoic Fossils. By

E. Billings, F.G.S 425

The Natural History of the Sanguinaria Canadensis. By George D.

Gibb, M.A., M.D., LL.D., F.G.S 432

Observations on the Drift Phenomena of Labrador. By A. S.

Packard, jr., M.D 441

IV CONTENTS.

Natural History Society. PAG e

Monthly Meetings 73, 77, 299, 310

Annual Conversazione 75

Annual Meeting 300

The President's Address 300

Report of the Council 304

Report of the Scientific Curator 306

Officers for 1865-1866 308

The Canadian Naturalist 309

Treasurer's Report 311

J. F. Whiteaves on the Fossils of the Trenton Limestone 312

British Association.

Across the Reeky Mountains 65

President's Address ; By John Phillips, M.A., LL.D 321

Address to the Geological Section 150

Report of the Committee for Exploring Kent's Cavern 445

Palaeozoic Floras in Eastern North America 452

Report on Luminous Meteors 454

Researches in the Lingula Flags in South Wales 456

Notes on the Structure of the Matterhorn 459

Reviews and Book Notices.

Proceedings of the Portland Society of Natural History 70

Icones Muscorum, by Wm. S. Sullivant 72

Monogram of the Bats of North America ; By H. Allen, M.D 144

Flora of the British West Indian Islands 150

The Conservation of Force ; By E. L. Youmans, M.D 152

Geology of New Brunswick. 232, 314

Catalogue of the Museum at Harvard College 471

Embryology of the Starfish, &c, by Mrs. and A. Agassiz 472

Miscellaneous.

A New American Silkworm 239

Botanical Note 240

Verrill on the Preservation of Starfishes 473

Harvard University Herbarium 473

Entomological Society.

Annual Meeting of Quebec Branch 57

Descriptions of New Species of Canadian Coleoptera 60

Description of a new Species of Alypia 64, 460

Canadian Insect Architecture. By W. Couper, Quebec 461

Obituary Notices.

Captain James N. Gilliss, U.S.N 135

George P. Bond 136

Hugh Falconer, M.D 137

Sir William Hooker 405

Dr. John Lindlev 468

THE

CANADIAN NATURALIST.

SECOND SERIES.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHEMISTRY OF
NATURAL WATERS.

By T. Sterry Hunt, A.M., F.R.S. ; of the Geol. Survey of Canada.

It is proposed to divide this essay into three parts, in the first
of which will be considered some general principles which must
form the basis of a correct chemical history of natural waters.
The second part will embrace a series of chemical analyses of
mineral waters from the paleozoic rocks of the Champlain and St.
Lawrence basins, together with some river-waters ; and the third
part will consist chiefly of deductions and generalizations from
these analyses.

I.

Contents of Sections. — 1, atmospheric waters; 2, 3, results of vege-
table decay ; 4-7, action on rocky sediments ; 8, action on iron-
oxyd; 9, solution of alumina ; 10, reduction of sulphates ; 11, kaol-
inization ; 12, decay of silicates ; 13, origin of carbonate of soda;
14, Bischofs view rejected; 15, 16, porosity of rocks, and their con-
tained saline waters; 17, saliferous strata; 18, action of carbonate
of soda on saline waters; 19, origin of sulphate of magnesia;
20, 21, Mitscherlich's view rejected; 22, 23, salts from evaporating
sea-water, composition of ancient seas, origin of carbonate of lime-
24-27, origin of gypsum, carbonate of magnesia, and dolomite; 28,
waters from oxydized sulphurets ; 29, origin of free sulphuric and
hydrochloric acids ; 30, of bydrosulphuric and boric acids ; 31 of
carbonic acid gas; 32, of ammoniacal salts; 33-35, classification of
mineral waters.

§ 1. The solvent powers of water are such that this liquid is
never met with in nature in a perfectly pure state: even
Vol. II. a No. 1.

2 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

meteoric waters hold in solution, besides nitrogen, oxygen, car-
bonic acid, ammonia, and nitrous compounds, small quantities
of solid matters wbich were previously suspended in the form of
dust in the atmosphere. After falling to the earth, these same
waters become still farther impregnated with foreign elements of
very variable nature, according to the conditions of the surface on
which they fall.

§ 2. Atmospheric waters coming in contact with decaying
vegetable matters at the earth's surface, take from them two
classes of soluble ingredients, organic and inorganic. The waters
of many streams and rivers are colored brown with dissolved
organic matter, and yield, when evaporated to dryness, colored
residues, which carbonize by heat. This organic substance, in
some cases at least, is azotized, and similar, if not identical, in
composition and properties with the apocrenic acid of Berzelius.
The decaying vegetation, at the same time that it yields a portion
of its organic matter in a soluble form, parts with the mineral
or cinereal elements which it had removed from the soil during
life. The salts of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, the silica
and phosphates, which are so essential to the growing plant, are
liberated during the process of decay ; and hence we find these
elements almost wanting in peat and coal. See on this point the
analyses by Vohl of peat, peat-moss, and the soluble matters set
free during its decay. Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., cix, 185,
cited in Rep. Chim. Appliquee, i, 289. Also Liebig, analysis of
bo^-water ; Letters on Modern Agriculture, p. 44 ; and in the
second part of this paper the analysis of the waters of the
Ottawa river.

§ 3. At the same time an important change is effected in the
caseous contents of the atmospheric waters. The oxygen which
they hold in solution is absorbed by the decaying organic matter,
and replaced by carbonic acid ; while any nitrates or nitrites which
may be present are by the same means reduced to the state of
ammonia (Kuhlmann). By thus losing oxygen, and taking up a
readily oxydizable organic matter, these waters become reducing
instead of oxydizing media in their farther progress.

§ 4. We have thus far considered the precipitated atmospheric
waters as remaining at the earth's surface ; but a great portion of
them sooner or later in their course, come upon permeable strata,
by which they are absorbed, and in their subterranean circulation
undergo important changes. The effect of ordinary argillaceous

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 3

strata destitute of neutral soluble salts may be first examined.
Between such sedimentary strata and the waters charged with
organic and mineral matters from decaying vegetation, there
are important reactions. The composition of these waters is
peculiar. They contain, relatively to the sodium, a large amount of
potassium salts, besides notable quantities of silica and phosphates,
in addition to the dissolved organic matters and the earthy carbo-
nates, and in some cases ammoniacal salts and nitrates or nitrites.
The sulphuric acid and chlorine are moreover not sufficient to
neutralize the alkalies, which are perhaps in part combined with
silica or with an organic acid.

§ 5. The experiments of Way, Voelcker, and others have shown
that when such waters are brought into contact with argillaceous
sediments, they part with their potash, ammonia, silica, and
phosphoric acid and organic matter, which remain in combination
with the soil ; while, under ordinary conditions at least, neither
soda, lime, magnesia, sulphuric acid, nor chlorine are retained.
This power of the soil appears from the experiments of Eichhorn
to be in part due to the action of hydrated double aluminous
silicates ; and the process is one of double exchange, an equivalent
of lime or soda being given up for the potash and ammonia
retained. The phosphates are probably retained in combination
with alumina or peroxyd of iron ; and the silica and organic
matters also enter into insoluble combinations. It follows from
these reactions that the surface-waters charged with the
products of vegetable decay, after having been brought in
contact with argillaceous sediments, retain little else than sul-
phates, chlorids, or carbonates of soda, lime, and magnesia.
In this way the mineral matters required for the growth of
plants, and by them removed from the soil, are again restored
to it; and from this reaction results the small proportion
of potash salts in the waters of Ordinary springs and wells as
compared with river-waters. From the waters of rivers, lakes,
and seas, aquatic plants again take up the dissolved potash, phos-
phates, and silica ; and the subsequent decay of these plants in
contact with the ooze of the bottom, or on the shores, again restores
these elements to the earth. See a remarkable essay by Forch-
hammer on the composition of fucoids, and their geological rela-
tions, Jour, fur Prakt. Chem., xxxvi, 388.

§ 6. The observations of Eichhorn upon the reaction between
solutions of chlorids and pulverized chabazite, which, as a hydrated

4 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

silicate of alumina and lime, may perhaps be taken as a represen-
tative of the hydrous double silicates in the soil, show that these
substitutions of protoxyd bases are neither complete nor absolute.
It would appear, on the contrary, that there takes place a partial
exchange or a partition of bases according to their respective affini-
ties. Thus the normal chabazite, in presence of a solution of
chlorid of sodium exchanges a large portion of its lime for soda ; but
if the resulting soda-compound be placed in a solution of chlorid of
calcium, an inverse substitution takes place, and a portion of lime
enters again into the silicate, replacing an equivalent of soda;
while, by the action of a solution of chlorid of potassium,
both lime and soda are, to a large extent, replaced by potash.
In like manner, chabazite, in which, by the action of a solu-
tion of sal-ammoniac, a part of the lime has been replaced by
ammonia, will give up a portion of the ammonia, not only
to solutions of chlorids of potassium and sodium, but even
to chlorid of calcium. It results from these mutual decom-
positions that there is a point where a chabazite containing
both lime and soda, or lime and ammonia, would remain un-
changed in mixed solutions of the corresponding chlorids, the
affinities of the rival bases being balanced.* Inasmuch, however,
as the proportions of ammonia and potash in natural waters
are usually small when compared with the amounts of lime
and soda existing in the form of hydro-silicates in the soil,
the result of these affinities is an almost complete elimination of
the ammonia and potash from infiltrating waters.

§ 7. That the replacement of one base by another in this way is
not complete is shown moreover by the experiments of Liebig, De-
herain and others, who have observed that a solution of gypsum
removes from soils a certain amount of potash-salt, which was insol-
uble in pure water. In this way gypseous waters may also acquire
portions of sulphate of soda, and perhaps of sulphate of magnesia,
from silicates.

It is not certain that all the above reactions observed for chaba-
zite are applicable without modification to the double hydro-alu-
minous silicates of sedimentary strata. Were such the case, impor-
tant changes might, in certain conditions, be effected in the com-
position of saline waters. Thus in presence of a great amount
of a hydrous silicate of lime and alumina, solutions of chlorid of

* Silliman's Journal [2] xxviii, 12.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 5

sodium might acquire a considerable amount of chlorid of calcium ;
but it is probable that these reactions, however important they may
be in relation to the soil, and to surface-waters with their feeble
saline impregnation, have at present but little influence on the
composition of the stronger saline waters. It is however not
impossible that the action of the ancient sea-waters, holding a
large amount of chlorid of calcium, upon the hydrated and half-
decomposed feldspars which constituted the clays of the period, may
have given rise to those double silicates which formed the lime-
soda feldspars so abundant in the Labrador series.

§ 8. The reactions just described assume an importance in the
case of waters impregnated with soluble matters from vegetable de-
cay ; and in this event, another and not less important class of phe-
nomena intervenes, which are due to the deoxydizing power of the
dissolved organic matter. By the action of this upon the insoluble
peroxyd of iron set free from the decomposition of ferruginous
minerals and disseminated in the sediments, protoxyd of iron is
formed, which is soluble both in carbonic acid, and in the excess
of the organic (acid) matter. By this means not only are great
quantities of iron dissolved, but masses of sediments are sometimes
entirely deprived of iron-oxyd, and thus beds of white clay and
sand are formed. The waters thus charged with proto-salts of iron
absorb oxygen when exposed to the air, and then deposit the
metal as hydrated peroxyd, which when the organic matter is in
excess, carries down a greater or less proportion of it in combina-
tion. Such organic matters are rarely absent from limonite, and
in some specimens of ochre amount to as much as fifteen per cent.*
The conditions under which hydrous peroxyd of manganese is
often found are very similar to those of hydrous peroxyd of iron
with which it is so frequently associated ; and there is little doubt
that oxyd of manganese may be dissolved by a process like that
just pointed out. A portion or manganese has been observed in
the soluble matters from decaying peat-moss ; and it seems to be
generally present in small quantities with iron in surface-waters.

§ 9. There is reason to believe that alumina is also, under cer-
tain conditions, dissolved by waters holding organic acids. The
existence of pigotite, a native compound of alumina with an
organic acid, and the occasional association of gibbsite with lim-
onite, point to such a reaction. That it is not more abundant in

* Geology of Canada, p. 512.

6 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

solution, is due to the fact, that, unlike most other metallic oxyds,
alumina, instead of being separated in a free state by the slow
decomposition of its silicious compounds, remains in combination
with silica. The formation of bauxite, a mixture of hydrate of
alumina with variable proportions of hydrous peroxyd of iron, which
forms extensive beds in the tertiary sediments of the great Medi-
terranean basin, indicates a solution of alumina on a grand scale,
and perhaps owes its origin to the decomposition of solutions of
native alum by alkaline or earthy carbonates. Emery, a crystalline
anhydrous form of alumina, has doubtless been formed in a similar
manner. Silliman's Journal [2] xxxii, 287. The existence in
many localities of an insoluble sub-sulphate of alumina, websterite,
in layers and concretionary masses in tertiary clays, evidently
points to such a process. Compounds consisting chiefly of hydrated
alumina, are frequently found in fissures of the chalk in England.
On the absence of free hydrated alumina from soils, see Miiller,
cited in Silliman's Journal [2] xxxv, 292.

§ 10. The organic matter dissolved by the surface-waters serves
to reduce to the condition of sulphurets the various soluble
sulphates which it takes up at the same time or meets with in its
course. These sulphurets, decomposed by carbonic acid, which is
in part derived from the atmosphere, and in part from the oxyda-
tion of the carbon of the organic matter, give rise to alkaline and
earthy carbonates on the one hand, and to sulphuretted hydrogen
on the other. In this way, under the influence of a somewhat
elevated temperature, are generated sulphurous waters, whether of
subterranean springs, or of tropical sea-marshes and lagoons. The
reaction between the sulphurets thus formed and the salts or
oxyds of iron, copper, and similar metals which may be present,
gives rise to metallic sulphurets. The decomposition of sulphur-
etted hydrogen by the oxygen of the air, produces native sul-
phur ; with which are generally found associated sulphates of lime
and strontia. By virtue of these reactions, soluble sulphates of
lime and magnesia may be completely eliminated from waters,. the
bases as insoluble carbonates, and the sulphur as sulphuretted hy-
drogen, free sulphur, or a metallic sulphuret. Moreover, as Forch-
hammer has pointed out in the paper already cited, sulphuret of
potassium in the presence of ferruginous clays is also completely
separated from solution, the sulphur as sulphuret of iron, and the
alkali as a double aluminous silicate.

§ 11. We have thus far considered the composition of surface-

1865.] CHEMISTRY OP NATURAL WATERS. 7

waters as modified by the decay of vegetation, or by the reactions
between the matters derived from this source and the permeated
sediments. Not less important however than the elements thus
removed by substitution from sedimentary strata are those which are
liberated by the slow decomposition of the minerals composing
these sediments.

It has long been known that in the transformation of a feldspar
into kaolin, the double silicate of alumina and alkali takes up a
portion of water, and is resolved into a hydrous silicate of alumina ;
while the alkali, together with a definite portion of silica, is separ-
ated in a soluble state. The feldspar, an anhydrous double salt
formed at an elevated temperature, has a tendency under certain con-
ditions to combine at a lower temperature with a portion of water,
and break up into two simpler silicates. Daubree has moreover
shown that when kaolin is exposed to a heat of 400° C. in
presence of a soluble silicate of potash, the two silicates unite and
regenerate feldspar. These reactions are completely analogous to
those presented by very many other double salts, ethers, amides,
and similar compounds. The preliminary conditions of this con-
version of feldspar into kaolin and a soluble alkaline silicate, how-
ever, still require investigation. It is known that while some
feldspathic rocks appear almost unalterable, others containing the
same species of feldspar are found converted .to a depth of many
feet from the surface into kaolin. This chemical alteration, ac-
cording to Fournet, is always preceded by a mechanical change
of the feldspar, which first becomes opaque and friable, and is thus
rendered permeable to water. He conceives this alteration to be
molecular, and to be connected with the passage of the silicate into
a dimorphous or allotropic condition.*

§ 12. The researches of Ebelman on the alterations of various
rocks and minerals have thrown considerable light on the relations
of sediments and natural waters, f From the analyses of basaltic and
similar rocks, which include silicates of lime, magnesia, iron, and
manganese in the forms of pyroxene, hornblende, and olivine, and
which undergo a slow and superficial decomposition under atmos-
pheric influences, it appears that during the process of decay the
greater part of the lime and magnesia is removed, together with a
large proportion of silica. It was found moreover that in the case

* Annales de Chimie [2] lv. 225.

f Ebelman, Recueil des Travaux, ii, 1-79.

8 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Fek

of a rock apparently composed of labradorite and pyroxene, the
removal of the lime and magnesia from the decomposed portion
was much more complete than that of the alkalies ; showing thus
the comparatively greater stability of the feldspathic element.
The decomposition of the feldspar in these mixed rocks is however
at length effected, and the final result approximates to a hydrous
silicate of alumina, or clay. This slow decomposition of silicates
of protoxyd-bases appears to be due to the action of carbonic acid,
which removing the lime and magnesia as carbonates, liberates
the silica in a soluble form ; while the iron and manganese passing
to a state of higher oxydation, remain behind, unless the action of
organic matters intervenes to give them solubility.

§ 13. It is to be remarked that apart from the peculiar and
complete decomposition resulting in the production of kaolin, to
which orthoclase, oligoclase, and some other feldspathides, as leucite,
beryl, and perhaps also the scapolites and albite, are occasionally
subject, orthoclase is less liable to change than the soda-feldspars,
albite, oligoclase, and labradorite. Weathered surfaces of these
become covered with a thin, soft, white, and opaque crust
from decomposition, while the surfaces of orthoclase under similar
conditions still preserve their hardness and translucency. The de-
composition of feldspathides, and other aluminous double silicates,
whether rapid and complete, or slow and partial, apparently yields
the same results. A gradual process of this kind is constantly
going on in the feldspathic matters which form a large proportion
of the mechanical sediments of all formations ; and in deeply
buried strata is not improbably accelerated by the elevation of
temperature. The soluble alkaline silicate resulting from this
process is in most cases decomposed by carbonates of lime and
magnesia in the sediments, giving rise to silicates of these bases
(which are for the greater part separated in an insoluble state),
and to carbonate of soda. Only in rare cases does potash appear
in large proportion among the soluble salts thus liberated from
sediments, partly because soda-feldspars are more subject to change,
and partly from the fact that potash-salts would be separated
from the percolating waters in virtue of the reactions mentioned
in § 5. Hence it happens that apart from the neutral soda-
salts of extraneous origin, waters permeating sediments containing
alkaliferous silicates, generally bring to the surface little more
than soda combined with carbonic and sometimes with boric
acid, and carbonates of lime and magnesia with small portions
of silica.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 9"

§ 14. This explanation of the decomposition of alkaliferous sili-
cates and of the origin of carbonate of soda is opposed to the view
of Bischof, who conceives that carbonic acid is the chief agent in
decomposing feldspathic minerals.* The solvent action of waters
charged with carbonic acid is undoubted, as shown by various
experimenters, especially by the Messrs. Rogers,f but this acid is
not always present in the quantities required. The proportion of
it in atmospheric waters is so inadequate that it becomes necessary
to suppose some subterranean source of the gas, which is by no
means a constant accompaniment of natron-springs. A copious
evolution of carbonic acid is observed in the vicinity of the lake
of Laach, where the alkaline waters studied by Bischof occur. J
The same thing is met with in many other localities of such springs,
among which may be mentioned the region around Saratoga, where
saline waters containing carbonate of soda, and highly charged
with carbonic acid, rise in abundance from the Lower Silurian
strata ; but further northward, along the valleys of Lake Cham-
plain and the St. Lawrence, similar alkaline-saline waters, which
abound in the continuation of the same geological formations,
are not at all acidulous. From this the conclusion seems justifiable
that the production of carbonate of soda is a process, in some cases
at least, independent of the presence of free carbonic acid. In this
connection, it is well to recall the solvent power of pure water on
alkaliferous silicates, as shown more especially by Bunsen, and also
by Damour, who found that distilled water at temperatures much
below 212° takes up from silicates like palagonite and calcined
mesotype, comparatively large amounts both of silica and alkalies.
(Damour, Ann. Chim. et Phys. [3] xix, 481.)

§ 15. Another and an important source of mineral impregnation
to waters exists in the soluble salts enclosed in sedimentary strata,
both in the solid state and in aqueous solution, and for the most
part of marine origin. In order to form some conception of the
amount of saline matters which may be contained in a dissolved
state in the rocky strata of the earth, we have made numerous
experiments to determine the porosity of various rocks; some
few of the results of which may here be noticed. Fragments of
the rocks were dried at a heat of 150° to 200° F., in a current of

* Bischof, Chem. Geol. ii, 181. t Silliman's Journal [2] v, 401.

J Bischof, Lehrbuch, i, 357-363.

10 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

dry air until they ceased to lose weight. They were then soaked
in distilled water, and kept under it for many hours beneath an
exhausted receiver. When thus saturated, they were wiped from
adhering water, and weighed ; first in air to determine the aug-
mentation of weight from absorption, and secondly, in water to
give, by the loss in weight, the volume of the specimens. These
data furnish the means of determining the volume of water ab-
sorbed, which is given below for 100.00 parts of different rocks
from the paleozoic strata of the St. Lawrence basin.

Potsdam formation, (sandstone) 3 specimens.. 2.26 2.71

" " " 3 " 6.94—9.35

Calciferous " (crys. dolomite) 4 " 1.89 — 2.53

" " " " 2 " 5.90— 7.22

Chazy " (argil, limestone) 4 " 6.45-13.55

Trenton " (grey crys. ") 4 " 1.18—1.70

" " (black impalp. " ) 2 " 0.30 — 0.32

Utica li (black shale) 3 u 0.75 — 2.10

Hudson River " (arenac. " ) — 7.94

Medina " (argil, sandstone) 2 specimens. .8.37-10.06

Guelph " (crys. dolomite) 3 " .... 9.34-10.60

Niagara " (impalp. " ) 2 " .... 9.69-10.92

The above data might be much more extended, but sufficient
have been given to show the porosity of the principal paleozoic
rocks of the basin. *

§ 16. If we take for the Potsdam sandstone the mean of the first
three trials, giving 25 per cent for the volume of water which it
is capable of holding in its pores, we find that a thickness of 100
feet of it would contain in every square mile, in round numbers,
70,000,000 cubic feet of water; an amount which would supply
a cubic foot (over seven gallons) a minute for more than thirteen
years. The observed thickness of the Potsdam sandstone in
the district of Montreal, varies from 200 to 700 feet, and the
mean of 500 feet may be taken. To this are to be added 300
feet for the Calciferous formation, whose capacity for water may
be taken, like the Potsdam sandstone, at 2*5 per cent. We have
thus in each square mile of these formations, wherever they lie
below the water-level, a volume of 490,000,000 cubic feet of
water, equal to a supply of a cubic foot per minute for 106 years.

* A great many similar determinations will be found in a Report on
Building Stones to the British House of Commons in 1839, by Barry,
JDelabeche, and Smith. See also Delesse, Bui. Soc. Geol. [2] xix, 64.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 11

The capacity of the 800 feet of Chazy and Trenton limestones
which succeed these lower formations, may be fairly taken at
one half that of those just named. But it is unnecessary to
multiply such calculations: enough has been said to show that
these sedimentary strata include in their pores great quantities
of water, which was originally that of the ocean of the paleozoic
age. These strata throughout the great Silurian basin of the
St. Lawrence, are now for the greater part beneath the sea-level ;
nor is there any good reason for supposing them to have ever
been elevated much above their present horizon. Wells and
borings sunk in various places in these rocks show them to be still
filled with bitter saline waters ; but in regions where these rocks
are inclined and dislocated, surface-waters gradually replace these
saline waters, which in a mixed and diluted state appear as
mineral springs. These saline solutions, other things being equal,
will be better preserved in limestones or argillaceous rocks than in
the more porous and permeable sandstones.

§ 17. But besides the saline matters thus disseminated in a dis-
solved state in ordinary sedimentary rocks, there are great volumes
of saliferous strata, properly so called, charged with the results of the
evaporation of ancient sea-basins. These strata enclose not only gyp-
sum and rock-salt, but in some regions large quantities of the double
chlorid of potassium and magnesium, carnallite; and in others
sulphate of soda, sulphate of magnesia, and complex sulphates
like blodite and polyhallite. Besides these crystalline salts, the
mother liquors containing the more soluble and uncrystallizable
compounds, may also be supposed to impregnate, in some cases, the
sediments of these saliferous formations. The conditions under
which these various salts are deposited from sea-water, and their
relations to the composition of the ocean in earlier geological
periods, are reserved for consideration in § 22. Infiltrating waters
remove from these saliferous strata their soluble ingredients;
which, together with the ancient sea-waters of other sedimentary
rocks, give rise to the various neutral saline waters ; while the
mingling of these in various proportions with the alkaline waters
whose origin has been described in § 13, produces intermediate
classes of waters of much interest.

§ 18. I have elsewhere described the results of a series
of experiments on the mutual action of the waters of these two
classes.* When a dilute solution of bicarbonate of soda is gradu-

Silliman's Journal [2] xxviii, 170.

12 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

ally added to a solution which, like sea-water, contains besides
chlorid of sodium, the chlorids and sulphates of calcium and mag-
nesium, the greater part of the lime separates as carbonate, carry-
ing down with it only from one to three hundredths of carbo-
nate of magnesia ; a portion of lime however remaining in solution
as bicarbonate. When the chlorid of calcium is wholly decom-
posed, the magnesian salt is attacked in its turn, and there finally
results a solution in which the whole of the earthy chlorids are
replaced by chlorid of sodium. A farther addition of the solution
of carbonate of soda gives them the character of alkaline-saline
waters ; which moreover contain abundance of earthy carbonates.

The substitution of neutral carbonate for bicarbonate of soda in
the above experiment does not affect the result, except in causing
a somewhat larger proportion of magnesia to be thrown down with
the carbonate of lime. The resulting liquid still retains large
quantities of earthy carbonates in solution.*

§ 19. In the saline waters just considered, chlorids generally
predominate, the sulphates being small in amount, and often
altogether wanting. Some exceptions to this are however met
with; for apart from waters impregnated with gypsum, whose
origin is readily understood, there are others in which sulphate of
soda or sulphate of magnesia enter largely. The soda-salt may
sometimes be formed by the reaction between solution of gypsum
and natriferous silicates referred to in g 7, or by the decompo-
sition of gypsum by solution of carbonate of soda ; while in other
cases its origin will probably be found in the natural deposits of
sulphates, such as glauberite, thenardite, and glauber-salt, which
occur in saliferous rocks. A similar origin is probable for many of
those springs in which sulphate of magnesia predominates. This
salt also effloresces abundantly in a nearly pure form upon certain
limestones, and is in some cases due to the action of sulphates
from decomposing pyrites upon magnesian carbonate or silicate
In by far the greater number of cases, however, its appearance is
unconnected with any such process ; and is, according to Mits-
cherlich, due to a reaction between dolomite and dissolved gypsum.

§ 20. In support of this view, it was found by the chemist just
named that when a solution of sulphate of lime was made to filter
for some time through pulverized magnesian limestone, it was de-
composed with the formation of carbonate of lime and sulphate of

* Geol. Survey of Canada, Report 1853-56, p. 468.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 13

magnesia. This reaction I have been unable to verify. A solu-
tion of gypsum in distilled water was made to percolate slowly
through a column of several inches of finely powdered dolomite,
and after ten nitrations, occupying as many days, no perceptible
amount of sulphate of magnesia had been formed. Solutions of
gypsum were then digested for many months with pulverized
dolomite, and also with crystalline carbonate of magnesia, but with
similar negative results ; nor did the substitution of a solution of
chlorid of calcium lead to the formation of any soluble magnesian
salt. Solutions of gypsum were then impregnated with carbonic
acid, and allowed to remain in contact with pulverized dolomite
and with magnesite, as before, during six months of the warm
season, when only inappreciable traces of magnesia were taken
into solution. These experiments show that no decomposition of
dissolved gypsum is effected by native carbonate of magnesia, or
by the double carbonate of lime and magnesia, at ordinary tem-
perature.

§ 21. I find however that hydrated carbonate of magnesia readily
and completely decomposes a solution of gypsum when agitated with
it, with formation of carbonate of lime and sulphate of magnesia ;
and the same result is produced with the native hydrate of mag-
nesia when mingled with a solution of gypsum in presence of car-
bonic acid. Now there may be dolomites which contain an admix-
ture of hydro-carbonate of magnesia, as there certainly are others
which like predazzite, are penetrated with hydrate of magnesia.
The reaction between solutions of gypsum and such magnesian
limestones, (with the intervention, in the case of predazzite, of
atmospheric carbonic acid,) would suffice to explain the results
obtained by Mitscherlich, and the appearance in certain cases of
sulphate of magnesia as an efflorescence on dolomites. In the
experiments above described, the nearly pure crystalline dolomites
from the Guelph and Niagara formations were made use of.

§ 22. When sea-water is exposed to spontaneous evaporation, the
whole of the lime which it contains separates in the form of sulphate,
gypsum being insoluble in a concentrated brine, and subsequently
the greater portion of the chlorid of sodium crystallises out in a
nearly pure state. The mother-liquor of specific gravity 1.24,
having lost about four fifths of its chlorid of sodium, still contains a
arge proportion of sulphate of magnesia. If the evaporation is
continued at the ordinary temperature, till a density of 1.32 is
attained, about one half of the magnesian sulphate separates, mixed

14 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

with common salt ; and by reducing the temperature to 6° C.,.
a large portion of pure sulphate of magnesia now crystallizes
out. The farther evaporation of the remaining liquor by the heat
of summer causes the potassium-salt to separate in the form
of a hydrous double chlorid of potassium and magnesium, an
artificial carnallite.*

By varying somewhat the conditions of temperature, the sulphate
of magnesia and the chlorid of sodium of the mother-liquor undergo
mutual decomposition, with the production of sulphate of soda
and chlorid of magnesium. Hydrated sulphate of soda crystallizes
out from such a mixed solution at 0° C, and by reducing the
temperature to — 18° C. the greater part of the sulphates may be
separated in this form from the mother-liquor of 1.24, previously
diluted with one tenth of water ; without which addition a mix-
ture of hydrated chlorid of sodium would separate at the same
time. If, on the other hand, the temperature of the mixed solu-
tion be raised above 50° C, the sulphate of soda crystallizes out in
the anhydrous form, as thenardite. By the spontaneous evapora-
tion during the heats of summer of the mother-liquors of density
1.35, a double sulphate of potassium and magnesium separates.
These reactions are taken advantage of on a great scale in Balard's
process, as modified by Merle, f for extracting salts from sea-water.

§ 23. The results of the evaporation of sea-water would however
be widely different if an excess of lime-salt were present. In this
case the whole of the sulphates present would be deposited in the
form of gypsum at an early stage of the evaporation, and the
mother-liquor, after the separation of the greater part of the
common salt, would contain little else than the chlorids of sodium,
potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

* The hydrous double chlorid of potassium and magnesium (carnal-
lite of H. Rose) occurs in large quantities in a stratum of clay overlying
a great bed of rock-salt 100 feet thick, at Stassfurth in Prussia. It is
associated with considerable quantities of sulphate of magnesia.
According to Clemm, this sulphate of magnesia, to which the name of
kieserite has been given, and which occurs also in Anhalt, contains but
one equivalent of water, (MgO,S0 3 +HO). It is not more soluble
than gypsum, and unlike the ordinary sulphate of magnesia, loses
the whole of its acid at a red heat in a current of steam, the acid
passing off undecomposed. This salt is found in such large quantities
as to be of economic importance. (Bull, Soc. Chim. de Paris, 1864, p. 297.)

f See my paper in Silliman's Journal [2] xxv. 361 ; also Report of
the Juries of the Exhibition of 1862, class ii, p. 48.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 15

§ 24. A consideration of the conditions of the ocean in earlier
geological periods will show that it must have contained a much
larger quantity of lime-salts than at present. The alkaline car-
bonates, whose origin has been described in § 13, and which from
the earliest times have been flowing into the sea, have gradually
modified the composition of its waters, separating the lime as car-
bonate, and thus replacing the chlorid of calcium by chlorid of
sodium, as I have long since pointed out.* This reaction has
doubtless been the source of all the carbonate of lime in the earth's
crust, if we except that derived from the decomposition of
calcareous silicates. (§ 1 2). In this decomposition by carbonate of
soda, as already described in § 18, it results from the incompati-
bility of chlorid of calcium with hydrous carbonate of magnesia,
that the lime is first precipitated, with a little adhering carbonate
of magnesia ; and it is only when the chlorid of calcium is all
decomposed that the magnesian chlorid is transformed into car-
bonate of magnesia. This latter reaction can consequently take
place only in limited basins, or in portions cut off from the
oceanic circulation.

§ 25. It follows from what has been said that the lime-salt may
be eliminated from sea-water either as sulphate or as carbonate.
In the latter case no concentration is required ; while in the
former the conditions are two, — a sufficient proportion of sulphates
to convert the whole of the lime into gypsum, and such a degree
of concentration of the water as to render this insoluble. These
conditions meet in the evaporation of modern sea-water ; but the
evaporated sea-water of earlier periods, with its great predomi-
nance of lime-salts, would still contain large amounts of chlorid
of calcium ; the insolubility of gypsum in this case serving to
eliminate all the sulphates from the mother-liquor. Evaporation
alone would not suffice to remove the whole of the lime-salts
from waters in which the calcium present was more than equiv-
alent to the sulphuric acid; but the intervention of carbonate
of soda would be required.

§ 26. In concentrated and evaporating waters freed from lime-
salts by either of the reactions just mentioned, but still holding
sulphate of magnesia, another process, which I have elsewhere
described, may intervene. f The addition of a solution of bicarbon-

* Canadian Journal for 1858, p. 202 ; Silliman's Journal [2] xxv, 102,
and Comptes Rendus, June 9, 1862, p. 1191.

f Silliman's Journal [2] xxviii, 174.

16 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

ate of lime to such a solution gives rise, by double decomposition,
to sulphate of lime and bicarbonate of magnesia. The former being
much the less soluble salt, especially in a strongly saline liquid, is
deposited as gypsum ; and subsequently the magnesian carbonate
is precipitated in a hydrous form. The effect of this reaction is
to eliminate from the sea-water both the sulphuric acid and the
magnesia, without the permanent addition to it of any foreign
element.

§ 27. Gypsum may thus be separated from sea-water by
two distinct processes, — the one a reaction between sulphate of
magnesia and chlorid of calcium, and the other between the same
sulphate' and carbonate of lime. The latter, involving a separation
of bicarbonate of magnesia, can, as we have seen, only take place
when the whole of the chlorid of calcium has been eliminated ; and
if we suppose the ancient ocean, unlike the present, to have con-
tained more than an equivalent of lime for each equivalent of
sulphuric acid, it is evident that a lake or basin of sea-water free
from lime-salts could only have been produced by the intervention
of carbonate of soda. The action of this must have eliminated the
whole of the lime as carbonate, or at least have so far reduced the
amount of this base that the sulphates present would be
sufficient to separate the remainder by evaporation in the form
of gypsum, and still leave in the mother-liquor a quantity of sul-
phate of magnesia for reaction with bicarbonate of lime.

The source of the magnesian carbonate, whose union, under
certain conditions, with the carbonate of lime, gives rise to dolo-
mite,* may thus be due either to the reaction just described be-
tween bicarbonate of lime and solutions holding sulphate of mag-
nesia, or to the direct action of carbonate of soda upon waters
containing magnesian salts ; but in either case the previous elimi-
nation of the incompatible chlorid of calcium must be con-
sidered an indispensable preliminary to the production of the
magnesian carbonate.

§ 28. To the three principal sources of mineral matters in
mineral waters already enumerated, viz., decaying organic matters,
decomposing silicates, and the soluble saline matters in rocks, a few
other minor ones must be added. One of these is the oxydation of
metallic sulphurets, chiefly iron pyrites, giving rise to sulphate of

* Silliman's Journal [2] xxviii, 180-186 ; and further, Geol. Survey
of Canada, Report for 1859, 214-218.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 17

iron, and more rarely to sulphates of copper, zinc, cobalt, and nickel ;
and by secondary reactions to sulphates of alumina, lime, mag-
nesia, and alkalies. This process of oxydation is necessarily super-
ficial and local, but the soluble sulphates thus formed have probably
played a not unimportant part. (§9.)

§ 29. Besides these last, which contain chiefly neutral and acid
salts, there is another class of waters characterized by the presence
of free sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, or both together. These acid
waters sometimes occur as products of volcanic action, during which
both hydrochloric acid and sulphur are often evolved in large quan-
tities. This latter element generally comes to the surface as sul-
phuretted hydrogen, which by the oxydation of the hydrogen may
deposit its sulphur in craters and fissures. In other cases, as
shown by Dumas, the sulphur and hydrogen may be slowly and
simultaneously oxydized at a low temperature, giving rise directly
to sulphuric acid. Not less frequent, however, is probably the
direct conversion, by combustion, of the sulphuretted hydrogen
into water and sulphurous acid, which afterwards absorbing
oxygen from the air is converted into sulphuric acid.

§ 30. The source of the hydrochloric acid and the sulphur of vol-
canoes is probably the decomposition of chlorids and sulphates at
high temperatures. It is known that for the decomposition of
earthy chlorids, water and an elevated temperature are sufficient ;
and at a higher temperature, chlorid of sodium is readily decom-
posed in presence of silicious and aluminous minerals, with the
intervention of water. Another agency which probably comes
into play in volcanic phenomena is that of organic matters
which, reducing the sulphates to sulphurets, enable the sulphur to
be subsequently disengaged as sulphuretted hydrogen by the
operation of water, either with or without the intervention of
carbonic acid or of silicious and argillaceous matters. Even in cases
where this reducing action is excluded, the ignition of sulphates in
contact with earthy matters must liberate the sulphuric acid as a
mixture of sulphurous acid and oxygen; and these uniting in
their distillation upward through the strata, may give rise to
springs of sulphuric acid.* To reactions similar to those just
noticed, involving borates like stassfurthite and hayesine, or
boric silicates like tourmaline, etc., are to be ascribed the large
amounts of boric acid which are sublimed in some volcanoes, or
volatilized with the watery vapor of the Tuscan suffioni.

* See the note to § 22, on kieserite.
Vol. II. b No. 1.

18 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

§ 31. The action of subterranean heat upon buried strata con-
taining sulphates and chlorids is then sufficient to explain the appear-
ance of hydrochloric and sulphurous acids and sulphur, even without
the intervention of organic matters, which are, however, seldom or
never wanting ; whether as coal, lignite, bitumen, and pyro-schists, or
in a more divided condition. The presence of hydrogen and of marsh-
gas, as observed by Deville among volcanic products, is an evidence
of this. The generation of marsh-gas is, however, in most cases
clearly unconnected with volcanic action or subterranean heat.

To the decomposition of carbonates in buried strata by silicious
matters, with the aid of heat, is to be ascribed the great amounts
of carbonic acid gas which are in many places evolved from the
earth, and, impregnating the infiltrating waters, give rise to acidu-
lous springs. The principal sources of this gas in Europe are in
regions adjoining volcanoes, either active or recently extinct ; but
their occurrence in the paleozoic strata of the United States, far
remote from any evidence of volcanic phenomena other than
slightly thermal springs, shows that an action too gentle or too
deeply-seated to manifest itself in igneous eruptions, may evolve
carbonic acid abundantly. The sulphuric acid springs of western
New York and Canada, to be described further on, are not less
remarkable illustrations of the same fact.

§ 32. The frequent presence of ammoniacal salts in volcanic
exhalations is here worthy of notice, especially when considered in
connection with the rarity of nitric and ammoniacal com-
pounds in natural waters, except in some local conditions, as in
the wells of cities, etc., where they are sometimes observed in
comparatively large amounts. The explanation of this is evident;
for although nitrates themselves are not directly removed from
the water, they are, by the reducing action of organic matters,
converted into ammonia, which is retained by the soil. In con-
sequence of this affinity, the argillaceous strata, whether of the
present period or of older formations, hold in a very fixed form a
considerable quantity of nitrogen. This, from the slowness with
which it is eliminated in the form of ammonia under the influence
of alkaline solutions, probably exists as an ammoniacal silicate.
(§6.) The action of acids, however, as well as alkalies, may be
supposed to liberate it from its combination, and thus generate
the ammoniacal salts which are such frequent accompaniments of
volcanic phenomena. The numerous experiments of Delesse show
that ammonia, or at least nitrogen capable of being evolved by

1865.] CHEMISTRY OP NATURAL WATERS. 19

heat and alkalies in the form of ammonia, is present in the lime-
stones, marls, argil lites, and sandstones of former geological
periods, in qualities scarcely inferior to those in similar deposits of
modern times, amounting, for most of the ancient sedimentary
strata, to from one to five thousands of nitrogen ;* from which it
will be seen that the amount of this element thus retained in the
rocky strata of the earth's crust is very great.f

§ 33. If we attempt a chemical classification of natural waters
in accordance with the principles laid down in the preceding sec-
tions, they may be considered under the following heads :

A. Atmospheric waters.

B. Waters impregnated with the soluble products of vegetable

decay.

C. Waters impregnated with the salts from decomposing feld-

spathic rocks, and holding a portion of carbonate of soda
as a characteristic ingredient.
J). Waters holding neutral salts of sodium, calcium, or magne-
sium from strata where they existed as solid salts, or as
impregnating brines.

E. Waters holding chiefly sulphates from decomposing pyrites;

copperas and alum waters.

F. Waters holding free sulphuric or hydrochloric acid.

§ 34. The name of mineral waters is popularly applied only to
such as contain sufficient foreign matters to give them a decided
taste; and hence the waters of the divisions A and B, and many of
the feebler ones of C and D, are excluded. Those of E and F
have peculiar local sources ; but those of C and D are often asso-
ciated in adjacent geological formations, and their commingling
in various proportions gives rise to mineral waters intermediate in
composition. In accordance with these considerations, a classifica-
tion of mineral waters for technical purposes was adopted by me
in the Geology of Canada, p. 531, including only those of C, D,
and F, which were arranged in six classes.

I. Saline waters containing chlorid of sodium, often with large
portions of chlorids of calcium and magnesium, with or

* Ann. des Mines [5], xviii, 151-523.

t For an exposition of the views put forward in the four preceding
sections, see my paper in the Canadian Journal for 1858, p. 206.

I

20 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

without sulphates. The carbonates of lime and magnesia
are either wanting, or present only in small quantities.
These waters are generally bitter to the taste, and may be
designated as brines or bitterns.

II. Saline waters which differ from the last in containing, besides
the chlorids just mentioned, considerable quantities of
carbonates of lime and magnesia. These waters generally
contain much smaller proportions of earthy chlorids than
the first class, and are hence less bitter to the taste.

III. Saline waters which contain, besides chlorid of sodium and
the carbonates of lime and magnesia, a portion of car-
bonate of soda.

IV. Waters which differ from the last in containing but a small
proportion of chlorid of sodium, and in which the carbon-
ate of soda predominates. The waters of this class gener-
ally contain much less solid matter than the three previous
classes, and have not a very marked taste until evaporated
to a small volume, when they will be found, like the last, to
be strongly alkaline.

Of these four classes, I corresponds to the division D, and
IV to C, while II and III are regarded as resulting from
the admixture of these in varying proportions. Sulphates are
sometimes present in these waters, but never predominate ; in
their absence, salts of barium and strontium are often met with.
The chlorids are generally, if not always, associated with bromids
and iodids. Small quantities of potassium-salts are also present,
while borates, phosphates, silicates, and small portions of iron,
manganese, and alumina, are generally present. These various
waters are occasionally sulphurous, and those of the last three
classes may be impregnated with carbonic acid.

V. The fifth class includes acid waters remarkable for containing
a large proportion of free sulphuric acid, with sulphates of
lime, magnesia, portions of iron, and alumina. These
waters, which are characterized by their sour and styptic
taste, generally contain some sulphuretted hydrogen.
VI. The sixth class includes some neutral saline waters, in which
the sulphates of lime, magnesia, and the alkalies predomi-
nate, chlorids being present only in small quantities.
These waters, like the last, are often impregnated with
sulphuretted hydrogen.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 21

The above classification, although adopted originally for the
convenient description of the mineral waters of Canada, will, it is
thought, be found to embrace all known classes of natural waters,
with the exception of those included under E, and of some waters
from volcanic sources holding muriatic acid. These may consti-
tute two additional classes. In the first three of the classes above
described, chlorids predominate ; in the fourth, carbonates ; and in
the fifth and sixth, sulphates. The waters of the first, second,
and sixth classes are neutral ; those of the third and fourth, alka-
line ; and those of the fifth, acid.

The results of the chemical analysis of various waters of these
classes, it is proposed to give in the second part of this paper. —
From Slllimans American Journal of Science, No. 116, 1865.

ON THE RELATIVE POWERS OF GLACIERS AND
FLOATING ICEBERGS

IN MODIFYING THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH.

By Sir Roderick I. Murchison.

Before I enter on the consideration of the new theory of the
power of moving ice, let us take a review of the progress recently
made in pointing out the extent to which ancient glaciers and
their moraines have ranged within or on the flanks of the Alps.
In the northern portions of the chain these phenomena long ago
attracted the attention of some admirable observers. Originating:
with Venetz and Charpentier, the true active powers of glaciers
were defined by Rendu, Agassiz, and Forbes, and subsequently by
other explorers. In short, no doubt any longer obtains, that
such was the powerful agency of the grand ancient glaciers, that
blocks of crystalline rock were transported by them from the
central Alps of Mont Blanc to the slopes of the Jura Mountains.
When, however, we begin to seek for satisfactory explanations of
the method of transport of these huge erratics, geologists (who are
only geographers of another order) entertained different opinions.
For my own part, I have had strong doubts as to whether the great
blocks derived from Mont Blanc, and which lie on the slopes of the
Jura, were ever borne thither by a vast solid glacier which advanced
from the Lake of Geneva over the Cantons of Vaucl and Neufchatel.
Whilst fully believing in the great power of glaciers and their

22 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

agency, my opinion was that these blocks were rather transported
to their present habitats on the Jura on ice-rafts, which were floated
away in water to the n.n.w., when the great glaciers melted, and
the low countries were flooded. I founded this opinion on the fact,
that in examining the Canton de Vaud, and particularly the tracts
near Lausanne and the north side of the lake of Geneva, I never
could detect the trace of true moraines. In that detritus I saw
merely accumulations of loose materials, which had all the aspect
of having been accumulated under running waters. But, even grant-
ing to the land-glacialists their full demand, and supposing that a
gigantic glacier was formerly spread out in fan-shape, as laid down
by several geologists, and recently in the little map of Sir Charles
Lyell, in his work on the Antiquity of Man, and that it became
eventually of such enormous thickness as to have carried up the
great blocks on its surface, to lodge them on the Jura Mountains;
there is still in it nothing which supports the opinion, as indeed
Sir Charles has himself observed,* that the deep cavity in which
the lake lies was excavated by ice.

The geologists who first embraced the view of the transport of
the huge blocks on the Jura by a solid glacier, were of opinion that
the great depressions and irregularities of the surface which we
now see between the Alps and the Jura, including the lakes of
Geneva and Neufchatel, were so filled up with snow and ice, that
the advancing glaciers travelled on them as bridges of ice, the
foundations of which occupied the cavities.

Let us now turn to the south side of the Alps, where a long incline
accounts for the enormous extension of glaciers into the plains of
Italy. Thus, in examining the remains of the old glaciers which
once advanced into the valley of the Po, MM. Martins and Gas-
taldi show us, that one of these bodies extended from Mount Tabor
to Rivoli, a length of fifty miles ; and, therefore, was longer than
any existing glacier described on the flanks of the Himalayas ; f
whilst those to the south of the Lago di Garda are shown to have
had a much greater length. Demonstrating, along with many
other authors, how these old glaciers had striated and polished the
hard rocks through or on which they had advanced, these authors
also clearly pointed out how the course of the glaciers had been
deflected, so as to take a new direction, when they met with the

* See 'Antiquity of Man,' p. 312.
f Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, 1850.

1865.] SIR R. I. MURCHISON ON GLACIERS. 23

obstruction of any promontory of hard rock. Further, M. Mar-
tins, being well acquainted with Norway, indicated that, just as in
that country, the face of each rock in a valley was rounded off,
polished, and striated where it had been opposed to the advancing
mass of ice, and that its opposite or downward face, over which
the ice had cascaded or tumbled, was left in a rough state ; thus
exhibiting the worn or " stoss-seite." and lee, or protected side, of
the Scandinavian geologists. The subsequent works of M. Gas-
taldi on the geology of Piedmont, in 1853 and in 1861, bring
within well-defined limits the phenomena of old moraines and an-
cient drift, and prove that the debris carried over each gorge and
valley has been derived from the rocks which specially encase such
depressions. He also clearly demonstrated that in many of these
cases the gigantic boulders which are piled together and present
the character of a cataclysmal origin, can all be accounted for
simply by the power of advancing ancient glaciers. In these works
M. Gastaldi very properly distinguishes between the erratic blocks
which were evidently parts of old terrestrial moraines, and those
which, associated with tertiary strata, are found in deposits with
marine shells — the larger erratics in the latter, as in the Superga,
having been transported in masses of ice which floated on the
then sea.

Various other Italian authors have occupied themselves with
glacial phenomena (particularly Omboni, Villa, Stoppani, Cornalia.
Paglia, Parolini, &c.) ; the conclusion at which they have all arrived
is, that tliere existed an enormous extension of the moraines sent
forth by the ancient Alpine glaciers into the great valley of the Po.
Geographers who have not studied the phenomena may Well indeed
be surprised when they learn, that the hills to the south of the Lago
di Garda, and extending by Pozzolengo and Solferino to Cavriano,*
or the very ground where the great battles of the year 1859 were
fought (the hill of Solferino being 656 English feet above the sea),
are simply great moraines of blocks and gravel, produced by the
advance of former glaciers which issued from the southern slopes
of the Alps.

Combining these observations with others of his own on the lake
of Annecy, M. Mortiilet suggested in 1862 a new theory, in attri-
buting to the descent of the glaciers a great excavating power.

* See Paglio, ' Sulle Colline del Terreno Erraticoall' estremita mer-
idionale del Laga di Garda' (with map).

24 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

Believing, with all those who have been named, as well as with the
most eminent of the Swiss and French geologists, that the last
great up-heavals and denudations of the Alps had produced the
irregularities of their surface, he inferred that before the glacial
period began, the debris derived from the wear and tear of the
mountains by watery action had, to a great extent, choked up the
valleys and filled the rock-basins. He further believed that, in the
cold period which followed, great glaciers, descending with enor-
mous power, forced all such debris out of the original rock-basins,
and left them to be occupied by the present lakes. It is proper
here to state that M. G-astaldi was right, as well as M. Mortillet,
who followed him, in presuming that great deposits of old water-
worn alluvium or loose drift were accumulated before the formation
of glaciers, inasmuch as the oldest moraines are seen to repose in
many places on the former. It will presently be shown that this
fact contains within it the proof that the glaciers were not and are
not in themselves excavating bodies.

Preceding M. Mortillet, however, in reasoning upon the exca-
vating power of former glaciers, my eminent associate, Professor
Ramsay, had broached a much bolder theory. In his essay en-
titled " The Old Glaciers of Switzerland and North Wales," pub-
lished in 1859, and republished with additions in 1860, he ex-
pressed the opinion that the excavation of deep hollows in solid
rocks was due to a weight of superincumbent ice pressing and
grinding downwards and outwards, over high, flat, and sometimes
broad water-sheds and table-lands, during that period of intense
cold which produced the old glaciers.* In 18G2 he went still
further ; and whilst M. Mortillet was communicating his views
on the continent, Ramsay, wholly unconscious of what M. Mortillet
was doing, read a memoir to the Geological Society of London,
showing that all the cavities occupied by lakes in Switzerland and
the North of Italy had been excavated originally by the action of
glacier ice. Whatever, therefore, be the fate of this ingenious
view, Professor Ramsay has our thanks for having excited much
useful enquiry, and for having compelled old geologists like myself
to reconsider our conclusions.

If the view of M. Mortillet has been met with objections, still
more is the theory of Ramsay opposed, and particularly in foreign

*See 'Peaks, Passes,' &c, (Alpine Journal, 1859,) and 'The Old Gla-
ciers of Switzerland and North Wales,' London, 1860, p. 110.

1865.] SIR R. L'MURCHISON ON GLACIERS. 25

lands. In this country it has indeed met with the most vigorous
opposition on the part of Dr. Falconer, as recorded in our proceed-
ings : and even Sir Charles Lyell, the great advocate of the power
of existing causes, has stoutly opposed this bold extension of a most
powerful vera causa* Having explored the Alps, at various in-
tervals, for upwards of forty years, I long ago came to the conclu-
sion that their chief cavities, vertical precipices, and subtending,
deep, narrow gorges, were originally determined by movements
and openings of the crust, whether arranged in anticlinal or
synclinal lines, or not less frequently modified by great transversal
or lateral breaks, at right angles to the longitudinal or main folds
of elevation and depression. Explorations of other mountainous
regions, in various parts of Europe, have strengthened this convic-
tion. I rejoice, therefore, to find that those geologists of Switzer-
land, who justly stand at the head of their profession, Professor
Studer and M. Escher von der Linth, have sustained, by numerous
appeals to nature, the views I hold in common with the great
majority of geologists. Those Swiss explorers, who have labored
for many years in their native Alps, and have constructed admi-
rable geolological maps of them, must surely be well acquainted
with the ruptures of the various rocks, the outlines of which they
have sedulously followed. Now, they attribute most of those deep
cavities in which the rivers and lakes occur, either to dislocations
producing abrupt fissures, or to great foldings of the strata leaving
openings upwards where the tension has been the greatest — open-
ings which were enlarged by powerful denudations. Numerous
geologists have recently expressed their concurrence in the generally
adopted view, that the Alpine lakes occupy such orographic depres-
sions ; and by close researches, my accomplished friend, Mr. John
Ball f has ably sustained this view, and has further shown how
slight is the erosive power of a glacier even when issuing from its
main source. No one of them in short, any more than Professor
Studer and myself, doubts that the origin of these lakes is primar-
ily due to other causes. Nor am I aware that any geologists of
France and Germany, much as many of them have examined the
Alps, have deviated from the opinion that the main diversity of
outline in that chain was due to ruptures and denudations that
occurred during the upheavals of the chain.

* See ' Antiquity of Man,' pp. 316 et seq.
t See < Phil. Mag.' 1863.

26 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

On the other hand, T am bound to state that, although the new
theory has met with little or no favor on the continent of Europe,
it is supported by our able geologists, Jukes and Geikie. Again,
whilst Ramsay extended his view to the great lakes of the Alps,
the eminent physicist Tyndall speculated even upon all the Alpine
valleys having been formed by the long processes of the melting
of snows and the erosion of ice.* With every respect for the
reasoning of my distinguished countryman, I rely upon my long
acquaintance with the structure of the Alpine chain ; and now
that I see sound practical geologists, who have passed their lives in
examining every recess of those mountains, rejecting this new
theory, and pointing out in place of it, the proofs of ruptures and
denudations in the chain, I adhere firmly to the view I have long
entertained. f

Those who wish to analyze this matter, must consult the admi-
rable essay of Professor Studer on the origin of the Swiss lakes. J
They will find numerous proofs of the views sustained by the leader
of Alpine geologists. He shows you, indeed, how many of the
rivers now flow in fissures or deep chasms in very hard rocks of
different composition ; chasms which water alone could never have
opened out, particularly in those cases where the river. has left a
softer rock, and, with very slight obstacles to its straight course,
has availed itself of one of these deep transverse natural gorges,
which have evidently been produced by a great former rent. My

* See Tyndall on the Conformation of the Alps, ' Phil. .Mag.' vol. xiv,
1862, p. 169, and also Ramsay on the Excavations of the Alps, xvi,
p. 377.

f Some remarkable facts have been mentioned to me in a letter by M.
Escher von der Liuth, as proving the inapplicability of the ice-erosion
theory to the Swiss lakes. 1st. That the glacier of Rosenlani, which
descends from a great altitude, does not enter a low deep narrow gorge
of the valley, but forms a bridge over it; and so it is to ba inferred, that
as the ancient glacier did not excavate this gorge, still less did it exca-
vate the great valley in which the present glacier is embosomed. Again:
he points out that, as the bottoms of many of the Swiss lakes are below
the level of the sea, the glacier which is supposed to have excavated the
hollow would have had to ascend considerable heights to emerge from
the depression which it had excavated — an impossible movement, and
contradicted by the existing operations of all glaciers.

X 'Origine des Lacs Suisses,' Biblio. Univ. et Revue Suisse (Arch, des
Sci. Phys. et Nat.) xix, liv. de Fevrier, 1864 ; also Phil. Mag., vol. xxvii,
p. 481.

1865.] SIR R. I. MURCHISON ON GLACIERS. 27

personal observations in the Alps, Carpathians, and Ural moun-
tains enable me to confirm this view. As regards the continent of
Europe, I should transport you to the Rhine, the Danube, and
other great streams, which, flowing through flat countries with
little declivity, never could have eroded those deep, abrupt gorges
through which they here and there flow, and which are manifestly
due to original ruptures of the rocks.*

In holding these opinions as to the small power of watery or glacial
action, when not acting on an adequate incline, I do not doubt
that glaciers have been, and still are, most important agents in
modifying the outlines of mountains. Their summits are, we
know, continually degraded by rains and melted snows, and tor-
rents flowing down from them and carrying much detritus, are,
doubtless, deepening their channels wherever sufficient slopes
occur. But to whatever extent this agency has been and is at
work, and to however great a degree a descending glacier may
scratch and round off the rocky bottom on which it advances, I
coincide with Professor Studer, and with many other observers, that
the amount of erosion produced by these icy masses, particularly
when they have advanced into valleys where there is only a slight
inclination, must be exceedingly small. In valleys with a very
slight descent it will presently be shown that, even in the Alps, no
erosion whatever takes place, particularly as the bottom of the
glacier is usually separated from the subjacent rock or vegetable
soil by water arising from the melting of the ice. Again, in all
the steeper valleys down which ancient glaciers have formerly de-
scended, we do not find that either the sides or bottoms of the
upper gorges afford any proof of wide erosion, but only exhibit the
peculiar fashioning of the flanking surfaces of the rocks, or that
rounding off and polishing, called moutonni, accompanied with
striations. On the contrary, in gorges whence the largest glaciers
have advanced for ages, we meet with islands of solid rock and
little bosses still standing out, even in the midst of valleys down
which the icy stream has swept.

With such proofs before us of what the frozen rivers called gla-
ciers have done and are doing in the high valleys, how can we

* The recent Russian exploration of Eastern Siberia has shown how
the grand river Amur deflects suddenly at nearly right angles from its
course in a comparatively low country, to take advantage of a deep
natural rent in the mountains through which it escapes to the seaboard
(see p. 201 of the present Address to the Royal Geographical Society).

28 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

imagine, as Dr. Falconer lias forcibly put it, that the glacier which
is supposed to have occupied the Lago Maggiore, for example, and
had advanced its moraines into the plains of the Po, should have
had the power to plough its way down to a depth of 2000 feet
below the Mediterranean, and then to rise up along an incline at
the rate of 180 feet per mile? Nor can I admit the possible ap-
plication of this ice-excavating theory wherever I see that a depres-
sion in which a lake occurs is at right angles to the discharge of
an old main glacier. This is remarkably to be noticed in the case
of the Lake of Geneva, which trends from E. to w., whilst the
detritus and blocks sent forth by the old glacier of the Rhone
have all proceded to the N. and n.n.w. ; or in direct continuation
of the line of march of the glacier which issued from the narrow
gorge of the Rhone. By what momentum, then, was the glacier
to be so deflected to the west that it could channel or scoop out,
on flat ground, the great hollow now occupied by the Lake of
Geneva ? And, after effecting this wonderful operation, how was it
to be propelled upwards from this cavity on the ascent, to great
heights on the slopes of the Jura mountains ?

Still stronger objections exist to the application of the excava-
tion theory to the Lake of Constance. There. I have never been
able to see on the northern flank of the Hohe Sentis, which pre-
sents its abrupt, precipitous, and highly dislocated and contorted
Jurassic and cretaceous rocks to the lake, with terraces of miocene
deposits, at various heights, — there I have been unable, when with
my indefatigable friend and companion, M. Escher von der Linth,
who knows every inch of the ground, to trace the signs of the
action of a great glacier, which could, in its descent, have so plunged
into the flat region on the east and north, as to have scooped out
the cavity in which the Lake of Constance lies. In this case, indeed,
there are no traces whatever of those great old moraines from the
relics of which we infer that glaciers have formerly advanced ; the
level country to the north of the lake being entirely free from
them.

Great orographic depressions and deep cavities, sometimes dry,
sometimes filled with water, occur in numberless countries where
no glaciers ever existed. Thus, in Spain, as my colleague, M. de
Verneuil assures me, the large depressions on either side of the
granite mountains of the Guadarramma present exactly the appear-
ance which a theorist might attribute to excavation by ice, and
yet, however these cavities were formed, it is certain that no glacier

1865.] SIR R. I. MURCHISON ON GLACIERS. 29

has ever existed there. Nor, again, has ice ever acted on the sides
of the steep mountains of Murcia, where deep excavations and
denudations are seen upon the grandest Alpine scale.

If we transport ourselves from those southern climes to the
northern latitudes of the Ural mountains, where doubtless ice and
snow formerly prevailed to a greater extent than now, we do not
there find any proof whatever of the action of glaciers ; for the hills
are much too low to have given propulsion to such masses. On
the contrary, we know that great blocks of hard rocks have been
transported to the foot of these hills from Lapland and Scandinavia,
when, during the glacial period, a vast Arctic Sea watered the
flanks of the Ural mountains, and when most parts of that low
chain could then have been only slightly elevated above the waters.
And yet on the sides of this chain, where no glaciers have ever so
acted as to produce erosion, we meet with both longitudinal and
transverse deep fissures in some of which lakes, and in others
rivers, occur. Thus, all along the eastern flank of the Ural moun-
tains we find a succession of depressions filled with water, without
a trace, on the sides of the bare and hard rocks which subtend
these lakes, of any former action of glaciers. Then, as to deep
valleys in which rivers flow, let us take two out of the examples
along the western flank of this chain, on which my companions
De Verneuil and Keyserling, and myself, have specially dwelt in our
work on Russia. The Serebrianka River, as it issues from a network
of metamorphic schists, quartz-rocks, and marbles of Silurian age,
exhibits on its rugged banks the extrusion of much igneous
matter. This agency has split up the stratified deposits ; and the
necessarily accompanying movements have caused great openings,
including the cavity in which the river flows. Or, when the geo-
logical traveller passes from the valley of the Serebrianka to that of
its recipient, the Tchussovaya, still more is he struck with wonder-
ment at the unquestionable evidences, amidst intensely dislocated
rocks, of the ruptures by which the deep narrow chasm has been
formed in hard crystalline rocks, in which a lazy stream flows,
which, not descending from any altitude, has had no excavating
power whetever, and, like our own meandering Wye, has flowed
on through clefts in limestone during the whole historic and pre-
historic period, without deepening its bed.*

* For a full description of the abrupt gorge of the Tchussovaya, see
' Russia and the Ural Mountains/ vol. i, p. 352 et seq.

30 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

But if rivers which are not torrential, and do not descend from
heights, cannot possibly have produced, nor even have deepened,
the natural hollows or chasms in which they flow, still it might
be contended that, what water has not effected, may have been
done by a river, when, in the compacter form of ice, it descended
and advanced across the lower country. Unluckily for the sup-
porters of the ice-excavating theory, the data which existing nature
presents to us, as before said, are decisively opposed to their view.
The examination of those tracts over which glaciers have advanced,
and from which they have retreated, shows, in the most convincing
manner, that ice has so much plasticity that it has always moulded
itself upon the inequalities of hard rocks over which it passed, and,
merely pushing on the loose detritus which it meets with, or car-
ries along with it from the sides of the upper mountains, has. never
excavated the lateral valleys, nor even cleared out their old alluvia.
This fact was well noticed by the Swiss naturalists, as evidenced
by present operations, at their last meeting in the Upper Engadine,
and has been well recorded by that experienced and sagacious
observer of glacial phenomena, M. Martins.*

Since that time the able French geologist, M. Collomb, who was
associated with Agassiz in his earliest researches on glaciers, and
has been the companion, in Spain, of my colleague, M. de Yer-
neuil, has recently put into my hands the results of his own obser-
vation upon the present and former agency of the glaciers of the
Alps, which decisively show that ice, per se, neither has nor has
had any excavating power.f None of the glaciers of the Alps
cited by M. Collomb, viz., those of the Rhone, the Aar, the Valley
of Chamounix, the Allee Blanche, and the valley of Zermatt, pro-
duce any excavation in the lower grounds over which they pass.
That of Goerner, which, among others, is advancing, affects very
slightly the surface of the meadows on which it proceeds, and does
not penetrate into the soil. Again, where the glacier of the lower
Aar pushes, on its front, upon accumulations of the debris of old
moraines and gravel, it scarcely deranges these materials, but slides
over them, leaving them covered with mud and sand, but not

* See ' Revue des Deux Mondes,' March, 1864. The former observations
of M. Martins on Norway and on the Alps are of the highest importance,

f I may add that M. Collomb expresses that which I believe to be the
opinion of Eiie de Beaumont, d'Archiac, De Verneuil, Daubr^e, and of
all the leading French geologists.

1865.] SIR R. I. MURCHISON ON GLACIERS. 31

excavating them. Also, the glacier of the Rhone, the principal part
of which can be so conveniently studied, advances on a gravelly
substratum, in which it does not form a channel. Such being the
facts as regards glaciers now advancing, M. Collomb cites equally
strong, if not still stronger, cases, in support of his view, as deriv-
ed from the observation of retiring or shrinking glaciers in the
valleys of the Alps. Examining last year with M. Daubree the
glaciers of the Valley of Chamounix, he was attracted to that
named Bossons, which he had not seen for five years. During
that time the glacier had shrunk very considerably, both in altitude
and length, and yet upon the surface of the ground from which it
had retired there was not the smallest sign of excavation.

Viewing a glacier as a plastic body, we know that it is pressed
onwards by gravitation from the increasing and descending masses
of snow and ice behind it in the loftier mountains, and, being forced
to descend through narrow gorges, it naturally acts with the greater
energy on the precipitous rocky flanks of these openings ; striating
and polishing them with the sand, blocks, and pebbles which it
holds in its grasp. But, as before touched upon, the narrowness
of many of those channels through which glaciers have been thrust
for countless ages, is in itself a demonstration that the ice can have
done very little in widening the gorge through which it has been
forced, and where, of necessity, it exerted by far its greatest power.
In other words, the flanking rocks of each gorge have proved infi-
nitely more stubborn than the ice and its embedded stones, which
have merely served as gravers and polishers of the granites, quartz
rocks, porphyries, slates, marbles, or other hard rocks, among
which the frozen river has descended. And, if such'has been the
amount of influence of advancing glaciers in the higher regions,
where the body descends with the greatest power, how are we to
believe that when this creeping mass of ice arrived in low countries
(as for instance in the depressions occupied by the Lakes of Geneva
and Constance) it could have exerted a power infinitely greater
than that which it possessed in the higher regions?

When we turn from modern glaciers to the remains of those of
ancient date, the proofs are equally decisive, that, whatever might
be their extent, those gigantic bodies exercised no excavating
power. I am reminded by M. Collomb, as well as by M. Escher
von der Linth, that in many parts of the Alps, vast old moraines
repose directly on incoherent and loose materials of quaternary
age ; the old drift of the Alps containing Elephas primigenius and

32 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

Rhinoceros tichorhinus. Well may we then ask, how is it that the
ancient and larger glaciers, which were supposed to have had such
enormous excavating power as to have scooped out deep valleys in
hard rocks, should not have entirely destroyed the loose accumula-
tion of gravel over which they have been spread ? Or, if glaciers
excavated the Lago di Garda and Lago Maggoire, why did they
not produce any such effect at Ivrea, in the Valley of Aosta, down
which we know that enormous masses of ice travelled ; or at Rivoli,
in their march from Mount Cenis towards Turin ?

Leaving it to physical philosophers, such as Forbes, Faraday,
Hopkins, and Tyndall, to show what is the real measure of the
abrading power of masses of moving ice, I simply form my opinion
from what glaciers are accomplishing, or have accomplished. Judg-
ing from positive data, I infer that if, as agents, they have been
wholly incapable of removing even the old and loose alluvial drift
which encumbered the valleys, infinitely less had they the power
of excavating hard rocks. At the same time I know that, in every
mountain tract which I have examined, there have been quite a
sufficient number of rents and denudations to account for all ine-
qualities. These openings have doubtless been greatly increased
by the atmospheric agencies of ages, and particularly in all those
situations where water has acted with great power, during the
melting of glaciers. **********•*#

Whilst I was reading this Address to the Geographers in Lon-
don, that sound practical geologist, Principal Dawson, was perform-
ing a similar duty at the Annual Meeting of the Natural History
Society of Montreal. Having received a copy of his Address in
time for insertion of a Postcript, I am glad to have the opportu-
nity of stating that he also is a vigorous opponent of the theory
which refers the striation of the North American rocks, and the
excavation of the great lake-basins of that country, to the action
of terrestrial glaciers. He shows indeed that the great striation of
a large portion of the continent from N. e. to s. w. was from the
ocean to the interior, against the slope of the St. Lawrence valley
thus disposing at once of the glacier theory ; for it is impossible
to imagine that a glacier travelled from the Atlantic up into the
interior. Admitting that in limited tracts of Eastern America
there may have been local glaciers, Mr. Dawson believes, as I do,
that the rocks of the chief countries in question were striated when
the land lay beneath the sea. — From his address as President at
the Anniversary of the Royal Geographical Society, London, 1864.

1864.] KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 33

ORIGIN OF OUR KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS.

By Harland Coultas,
Lecturer on Botany at the Cbariug-Cross Hospital.

For a long time it was thought to be impossible to discover the
origin of those nutritive species of plants commonly cultivated by
man ; some writers maintaining that their primitive habitat had
been destroyed, that they originated on lands oyer which the ocean
now rolls its waters ; whilst others, equally fanciful, supposed a
miraculous intervention of the Deity, and that man received
directly from the gods the first seeds of the cerealia and other
plants, which he cultivates as sources of food. The prevailing
opinion upon this great question, even among enlightened persons,
and so late as the commencement of the present century, may be
gathered from the following passage from Humboldt's Essay upon
tire Geography of Plants (Essai sur la Geograjyhie des Plantes,
1807, p. 28) :—

" The country in which originated the vegetables most useful to
man is a secret as impenetrable as the first dwelling-place of our
domestic animals. We are ignorant of the country in which the
grasses fir-t originated which furnished nutriment to the Mongo-
lian and Caucasian races. We know not in what country our
cerealia grow spontaneously — our wheat, oats, and rye. The
plants which constitute the natural riches of the inhabitants of the
tropics, the banana, papaw, cassava, and maize, have never yet
been found in a wild state. The potato presents the same phen-
omena."

Since the time when the above passage was written by this
illustrious author, the wild potato has been found growing in the
greatest abundance in South America ; the papaw, by Marcgraaf,
in the forests of Brazil ; and Olivier and Bruguieres, in travelling
through Western Asia — the cradle of the European race — have
found wild rye and barley. Thus year by year the progress of
geographical and botanical researches conduces to more certain and
simple ideas on the origin of cultivated plants, so that our best
naturalists now, instead of supposing, as formerly, miraculous
phenomena, or revolutions in the physical geography of the plane-
tary surface, are all agreed that it is highly probable that all our
cultivated plants have originally descended from some wild form ;

Vol. II. c No. 1.

34 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

and that probably some day, at no very distant period, we shall
know in a spontaneous state the immense majority, perhaps the
totality of our cultivated species.

M. Alphonse de Candolle gives a list of 157 j)lants, which he
selects, because most commonly cultivated by man, and of these
eighty-five have been found wild— that is to say, identical with the
cultivated plant, or at least with some of its varieties. If to these
species are added those which are most probably wild, or about
which hardly a doubt remains, we may consider 117 as having
been identified in a spontaneous state. In short, the species which
we historically know to have been first cultivated in Europe, have
been found wild in Europe ; and those cultivated species of which
the wild form has not yet been found, are all foreign plants culti-
vated abroad, and in countries which have not yet been explored.

Having made these introductory remarks, we now confine our-
selves to an inquiry into the origin of the kitchen-garden plants of
the United Kingdom. We select for this purpose such vegetables
as are in ordinary use during winter ; in fact, our common Christ-
mas vegetables will furnish an abundance of interesting material
for discussion.

Our kitchen-garden plants may be sub-divided into — 1 . Those
plants which are cultivated for the nutritive material in their rhi-
zome, as the potato, parsnip, carrot, turnip, and horseradish.
2. Those plants which are cultivated for their stems, leaves, and
flowers, as celery and the different varieties of the garden cabbage.
We begin with that well-known vegetable,

The Potato (Solanum tuberosum, L.) — This plant belongs to
the natural order Solanaceae, and is closely related to the tobacco-
plant, belladonna, henbane, nightshade, and other poisonous nar-
cotics. But although the same poisonous principle exists in the
potato-plant, it is confined to its stem, foliage, and fruit, and is
wholly absent from its roots or underground tubers, the part of the
plant used as food. When potatoes still attached to the growing
plant become exposed to the light, the epidermis assumes a green-
ish color, and the poisonous principle then develops itself. Such
potatoes are totally unfit for human food. The potato-plant has a
stem from one and a half to two feet high, with interrupted pin-
nate leaves, which are composed of from five to seven pairs of lan-
ceolate oval leaflets, having lesser ones between them; the flowers
are bluish-white, with orange yellow, slightly cohering anthers,
which are succeeded by a green globose berry, about half an inch

1865.] KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 35

in diameter. The tubers or potatoes produced by the plant are
simply subterranean branches, arrested and thickened in their
growth, in place of being elongated. The common idea that all
the subterranean portions of a plant are roots, is quite erroneous ;
for the production of leaf-buds or leaf-scars is the distinguishing
characteristic of a stem wherever situated ; and that the tuber or
potato is a true stem is proved by the eyes on its surface, which are
true leaf-buds. Hence the potato is propagated by cutting the
tuber into pieces, when each piece, provided it has an eye, wil
grow and become an independent plant.

The potato is a native of South America, and is found in abun-
dance wild in the mountainous regions of Chili, Peru, and the
neighborhood of Buenos Ayres. Its presence in Mexico, Virginia,
and the Carolinas, where it was subsequently found, is probably
not very ancient. It is thought that it may have been introduced
there from South America by the first Spanish settlers. The
potato was first grown by Sir Walter Raleigh, at Youghal, in Ire-
land, in 1586. The samples planted came from the Carolinas.
The gardener who planted the tubers thought that the green po-
tato apples were the potatoes, and carried them to his master, ex-
pressing his great disgust at such produce. Sir Walter, pretend-
ing to sympathize, told him to dig up the useless weeds, and throw
them away. The gardener, in rooting out the plants, found the
true potatoes, more than a bushel of them, and hurried back to his
master in a very different humor, to show him the samples, and
make known his discovery.

The soil and climate of Ireland are very favorable to the growth
of good potatoes, and the plant appears to have rapidly grown into
favor in Ireland, and was cultivated there as food long before its
value was acknowledged in Great Britain.

In both England and Scotland, a prejudice against it existed
owing to the poisonous character of the plants of the natural order
to which it belongs and the resemblance of its flowers to those of
the woody nightshade (Solarium dulcamara), an extremely com-
mon plant, well known to be poisonous. Almost everywhere the
same prejudice prevailed, in France especially ; and it was not un-
til a time of great scarcity during the Revolution, that its culture
in that country became general.

For more than a century and a half after its cultivation by Sir
Walter Raleigh in Ireland, the potato was cultivated in flower
gardens only, in both England and Scotland. Even in 1725 the

36 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

few potato-plants in the gardens about Edinburgh were left in the
same spot from year to year. No attempt was made at a more ex-
tended culture. In 1728, however, a Scotch day-laborer, named
Thomas Prentice, living near Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, carefully cul-
tivated the potato as food, and, after supplying the wants of his
own family, sold the remainder of the produce to his neighbors,
who very willingly paid him his own price, being convinced by his
example that potatoes were wholesome and nutritious. Prentice
was frugal and industrious, and soon found himself in possession
of £200, no small fortune in those days. He now sank his capital
in an annuity at a good interest, upon which he lived independ-
ently in his old age, dying in the year 1792, at the advanced age
of eighty-six (potatoes evidently agreed with him), having been
sixty-four years a happy witness to the effects of the blessing which
he had been instrumental in conferring on his country.

The potato appe i rs to have been taken into favor much earlier in
England, as appears from a report of a meeting of the Ray Society,
held March 18th, 1662, when a letter was read from Mr. Buck-
land, a Somersetshire gentleman, recommending the planting of po-
tatoes. This was referred to a committee, who reported favorably,
and Mr. Buckland received the thanks of the Society. From this
time the field-culture of the potato commenced, and rapidly ex-
tended as its excellent qualities became more known. A strange
objection was made by the Puritans, who denied the lawfulness of
eating potatoes, because the plant was not mentioned in the Bible !
Whether or no, a plant so nutritious, and whose culture is adap-
ted to almost every soil and climate, must be regarded as amongst
ike choicest gifts of Providence. Our countrymen have since done
ample justice to this plant ; for now, wherever the Englishman
seeks a home, he always strives to naturalize the potato-plant, and,
even when surrounded by the luxuries of tropical lands, remembers
the simple vegetable which was so long struggling into notice in
his own country.

The Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa, L.) — This plant belongs to
the natural order Uinbelliferas, and is closely related to the carrot,
celery, and parsley, which belong to the same natural order. It
is a native of Britain, and of different parts of Europe, and is
usually most plentiful on dry banks or on a chalky soil. It i s
difficult to say whether it is to cultivation or importation that we
are indebted for this root. Most likely the former, as it is unde-
niable that the wild plant, grown for two or three years in rich

1865.] KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 37

garden soil, acquires all the characters of the cultivated form ; and
that when the garden-plant escapes into uncultivated ground, it
speedily reverts back to its originally wild and degenerate condi-
tion. Parsnips appear to have been very early reclaimed from a
wild state, for Pliny tells us that parsnips were cultivated on the
banks of the Rhine, and were brought from thence to supply the
tables of the Roman emperors.

The stem of the parsnip is herbaceous, upright, and furrowed ;
the leaves pinnate, sheathing the stem at the base, and composed
of oval, slightly lobed and incised leaflets. The flowers are small,
yellow, and disposed to umbels, the fruit dividing into two seed-
like pieces, as is usual with umbelliferous plants. The root of the
wild plant is spindle-shaped, sweet and mucilaginous, but never-
theless somewhat woody, and with a slight degree of acrimony
which it loses by cultivation. In the wild plant the leaves are
downy, but when cultivated they become smooth.

The parsnip is one of the hardiest plants of the kitchen garden,
as it remains uninjured in the severest weather ; indeed, by many,
the parsnip is not esteemed until it has been frost-bitten. There
is generally a great consumption of parsnips in Catholic countries
along with the salt-fish eaten during lent.

The Carrot (Daucus carota, L.) — The wild form of this plant
is found plentifully in Europe and in Great Britain, where it is
indigenous,' and in the United States where it has been extensively
naturalized. Although the large root is wanting in the wild
variety, yet there is little else to distinguish it from the cultivated
species ; for the leaves, flowers, and even the fruit of the wild car-
rot are exactly similar to that of the cultivated plant.

The carrot is a biennial, with a stem rising to a height of two
feet, leaves compound pinnatifid, flowers white, succeeded by rough
hispid seed-vessels, the supporting stalks of which are inflected in-
wardly, so that the cluster of compact umbels does not look unlike
a bird's nest. The root of the wild plant is white, dry, woody,
and strongly flavored. Cultivated, the root becomes succulent,
and of a red-yellow or pale straw color, showing, in a remarkable
way, the improvement which may be effected by cultivation.

The carrot was cultivated at a very early epoch even by the
Greeks and Romans. The cultivated garden variety has been most
probably derived from the wild form. It is difficult to say how
its nutritive character was discovered. We know, however, by the
experiments of M. Vilmorin, that the wild carrot sown in good

38 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

land becomes similar to the cultivated species at the end of some
generations; and inversely that the cultivated carrot returns to
the wild form, if planted in bad land, in the course of a few gen-
erations.

The Celery [Apium graveolms, L.) — This plant is a hardy
biennial, indigenous to Great Britain and different parts of Eu-
rope ; it has even been found by Hooker in the southern hemis-
phere, and by Nuttall in California. Wild celery grows by the
side of ditches, near the sea, where the water is brackish. Radi-
cal leaves, on channelled petioles, green or purplish, stem leaves,
ternate, on short petioles, flowers in umbels, axillary, and greenish
white. The wild plant is rank, coarse, and suspicious in its ap-
pearance, but cultivation transforms it into one of the sweetest and
most wholesome of our esculents.

Celery is grown in trenches, and as the plants grow their stems
are covered with earth ; the light is thus excluded, the stems are
blanched, or turn white, and are thus rendered edible. Celery ap-
pears to have been first cultivated in Italy, for the word itself is
of Italian origin, it having been formerly called Ache in England,
which is, in fact, its true English name.

There are in the natural order Umbelliferge two active principles,
the narcotic and the aromatic ; the former develops itself when
these plants are found in moist grounds, and renders them poison-
ous ; the latter principle predominates when the Uinbelliferas
grow in dry ground. This may help to cause the difference be-
tween wild and cultivated celery, which always grows best in a rich,
well-drained soil. The process of blanching also doubtless assists
in rendering the poison peculiar to the wild plant inert, as the ac-
tive principles of the leaves of plants are rarely developed when
they are deprived of the light.

The Parsley (Petroselinum sativum). — The parsley is so well
known, that a description of it is perfectly unnecessary. It is a
hardy biennial, a native of Sardinia, and was introduced into Eng-
land in 1548. It has naturalized itself in some parts of England
on old walls and rooks, usually near the sea. It was used by the
Romans as a pot-herb, and was also known to the Greeks. The
curled variety of parsley is most common in the gardens, and is the
safest to cultivate, as from the beautiful curl of its foliage it can-
not be mistaken for the poisonous fool's parsley (Ethusa cyna-
pium, L.).

The Cabbage (Bmssica oleracea,Jj.) —This plant belongs to the

1865.] KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. ' 39

natural order Cruciferas, (crux, a cross ; fero, to bear,) in allusion
to the petals of the flowers, which are four in number, and arran-
ged in the form of a Maltese cross. The horseradish, cress, mus-
tard, and the different variety of cabbage and turnip all belong to
the same natural order. This plant grows wild on European sea-
shores, and various places on the English coast — for instance, at
Dover and Penzance, where the shores are rocky. The leaves of
the wild cabbage are gyrate, glaucous, wavy, the plant occa-
sionally growing from one to two feet in height ; flowers light
yellow; pods erect. In spring the sea-cabbage may be gathered
and eaten. It was no doubt resorted to as food by the early in-
habitants of Great Britain long before any attempt was made at
cultivation. The Latin word Brassica is derived from the Celtic
Bresic. There is no plant which has produced, by cultivation, a
greater number of varieties than the Brassica oleracea. The
opinion is generally entertained by botanists, that the white and
red cabbage, savoy, borecoles, cauliflower, and brocoli, have all ori-
ginally sprung from the wild cabbage of the sea-coasts. Now
when varieties reproduce themselves permanently, they become
races, and there is evidence that some of these races have been cul-
tivated in other countries from the earliest times of which we have
any record. Take for example the permanent variety of the red cab-
bage [Brassica oleracea, var. rubra), now chiefly used for pickling,
which was known to the Romans. As the primitive inhabitants
of the different European nations had very little communication
with each other, it is probable that the wild cabbage (Brassica
oleracea), which grows on the shores of Denmark, France, and
the Mediterranean, furnished in every instance the cultivated
varieties of those countries. The cabbage was most likely first grown
in Great Britain by the Saxons. It was such a favorite with
them, that they called the second month of the year Sprout-kale.

Two leading sub-divisions may be effected of nearly all the va-
rieties of the garden cabbage. These varieties are either — 1.
Headless cabbages (Brassica oleracea, var. acephala), such
as the borecole, the leaves of which continue expanded, . never
forming a head ; or, 2. Close-headed cabbages (B. 0., var.
capitata), such as the white and red cabbage and the savoy,
whose concave leaves are densely imbricated over each other,
and form a close compact head before flowering. The word cab-
bage is, in fact, derived from the Latin caput, a head, through the
French cabus. Brussels sprouts (B. 0.,var. subdanda). This is

40 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

only a variety of the savoy, with an elongated stem, from the sides
of which spring out small green heads like cabbages in miniature.
If the stem be examined, these sprouts will be found invariably to
start just above the scars left by the fallen outer leaves. The
cauliflower (B. 0., cauliflora). In the cauliflower we eat the fleshy
flower, stalks, and undeveloped buds, which are crowded together
into a compact mass. It was a favorite saying of the great lexico-
grapher, Dr. Johnson — " Of all the flowers of the garden, I like
the cauliflower the best I" a sentiment worthy of that learned epic-
ure. The cauliflower was first brought from the Isle of Cyprus,
about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Brocoli. — The
name is Italian. This is only a sub-variety of the cauliflower,
distinguished from it by the dark green or purple color of the
head. It is also a much hardier plant, and stands the winter.

These varieties of the cabbage illustrate in the most striking
manner the changes which are produced in species by cultivation,
and the permanence of some varieties or races. They also give us
instructive lessons in the economy of vegetable life.

The Turnip (Brasslca campestris). — This plant is found wild in
many parts of England, by the sides of rivers, ditches,and marshes,
but is probably an only introduced plant. It grows spontaneously
over all Europe, from the Baltic to the Caucasus. The wild form
has hispid, lyrate root-leaves ; those of the stem are smooth am-
plexicaule or stem-clasping. The flowers are yellow; the pod
cylindric. The turnip, like the cabbage, has produced several
varieties, the result of long cultivation, as for example the common
cultivated species of turnip (B. C, var. Rapa), and the Swedish
turnip (B. C, var. Rutabaga), the root of which is yellowish and
sub-globose. This last variety, which is the most valuable to the
British farmer, has long been grown in Sweden and Germany, and
was probably known to the ancients. It was first cultivated in
England in 1781, having been brought over originally from Gotten-
berg. Besides these there is another valuable variety (B. C, var.
oleifera, DC), which is largely cultivated in France and other Eu-
ropean countries for the oil contained in its seeds, which, under the
name of Colza oil, is used for lamps, giving a very brilliant light. The
idea of cultivating these plants for the oil contained in their seeds
could only originate in those countries where the olive was not in-
troduced, or yielded uncertain crops. Colza oil has been used for
more than two centuries in the north of France, and its use pro-
bably dates back to a still more ancient period. The Greeks and

1865.] KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 41

Romans, the Celts and Germans, cultivated the turnip ; its origi-
nal country is doubtful on account of the facility with which it
becomes naturalized outside of cultivated ground. M. Fries says
that Brassica campestris and Brassica rapa grow spontaneously in
the Scandinavian peninsula; and within the last few years the ex-
plorations of the French naturalist, M. Ledebow, in northern and
eastern Europe, have shown that both these plants are spontaneous
through the whole of Russia and Siberia.

The Horseradish (Gochlearia Armoracea, L.) — This is the
last of the crucifers whose natural history we shall discuss. It is
cultivated for its root, the merits of which are well-known in con-
nection with the " Roast Beef of Old England." We shall not
occupy the time of our readers with a botanical description of this
well-known plant, the cultivation of which is of undoubted anti-
quity, as it was used in the time of Pliny, the Roman historian.
When planted in gardens it is very difficult to eradicate, as the
rhizome is furnished with many eyes, each of which will give rise
to a new plant. The horseradish is very frequently found grow-
ing outside of cultivated ground, on the banks of rivers, and in
most situations, but it is very doubtful whether it is indigenous in
England. It is, however, a native of many parts of Europe. The
root owes its qualities to the presence of a volatile oil which is dis-
sipated by drying. There is no difference between the wild and
cultivated plant, except that the root of the former is smaller and
more stringy if it happens to grow in a poor soil ; but if the soil
should be moist and rich in which it is found, then the root of the
wild plant is equally good.

We would recommend our readers, if they have leisure, to prose-
cute this inquiry, as it will be found most interesting in connec-
tion with the early periods of human history. It is also an im-
portant inquiry, because it has a direct bearing on those formida-
ble questions as to the "Origin of ^Species," as to the amount of
variability of which species are susceptible, and the causes by
which that variability is produced : and lastly, as to the geological
epoch at which existing species were first introduced — questions
which the best naturalists find it so difficult to answer, and which
will only be understood when natural history is much more
advanced, and the links discovered which unite the present plant-
forms with those which have preceded them.

We have historical evidence that existing species have not varied
for several thousand years, and the reason is plain enough, because

42 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

the external circumstances in which they have been placed have
not varied. For all practical purposes, therefore, the characters
on which species are found may be assumed to be constant; and a
minute and careful description of a plant will suffice, not only for
the present, but for many succeeding generations of naturalists.
But we have no warrant from nature to assume that such specific,
or even generic, characteristics either have been, or will continue to
be, permanent for an unlimited period of time, that they will survive
all future changes in the physical geography of the planetary sur-
face. We know that great changes may be effected in a brief
space of time in the organization of plants by cultivation ; and
why should not an organic change be brought about in plants
when their external circumstances are altered by nature in the
course of ages ? This world, what is it but a great and ancient
theatre where the scenery of life is ever changing ? Look at that
majestic and venerable tree; its present form appears to be fixed,
yet that very form is in reality as fleeting and evanescent as all
the other forms through which that tree has passed from its first
life movement in the seed ; and what is true of that tree, which is
a part of nature, is true of the whole of nature. The present ap-
pearance of nature now is no more unalterable than at any other
geological epoch. It is the last of the many phases of creation,
and equally fleeting with all the others. — Popular Science Review.

ON THE GRAPTOLITES OF THE QUEBEC GROUP.

By Professor James Hall.

[This long-expected monograph* is now before us, and has grown
in magnitude under the delays which have attended its publication,
until, instead of one decade, it contains no less than twenty-three
admirable plates, with one hundred and fifty pages of letter-press.

Prof. Hall gives to the Graptolitidce the rank of a family,
including fifteen genera, of which no less than eleven occur in the
Quebec group, this being, so far as known, the period of the
greatest development of these curious organisms. The species

* Decade II of Canadian Organic Remains, issued by the Geological
Survey of Canada. Dawson Bros., Montreal ; Balliere, London, New

1865.] GRAPTOLITES OF THE QUEBEC GROUP. 43

occurring in the Quebec group of Canada, and described in this
memoir, are fifty-three in number.

The affinities of the graptolites have been a subject of much
discussion. Prof. Hall, after noticing the various opinions which
have been entertained, shows good reasons for the view that they
were Hydroids, approaching to the modern Sertularidce, a view
which General Portlock has also maintained. We quote some-
what at length the statements bearing on this point, referring our
readers to the work itself for the details of structure and syste"
matic descriptions. — Eds.]

Until recently the graptolites were, with two or three exceptions,
known only as simple, straight, or slightly-curving linear stipes or
stems, usually lying in the same plane upon the slaty laminae in
which they were imbedded. Nearly all these were evidently frag-
mentary, and, though varying somewhat in their proportions,
rarely exhibited anything that could be regarded as the commence-
ment or termination of their growth or development. These
bodies, in their flattened condition, present a range of serratures
either on one or on both sides of the stipe ; and seldom preserve
more of their substance than a carbonaceous or corneous film or
test of extreme tenuity. Under more favorable circumstances,
these serratures are discovered to indicate the apertures of cellules,
symmetrically arranged in reference to each other, and to the axis
of the linear stipe. Others show parallel entire margins, witty
transverse indentations across the central portion of the stipe. This
appearance we now know to be due to the direction of the pres-
sure upon the body exerted at right angles to the cellules, and
which will be explained in the sequel.

The earliest opinion regarding these fossils was that they were
of vegetable origin ; and they have been thus considered by some
authors even at a very late period. Subsequently, they were
referred by Wahlenburg, and after him by Schlotheim, to the
Cephalopoda, being regarded as extremely slender orthoceratites.
This opinion may have received support from specimens in such
condition as G. scalaris, where the indentations are limited on
each side by a continuous margin ; but in such as present a single
or double series of marginal serratures, the analogy seems very
remote. Professors Geinitz and Quenstedt advocated the same
view at a much later date ; though it has since been abandoned by
these authors, from more extended investigations.

44 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

Professor Nilsson first suggested that graptolites were Polypiaria,
belonging to the family Ceratophyta. Dr. Beck, of Copenhagen,
regarded them as belonging to the group Pennatulidse, of which
the Linnean Virgularia is the most nearly allied existing form.
Sir Roderick Murchison has adopted this view of the relations of
the graptolites, in his Silurian System.* General Portlock has
fully recognized the graptolites as zoophytes, and has pointed out
their analogy with Sertularia and Plumularia.

The relations of graptolites with the Cephalopoda had already
been fully disproved by M. Barrande (in the first chapter of his
Graptolites de JBoheme), before the abundant materials for the
refutation were discovered in the graptolites of the Quebec group ;
and most naturalists were already agreed in referring these bodies
to the class of Polypi, to which they doubtless belong.

More recently, Mr. McCrady, of South Carolina, has published
a paper on the " Zoological Affinities of Graptolites/'f in which
he has endeavored to show the similarity of the graptolitic forms
with the Echinoderm larvae, as illustrated by M tiller. There is
certainly much resemblance between the enlarged figures of that
author, and some forms of graptolites in the shales of the Hud-
son River valley ; while some of the figures with central discs
have a more remote analogy with certain forms from the Quebec
group. Some of the toothed rods of the Echinoderm larvae likewise
bear a resemblance to the graptolites figured by Mr. Suess ;J and
there are still further analogies pointed out by Mr. McCrady,
which, however, may not be regarded as of equal value by the
greater number of naturalists.

For my own part, although admitting the similarity of form and
of some of the characteristics which were very kindly pointed out
to me by Mr. McCrady, long before his publication, I cannot
recognize the analogy sought to be demonstrated. The establish-
ment of the fact that these toothlets or serratures are the exten-
sions of true cellules, each one having an independent aperture,

* Silurian System, page 694 ; and letter of Dr. Beck, pp. 695-6.

f " Remarks on the Zoological Affinities of the Graptolites, by John
McCrady, made before the Eliot Society of Natural History of Charles-
ton, S. C, at the meeting of July 15, 1857. " [Extract from the Pro-
ceedings, vol. i.]

t Naturwissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Vierter Band. Tab. viii
and ix.

1865.] GRAPTOLITES OF THE QUEBEC GROUP. 45

and communicating with a common canal, should offer a convincing
argument against these bodies being other than polyp-bearing
skeletons. But in following the extensive series of forms now
presented to us, we have much evidence to show that some of these
were attached to the bed of the ocean, or to other bodies ; while
the greater proportion of the species and genera appear to have
never been attached to the sea-bottom.

It may not be easy to determine precisely the family to which
these graptolitic forms should be referred ; nor is it certain that
the extensive series now presented can all properly be referred to a
single family. General Portlock has suggested that these bodies
may constitute " several genera belonging even to more than one
order."* That they are true Polypi, I believe we shall be able to
show, both from analogies already established by various authors,
and also from their mode of development or reproduction as
exhibited in some of the species.

The specimens which have usually been observed or represented
are simple disconnected stipes, doubtless the dismembered or frag-
mentary portions of fronds, which, presenting in the different
species great varieties of form and aspect when entire, are never-
theless composed of. parts so similar that these fragments, though
indicating specific differences, offer little clue to a knowledge of
the entire form.

The name Graptolitlius was established by Linnaeus in the first
edition of his " Systema Naturce," 1736, and applied by him to
the straight or curved forms which are serrated (celluliferous) upon
one side only, of which G. Sagittarius has been regarded as the
type.f The propriety of this term is more readily perceived in
its application to the fragments of the stipes of monoprionidian
forms than to the central portions of the body of the same. In
the spirally-enrolled forms, or those with four or more stipes unit-
ing in the central disc, as well as in the variously-branching forms,
the analogy is not so perceptible.

1. The Solid Axis. — All the graptolites proper have been found
to be provided with a slender solid axis,J while this feature has

* Geological Report on Londonderry, &c, p. 318.

f I shall elsewhere endeavor to show that G. scalaris is a diprionidian
form exhibiting only one margin.

t In those species with a single series of cellules, M. Barrande has as-
certained that this axis is solid and cylindrical, its diameter not exceed-
ing 5 millimetre, and its structure apparently fibrous. (Graptolites de
Bo/ieme, page 4.)

46 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

not been satisfactorily proved in regard to Dictyonema, and to
some other forms.

In those species having a single series of cellules, this axis is
upon the back of the stipe, or on the side opposite to the cellulif-
erous margin ; and in the branching forms it follows all the
ramifications. In all the specimens where it has been observed, it
is a slender cylindrical or flattened filiform solid body. In some
extremely compressed specimens, this axis appears as a slender
elevated ridge along the back of the stipe ; and where the sub-
stance of the body has been removed, it leaves a narrow groove
along the margin of the impression.

In the examination of large numbers of specimens of the mono-
prionidian species, we have never found the axis prolonged beyond
or denuded of, the cellules; as shown in G. colonus, by Barrande,
in his Graptolites of Bohemia.

In all the specimens where the extremities of the stipes are
entire, (as represented in plates i, ii, and iii of the memoir,) there
is never any extension of the axis beyond the last partially de-
veloped cellule ; and the number of specimens in this condition is
considerable.

In the graptolites with two series of cellules, the solid axis is
very frequently seen extending beyond the celluliferous portion of
the stipe at its outer extremity ; while the radicle appears like the
continuation of the same below the base. The axis thus appears
to be the foundation on which the other parts are erected. In
those specimens, however, which present so great an extension of
the solid axis beyond the stipe, the cellules may have been removed
by subsequent causes.

I am able to corroborate to some extent the observations of M.
Barrande in regard to the apparent double character of this axis.
In some extremely compressed specimens it is marked by a longi-
tudinal groove or line of division;* while in others, a double
impression has been left by the removal of the substance.

2. The Common Canal. — In all graptolites with a single series
of cellules, there is, between the bases of these cellules proper and
the solid axis on the back of the stipe, a continuous sub-cylindrical
space or canal, which has been occupied by the body of the polyp,

* The aspect presented by the axis, when marked by a longitudinal
groove, is precisely that which a hollow cylindrical body would have if
extremely compressed.

1865.J GRAPTOLITES OF THE QUEBEC GROUP. 47

from which the buds, with their calycles forming the cellules, take
their origin, and are thrown off at regular intervals.

All the specimens which I have examined confirm this view ;
and in some of the species where the extremities are apparently
entire, we observe the incipient development of the young cell from
the common body. In those specimens filled or partly filled with
the substance of the surrounding rock, this canal is easily dis-
tinguished; while in compressed specimens there is always a
flattened space between the bases of the cell-partitions and the
solid axis.

In those graptolites with two ranges of cellules, we have ap-
parently a duplication of those with the single series, the two
solid axes being joined together, leaving a common canal or body
on each side at the base of each series of cellules. If however the
common body were thus divided, it would be by the solid axis,
becoming a flattened plate. This appears to be true of some species,
while in others there is only a simple filiform axis visible. In
this case, of course, there is not an entire division in the common
canal after the manner of the other species. This will app ar
further on, under the illustrations of the structure of these bodies.

3. The Calycles or Cellules ; their form and mode of develop-
ment. — Since a large proportion of the specimens of graptolites
which come under our observation for the purposes of study or
otherwise, are fragmentary, it becomes of much importance to
know the general characters of form and mode of development of
the cellules.

In the preceding section it has been shown that the cellules, or
the inhabitants of these cellules, are not independent, but all have
their origin in a common body, which fills the longitudinal canal,
and that they remain in constant connection with the same throu°h-
out their existence.

The calycle or cellule is formed by budding from one side of the
common body, not unlike many of the Sertularians, except that
the cellules are generally close together at their origin. They
are usually more or less oblique to the direction of the axis, as is
clearly indicated by the cell-partitions ; and the degree of obliq-
uity often indicates specific distinction. The cellules are for the
most part contiguous at their origin, and they sometimes remain
in contact throughout their entire length ; but in the greater
number of species there is a small portion of each one free on one
side towards the aperture. This character is shown in numerous
examples.

48 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

In some forms the cellules are contiguous in their lower portions,
while the entire upper or outer part becomes free, as seen in G.
Clintonensis, while in one of the bi-celluliferous species from Iowa,
the cellules are distant from each other at the origin, and the upper
extremity of one scarcely reaches to the base of the next in advance,
and they are therefore not properly in contact in any part of their
length. The same is more emphatically true of Rastrites, where
there is a large interval between the bases of the cellules, which
are often nearly rectangular to the axis.

Although we regard the cellule as limited by the cell-partitions,
yet in well-preserved specimens there is sometimes a swelling of
the test of the common body below the cellule, indicating an
enlargement of the parts at the bases of the buds. In one species
there is an evident undulation of the axis, corresponding to this
enlargement of the parts in the common body.

In the diprionidian species, the cellules on the two sides of the
stipe are alternating, so that the bases or the apertures are opposite
the space between two others.

In much the larger proportion of species, the body of the grapto-
lite and the cellules are so extremely compressed, that they appear
only as serratures along the margin, with distinct impressed lines
marking the cell-divisions. The exterior margin of these serra-
tures indicates in an approximate degree the outline of the aper-
ture • and the frequently-occurring mucronate extension at the
extremity of the cellule is produced by the continuation of the
cell-partition, or sometimes by an outgrowth from the margin of
the stipe above or below the aperture.

Were the cellules isolated, their prevailing form would be that
of an elliptical tube or sac, the length of which is greater than
either of the two diameters. When they are in juxtaposition,
however, the contiguous sides are flattened, while the lateral or
external surfaces are usually more or less curved, particularly near
the aperture. In a larger proportion of the species, the calycle
becomes slightly expanded towards the aperture ; but in a few
examples there is a distinct contraction above the middle, and >he
aperture is smaller than the base. Generally, however, the
smaller diameter is just at the junction with the common body,
or at the junction of the cell-walls with the walls of the common

canal.

In a single diprionidian species, where the specimens are not

1865.] GRAPTOLITES OF THE QUEBEC GROUP. 49

distorted by pressure, a longitudinal section of the stipe in the
direction of its greatest diameter shows the cellules scarcely nar-
rowed at their origin with the common body ; while in a lateral
view of the specimen, the base of the cellule is seen to be much
wider than the orifice.

In many of the species a transverse section of the cellule near
the base is quadrangular, becoming more rounded towards the
aperture; and when the upper part of the cellule is free, the aper-
ture is round or elliptical, and in some specimens the calycle is
elliptical or cylindrical throughout its entire length. We have
examples of the quadrangular cellules in G. extensus and G. octo-
brachiatus, as well as in two species of Phyllograptus. Where the
cellules are more nearly isolated, they approach more and more to
the cylindrical form. As examples of cellules contracted towards
the aperture, we have Graptolithus priodon, Barrande, and G.
CUntonensts, Hall. * * * * * * *

In 1858, I laid before the American Association for the
Advancement of Science a notice, with some illustrations of grap-
tolite stipes, bearing what I then regarded, and do still regard, as
the reproductive cells or ovarian vesicles. These cells first appear
as small ovate buds upon the margins, projecting but little beyond
the regular cellules, and, becoming enlarged, form elongated sacs
with swollen extremities, which are finally dehiscent ; and then,
as I suppose, discharging the ovules or germs, are gradually
absorbed or dissipated.

Although these sacs are distinctly defined, they have scarcely
any apparent substance, except along the lateral margins, which
are limited by a filiform extension resembling the solid axis of a
graptolite. There are likewise numerous fibres of this kind
traversing the sacs ; and these sometimes remain attached to the
original stipe after the other parts are separated. In one example
we have conclusive evidence that they are connected with the solid
axis of the parent stipe.

In one specimen the ordinary cellules are removed, and the
fibres are still seen joined to the axis, showing the origin of the
reproductive sacs. In most specimens bearing these sacs, the cel-
lules of the stipe are so obscure that the species cannot be deter-
mined ; but in one case we find them attached to a well-marked
type of G. Whitfieldl.

This mode of reproduction in the graptolites shows much analogy
Vol. II d No. 1.

50 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

with the Hydroidea, and would indicate the sertularians as their
nearest analogues.*

Upon the surfaces of the slate where these bodies occur, there
are numerous graptolitic germs, or young graptolites of extremely
minute proportions, ranging from those where the first indications
of their form can be discovered, through successive stages of
development till they have assumed the determinate characters of
the species.

In several examples, these minute germs have been detected
near to and in contact with the reproductive sac ; and in one case,
there is but a hair's-breadth between one of the fibres of the sac
and one of the oblique processes at the base of the germ. It can-
not be said that we have detected the germ actually within the
sac ; but the numerous young individuals lying near them, and
upon the surfaces of the same laminae, offer very good arguments
for supposing that they have been thus derived.

The earliest defined form which we observe in the young grap-
tolites consists of the initial point or radicle; a diverging process
of similar character on each side, but not quite opposite ; a longi-
tudinal axis of greater or less extent ; and a sac-like covering, or
thin pellicle of graptolitic test, which has scarcely assumed the
form of cellules, but which is most extended in the direction of
the common body along the solid axis. This little sac contains
the germ of the zoophyte, which, extending itself as the common
body in its canal along the axis, gives origin to the budding
which develops the successive cellules and the gradual building up
of the stipe. **^* *.***'*

The numerous individuals of entire or nearly entire fronds
illustrated in this memoir, as well as large numbers of others
examined, serve to give a pretty clear idea of the general form of

* In the recent Sertularia and Campanularia we find ovarian vesicles,
in which a number of ovules may be enclosed in a common envelope.
These vesicles are developed along the side of a stipe or branch, and
the ovules are often arranged along a central axis, each one communi-
cating with the common axis of the zoophyte. [Jas. J. Lister, Philo-
sophical Transactions, 1834, pp. 365-388, pi. ix. Cited also by Dana,
" Structure and Classification of Zoophytes.' 1 ]

Prof. McCoy has stated (British Palaozoic Fossils, p. 4) that he has
found near the base of the cellules of graptolites, a transverse partition
or diaphragm, similar to what may be observed in some sertularians
and which he regards as proving similar relations ; but I have not dis-
covered in any American specimens evidence of such cell-diaphragms.

1865.] GRAPTOLITES OF THE QUEBEC GROUP. 51

the true graptolites, as well as of their congeners of the same family.
Notwithstanding the presence of the radicle or initial point obser-
vable in so many species, it does not afford evidence of attachment
to the sea-bottom or to some other substance, at least in the mature
condition. In all the monoprionidian forms, however much or
little extended the radicle may be, it is always smooth, and taper-
ing to a point. In many of these, and more especially in those
with a central disc, this radicle is reduced to a minute protuber-
ance, and is often scarcely or not at all perceptible.

The same is essentially true of the greater number of diprioni-
dian forms examined. In these the solid axis is sometimes
extended beyond the base of the stipe, and terminated as if broken
off abruptly; while there is often a slender oblique process on each
side of the base.

In Retiograptus and Phyllograptus there is not the same evi-
dence of completeness at the base of the radicle. The lower ter-
mination, when it can be fully examined, is broken, as if there
had been a further continuation of this part, though it exhibits no
enlargement. I have inferred that all these, like the example of
Retiograptus eucharis, have constituted parts of a similar com-
pound body, and are but the separated stipes of the frond. If
this be true, their mode of existence is not unlike the other
species with compound fronds and a central disc.

In G. bicornis the extension of the solid axis below the base of
the stipe is not always preserved ; but when it is entire, we find
two strong diverging and slightly-curving processes or spines from
the base, having smooth terminations. Sometimes a disc or bulb,
of the same substance as the stipe, extends between these spines,
and in the compressed condition envelops a few of the lower
cellules.

The expansion at the base of this species has the same general
appearance as the central disc of G. Logani, G. Headi, and others ;
showing that this sort of development of the substance is not alone
characteristic of those forms having several stipes united at the
base. In other examples this basal expansion is contracted in
such a manner as to give a crescent-form to the lower extremity ;
but in all these gradations, the margins of this part are entire and
unbroken.

We have seen that the youngest forms of the diprionidian grap-
tolites, those which we may suppose had but recently escaped
from the reproductive sac, are furnished with the minute radicle-

52 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST [Feb.

like appendage or extension of the solid axis, as well as the oblique
lateral processes like tentacula ; and the condition of these parts
does not seem to have been essentially changed during any sub-
sequent period of their growth. While the extension of this slen-
der solid axis does not seem to have sufficient strength to have
formed the base of attachment to the sea-bottom, it may have
been sufficient to maintain connection with other parts of a com-
pound frond.

For all those species with a single range of cellules, as well as
for some with a double range, including Retiolites, Retiograptus,
and Phyllograptus, I conceive that we have already shown a
similar plan of development and a uniform mode of existence ; and
we are constrained to believe that all these forms, in their mature
condition, were free floating bodies in the Silurian seas.

In regard to another group, including Dendrograptus, Callo-
graptus, Dictyonema, as well as one or two other forms, we have
some evidence indicative of a different mode of existence. The
stems of Dendrograptus are enlarged towards their base, and
sometimes present a sudden expansion or bulb, which I have
inferred may be the base or root, once attached to another sub-
stance or imbedded in the mud. The general form of the species
conduces to the belief that they were fixed to the sea-bottom,
though possibly this basal expansion may have resembled that of
Graptolithus bicornis. In most of the species described, the lower
extremity is imperfect, and its termination unknown.

In those which I have termed Callograptus, the bases of the
fronds are imperfect, but indicate, according to analogy, a radicle
or point of attachment like Dendrograptus. In the more nearly
entire forms of Dictyonema known, we have not been able to
observe the base ; but from their similarity in form and mode of
growth to Fenestella and R'depora, we have inferred their attach-
ment either to the sea-bottom or to foreign bodies.

Nearly all these forms occur in rocks where there are few of the
larger fossils of any kind except the graptolites ; so that there is
little chance of finding their bases attached to shells and corals, as
we do those of the bryozoans, even if they had thus existed. The
Dictyonemce of the Niagara, Upper Helderberg, and Hamilton
groups do occur in strata which contain large numbers of other
fossils ; but we have no evidence of their having been attached.
It is only from their general form therefore, and from their analogy

1865.] NOTES ON THE NIGHT-HERON. 53

with other bodies, that we infer that these genera may have been
attached to the sea-bottom o* to some objects during their growth.
We admit therefore that the family of Graptolitidae, as now
extended, may include both free ani fixed forms *

A FEW NOTES ON THE NIGHT-HERON.

By Henry G. Vbnxor.

While our little hawk-owl (Surnia ulula) ranks as an intermediate
species between the hawks and the owls proper, our night-heron
shares partly the structure of both heron and bittern ; its habits,
food, and color of eggs are however decidedly those of the heron .
It is called night-heron from its nocturnal habits, and has been thus
described: — " Bill black; crown, hind head, back, and scapulars,
glossy blackish green ; from the hind head proceed three long,
rounded, pure white feathers or plumes; wings, rump, and tail,
light ash-color ; neck, and lower parts, a white, with the most
delicate tinge of cream-color ; iris, fiery red ; legs, yellow ? Length
of the adult bird, from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches ; extent
four feet." The young bird has not the head-plumes. About the
middle or end of March, numbers of these birds leave their winter-
quarters in the Southern United States (where many remain all
the year round), and proceed northward, settling down in squads,
— some along the Atlantic coast, others on the river-shores and
marshes of the Middle States, while a small number reach the
borders of Canada, about the middle of April. At the foot of the
Lachine rapids, in the St. Lawrence, is Nun's Island, on the upper
part of which, and hardly out of hearing of the city noise, many rare
and beautiful birds spend their breeding-season in peace and
quiet, and among others the night-heron. I have tried, in vain,
to discover the period when these birds first visited and built
in this island. From all accounts, and judging from the appear-
ance of the heronry, it is very ancient. It is a well-known
habit of these birds to return year after year to their
favorite breeding-grounds ; and it is only when the trees
have been felled, or they have been unusually persecuted, that
they will forsake an old locality. Not only do they frequent

* Several papers on the Graptolites will be found in the previous vol-
umes of this journal. See especially the volume for 1858, pp. 139, 161.

54 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb,

yearly the same locality, but often the same pair return to the
same nest ; and as their numbers increase, the new-comers
build nests for themselves. The heronry at Nun's Island may
have been commenced by only two or three pairs of birds; but
as old and young returned year after year, the number of nests
has thereby greatly increased : during the summer of 1864 I
estimated the number of breeding birds at from eighty to one
hundred pairs. Having visited it for several successive years, I
have seen the birds in every stage of plumage. So like are
the male and the female that the most practised eye cannot tell
the one from the other. Like the male, the female has the
long, white occipital plumes on the hind head. These are in
most cases three in number, but specimens are often found with
four perfect plumes. Many mistakes have been made by col-
lectors respecting the male, female, and young, of this species ;
the one being often taken for the other. The young of the first
year may easily be known by the following general description: —
" The upper parts light brown, streaked with reddish white, the
lower parts being dull ashy-white, variegated with grayish,
and dusky." — Public and private collections would be doubly
valuable, in a scientific point of view, were they to have a young
bird of each species placed beside the adult male and female. Great
difficulty has been experienced in determining certain species of
eagles, hawks, and falcons, owing to the diversity in plumage
of the different sexes, and at various stages of growth. — But
to return to our subject. The trees in the heronry above alluded
to are not scattered far apart, but they may be enclosed by a circle
of about one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards in diameter.
The nests are built often two and three on the same tree ; and
in many cases side by side with those of the American crow.
Their nests are not unlike one another, that of the crow being
however smaller. The heron's nest is composed of sticks thrown
together very loosely and carelessly ; often indeed with so slight
a hollow, as to endanger the sa. r e y of the eggs and young.
Many eggs are thus destroyed : after a high wind, the ground
is often strewed with the broken shells. The eggs, so far as
I have observed, are always four in number, and of a light
blue-color, — agreeing in these respects with those of the night-
heron of Europe. During the day, the male birds roost on lofty
trees near the water's edge, uttering from time to time their harsh
croak, — the females meanwhile keeping to their nests. When-

1865.] NOTES ON THE NIGHT-HERON. 55

approached, they rise in the air with a great uproar, and watch the
intruder, but take care to keep at a respectful distance. No sooner
has night set in, than, leaving their roosts, they scatter along the
shore or around the marsh in search of food. This consists
chiefly of small fish, water and marsh insects, and reptiles —
as water-newts, lizards, and small frogs. Their flesh, though sel-
dom forming a table-dish in Canada, is esteemed excellent, haying
the flavor of the hare. We hope, however, that these birds may
long continue to breed in our midst, and quietly accomplish their
useful mission of keeping down the undue increase of injurious
reptiles, protected by naturalists, and undisturbed by pot-hunters.

Let us now look at its variety— if variety it be — occurring in
Europe. Our American bird, as we have before noted, is from
twenty-six to twenty-eight inches in length. In India, we find that
what we suppose to be the same species is only twenty-four inches in
length ; while in Europe it measures only twenty- two inches. Look-
ing at the habits of this bird in these different places, we note, that
in America it chooses, whenever possible, lofty trees to build upon,
and these always near good feeding-grounds. In India and in
Europe however, where marshes are not bordered by such trees,
the heron at once selects either a small tree or bush for its nest,
and in many cases even builds on the ground.

How then are these differences in size and habits to be
accounted for, if we maintain that the herons found in these
different places are of one species ? From observing the
habits of these birds, we have come to the conclusion that the
heron, in fixing upon its breeding-ground, is chiefly influenced
by the suitableness of the locality for its favorite food. Rarely
do we find heronries at any great distance from good feed-
ing-grounds. Is it out of the way, then, that we should
find this bird, where there are no trees, choosing a bush or
even the ground? We should not infer, because it builds
in a bush or on the ground, that this is its natural habit, but
rather a turning out of its regular course so as to be within
easy reach of its food. This circumstance explains, w e
believe, not only the slight difference in habit, but also the
diversity in size. For we would ask, where are these birds most
at home? Where may observers note their natural habits?
We have seen that the night-heron of America is larger
than that of Europe or of India ; that in America they build
and breed together in large companies, and always choose lofty

56 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

trees, where such are to be had near their feeding-grounds ; and
that though some individuals in America build among bushes
and even on the ground, they are few in number and exceptions
to the general rule. Is not America, then, their natural place
of abode? We find, on turning to Europe and India, these
birds decreasing in size, and building their nests in the best
situation the locality affords; — and just as we see them thus
as it were forced out of their natural choice of breeding-grounds,
so we find them suffering in consequence, and becoming smaller ;
though 'their plumage and general characters remain unchanged,
agreeing precisely with our American species. Next to that of
the continent of America, we would place the heron of India, and
lastly the smaller bird of Europe, where I think it is not at all
at home.

In closing these few notes, I would ask, are there not many
birds of other continents, differing but slightly in form and
habits with similar species on our own, set down and named as
distinct species ? and might not a careful investigation into their
habits and necessities, enable us to fix upon their natural home,
and set down many as one species, though, like the night-heron,
they may be found in a greater or less variety of form ?

[Prof. Baird, one of the best authorities on American ornithol-
ogy, considers the night-heron of America distinct from the Euro-
pean species. At the same time it is unfortunately too common
for American authors to attach undue importance to minute points
of difference between birds inhabiting the eastern and western
sides of the Atlantic. There are many birds, e. g. the osprey
and the crow, respecting which a similar parallel to our author's
case might be drawn ; and we have little doubt that, with extended
knowledge, many more species than is usually supposed will be
found to inhabit both continents. We would suggest the necessity
of carefully comparing a large series of European and Indian skins
with American specimens, before passing final judgment on this
oft-mooted question. The size of specimens from any locality
varies much ; and, as far as we remember, the night-heron in
England usually breeds in trees. — J. F. w.]

1865.] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 57

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA,

QUEBEC BRANCH.

The first annual meeting of the Society was held in the rooms
of the Literary and Historical Society, on Thursday, 5th January,
1865, at half-past seven o'clock, p. m., the President, Mr. F. J. S.
Pore, in the chair.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.

The Rev. L. C. Wurtele, B.A., of Actonvale, C. E., and Mr.
R. P. Davis, of Quebec, were elected members of the Society.

The following donations to the cabinet were announced :

From A. L. Russell, Esq.
45 specimens Coleoptera, comprising 27 species.
9 " Hemiptera, " 6 "

4 " Orthoptera, " 4 "

From G. J. Bowles, Esq.

24 specimens Lepidoptera, comprising 22 species.

2 " Neuroptera, " 2 "

From W. Couper, Esq.
203 specimens Lepidoptera, comprising 143 species.
170 " Coleoptera, " 130 "

29 " Hymenoptera, " 18 "

3 " Orthoptera, " 3 "
173 " Diptera, " 40 «

13 " Neuroptera, " 9 "

34 " Hemiptera, " 25 "

From R. H. Browne, Esq.
12 specimens Lepidoptera, comprising 12 species.
1 " Orthoptera, " 1 "

From the Abbe Brunet.

25 specimens Coleoptera, comprising 16 species.

A number of entomological pamphlets were also presented to the
library by different members.

Mr. Couper exhibited eleven new species of Canadian Coleop-
tera, and presented for publication the several descriptions.

The following report of the retiring Council was then read by
the president :

The Council of the Quebec Branch, Entomological Society of
Canada, in presenting its First Annual Report, would congratu-

58 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb,

late the members on the success which has attended this the first
attempt to promote the study of entomology in Quebec. A year
ago, the students of the science in this city were very few ; but
the establishment of this Branch has already nearly tripled their
number, and an interest has been awakened, which argues well for
the progress in Lower Canada of this interesting department of
Natural History.

The founders of this Society considered, that instead of forming
a distinct organization, it would be more advantageous to unite
themselves with the Entomological Society of Canada, located at
Toronto. They therefore made certain proposals to that Society,
resulting in an arrangement which your Council believes will
tend to the prosperity and stability of this Branch, and to the
advancement of Canadian Entomology. The members of this
Branch enjoy the privileges of membership in the parent Society,
with the additional advantages of having their own officers and
by-laws, and of holding meetings among themselves. It is satis-
factory to notice that the entomologists of London, C. W., have
perceived the benefits of a similar arrangement, and have united
with the society at Toronto, under the name of the " London
Branch." No doubt this course will be followed by the students
in other parts of Canada, and a strong society thus be formed,
which will successfully carry out the study of the insect-fauna
of Canada.

An agreement was also made with the Literary and Historical
Society of Quebec, which will prove mutually beneficial, — in les-
sening the necessary expenses of this Branch, and in providing
for the museum of that Society a good collection of our insects.

This Branch now numbers ten members, and two gentlemen
were proposed at the last general meeting of the year. Consider-
able progress has been made in the formation of private collections ;
but as the majority of the members are beginners, only four papers
have been presented to the Society during the year. Two of these
have been published in the " Canadian Naturalist," Montreal, and
the third and fourth will appear in its next issue. The titles of
these papers are —

On the larva of Attacus polyphemus, by W. Couper.

On the occurrence of Plcris rapoe in Canada, by(x. J. Bowles.

On a gall-producing Hymenopter, taken upon Triticum repens,
Linn., by W. Couper.

1865.] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 59

Descriptions of eleven new species of Canadian Coleoptera,
by Wm. Couper.

Mr. Couper has also published a list of the Coleoptera and
Diptera taken in the vicinity of Quebec, and in other parts of
Lower Canada ; and is preparing a continuation of this list, of
species determined since. Both of these articles are contributed
to the transactions of the Literary and Historical Society.

The Council would also notice, that the Vice-President and
Curator of this Branch recently paid a visit to the United States,
where they had interviews with many of the eminent entomologists,
and did much to create a friendly feeling between the students of
the science in that country and in Canada.

The Literary and Historical Society has, according to agree-
ment, provided a handsome cabinet, which is now ready for spe-
cimens. Your Council solicits donations, and trusts that a large
collection may be made during the coming year.

With respect to the future working of the Society, your Council
beg leave to offer one or two suggestions.

Last season, the London Branch had weekly excursions ; the
members leaving early in the morning, and returning about noon,
so as not to interfere too much with business. Your Council
would recommend this Branch to adopt a similar plan, if it could
possibly be carried out. The vicinity of Quebec is, in many
respects, a new field for the entomologist, and these excursions
would yield much useful information, as well as healthful pleasure
to the students of the science.

It is also desirable that the practical value of entomology should
be made known to the public. Your Council would therefore
suggest that a few short articles on the insects injurious to agri-
culture should be prepared for publication, in both languages, in
the newspapers of this city. The Society at Toronto has a
column in the " Canada Farmer " set apart for such articles.

The Secretary-Treasurer's books and vouchers have been exam-
ined, and found correct.

The whole respectfully submitted,

Fred. J. S. Dore, President.

Quebec, 5th Jan., 1865.

Resolved : That the report be received, adopted, and forwarded
to the " Canadian Naturalist" for publication.

The suggestions of the Council with regard to excursions, and
the publication of articles on noxious insects, were discussed and

60 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

approved of by the meeting. It was also proposed that the Council
should publish a small pamphlet giving directions for capturing
and preserving insects, as the best means of obtaining specimens
from the Lower St. Lawrence and Labrador coasts.

The following were then elected officers for the current year: —
President, F.J. S. Dore; Vice-President, the Abbe Brunet, Prof.
Botany, Laval University; Secretary-Treasurer, G. J. Bowles;
Curator, W. Couper ; Members of the Council, R. H. Browne, A.
L. Russell, and G. C. Gibsone.

A number of rare and beautiful insects were on the table for
inspection by the members. Among these were Melitcea phceton,
Saturniamiia, Thecla mopsus, Thecla falacer, Arctia parthenos ;
Cicindela macro, Cyclirus marginatus, C. stenostomus, Carabus
vinctus, Diccelus sculptilis, Megasoma thersites, Prionus laticollis,
Callichroma splendidum, Saperda oreata, Saperda Fayi. The ten
last-named species are from the United States, and belong to Mr.
Couper. The Abbe Brunet exhibited two cases of French Coleoptera.

DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES OF CANADIAN COLEOPTERA.
By William Couper, Quebec.

1. Amara pygmea. — Black; thorax margined, longitudinally
channeled in the centre; with a double impression and inter-
spersed punctures near the posterior margin. Elytra with nine
punctured striae, punctures profound on the dorsal region, but
obscure laterally and posteriorly. Sutural striae slightly bent
towards the region of scutellum ; second stria (composed of about
ten punctures) joins the third, and runs obliquely towards the
sutural stria, but does not join it ; the sixth stria shortest
posteriorly. Antennae, palpi, legs, and underparts of body chest-
nut. Length \ inch. Quebec ; rare.

Similar in form but much smaller than Amara avida, Say-
In the latter the thoracic discoidal channel is deeper, and the
punctures near the posterior angles are more diffused. The first
or sutural striae of elytra are abbreviated, and join the second ;
while in A. pygmea the first elytral stria is entire, and the tibiae
are very spinose, especially the anterior pair.

2. Gyrinus fraternus. — Head, antennae, and thorax black,
highly polished, the latter margined anteriorly with a single row

1865.] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 61

of fine punctures which may be traced on the lateral and posterior
margins. Scutellum distinct. Elytra black, polished, each
elytron having eleven rows of fine shining punctures — the first
lateral row terminates where the second and third take the form
of a crescent on the margin of the apex ; the fourth and fifth are
joined ; the sixth, seventh, tenth, and eleventh join near the
sutural margin, and the eighth and ninth are the shortest, and
like the fourth and fifth join at their termination. There is a
stria on each side of the suture, and the latter has a golden tinge.
Body beneath and epipleurae chestnut, but the legs are of a
brighter color. The posterior ' tarsi are much larger than the
anterior pair. The abdomen is longer than the elytra, and
rounded at tip. Length T \ inch. Common in ponds near
Quebec, June and July.

Dr. LeConte has expressed a doubt regarding the above. On
the strength of his knowledge of the species already catalogued,
I describe it as an addition to the list of Canadian Coleoptera.
Kirby describes two species, neither of which agree with the above.
The descriptions of the Gyrinidce in " Fauna Boreali Americana"
are imperfect:— G. impressicollis, Kirby, and G. ventralu, Kirby,
have not the row of punctures on the anterior margin of thorax.
The northern species described by Say and others, are almost all
identified by Dr. LeConte.

3. Boletobius bimaculattjs. — Head black; thorax testa-
ceous, polished and darker on the disc. Elytra testaceous, smooth-
margined on the suture, and having a black spot on each elytrum.
Mouth and legs testaceous. Margin of abdominal rings chestnut,
posterior one black, acute. Length T 4 g inch. Quebec; rare.

This species can be easily known from the conspicuous oblong
black spot on each elytron. The spots join the epipleurae, which
are black. It is also finely punctured underneath.

4. Athous affinis. — Color cinnamon; finely punctured.
Head short, eyes black, round, occupying almost the entire side of
the head. Thorax oblong, about three times the length of head,
almost parallel with the eyes, but narrower than the elytra.
Length T 7 g inch. Quebec ; common.

The above is unknown to Dr. LeConte. I have compared it
with his CorymUtes pyrrhos, which belongs to an allied genus,
and cannot detect sufficient specific difference to separate them.
The latter was pronounced by the Ent, Soc. Philad. to be
pyrrhos, Lee. ; however, I am satisfied, since Dr. LeConte has seen
the insect, that the specimen was not properly determined.

62 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb

5. Telephorus armiger. — Maxillae, palpi, and front of head
to base of antennae yellow, the latter 11-jointed ; — 2nd joint
shortest. Head black ; thorax with two black elevations ; lateral
margin yellow — posterior angles acute; anterior and posterior
margins black, slightly reflexed. Elytra black, minutely granu-
lated, with two longitudinal ridges. Coxae and joints of the legs
yellow. Body beneath, black. Length T 5 g inch. Quebec;
uncommon.

The mandibles of the above are long and acute. It differs from
Telephorus (Cantharis) fraxini, Say, (Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci.,
Phila., 3, 181,) in not having " confluent, slightly impressed punc-
tures, forming irregular transverse lines."

6. Podabrus simplex. — Mouth, palpi, and front of head to
base of antennae, yellow ; tips of palpi black. Posterior portion
of head black, narrow where it joins the thorax. Eyes large,
globular. Antennae 11-jointed — first joint longest, second and
third shortest and of equal length, the remaining five uniform and
black. The two basal joints of antennae, thorax and anterior pair
of legs and coxae yellow. Thorax almost square, longitudinally
elevated on each side posteriorly. Scutellum large, triangular.
Elytra black, slightly granulated, polished, with short scattered
whitish hairs. Body beneath, and posterior legs black. Length
T 4 ¥ inch. Quebec, June.

About twenty-five American species are known to Dr. LeConte,
and I am assured by him that my species has not been heretofore
described.

7. Mycetochares bicolor. — Head, eyes, thorax, elytra, and
the two posterior segments of abdomen, black. Antennae, legs
and anterior segments of abdomen ferruginous. Head and thorax
minutely punctured, the posterior margin of the latter transverse.
Elytra striate, and densely punctured in the striae ; sutural striae
abbreviated ; the fourth and fifth shortest posteriorly, terminating
together. Length T 5 g inch. Quebec ; uncommon.

This is the first of the genus found in Lower Canada. Other
species may occur in the Ottawa country. Dr. LeConte says he
has " four species, of which 31. binotata, Say, is the only one
described."

8. Cistela quadristriata. — Head black. Thorax and
elytra smooth, testaceous, minutely punctured, the latter having
two abbreviated striae on the posterior margins of suture. Anten-
nae, palpi, legs and body ferruginous. Length ^ inch. Quebec ;
uncommon.

1865.] ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 63

Easily identified from the double sutural striae occurring on the
posterior half of elytra.

9. Polydrosus ? elegans. — Nose black ; head, thorax, under
part of body, lateral and sutural margins of elytra covered with
white decumbent hairs. The five central ridges of elytra are
covered with yellowish hair blending with the white on the
shoulders. A mixture of the two colors occurs on the disc of
thorax, presenting a white longitudinal line on the sides of the
thorax. Legs reddish, covered with white hairs ; tarsi triangular,
with a single claw to each. The latter character alone will serve
to determine this beautiful insect. Length T \ inch. Quebec ;
xare. Dr. LeConte is not satisfied that the above is a true
Polydrosus.

10. Grypidius vittatus. — Mouth obtuse; antennal groove
forms the segment of a circle ; head channeled, minutely punctured ;
thorax densely punctured, and parallel with the eyes. Entirely
covered with short erect white and yellowish hairs, which in cer-
tain lights are richly bronzed. White longitudinal vittae obscure
on the centre, but visible on each side of the thorax, commencing
behind the upper part of the eye and connecting with 5th, 6th,
7th, and posteriorly on part of the 4th and 3rd elytral ridges.
The three marginal ridges are white. Elytra striate. Abdomen
composed of five visible rings, the 3rd and 4th of equal width, the
last equal to the 2nd. Legs ferruginous, and pubescent. Length
T \ inch. Quebec ; common in fields during the summer.

11. Microrhopala interrupt a. — Black. Head, thorax and
elytra densely punctured. A reddish-yellow stripe near the
lateral margin of the thorax is continued on half the elytra, occu-
pying the distance of thirteen punctures, where it terminates, —
but the stripe occurs again on the same laevigated ridge, posteriorly
for the length of five punctures. A yellow mark occurs at the
termination of the next kevigated^ridge in the region of the suture
and near the apex,on the sides of which are three punctures. Length
nearly T 4 g inch. Taken at the Hermitage, north of Quebec ;
June.

The form is that of 31. Pluto, Newman, or 31. Xerne, Newman (?)
taken in the same locality. The above species is however differ-
ently marked from either. 31. Pluto is entirely black, and the
yellow stripe on the elytra of 31. Xerne is continued to within
a short space of the apex, and occupies a distance of twenty-four
punctures, while the inside mark occupies less than three. — Read
before the Quebec Branch, bth January 1865.

64 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ALYPIA.
By William Couper, Quebec.

Alypia Langtonii. — Antennae filiform, longer than Kirby's
A. MacCullochii — the tips slightly bent outward, having white
bands on the upper part, which can be traced for half their length ;
the bent part dark velvety. Palpi black, cream-colored in the
centre; head and eyes black, the latter with a cream-colored
stripe on their inner margin, and a small spot of the same color
on the top of the head. Thorax black, margins and anterior
portion underneath cream-colored. Abdomen, anterior and
posterior wings indigo-black, the latter fringed. Two cream-

Alypia Langtonii, Couper; nat. size.

colored spots on the anterior wings : a semi-triangular spot runs
longitudinally between the anterior and interior margins, and a
larger kidney-shaped one is placed transversely opposite the pos-
terior margin. One cream-colored semi-triangular spot on the
posterior wings ; the spot is straight anteriorly, and rounded pos-
teriorly, with a faint longitudinal black line running through its
anterior margin. The four anterior tibiae are densely fringed with
orange hair. Expanse of anterior wings, including thorax, 1\
inch. Quebec ; rare. [In the cabinet of the Quebec Branch Ent.
Soc. of Canada.]

This beautiful insect is very distinct from Alypia MacCuUochii
(Fauna Bor. Am., page 301, plate iv, figure 5), which has
" three very white spots " on the primaries, and " also three white
spots" on the secondaries. The only resemblance to it is its black
color, and " the four anterior legs (tibice in my species), exter-
nally covered with long orange-colored hairs, characters peculiar
to the genus." In my species the apex of abdomen is acute, while
in Kirby's it is obtuse. Three specimens taken in the neighbor-
hood of Quebec did not present any variation of wing-spots. The
larva is unknown to me. For further information regarding the

1865.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 65

genus Alypia, see " Notes on the Family Zygoenidce" by A. S.
Packard, jr., in the Proceedings of the Essex Institute, Salem,
Mass., April 1864.

I have much pleasure in dedicating this species to John Langton,
Esq., President of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.

MEETING OF BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

Mr. Markham read a paper, by Viscount Milton and Dr.
Cheadle, entitled, " An Expedition Across the Rocky Mountains
into British Columbia, by the Yellow Head or Leather Pass." In
the Spring of 1862, Viscount Milton resolved to investigate for him-
self the nature of the country between the Red River Settlement
and the Rocky Mountains ; and to penetrate, if possible, by the
shortest route, direct to the gold-regions of Cariboo ; an enterprise
hitherto unattenipted.* He was fortunate enough to secure as his
companion in this attempt, his friend Dr. Cheadle, of Cain's
College, Cambridge, to whose energy and enterprise, Viscount
Milton says, " the success of the enterprise is mainly to be
attributed." After recording the circumstances that preceded their
arrival at Edmonton, the paper continues : —

Before proceeding further with the account of our journey.
I must allude very briefly to the magnificent country which
extends from Red River almost to the base of the Rocky
Mountains. It has been well described by Captain Palliser and
Dr. Hector, and I would add my testimony to the fertility
of its soil, and to the extent of its resources. It is peculiarly
well adapted for settlement; rich prairies, which are ready
for the plough, being interspersed with woods which would
furnish timber for building and. fencing. The climate is the
climate of Canada ; the spring, however, according to Dr. Hector,
setting in a month earlier than it does on the shores of Lake
Superior. Grain of all kinds grows here with the greatest

* Excepting of course by the employes of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Also by a party of young men from Upper Canada, headed by a Mr.
Jessup of Orillia, C. W., who crossed the continent in 1859: they fol-
lowed the canoe-track to Red River, thence to Tete Jaune Cache
by the plains, descending Fraser River aa best they could to British
Columbia. — Eds.

Vol. II. e No. 1

QQ ' THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

luxuriance, -and the root-crops are certainly finer than any I have
ever seen in England. The pasturage is almost endless in extent,
and so nourishing that the horses turned out in the snow at
the commencement of winter, and then thin and in wretched
condition, when brought up in the following spring were exceed-
ingly fat, and fit to set out at once on the journey before them.
Coal-beds of large size exist on the Saskatchewan, Battle, and
Pembina Rivers. Clay iron-stone in large quantities was discovered
by Dr. Hector, and miners were engaged in washing gold in the
river above Edmonton during our stay there. Yet this glorious
country, estimated, I believe, by Dr. Hector at forty millions of
acres of the richest soil, is, from its isolated position, and from the
obstructions put in the way of settlement by the governing power,
left utterly neglected and useless, except for the support
of a few Indians, and the employes of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany. Could communication be established with Canada and
British Columbia, this district would, I imagine, become one of
the most valuable of the British possessions. After remaining
three weeks at Fort Edmonton for rest and preparation, the
travellers and their party set out on their journey across the
mountains, following the trail between Lake St. Anns and Jasper
House ; a day's journey on the road generally consisting of con-
tinual floundering through bogs, varied by plunges and jumps over
the timber lying strewn, crossed, and interlaced over the path,
and on every side. Between Lake St. Anns and the foot of the
mountains the forest is almost unbroken — a distance of nearly
three hundred miles. After the lapse of twenty-six days from
leaving Fort Edmonton, the travellers found themselves fairly in
the Rocky Mountains. They followed the course of the Athabasca
for some time, but afterwards followed the valley of the Myette,
and eventually reached the height of land so gradually that they
would hardly believe they had gained the water-shed of the
Pacific. A few days after, they struck the Fraser River, already
a stream of considerable size. From this point up to the almost
perpendicular sides of the narrow valley in which we were shut in,
this portion of our journey was the most harassing we had yet
experienced. The path lay almost entirely through water up to
the horse's girths, the only change being to swamps, embarrassed
with fallen timber of very large size. When we reached Moose
Lake, an expansion of the Fraser, about fifteen miles long, and two
or three wide, our difficulties increased. The trail along the beach

1865.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 67

was now under water, and we were frequently obliged to ascend
the steep mountain-side, when the accumulations of drift-wood
barred the passage along the shore. Numerous mishaps occurred,
the horses perversely going out into deep water, and floating about,
to the great detriment of flour and pemmican. Two rolled down
the mountain side, and had to be unpacked, and their loads carried
up to enable them to re-ascend. We found no place to rest during
the day ; and when night came on we had not reached the end of
the lake, and were obliged to camp in a bare sandpit, without any
feeding-ground for our weary animals, who ranged restlessly to
and fro until the morning. The road continued almost as difficult
all along the valley of the Fraser, and at one point was a narrow
ledge of a few inches along the face of a cliff of crumbling slate,
rising perpendicularly a tremendous height above us, and a steep
descent of above two hundred feet to the river below. On the
fourteenth we crossed a great number of small streams, many
probably mouths of the Moose River, an important tributary of the
Fraser flowing from the north. This grand fork of the Fraser is
at the foot of a very high mountain, which has received the name of
Kobson's Peak (and is the original Tete Jaune Cache), so named
from being the spot chosen by us. After journeying thus, meeting
greater difficulties still, the travellers left the Cache and kept
the emigrants' trail, which they followed into the dense forests
until it came to an end at a place where there had been two large
camps, and where, from all they saw about them, they concluded
that the whole band of emigrants had given up in despair the
idea of cutting through forests so dense and encumbered, and had
built large rafts, in order to drop down the river to Kamloops.
This plan our travellers had no means of following, and after diffi-
culties and disasters which the paper describes, they at length man-
aged again to come on a trail, and were soon after encouraged by
hearing a crow, a sure sign of more open country, and eventually
they reached Kamloops. The paper concludes as follows : —

In conclusion, I must venture a few general observations upon
the nature of the country through which we passed, from Fort
Edmonton, on the eastern side, to Kamloops on the west of the
mountains, with regard to the practicability of a road or a railway
being taken across by that point. Our party being, I believe, the
only one which has passed through this region entirely by land, the
testimony has some value, as being all that is known of a very
considerable portion of the distance. In the first place, I may

68 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

safely state, that, with the exception of one or two rocky and
precipitous bluffs, — few and trifling obstructions, compared with
those which have been already so successfully overcome in making
the road along the Fraser River, — there are no engineering difficul-
ties of any importance. On the other hand, however, for almost
the whole distance, the road would require to be made, there being
no open country until reaching the lower portion of the valley of
the North Thompson. From Edmonton to Jasper House the sur-
face is slightly undulating; and the lower ground universally swampy,
even where covered with thick forest. From Jasper House to
Tete Jaune Cache, the pass through the main ridge of the Rocky
Mountains, the valley is, for the most part, wide and unobstructed,
except by timber, which is generally of large size ; the rivers small
and mostly fordable, even at their highest. The ascent to the
height of land is very gradual, and, indeed, almost imperceptible ;
and the descent, although much more rapid, neither steep nor
difficult. From the Cache to the first opening out of the valley
of the Thompson, about eighty miles north of Kamloops, the only
route lies along that river, running through a succession of narrow
gorges shut in on each side by lofty and inaccessible mountains.
The whole of this portion is obstructed by growing and fallen
timber of the largest size ; but the fact of our being able to bring
horses through without any previous track being cut open, proves
sufficiently that there are no serious obstacles in the way of an
engineer. No sreat ascents or descents occur, the bottom of the
ravine being generally level, except where the transverse ranges of
hills come down close to the water's edge. Many of these are,
indeed, rocky, but consist generally of broken fragments of no
great size. No bluffs of solid rock appear until the last forty
miles, where the country is generally open, and otherwise little
obstructed. The flooding of the river by the melted snows of the
mountains does not interfere with the passage along the valley, we
having traversed it in the middle of 'the summer when the waters
were at the highest. A road might possibly be made more direct
to Cariboo than by continuing on to Kamloops, by following the
north-west branch of the North River, which comes in about sixty
miles south of Tete Jaune Cache, or the Canoe River, some fifteen
miles below that place ; but, from the rugged nature of the coun-
try to the west, such a road could only be made by great labor
and outlay. The easiest line would, I apprehend, be from the
junction of a small river which flows into the Thompson, about

1865.] BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 69

twenty miles north of the Clearwater, or about eighty north of
Kamloops. This stream, the Indians informed us, came from the
Cariboo Lake, and passes through a totally open region. The
most serious difficulty to the adoption of a route by Jasper House
would be the want of pasturage for cattle. The patches of open coun-
try are few on the eastern side, rather larger and more numerous
within the mountains ; but after leaving the Cache, on the western
side, the forest is unbroken for above a hundred miles, and in no
portion of the whole six hundred or seven hundred miles from
Edmonton to the Clearwater, except at Jasper House, is there
sufficient food for any large number of animals. The advantages
of this route would be — 1st. That it lies far removed from the
boundary-line, well within British territory. 2nd. That it passes
entirely through a country inhabited only by friendly and peaceable
Indians. 3rd. That it offers the most direct communication from
Canada to the gold-regions of British Columbia ; and from it the
Sewshwap and Okanagan districts, as well as the road on the Fraser,
are easily accessible. These considerations are, I think, of
sufficient importance to require that the question whether this
more northern pass does not, from its directness and the security
which it offers, possess more solid advantages than those lying
further south, should be carefully and fairly weighed. The more
southern passes lying within the British line are far more steep
and difficult than the one by Jasper House, and are in unsafe
proximity to the United States territories. The only advantages to
be claimed for them appear to be that they communicate with more
open country on either side, that pasturage is plentiful along the
road, and that, from their more southerly latitude, they are likely
to be blocked with snow for a shorter period. But whichever be
the one selected, I would urge most strongly the necessity for
immediate action in the matter, and hope, though not with con-
fidence, that the New Hudson Bay Company will cast off the
prejudices and lay aside the obstructiveness which degraded the
policy of the old one, and promote, to the utmost of their power,
that scheme, which is of such vital importance to the advancement
of all the British possessions in North America.

The President spoke highly of the value and interest of the
paper, and eulogised the conduct of Viscount Milton in leaving
the ease and luxury of a home like his for the true advancement
of science. He had more successfully than any other traveller,
faced the dangers and difficulties of a most difficult and inacce-
sible country.

70 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

Dr. Cheadle, in the course of some supplementary remarks, said
that throughout British Columbia, except a few isolated portions,
no farming-land was to be found. Though it was possible by
irrigation to produce certain crops in a few years, yet they must
soon cease, for there was nothing but sand, the only vegetable
mould being supplied by the decay of grass. In most parts the
land was so light that it was impossible to irrigate it. But this
country, so rich in minerals, was only separated by the Rocky
Mountains from the rich and productive country on the other side,
showing the necessity for opening-up a communication between
them.

Lord Milton, in the course of a few observations, expressed his
great obligations to Dr. Cheadle, and said that the Bed Biver
Settlement was the best colony England had for farming purposes,
but nowhere was farming less understood. One man there, after
sowing eleven crops of wheat in succession on the same land,
began to inquire the reason why his crops had failed. This showed
at once the richness of the soil, and the ignorance of many who
cultivated it.

The President said, so convinced was he of the value of the
paper that had been read, that he should claim on the part of the
Boyal Geographical Society, that it should be placed upon the
permanent records of the Association.

BEVIEWS.

Proceedings of the Portland (Maine) Society of
Natural History. — We have received with pleasure the first
number of the Journal and of the Proceedings of the Portland
Society of Natural History.

The Journal is occupied by one of the most elaborate papers we
ever remember to have seen on such a subject, on the terrestial Pul-
monifera of the State. Too much praise can hardly be given to
the patient manner in which the microscopic details of the species
have been worked out. Careful drawings are given of the buccal
plates and lingual ribbons of nearly all the molluscs described, and
of other interesting peculiarities whether in the animal or in its shell.
The nomenclature of all the species is utterly changed, and Mr.
Morse divides the twenty-six Helices of the State into four sub-

1865.] reviews. 71

families ! We are not disposed to agree with our author in con-
sidering the American varieties of Helix pulchella and H. chersina
and Zua lubrica as sufficiently distinct from the European types.

The first paper in the Proceedings is a catalogue of the flow-
ering plants of Maine, hy G. L. Goodale. The list appears to have
been prepared with great care, is very complete, and is evidently the
work of a sound critical botanist. To this succeed catalogues of
the mammalia and birds of the State, which we have no doubt will
prove 'interesting to the student of Zoology in Canada. Most of the
mammals of Maine are also well known to inhabit this colony, but
as yet very little critical attention seems to have been paid to the
higher animals in Canada. The following Maine species, so far as
we know, have not yet been recorded, at any rate as inhabiting
Lower Canada, and have probably been overlooked :

Vespertilio Carollnensis, Geoffroy (common brown rat). Sorex
Forsteri, Rich. (Forster's shrew). Sorex Eichardsonit, Bach. (Rich-
ardson's shrew). Sorex platyrhinus, Wagner (Eared shrew).
Sorex Thompsoni, Baird (Thompson's shrew). Blarina brevi-
caudt, Gray (Short-tailed mole shrew). Vulpes Virginianus, Rich.
(Grey fox). Putorius Richardsonii, Bonaparte (Little ermine).
Putorlus nigrescens, Aud. and Bach. (Little black mink). Hes-
peromys leucopus, Wagner (White-footed mouse). Hesperoinys
myoides, Baird (Hamster mouse).

Prof. Hitchcock gives a careful and detailed description of the
Devonian and Upper Silurian rocks of part of the State. Three
new species of Devonian plants are describ d by Principal Dawson,
from the ' plant-bed ' at Perry. The State geologist then gives
localities for various interesting fossils, calls attention to a peculiar
arrangement of boulders near Bethel, and lastly gives an account
of the post-tertiary clays of Maine, and compares the fossils whieh
they contain with the lists (published in the Can. Nat.) of the
organisms procured from the drift of the St. Lawrence valley. A
large proportion of the marine invertebrates are common to the
post-pliocene deposits of Maiue and Canada East ; and where dif-
ferences exist, it appears to us that they are very similar in char-
acter to those which obtain in the existing fauna of the two coasts.
Dr. Foggs' " List of the Reptiles and Amphibians found in Maine"
has also its special interest to Canadian naturalists. We know but
little of the geographical distribution of these creatures in Canada,
much less even than of the mammals. Of the eleven species of
snakes found in Maine, we have determined eight of the species as

72 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

also inhabiting Lower Canada. Of the turtle family, all the
Maine species have been detected in Canada East, with the excep-
tion of the mnd-turtle {Ozotheca odorata, Ag.) and the box-tur-
tle (Cistudo Virginea, Ag.). The newts and lizards have been very-
little explored : eleven species are known in Maine, and at present
but five in the neighborhood of Montreal. Dr. Dawson describes
some new plants from the Upper Devonian of the vicinity of the
Perry River, in addition to those already alluded to. These fossils
bear a striking resemblance to the plants of the coal-period, and most
of the genera, e. g. Stigmaria, Calamites, Dadoxylon, Cordaites,
Sphenopteris, and Hymenophyllites, range upwards into that for-
mation. The student of the fossils of the Quebec group and of
tbe Lower Silurian rocks generally in Canada, will find Prof.
Hitchcock's paper on the fossils of the Potsdam group well worthy
of perusal. Lastly, Mr. Billings contributes an important article
on Silurian and Devonian fossils from various parts of Maine.
He describes and illustrates several new species of shells (principally
brachiopods), also seven new trilobites.

This journal, judging from the first numbers, bids fair to rank
hich among the scientific periodicals of the United States, and
clearly proves that the study of Natural History in Maine has not
been neglected. The illustrations are artistic, and the numbers on
the whole are well got up. J. F. w.

icones muscorum, or figures and descriptions of most
of those Mosses peculiar to Eastern North America

WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN HERETOFORE FIGURED ; By WlLLIAM

S. Sullivant, LL.D., etc., etc. With one hundred and twenty-
nine copper-plates. Cambridge, Mass. 1864. : Sever & Francis.
London: Trubner & Co. Imp. 8vo. — This book, by a cor-
responding member of our Society, and one of the ablest living
Bryologists, is thus noticed by Prof. Gray in the November
number of Silliman's Journal : " We briefly announced this
work in the September number of this Journal, in terms of
unqualified admiration — which were intended to apply as well to
the scientific character of the volume as to the rare perfection of
the typography and the plates, One hundred and thirty species
are illustrated, a full plate (with one or two exceptions), and com-
monly two pages of letter-press, being devoted to each. The
detailed descriptions are in Latin, as also the explanation of the
plates ; the habitat and the general remarks are in English. The

1865.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 73

plates represent the Moss of the natural size, as magnified, and with
an ample series of exquisite analyses ; for the most part there are
as many as twenty figures to each plate. The drawings are placed
to the credit of Mr. August Schrader, who has had a long train-
ing for such work under Mr. Sullivant's direction. They were
engraved by Mr. Wm. Dougal, of Washington, who executed the
plates of Musci of Wilke's Pacific Expedition. Probably upon no
work of the kind has an equal amount of labor, knowledge, and
expense been lavished. Only a small edition has been printed,
and it is published at a price ($10 in gold) which, however con-
siderable at present, will, it is understood, be very far from cover-
ing the cost."

NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Society took place on
Monday evening, Jan. 30, and was fairly attended. It was deter-
mined that the Society's annual Conversazione should take place
towards the latter end of February, and a committee was ap.
pointed to make the necessary arrangements. Various donations
were announced, the following being the more important :

TO THE MUSEUM.

Specimen of the mottled owl (Scops asio, Bonaparte), from Mr.
W. Boa ; the Cape-May warbler (Dendroica tigrina, Baird),
from Mr. P. Kutzing; twenty-three species of beetles (named),
from Washington, South Carolina, and California, from Mr. W.
Couper, Quebec ; fine crystal of amethyst, from the north shore of
Lake Superior, presented by the Literary and Historical Society,
Quebec; specimen of Cooper's hawk (Accipiter Cooperil, Bona-
parte), and thirty species of Canadian insects, from Mr. W.
Hunter.

NEW MEMBERS.

Messrs. D. R. McCord and T. Reynolds were elected members
of the Society.

PROCEEDINGS.

Mr. D. R. McCord read a paper on the well-known Canadian
fern, Cystopteris bulbifera of Swartz. This little " bladder
fern " has the peculiarity of bearing small bulbs, usually near the
angles formed by the junction of the mid-rib of the frond, and
those of some of the pinnae. The microscopic character of these

74 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

bulbs was shown in detail, and was illustrated by careful drawings
on the black-board. The peculiarities of their germination were
also elaborately explained. The author of the paper stated, that,
after careful microscopic investigation into the fructification of ferns,
he was inclined to think that the views usually promulgated with
regard to the impregnation of these plants were untenable. Con-
siderable discussion followed after the reading of this paper, in
which the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop, Mr. Barnston, and Dr.
Dawson took part. Dr. Dawson stated that this little fern, like
many flowering plants, appeared to have two distinct means of
propagation. The spores of course were the strict analogues of
seeds, while the bulbs appeared to be undeveloped buds, in which
phenomena took place similar to the ordinary budding-process.

A paper by Mr. R. J. Fowler " On Shells taken from the
Stomachs of Flounders," was next read by the Recording Secretary.
It is, and has long been, well known that many fishes — such as the
cod, and many of the flat fishes — often feed upon marine shells ; and
many rare deep-water molluscs have only been procured from the
stomachs of fishes. In the winters of 1861-62 and 1862-63, very
large flounders (said to have been taken at Portland, Maine, U. S.)
were sent to the Montreal markets, frozen and uncleaned. The
stomachs of nearly all these contained marine shells, often of con-
siderable size. During two winters, about thirty or forty
species were procured from this source, some of considerable rarity,
and these sometimes in great numbers. About 100 magnificent
specimens of the rare Yoldia thraciceformis (a large sub-arctic bi-
valve shell) were taken, and two specimens of another bivalve (a
species of Necera) which has never before been taken on the North
American coast. This last shell is probably identical with a rare
British species, occasionally taken at Loch Fyne and a few other
Scottish localities.

Dr. Dawson then exhibited and made some remarks upon a
collection of fifty-seven species of plants made in Newfoundland
in the autumn of 186-1, at the instance of Mr. A. Murray, of the
Geological Survey of that Island. Amongst the most interesting
plants collected we notice Calluna vulgaris (see this journal,
1864, page 459), Lychnis alpina, Hedysarum boreale (which
occurs also on the mountains of Vermont and on the Alle-
ghanies), Epilobium latifolium, Comus suecica (found also in
Norway), Aster grarninifolius (a White Mountain species), Gen-
tiana acuta, and Pleurogyne rotata. A remarkable variety of

18G5.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 75

the common harebell or bluebell of Great Britain, which was
known to occur about Lakes Huron and Superior, and which, by
some, has been elevated into the rank of a species, under the name
of Campanula Unifolia, has been also found in Newfoundland. Its
very limited distribution in North America is quite remarkable. Dr.
Dawson remarked that the plants of Newfoundland appear to be of
a boreal or sub-arctic type, that the flora was of a decidedly Scandi-
navian character, and that many of the species were identical with
plants found in Great Britain and in various other parts of North-
ern Europe. J. F. w.

ANNUAL CONVERSAZIONE.
The third annual Conversazione of the Society was held at the
rooms, University Street, on the evening of Monday, Feb. 21st,
on which occasion the museum and library were thrown open, and
crowded by a concourse of our most respectable and influential
citizens, a large number of ladies being present. In the library
were a number of microscopes of great power, exhibited by Messrs
A. S. Ritchie and F. Cundill, which attracted a constant succes-
sion of the curious, many of the specimens being deeply interest-
ing. In the lecture-room were laid out a number of illustrations
and illustrated works, in connection with various departments of
Natural History ; Mr. D. R. McCord's collection of Canadian
Ferns ; a series of De La Rue's photographs of the Moon ; and
microscopes exhibited by Messrs. J. Ferrier, jun., and Thomas
Rimmer. The visitors having entertained themselves with
inspecting the various objects of interest, or in listening to the fine
strains of the band of the 63rd Regiment, stationed in the gallery
of the museum, finally assembled in the lecture-room, to listen to
an address from Principal Dawson.

Principal Dawson said that although the members of the
Natural History Society were not 'a speaking people, he desired to
say a word on what they aimed to accomplish, as well as on the
various objects exhibited that eveniug. The object of the Society
was three-fold : first, industrial or economic ; second, educational ;
and third, scientific, which might be termed their object proper.
In the economic department, their aim was to collect objects illus-
trating the products of the country, as well as to diffuse informa-
tion as to anything in relation thereto which had an injurious
tendency : he believed they had already done something in this
way. Their educational object was to diffuse among young peo-
ple a taste for something more than ordinary light or frivolous

76 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

pursuits, and for this purpose they had collected a number of ob-
jects illustrative of various departments in natural history, and
endeavored to create an interest in such studies by popular free-
lectures, which, he trusted, would do something to diffuse a taste
for such pursuits. In years gone by they had done something in
this direction ; but of late their means and appliances had been
much improved, which was due in a great measure to the care and
exertion of Mr. Whiteaves. The objects in the Society's Museum
generally, had been better arranged ; and any person by looking
over the collection might obtain a considerable amount of informa-
tion. Lastly, in regard to the scientific department, he must ob-
serve it was less popular ; they had, nevertheless, been trying to
make original discoveries in geology and other branches. These
had been discussed in their journal and at their monthly meetings,
as most people who knew anything of the Society's proceedings
were aware. By means of the journal, too, information had been
diffused in other countries as to what was doing here. In all these
ways they had been trying to advance the cause, and they invited
those present here this evening, in order that they might take an
interest in the Society, and give it such countenance and support
as they were able, this being the principal object of the entertain-
ment. In regard to the objects exhibited, an illustration would be
given of the electric telegraph; as well as of the fire-alarm tele-
graph, which he hoped would alarm no one. Dr. Smallwood had
also swung a long pendulum by which he intended to show that
the earth still moves, and spins round with all its weight of civili-
zation as merrily as ever. Upon the table in front of the platform
was an ancient Canadian fossil (the Eozoon Canadense), an exam-
ple of the humble organic structure which ushered the dawn of
life into the world ; and beside it was the cast of a skull found in
a cave in Belgium with the bones of extinct species of mammoths,
with which it was believed to be contemporaneous. The old gen-
tleman in question might have dined with Methuselah ; and some
thought that he might even have existed before Adam, — which,
however, he (Dr. Dawson) did not believe. It was an ordinary
long-headed skull of the Celtic type. A number of persons had also
contributed microscopes with many objects not easy of collection.
Mr. McCord had exhibited his collection of Canadian Ferns;
and a series of water-color drawings of Canadian Fishes had been
received from Mr. Fowler, who, it was hoped, would continue his
labors in this direction. Behind him were a number of photo-

1865.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 77

graphs of the moon, which we were apt to believe a spotless orb,
but we were surprised to find her face full of blemishes presenting
an appearance somewhat like an ancient cinder, instead of the poet-
ical attributes usually attributed to her. These were a few of
the objects before them, of which it was desirable those present
should avail themselves, and he trusted the result would be that
many would connect themselves with the Society. In conclusion,
he would state that the Sommerville lectures, and the scientific
monthly meetings, were all open to ladies, and, as he knew many
of them were given to the study of scientific subjects, they would
be glad to have them present on these occasions. He hoped that
all would separate mutually satisfied with the instruction they had
received ; and Dr. Smallwood would now proceed to show them
his little experiment relative to the rotation of the earth.

Dr. Smallwood now proceeded to explain by means of a largo
pendulum suspended from the ceiling, the experiment alluded to ;
tracing in some remarks, the history of the discovery of the earth's
motion from the time of Galileo, and was listened to by those
present with much attention.

The numerous visitors, having amused and instructed themselves
with the various objects provided for their entertainment, gradually
dispersed; carrying with them, there is little doubt, a greater
interest in the welfare of the Society. — Newspaper Report.

MONTHLY MEETING.

The ordinary meeting of the Society was held on Monday
evening, March 6th, the President, Principal Dawson, in the
chair.

Among the more important donations to the Museum and
Library during the past month are the following: —

TO THE MUSEUM.

The Arctic puffin (Mormon Arctica, Linn.), and the gannet
(Sula bassana, Linn.), both from the Lower St. Lawrence; pre-
sented by Mr. Pierre Fortin.

Fiue specimen of the rare cinereous owl (Syrnium cinereum,
Baird), shot on the Island of Montreal ; from Mr. Alex. S. Ritchie.

Twenty-one species of fossils from the Carboniferous Limestone
of Ireland and Nova Scotia ; presented by Principal Dawson.

TO THE LIBRARY.

Embryology of the starfish, by Alex. Agassiz ; from the author*

78 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb.

PROCEEDINGS.

Mr. A. S. Ritchie then read a paper " On the structure of In-
sects." He commenced with a sketch of the history of Entomo-
logy from the time of Linnaeus and still earlier authors, down to the
present day. He then briefly reviewed the methods of classifying
insects which have been suggested by different authors ; some of
whom founded their systems on the more or less perfect changes
which insects undergo, others on the peculiarities of the structure
of the wings, or of the other organs of locomotion, some on the
mouth and the organs surrounding it, and so on. An account was
given of a few of the insects which are regarded with superstitious
dread by the ignorant, as the death-watch and the death's-head
moth. Attention was then called to the enormous numbers of
insects which are known to science, the number of species being
estimated at somewhere near 300,000 The microscropical anatomy
of these creatures was dwelt upon in minute detail. The tracheae
or air-tubes were first described : these run the whole length of the
body, and branch off to every part, the tubes being kept expanded
by an elastic spiral filament, somewhat like the spiral vessels in
plants. These tubes have outlets along the sides of the thorax and
abdomen, called spiracles, which are usually fringed with hairs to
prevent impurities passing into the delicate breathing-apparatus.
The structure of the antennae of various kinds of insects was then
explained. They seem to be organs of sensation, touch, and per-
haps of hearing. The compound-facetted character of the eye in
insects was next dwelt upon. These facets are often very numer-
ous : in the ant they are said to amount to fifty, in the house-fly
they number 4,000, in the dragon-fly 12,000, and, according to
Geoffroy, the eye of a butterfly contains upwards of 34,000 lenses.
The various parts of the mouth were then detailed, and after these
the peculiar arrangement of the legs and feet in various insects.
Having described the various organs of insects in the abstract, the
lecturer proceeded to illustrate how they varied in different kinds
of insects. From the beetles three species were selected— the
Cicindela campestris, a carnivorous ground-beetle; the Dyticus
marginalis, a large aquatic species ; and the Melolontha vulgaris,
more commonly known as the cockchafer. The sharp scythe-like
jaws of the tiger-beetle were described, also its large prominent
eyes ; its predatory habits were dwelt on at some length, also the
habits of the larva. The boat-like shape of the Dyticus, and its
oar-like feet, and various other organs, were next considered. Like

1865.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 79

the Cicindela, it is predacious in its habits, and has been known to
devour fishes and frogs far larger than itself. The cockchafer is
purely vegetarian in its habits ; its mouth seems more adapted for
grinding its food, than cutting it, and its sluggish shape contrasts
strongly with that of some of the carnivorous ground-beetles. It
is said that poisons have no effect upon the grub of this beetle, but
alkalies seem fatal to it. Further examples were then taken from
the order to which the locusts and crickets belong. The various
peculiarities of the house-cricket were described, particularly its
remarkable gizzard, covered internally with scales or horny points.
The mechanism by which the chirrup of the grasshoper is effected,
was explained at considerable length, as were also various points of
structure in the mole-cricket and the cockroach. The dragon-fly
and the Urocerus gigas, an insect very destructive to pine-trees,
were also described in detail, particularly the curious ovipositor of the
latter ; and the last illustration selected was one of the saw-flies. The
lecturer concluded by remarking that all these curious contrivances
were evidently made to adapt each insect for its special functions
in the economy of nature, and that it afforded one of the many
proofs of the harmonies to be observed in the material world. The
paper was illustrated with a number of microscopical preparations of
various parts of insects, and with a large series of magnified drawings.

After some remarks upon the paper by Principal Dawson, by the
Eight Rev. the Lord Bishop, the Rev. A. F. Kemp and others,
the thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Ritchie for his paper.

J. F. w.

Mr. Watt presented to the meeting : —

1. A very full catalogue of Canadian plants, by Mr. A. T.
Drummond of London, C. W., including not only that gentleman's
own collections throughout the Province, but also a reference to
nearly all that has been published on Canadian Botany. His
list of Lichens is particularly fuh\ embracing about 150 species.

2. An elaborate catalogue of the Flora of the county of Hastings,
C. W., by Mr. Macoun of Belleville, which includes many rare and
interesting plants. Mr. M.'s list of Carices is especially inter-
esting, and extends to nearly ninety species. His list of mosses
includes one very interesting new species, — Neckera Macounii,
Sullivant, MS. Canadian Muscology offers an inviting field for
assiduous exploration.

3. A catalogue of the collections of Dr. J. G. Thomas, in the
vicinity of Quebec and of Riviere-du-Loup, C. E. Credit is due

80 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST.

to this botanist for having been the first to observe the true
Woodsia alpina in Canada, a specimen of which in good fruiting
condition was exhibited. The plant found by Mr. Bell in
Gaspe, and referred by Dr. Lawson to W. glabella (see this Jour-
nal, 1864, page 288), and by Prof. Eaton to W. alpina (ditto,
page 4), appears to have been immature, and consequently diffi-
cult of determination. Dr. T. has also found the normal W.
glabella, and his station (the upper falls of the Riviere-du-Loup)
is the only thoroughly reliable Canadian one known to us for that
rare variety. A specimen of the Botrychium Lunaria of Swartz
of unusual size and in a perfect fruiting state, found by Dr. T.
at Riviere-du-Loup, was also shown. This fern proves to be
general throughout Canada; — its apparent rarity may be accounted
for by its inconspicuous mode of growth.

Dr. Thomas says (in a letter to the Editor), " The flora of this

interesting region (Riviere-du-Loup) is semi-arctic, the plants of

Labrador and thence northward being found along with natives of

central Canada. Among the Gentian aceae we have Pleurogyne

rotata (a decidedly Labrador plant) and Gentiana acuta

(Michaux), growing almost side by side with Halenia deflexa and

other gentians of lower latitudes. * * * * Around Quebec, the

hay-fields are white during summer with the flowers of the common

ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare, Lam.) ; but below Quebec

it gradually becomes scarcer, until at L' Islet it stops, and is not

seen below. The plant is introduced enough, as nearly all the

hay-seed sown by the farmers is brought from Quebec. The

corn-cockle (Agrostemma Githago, L., usually a too common

weed) is extremely rare here. I have found no representations

of the Goose-foot family (Chenopodiacese), which is remarkable.

Our specimens of Saxifraga Aizoon are peculiar. The scape

(or rather stem in this case) is decidedly leafy ; the leaves are

alternate, and resemble those clustered at the root, which are

thick, spatulate, and sessile, with cartilaginous margins, and

are slightly smaller than the radicle leaves. Among the Scrop-

hulariaceae, I collected Veronica Chammdrys, L., at Levis in 1859

(where it is not common), with its leaves decidedly petioled, and

not sessile as in the British plant; the petiole is not long —

about J to r V of an inch, but still a petiole." W.

Published, Montreal, March 8th, 1865.

THE

CANADIAN NATURALIST.

SECOND SERIES.

NOTES ON POST-PLIOCENE DEPOSITS AT RIVIERE-
DU-LOUP AND TADOUSSAC.

By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., Principal of McGill College.

In looking over, last winter, some of the collections made by
Prof. Bell, of Kingston, when engaged in the service of the Geo-
logical Survey of Canada, I was struck with a small collection of
Post-pliocene shells from Riviere-du-Loup,* as presenting a some-
what singular grouping of species ; and having. a few holiday weeks
to spend at Cacouna, I determined to ransack thoroughly the de-
posits which had afforded these specimens.

The country around Cacouna and Riviere-du-Loup rests on the
shales, sandstones, and conglomerates of the Quebec group of Sir
W. E. Logan. As these rocks vary much in hardness, and are
also highly inclined and much disturbed, the denudation to which
they have been subjected has caused them to present a somewhat
uneven surface. They form long ridges running nearly parallel
to the coast, or north-east and south-west, with intervening longi-
tudinal valleys excavated in the softer beds. One of these ridges
forms the long reef off Cacouna, which is bare only at low tide ;
another, running close to the shore, supports the village of
Cacouna; another forms the point which is terminated by the
pier; a fourth rises into Mount Pilote; and a fifth stretches
behind the town of Riviere-du-Loup.

• See Geology of Canada, p. 921, where, however, only a portion
of the species collected are mentioned.
Vol. II. f No. 2.

82 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

The depressions between these ridges are occupied with Post-
pliocene deposits, not so regular and uniform in their arrangement
as the corresponding beds in the great plains higher up the St.
Lawrence, but still presenting a more or less definite order of suc-
cession. The oldest member of the deposit is a tough boulder-
clay, its cement formed of gray or reddish mud derived from the
waste of the shales of the Quebec group, and the stones and boul-
ders with which it is filled partly derived from the harder members
of that group, and partly from the Laurentian hills on the opposite
or northern side of the river, here more than twenty miles distant.
The thickness of this boulder-clay is, no doubt, very variable, and
could not be ascertained in the neighborhood of Cacouna ; but at
He Verte it forms a terrace fifty feet in height.

Above the boulder-clay, where it has not been bared by denu-
dation, there occurs a dar)s gray, soft, sandy clay, containing
numerous boulders, and above this several feet of stratified sandy
clay without boulders; while on the sides of the ridges, and at
some places near the present shore, there are beds and terraces of
sand and gravel, constituting old shingle beaches apparently much
more recent than the other deposits.

All these deposits are more or less fossiliferous. The lower boul~
der-clay contains large and fine specimens of Leda truncata and
other deep-water and mud-dwelling shells, with the valves attached.
The upper boulder-clay is remarkably rich in shells of numerous
species; and its stones are covered with Polyzoa and great Acorn-
shells (B -di mus Humeri), sometimes two inches in diameter and
three inches high. The stratified gravel holds a few littoral and
sub-littoral shells, which also occur in some places in the more
recent gravel. On the surface of some of the terraces are con-
siderable deposits of large shells of Mi/a truncata; but these are
modern, and are the ' kitchen-middens ' of the Indians, who in
former times encamped here.

Numbers of Post-pliocene shells may be picked up along the
shores of the two little bays between dcouna and Riviere-du-
Loup ; but I found the most prolific locality to be on the banks of
a little stream called the Petite Riviere-du-Loup, which runs
between the ridge behind Cacouna and that of Mount Pilote, and
empties into the bay between Riviere-du-Loup and the pier. In
these localities I collected eighty-four species, about thirty-six of
them not previously published as occurring in the Post-pliocene
of Canada. A list of these fossils is appended to this paper ; and

1865.] DAWSON — POST-PLIOCENE DEPOSITS. 83

in connection with it I would desire to make some general
remarks on the features of these interesting deposits.

We have here an indubitable instance of a marine boulder-clay.
I have observed fossiliferous boulder-clays at Murray Bay, St.
Nicholas, and Cape Elizabeth, but the example afforded at Cacouna
and its vicinity is more clear and instructive ; and there is also
evidence that the surface under the boulder-clay is polished and
striated, the direction of the striae being north-east and south-west,
or that of the St. Lawrence valley.*

The Cacouna boulder-clay is a deep-water deposit. Its most
abundant shells are Leda truncata, Nucula tenuis, and Tellina
proxima, and these are imbedded in the clay with the valves
closed, and in as perfect condition as if the animals still inhabited
them. At the time when they lived, the Cacouna ridges must
have been reefs in a deep sea. Even Mount Pilote has huge
Laurentian boulders high up on its sides, in evidence of this. The
shales of the Quebec group rocks were being wasted by the waves
and currents; and while there is evidence that much of the fine
mud worn from them was drifted far to the south-west to form the
clays of the Canadian plains, other portions were deposited between
the ridges, along with boulders dropped from the ice which drifted
from the Laurentian shore to the north. The process was slow
and quiet ; so much so that in its later stages many of the boulders
became encrusted with the calcareous cells of marine animals
before they became buried in the clay. No other explanation can,
I believe, be given of this deposit ; and it presents a clear and
convincing illustration, applicable to wide areas in Eastern America,
of the mode of deposit of the boulder-clay.

A similar process, though probably on a much smaller scale, is
now going on in the Gulf. . Admiral Bayfield has well illustrated
the fact that the ice now raises, and drops in new places, multi-
tudes of boulders, and I have noticed the frequent occurrence of
this at present on the coast of Nova Scotia. At Cacouna itself,
there is, on some parts of the shore, a band of large Laurentian
boulders between half tide and low-water mark, which are moved
more or less by the ice every winter, so that the tracks cleared by
the people for launching their boats and building their fishing-
wears, are in a few years filled up. Wherever such boulders are
dropped on banks of clay in process of accumulation, a species of

* South 55° west mag., near Cacouna.

84 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

boulder-clay, similar to that now seen on the land, must result.
At present such materials are deposited under the influence of
tidal currents, running alternately in opposite directions ; but in
the older boulder-clay period, the current was probably a steady one
from the north-east, and comparatively little affected by the tides.

The boulder-clay of Cacouna and Riviere-du-Loup, being at a
lower level and nearer the coast than that found higher up the
St. Lawrence valley, is probably newer. It may have been
deposited after the beds of boulder-clay at Montreal had emerged.
That it is thus more recent, is farther shown by its shells, which
are, on the whole, a more modern assemblage than those of the
Leda clay of Montreal. In fossils, as well as in elevation, these
beds more nearly resemble those on the coast of Maine. It would
thus appear that the boulder-clay is not a continuous sheet or
stratum, but that its different portions were formed at different
times, during the submergence and elevation of the country; and
it must have been during the latter process that the greater part
of the deposits now under consideration were formed.

The assemblage of shells at Riviere-du-Loup is, in almost every
particular, that of the modern Gulf of St. Lawrence, more espe-
cially on its northern coast. The principal difference is the pre-
valence of Leda truncata in the lower part of the deposit. This
shell, still living in Arctic America, has not yet occurred in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, but is distributed throughout the lower
part of the Post-pliocene deposits in the whole of Lower Canada
and New England, and appears in great numbers at Riviere-du-
Loup, not only in the ordinary form, but in the shortened and
depauperated varieties which have been named by Reeve L. siltqua
and L. sulci f era.

Of Astarte Laurentiana, supposed to be extinct, and which
occurs so abundantly in the Post-pliocene at Montreal, only one
valve was found, and its place is supplied by the allied but appa-
rently distinct species, A. comjyressa, which is still abundant at
Gaspe and Labrador, and on the coast of in ova Scotia. This
exchange of A. Laurentiana for A. compressa is on these coasts
an unfailing evidence of less antiquity.

A study of the varietal forms under which common species
occur, also leads to the same conclusion as to the less comparative
antiquity of these beds ; but this is a very curious and intricate
question, on which I have accumulated a great number of facts
which I propose to publish at a future time.

1865.] DAWSON — POST-PLIOCENE DEPOSITS. 85

It must be observed that though the clays at Riviere-du-Loup
are more recent than those of Montreal, they are still of consider-
able antiquity. They must have been deposited in water perhaps
fifty fathoms deep, and the bottom must have been raised from
that depth to its present level ; and in the meantime the high
cliffs now fronting the coast must have been cut out of the rocks
of the Quebec group.

The order of succession and characteristic fossils seen on the
banks of the Petite Riviere-du-Loup may be stated as follows,
in descending order :

1. Gravel seen on sides and tops of ridges.

2. Stratified sand and clay — Buccinum undatum and Tellina

Grcenlandlca.

3. Bluish sandy clay, stones, and boulders. Balunus Hameri,

Rhynchonella ptittacea, Pccten Islandicus, Leda tenuisul-
cata, L. minuta, Tellina calcarea, Astarte compressa,
Saxicava rugosa, Acmoea casca, Scalaria Grcenlandlca,
Natica clausa, Buccinum scalariforme, Bryozoa on stones,
Foraminifera, &c, &c.

4. Stiff reddish clay with stones and boulders — Leda truncata,

L. limatula, Nucula tenuis, Tellina calcarea, &c.

At Tadoussac, opposite to Cacouna, where the underlying for-
mation is the Laurentian gneiss, the Post-pliocene beds attain to
great thickness, but are of simple structure and' slightly fossiliferous,
The principal part is a stratified sandy clay with few boulders,
except in places near the ridges of Laurentian rocks. This forms
high banks eastward of Tadoussac. It contains a few shells of
Tellina Groenlandica and Leda truncata. It resembles No. 2 of
the above sectional list, and has also much of the aspect of the
Leda clay, as developed in the valley of the Ottawa. On this clay
there rest in places thick beds of yellow sand and gravel.

At Tadoussac these deposits have been cut into a succession of
terraces which are well seen near the hotel and old church. The
lowest, near the shore, is about ten feet high ; the second, on
which the hotel stands, is forty feet; the third is 120 to 150 feet
in height, and is uneven at top. The highest, which consists of
sand and gravel, is about 250 feet in height. Above this the
country inland consists of bare Laurentian rocks. These terraces
have been cut out of deposits, once more extensive, in the process
of elevation of the land ; and the present flats off the mouth of the
Saguenay, would form a similar terrace as wide as any of the

86 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

others, if the country were to experience another elevatory move-
ment. On the third terrace I observed a few large Laurentian
boulders, and some pieces of red and gray shale of the Quebec
group, indicating the action of coast-ice when this terrace was
cut. On the higher terrace there were also a few boulders ; and
both terraces are capped with pebbly sand and well rounded gravel,
indicating the long-continued action of the waves at the levels
which they represent.

LIST OF POST-PLIOCENE FOSSILS FOUND AT RIYIERE-DU-LOUP

AND CACOUNA.

Those marked thus * have not previously bean noticed as occurring in the

Canadian Post-pliocene.

FORAMINIFERA.

Polymorphina lac tea, Adams.

Nonionina Scapha, F. and M., and var. Labradorica, Dawson.

Polystomella striatopunctata, F. and M.

Biloculina ringens? Lam.

Entosolenia costata, Williamson.

* Truncatulina lobulata, W. and T.

* Rotalina? turgida, Williamson.

Note. — Since the publication of my former list of Foraminiferafrom tb9
Post-pliocene of Canada (Can. Nat., vol. iv, 1859), I have found at
Montreal, Nonionina scapha F. and M., Dental ina pyrula D'Orbigny, and
Orbulina universa D'Orbigirv. Messrs. Parker and Jones have also
kindly revised my former list, and concur in all the determinations, with
the exception of Polystomella umbilicntula, which they refer to P. striato-
punctata, and Bulimina auriculata Bailey, which they refer to B. pyrula
D'Orbigny.

PORIFERA.

* Halichondria — Silicious spicules.

ECHINODERMATA.

Echinus granulans, Say.

POLTZOA.

Lepralia Belli, Dawson.
L. pertusa, Thompson.

* L. producta, Packard.

* L. trispinosa, Johnston.
L. hyalina, Fabr.

* L. ventricosa, Hassel.

* Diastopora obelia, Johnston.
Tubulipora flabellaris? Johnston.
Hippothoa expansa, Dawson.

H. catenularia ? Johnston.

1865.] DAWSON — POST-PLIOCENE DEPOSITS. 87

* Escbara elegantula, D'Orbigny.

* Celleporaria surcularis, Packard.

* Myriozoum subgracile, D'Orbigny.

* Heteroporella radiata ?

* Alecto.

* Membranipora Lacroixii, Busk.

BRACHIOPODA.

Rhynchonella psittacea, Gm.

* Terebratella Labradorensis, Sow.

LAMELLIBRANCHIATA.

Pecten Islandicus, Chemn.

Leda truncata, Brown, and vars. siliqua and sulcifera.
*L. tenuisulcata, Couthouy, (pernula, Wood).
L. minuta, Mull, (caudata, Don.).

* L. limatula, Say.

Nucula tenuis, Mont., (var. expansa).

* Modiolaria discors, Linn.
M. nigra, Gray.
Mytilus edulis, Linn.

* Cardium Dawsoni, Stirapson.

* Astarte compressa, Mont. (A. Banksii, Leach).
A. Laurentiana, Lyell.

Tellina Groenlandica, Beck.
T. proxima, Brown.
T. (Macoma) inflata, Stimpson.
Mya arenaria, Linn.
M. truncata, Linn., var. Uddevallensis.
*Panopa3a Arctica, Gould. (P. Norvegica?).
Saxicava rugosa, Linn., and var. Arctica.

* Lyonsia arenosa, Moll.

Note. — Large suites of specimens from Riviere-du-Loup enable me to
determine with certainty that Leda tenuisulcata Couthouy, L. pernula
Muller, (& Wood, English Crag,) and L. Jacksoni Gould, are varieties
of one species ; that Saxicava Jlrctica is merely a variety of S. rugosa ;
and that Leda siliqua and L. sulcifera of Reeve are varieties of L. trun-
cata, which is identical with L. Portlandica Gould.

GASTEROPODA.

* Cylichna nucleola, Reeve.
Acmoea (Lepeta) caeca, Mull.
Cemoria Noachina, Linn.

* Adeorbis costulata?

Margarita helicina, Fabr., (Arctica).

* M. cinerea, Couth.
Littorina palliata, Say.

* L. rudis, Mont.

Scalaria Grcenlandica, Perry.

88 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

Menestho albula, Moll.

* Turritella erosa, Couth.
Natica clausa, Sow.

N. Grcenlandica, Mull.

* N. catenoides? Wood.

Bela harpularia, Gould, (Woodiana, Moll.).

* B. violacea, Migh.

* B. decussata, Couth.

* B. turricula, Mont.

B. rufa, Gould, (pyramidalis).

Buccinum undatum, Linn., and var. Labradorense, Reeve.

* B. glaciale, Linn.

* B. scalariforme, Moll.

* B. cretaceum, Reeve.

Fusus tornatus, Gould, and var. despectus, Linn.

* Trophon clathraturn, Linn.
T. scalariforme, Gould.
Trichotropis borealis, B. and S.

Note. — I regard jB. Labradorense as merely a variety of B. undatum,
peculiar, like the oval or aknond-shaped variety of Mytilus edulis, to
the mouths of rivers. The species which I have named B. cretaceum is
certainly distinct, but I am by no means sure that it is really B. creta-
ceum of Reeve. B. glaciale is common at Montreal and at St. Nicholas ;
but the specimens from Riviere-du-Loup enabled me for the first time to
recognize it.

ANNULATA.

* Spirorbis nautiloides, Lam.
S. vitrea, Stimp.

* S. sinistrorsa, Mont.

* S. quadrangularis, Stimpson.

CRUSTACEA.

Balanus Hameri, Asc, var. Uddevallensis.
B. porcatus, Da Costa.
B. crenatus, Brug.
Cytheridea Mulleri, Mun.

* Hyas coarctata, Leach.

Of the above species, Panopeea Norvegica, Fusus tornatus, Leda
truncata, L. tenuisulcata, Astarte compressa, Mytilus edulis, Mya
arenaria and Littorina pallieita, had been collected at Riviere-
du-Loup, by the officers of the Survey, previous to my visit.
Mesodesma Jauresii had also been collected from littoral gravels
east of Cacouna, but was not met with by me.

1865.] EATON — GENUS WOODSIA. 89

ON THE GENUS WOODSIA.

By Daniel C. Eaton, M.A.
Professor of Botany in Yale College, New Haven.

This genus of ferns was established by the learned Robert
Brown in 1812, for the two species Woodsia Ilvensis and
W. hyperborea; afterwards he added a third, W. glabella. These
species all have a minute pateriform involucre, covered by the
sporangia, and divided into numerous elongated cilise. The
genus has since been extended so as to include species having
a more manifest involucre, at first globose or irregularly hemis-
pherical, the margin commonly ciliated or irregularly laciniated.
The genus thus extended embraces twelve or fifteen species, several
of them occurring in the north-temperate and sub-arctic zones, and
others following the Cordilleras and the Andes, from Mexico to
Chile, or inhabiting the mountains of Northern India. All the
species are small ferns, growing in tufts, mostly in crevices of ex-
posed rocks, the stipes commonly very brittle, and remaining
after the fronds have fallen away.

The species of this genus I propose to arrange as follows :
§ 1. Stipes articulated, the withered fronds falling away at the
joint. Involucre beneath the sorus, pateriform, deeply divided
into elongated ciliae which are inflexed over the sporangia.—
W. alpina and Ilvensis.

§ 2. Stipes not articulated.

A. Involucre as in § 1, but smaller, the ciliae scarcely

visible among the sporangia. — W. Oregana, scopu.
Una, and Mexicana.

B. Involucre cyathiform or globose, enveloping the

sporangia, afterwards lacinately cleft into irregular
lobes. (Physematium, Kaulf.) — W. incisa, obtusa,
mollis, Guatemalensis, Peruviana, Cuming iana,
and elongata*

C. Indusium irregularly sub-globose, cystiform, divided

into 4-6 ciliated lobes, which are imbricated over
the sporangia. — W. pohjsticlioides.

* W. Caucasica probably belongs here, but I have not had an oppor-
tunity of examining it. Hypodcrris Brownii Wallich, also almost un-
known to me, is referred to this genus by Mettenius :— it would consti-
tute a third section, characterized by reticulated venation.

90 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

The species occurring in North America, excluding Mexico, are
five, so far as known at present.

1. Woodsia alpina. S. F. Gray, Natural Arrangement of
British Plants, ii, p. 17. Moore, Nature-printed Ferns, (folio ed.),
t. 47. Acrostichum alpinum, Bolton, Fil. Brit. p. 76, t. 42, (1790).
Woodsia hyperborea, B. Brown, Trans. Linn. Soc, xi, p. 173, 1. 11.
Hook., British Ferns, t. 7 (excellent). Acrostichum liyperboreuirij

Liljeblad, Stockholm Trans, p. 201, t. 8, (1793).

Var. glabella. Woodsia glabella. B. Brown in Bich.
App. to Frankl. Journ., p. 39. Hook., Fl. Bor. Am. ii., p. 259,
t. 237.

Hab. — Newfoundland to the Bocky Mountains and northward,
scarcely occurring in the United States ; the var. from Vermont
and New York, to Behring's Straits (Charles Wright).

American specimens are less chaffy than common European
forms, but not otherwise different. W. glabella has no characters
to distinguish it Irom W. alpina, for the largest forms occur per-
fectly smooth, and the smallest ones are sometimes quite chaffy.
W. mbcordata Maximowicz, from the Amoor Biver, appears to
be identical with W. alpina.

2. Woodsia Ilvensis. B. Brown, 1. c. Hook., British Ferns,
t. 8. Gray's Manual, ed. 2, p. 596. Acrosticlmm Ilvense, Linn.
Nephrodium rvfidulum, Michx., Fl. Bor. Am. ii, p. 269,

Hab. — New England to Wisconsin, southward along the Alleg-
hanies, and northward to Greenland. Lake Winnipeg, Mr.
Barnston ; very fine specimens.

This fern is extremely variable in size and appearance, some-
times being scarcely an inch in height, while fine specimens from
the Highlands of the Hudson Biver measure nine or ten inches,
and grow in dense patches often two feet in breadth. It may
always be distinguished from IF. cdpina by its greater chafnness
and longer pinnae.

3. Woodsia Oregana, sp. nov. : casspitosa glabra; stipite
inarticulato frondi sub-aaquilongo basi paleaceo ; frondibus elliptico-
lanceolatis pinnatis, fiuctiferis duplo longioribus, pinnis alternis
oppositisve triangulari-oblongis obtusis pinnatifidis, pinnulis ovatis
dentatis obtusis ; lobulis pinnularum primo reflexis sorumque
celantibus mox explanatis, venulis saspius furcatis; indusio fere
nullo in cilias perbreves moniliformi-articulatas fere ad centrum
diviso.

Hab.— Dalles of the Columbia Biver, Oregon; Major Baines,

1865.] EATON — GENUS WOODSIA. 91

U. S. A., 1855, (referred to W. hyperborea in Hooker's British
Ferns). Rocky Mountains, near 40° north latitude; Hall and
Harbour, No. 690a.

Fronds quite smooth, 2-8 inches high, 8-12 lines wide, the fer-
tile ones much taller than the sterile, pinnate ; | innae 9-13 pairs,
the lower ones smaller, triangular and rather remote, the upper
ones more crowded and larger, pinnately lobed into 3-6 divisions
on each side, the divisions more or less toothed ; the teeth irregu-
lar, rather acute, at first reflexed (at least in the dried specimens),
but as the sporangia ripen, the frond becomes more coriaceous and
at length explanate. The involucre is exceedingly minute, and
consists of a few articulated ciliae composed of a single series of
nearly globular cells. In general appearance this little fern re-
sembles small forms of W. obtusa, from which however the gla-
brous fronds and the rudimentary involucre at once distinguish it.

4. Woodsia scopulina, sp. ?wv. : ctespitosaglanduloso-pubes-
cens ; stipite inarticulate) frondibus breviore basi paleaceo, frondi-
bus erectis elongato-lanceolatis acumin itis pinnatis fere bipinnatis
subtus secus venas paleolis unicae cellularum seriei minute pubes-
centibus glandulisque fuscis conspersis ; pinnis plerumque oppositis
oblongo-lanceolatis sub-acutis fere ad costam pinnatifidis, pinnulis
crebris oblongis obtusis crenatis vel crenato-lobatis; lobulis sori-
feris ; involucro tenerrimo vix conspicuo profunde laciniato ; laciniis
in cilias breves articulatas angustatis.

Hab. — Rocky Mountains, near 40° north latitude; Parry No.
394, Hall and Harbour No. 690b. Columbia River ; Brackenridge,
(ir. Ihensls.) U. S. Expl. Exped. Fraser's River, near 49°
north latitude ; Mrs. John Miles.

A graceful species, quite distinct from all others. Stipes, as in
the last straw-color above, chestnut-brown at the base, where it is
chaffy with ovate acuminate brown scales. Fronds, several from
the caudex, 4-10 inches high, 12-1,8 lines wide; finely pubescent
everywhere along the rachis, costa, and veins, except on the upper
surface, with slender flattened hairs, and sprinkled beneath with
very minute, often compound glands ; apparently bipinnate, but the
costa of the primary pinnae is narrowly winged. Pinnae 12-20
pairs, oblong lanceolate or somewhat triangular in outline. Pinnules
6-10 pairs, ovate-oblong, crenately lobed, the teeth rather obtuse,
not reflexed when young. The involucre is more evident than in
the last, and consists of a central portion deeply and irregularly
cleft into laciniae, which are narrowed into rather short articulated

92 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

ciliae, the cells of the ciliae irregularly cylindrical. W. Mexicana
Fee, as figured, has an involucre somewhat resembling this one, and
I suppose it may belong to the same group.

5. Woodsia obtusa. Torrey, Cat. PL in Geol. Report of New
York, 1840. Hooker, Species Filicum, i, p. 62. Polypodium
obtusum, Swartz, Syn. FiL, p. 39.

Hab. — New England to North Carolina, and westward to Wis-
consin and Missouri. (On the Columbia River, Hook. Fl. Bor. Am.,
but the specimens are more likely to be W. scopnlina.') Specimens
from Texas, Ch. Wright, Nos. 830 and 2120, I refer to this species
somewhat doubtfully, as the involucres are cleft into very narrow
laciniately fringed lobes. Better specimens are needed to show
what the plant really is.

New Haven, Connecticut, U. S. A., March 15, 1865.

ON THE OCCURRENCE OF ORGANIC REMAINS IN

THE LAURENTIAN ROCKS OF CANADA .*

By Sir W. E. Logan, L.L.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. ; Director of the Geological
Survey of Canada.

The oldest known rocks of North America are those which com-
pose the Laurentide Mountains in Canada and the Adirondacks
in the State of New York. By the investigations of the Geological
Survey of Canada, they have been shown to be a great series of
strata, which, though profoundly altered, consist chiefly of quart-
zose, aluminous, and calcareous rocks, like the sedimentary de-
posits of less ancient times. This great mass of crystalline rocks
is divided into two groups, and it appears that the Upper rests
unconformably upon the Lower Laurentian series.

* This, and the three following papers, by Messrs. Dawson, Carpenter
and Sterry Hunt are reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of the Geo-
logical Society of London, for February, 1865. Some additional notes
by the authors and editors are distinguished by being included in brack-
ets. See also a supplementary note by Dr. Dawson, on the discovery
of Eozoon in Ireland on page 126.

In place of the lithographed plates published in the Quarterly Journal
to illustrate the papers of Messrs. Dawson and Carpenter, selections from
those, filling a single plate, are here given; besides which three wood-
cuts are added. — Eds.

1865] LOGAN — LAURENTIAN FOSSILS. 93

The united thickness of these two groups in Canada cannot be
less than 30,000 feet, and probably much exceeds it. The Lau-
rentian of the west of Scotland, according to Sir Roderick Mur-
chison, also attains a great thickness. In that region the Upper
Laurentian or Labrador series, has not yet been separately recog-
nized ; but from Mr. McCulloch's description, as well as from the
specimens collected by him, and now in the Museum of the Geolo-
gical Society of London, it can scarcely be doubted that the Labra-
dor series occurs in Skye.* The labradorite and hypersthene rocks
from that island are identical, with those of the Labrador series in
Canada and New York, and unlike those of any formation at any
other known horizon. This resemblance did not escape the notice
of Emmons, who, in his description of the Adirondack Mountains,
referred these rocks to the hypersthene rock of McCulloch, although
these observers, on the opposite sides of the Atlantic, looked upon
them as unstratified. In the Canadian Naturalist for 1862,
Mr. Thomas Macfarlane, for some time resident in Norway, and
now in Canada, drew attention to the striking resemblance between
the Norwegian primitive gneiss formation, as described by Nau-
mann and Keilhau, and observed by himself, and the Laurentian,
including the Labrador group ; and the equally remarkable simi-
larity of the lower part of the primitive slate formation to the
Huronian series, which is a third Canadian group. These prim-
itive series attain a great thickness in the north of Europe, and
constitute the main features of Scandinavian geology.

In Bavaria and Bohemia there is an ancient gneissic series.
After the labours in Scotland, by which he was the first to estab-
lish a Laurentian equivalent in the British Isles, Sir Roderick
Murchison, turning his attention to this central European mass,
placed it on the same horizon. These rocks, underlying Barrande's
Primordial zone, with a great development of intervening clay-slate,
extend southward in breadth to the banks of the Danube, with a
prevailing dip towards the Silurian strata. They had previously

[* This was first shown by Mr. T. Sterry Hunt, after his examinations
of Me'Julloch's collections, in a paper published in the Dublin Quar.
Journal of Science for 1863, p. 230. See also Silliman's Journal [2]
xxxvi. 226, and Canadian Naturalist, vi. 208. Prof. Haughton of Dub-
lin has since visited the islands of Skye and Iona, and confirmed the
observations of Mr. Hunt. See Proc, of the Royal Geological Society
of Dublin for Dec. 14, 1864, in the Geol. Magazine for February, 1865,
page 73. — Eds.]

94 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

been studied by Giimbel and Crejci, who divided them into an
older reddish gneiss and a newer grey gneiss. But, on the Dan-
ube, the mass which is furthest removed from the Silurian rocks
being a grey gneiss, Giimbel and Crejci account for its presence by
an inverted fold in the strata ; while Sir Koderick places this at the
base, and regards the whole as a single series, in the normal funda-
mental position of the Laurentian of Scotland and of Canada. Con-
sidering the colossal thickness given to the series (90,000 feet), it
remains to be seen whether it may not include both the Lower and
Upper Laurentian, and possibly, in addition, the Huronian.

This third Canadian group (the Huronian) has been shown by
my colleague, Mr. Murray, to be about 18,000 feet thick, and to
consist chiefly of quartzites, slate-conglomerates, diorites, and lime-
stones. The horizontal strata which form the base of the Lower
Silurian in western Canada, rest upon the upturned edges of the
Huronian series ; which, in its turn, unconformably overlies the
Lower Laurentian. The Huronian is believed to be more recent
than the Upper Laurentian series, although the tw r o formations
have never yet been seen in contact.

The united thickness of these three great series may possibly far
surpass that of all the succeeding rocks from the base of the Palseo-
zoic series to the present time. We are thus carried back to a
period so far remote, that the appearance of the so-called Prim-
ordial fauna may by some be considered a comparatively modern
event. We, however, find that, even during the Laurentian period,
the same chemical and mechanical processes which have ever since
been at work disintegrating and reconstructing the earth's crust
were in operation as now. In the conglomerates of the Huronian
series there are enclosed boulders derived from the Laurentian,
which seem to show that the parent rock was altered to its present
crystalline condition before the deposit of the newer formation ;
while interstratified with the Laurentian limestones there are beds
of conglomerate, the pebbles of which are themselves rolled frag-
ments of a still older laminated sand-rock, and the formation of
these beds leads us still further into the past.

In both the Upper and Lower Laurentian series there are seve-
ral zones of limestone, each of sufficient volume to constitute an
independent formation. Of these calcareous masses it has been
ascertained that three, at least, belong to the Lower Laurentian.
But. as we do not as yet know with certainty either the base or
the summit of this series, these three may be conformably fol-

1865.]

LOGAN — LAURENTIAN FOSSILS.

95

4

o
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to

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S I

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AS

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lowed by many more. Although the Lower
and Upper Laurentian rocks spread over
more than 200,000 square miles in Canada,
only about 1500 square miles have yet been
fully and connectedly examined in any one
district, and it is still impossible to say
whether the numerous exposures of Lau-
rentian limestone met with in other parts
of the province are equivalent to any of the
three zones, or whether they overlie or un-
derlie them all.

Fig. 2. — Section across Trembling
Mountain (21 miles).

/ f e & d

b. Upper Laurentian. e'. Second limestone.

c. Fourth gneiss. e. Second gneiss.
df '. Third limestone. f . First limestone.

d. Third gneiss. f. First gneiss.

In the examination of these ancient rocks,
the question often naturally occurred
to me whether, during these remote
periods, organic life had yet appeared on
the earth. The apparent absence of fossils
from the highly crystalline limestones did
not seem to offer a proof in negation, any
more than their undiscovered presence in
newer crystalline limestones, where we have
little doubt they have been obliterated by
metamorphic action ; while the carbon
which, in the form of graphite, constitutes
beds, or is disseminated through the calca-
reous or siliceous strata of the Laurentian
series, seemed to be an evidence of the ex-
istence of vegetation, since no one disputes
the organic origin of this mineral in more
recent rocks. My colleague, Dr. T. Sterry

96 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

Hunt, has argued for the existence of organic matters at the
earth's surface during the Laurentian period from the presence
of great beds of iron-ore, and from the occurrence of metallic
sulphurets * ; and finally, the evidence was strengthened by the
discovery of supposed organic forms. These were first brought
to me, in October, 1858, by Mr. J. McMullen, then attached as
an explorer, to the Geological Survey of the province, from one
of the limestones of the Laurentian series occurring at the Grand
Calumet, on the River Ottawa.

Any organic remains which may have been entombed in these
limestones would, if they retained their calcareous character, be
almost certainly obliterated by crystallization ; and it would only
be by the replacement of the original carbonate of lime by a
different mineral substance, or by an infiltration of such a sub-
stance into all the pores and spaces in and about the fossil, that its
form would be preserved. The specimens from the Grand Calu-
met present parallel or apparently concentric layers resembling those
of Stromatopora, except that they anastomose at various points.
What were first considered the layers are composed of crystallized
pyroxene, when the then supposed interstices consist of carbonate
of lime. These specimens, one of which is figured, in ' Geology
of Canada,' p. 49,f called to memory others which had some years
previously been obtained from Dr. James Wilson, of Perth, and
were then regarded merely as minerals. They came, I be-
lieve, from masses in Burgess, but whether in plaec is not
quite certain ; and they exhibit similar forms to those of the
Grand Calumet, composed of layers of a dark green magnesian sili-
cate (loganite) ; while what were taken for the interstices are filled
with crystalline dolomite. If the specimens from both these places
were to be regarded as the result of unaided mineral arrangement,
it appeared to me strange that identical forms should be derived
from minerals of such different composition. I was therefore dis-
posed to look upon them as fossils, and as such they were exhib-
ited by me at the meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, at Springfield, in August 1859. See
Canadian Naturalist, 1859, iv, 300. In 1862 they were shown to
to some of my geological friends in Great Britain ; but no micros-
copic structure having been observed belonging to them, few seemed
disposed to believe in their organic character, with the exception
of my friend Professor Ramsay.

* Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, xv, 493.
[f Reproduced below, page 100, figures 1 and 2.]

1865.] LOGAN — LAURENTIAN FOSSILS. 97

One of the specimens had been sliced and submitted to micro-
scopic observation, but unfortunately it was one of those composed
of loganite and dolomite. In these, the minute structure is rarely
seen. The true character of the specimens thus remained in
suspense until last winter, when I accidentally observed indications
of similar forms in blocks of Laurentian limestone which had been
brought to our museum by Mr. James Lowe, one of our explorers,
to be sawn up for marble. In this case the forms were composed
of serpentine and calc-spar ; and slices of them having been pre-
pared for the microscope, the minute structure was observed in
the first one submitted to inspection. At the request of Mr.
Billings, the palaeontologist of our Survey, the specimens were
confided for examination and description to Dr. J. W. Dawson, of
Montreal, our most practised observer with the microscope ; and
the conclusions at which he has arrived are appended to this com-
munication He finds that the serpentine, which was supposed to
replace the organic form, really fills the interspaces of the calca-
reous fossil. This exhibits in some parts a well-preserved organic
structure, which Dr. Dawson describes as that of a Foraminifer,
growing in large sessile patches after the manner of Polytrema and
Carpentaria, but of much larger dimensions, and presenting
minute points which reveal a structure resembling that of other
Foraniiniferal forms, as, for example, Calcarinci and Nummulina.

Dr. Dawson's description is accompanied by some remarks by
Dr. S terry Hunt on the mineralogical relations of the fossil. He
observes that while the calcareous septa which form the skeleton of
the Foraminifer in general remain unchanged, the sarcode has
been replaced by certain silicates which have not only filled up the
chambers, cells, and septal orifices, but have been injected into the
minute tubuli, which are thus perfectly preserved, as may be seen
by removing the calcareous matter by. an acid. The replacing
silicates are white pyroxene, serpentine, loganite, and pyrallolite or
rensselaerite. The pyroxene and serpentine are often found in
contact, filling contiguous chambers in the fossil, and were evi-
dently formed in consecutive stages of a continuous process. In
the Burgess specimens, while the sarcode is replaced by loganite,
the calcareous skeleton, as has already been stated, has been re-
placed by dolomite, and the finer parts of the structure have been
almost wholly obliterated. But in the other specimens, where the
skeleton still preserves its calcareous character, the resemblance
between the mode of preservation of the ancient Laurentian For-

Vol. II. q No. 2.

c

I

98 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

aminifera and that of the allied forms in Tertiary and recent
deposits (which, as Ehrenberg, Bailey, and Pourtales have shown,
are injected with glauconite), is obvious.

The Grenville specimens belong to the highest of the three
already mentioned zones of Laurentian limestone, and it has not
yet been ascertained whether the fossil extends to the two confor-
mable lower ones, or to the calcareous zones of the overlying un-
conformable Upper Laurentian series. It has not yet either been
determined what relation the strata from which the Burgess and
Grand Calumet specimens have been obtained bear to the Gren-
ville limestone or to one another. The zone of Grenville limestone
is in some places about 1500 feet thick, and it appears to be divi-
ded for considerable distances into two or three parts by very thick
bands of gneiss. One of these occupies a position towards the
lower part of the limestone, and may have a volume of between
100 and 200 feet. It is at the base of the limestone that the fossil
occurs. This part of the zone is largely composed of great and
small irregular masses of white crystalline pyroxene, some of them
twenty yards in length by four or five wide. They appear to be
confusedly placed one above another, with many ragged interstices,
and smoothly-worn, rounded large and small pits and sub-cylindri-
cal cavities, some of them pretty deep. The pyroxene, though it
appears compact, presents a multitude of small spaces consisting of
carbonate of lime, and many of these show minute structures similar
to that of the fossil. These masses of pyroxene may characterize a
thickness of about 200 feet, and the interspaces among them are filled
with a mixture of serpentine and carbonate of lime. In general a
sheet of pure dark green serpentine invests each mass of pyroxene ;
the thickness of the serpentine, varying from the sixteenth of an
inch to several inches, rarely exceeding half a foot. This is fol-
lowed in different spots by parallel, waving, irregularly alternating
plates of carbonate of lime and serpentine, which become gradually
finer as they recede from the pyroxene, and occasionally occupy a
total thickness of five or six inches. These portions constitute the
unbroken fossil, which may sometimes spread over an area of
about a square foot, or perhaps more. Other parts, immediately
on the outside of the sheet of serpentine, are occupied with about
the same thickness of what appear to be the ruins of the fossil,
broken up into a more or less granular mixture of calc-spar and
serpentine, the former still showing minute structure ; and on the
outside of the whole a similar mixture appears to have been swept

1865.] DAWSON — STRUCTURE OF EOZOON. 99

by currents and eddies into rudely parallel and curving layers; the
mixture becoming gradually more calcareous as it recedes from the
pyroxene. Sometimes beds of limestone of several feet in thick-
ness, with the green serpentine more or less aggregated into layers,
and studded with isolated lumps of pyroxene, are irregularly in-
terstratified in the mass of rock ; and less frequently there are met
with lenticular patches of sandstone or granular quartzite, of a
foot in thickness and several yards in diameter, holding in abun-
dance small disseminated leaves of graphite.

The general character of the rock connected with the fossil pro-
duces the impression that it is a great Foraminiferal reef, in
which the pyroxenic masses represent a more ancient portion,
which having died, and having become much broken up and
worn into cavities and deep recesses, afforded a seat for a new
growth of For a mini f era, represented by the calcareo-serpentinous
part. This in its turn became broken up, leaving in some places
uninjured portions of the general form. The main difference be-
tween this Foraminiferal reef and more recent coral-reefs seems to
be that, while with the latter are usually associated many shells
and other organic remains, in the more ancient one the only
remains yet found are those of the animal which built the reef.

ON CERTAIN ORGANIC REMAINS
IN THE LAURENTIAN LIMESTONES OF CANADA .*

By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S.,
Principal of McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

At the request of Sir William E. Logan, I have submitted to
microscopic examination slices of certain peculiar laminated forms
consisting of alternate layers of carbonate of lime and serpentine,
or of carbonate of lime and white pyroxene, found in the Lauren-
tian limestones of Canada, and regarded by Sir William as possi-
bly fossils.f I have also examined slices of a number of lime-
stones and serpentines from the Laurentian series, not showing
the external forms of these supposed fossils.

The slices were prepared by the lapidary of the Survey, and
were carefully examined under ordinary and polarized light, with

[* See a preliminary notice in Silliman's Journal [2], xxxvii, 2 72. J
f Canadian Naturalist, 1859, p. 300.

100

THE CANADIAN NATURALIST.

[April

objectives made by Ross, and by Smith and Beck ; and also with good
French objectives.

1. Weathered specimen of Eozodn Canadense from the Calumet,
of the natural size. The replacing silicate is white pyroxene.

2. Vertical transverse section of the specimen figure 1.

The specimens first mentioned are masses, often several inches
in diameter, presenting to the naked eye alternate laminas of ser-
pentine, or of pyroxene, and carbonate of lime. Their general as-
pect, as remarked by Sir W. E. Logan (Geology of Canada, 1863 }
p. 49), reminds the observer of that of the Silurian corals of the
genus Stromatopora, except that the laminae diverge from and
approach each other, and frequently anastomose or are connected
by transverse septa.

1865.]

DAWSON — STRUCTURE OF EOZOON.

101

Under the microscope the resemblance to Stromatopora is seen
to be in general form merely, and no trace appears of the radiating
cells characteristic of that genus. The laminae of serpentine and
pyroxene present no organic structure, and the latter mineral is
highly crystalline. The laminae of carbonate of lime, on the con-
trary, retain distinct traces of structures which cannot be of a
crystalline or concretionary character. They constitute parallel or
concentric partitions of variable thickness, enclosing flattened spaces
or chambers, frequently crossed by transverse plates or septa, in
some places so numerous as to give a vesicular appearance, in others

3. Nature-printed section of a specimen of Eozobn Canadense from
Petite Nation Seigniory.*

[* The replacing mineral in this specimen being serpentine, the cal-
careous septa were dissolved from the polished surface by the action of
an acid, and the fine material replacing the tubuli having been removed by
the aid of a brush, a wax mould of the etched surface furnished the
electrotype cast from which the above figure is printed. The lights
thus represent the calcareous skeleton, and the shaded portion a thick
mass of serpentine,which is distinguishable from a contiguous thin stratum
of the same mineral, that seems to form the base of the Eozoon. The
gradual passage from the wide chambers and thick septa to the nar-

102 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

occurring only at rare intervals (figure 3). The larninse them-
selves are excavated on their sides into rounded pits, and
are in some places traversed by canals, or contain secondary
rounded cells, apparently isolated. In addition to these general
appearances, the substance of the laminas, where most perfectly
preserved, is seen to present a fine granular structure,
and to be penetrated by numerous minute tubuli, which are
arranged in bundles of great beauty and complexity, diverging in
sheaf-like forms, and in their finer extensions anastomosing so as
to form a net-work (plate, figures 2 and 4). In transverse sections,
and under high powers, the tubuli are seen to be circular in outline,
and sharply defined (plate, figure 5). In longitudinal sections,
they sometimes present a beaded or jointed appearance. Even
where the tubular structure is least perfectly preserved, traces of
it can still be seen in most of the slices, though there are places
in which the laminae are perfectly compact, and perhaps were so
originally.

Faithful delineations of these structures have been prepared by
Mr. Horace Smith, the artist of the Survey, which will render them
more intelligible than any verbal description.

"With respect to the nature and probable origin of the appearances
above described, I would make the following remarks :

1. The serpentine and pyroxene which fill the cavities of the cal-
careous matter have no appearance of concretionary structure. On
the contrary, their aspect is that of matter introduced by infiltra-
tion, or as sediment, and filling spaces previously existing. In
other words, the calcareous matter has not been moulded on the
forms of the serpentine and augite, but these have filled spaces or
chambers in a hard calcareous mass. This conclusion is further
confirmed by the fact, to be referred to in the sequel, that the ser-
pentine includes multitudes of minute foreign bodies, while the
calcareous matter is uniform and homogeneous. It is also to be
observed that small veins of carbonate of lime occasionally traverse
the specimens, and in their entire absence of structures other than
crystalline, present a striking contrast to the supposed fossils.

2. Though the calcareous laminas have in places a crystalline

rower and thinner ones, and finally to the irregularly aggregated mode
of growth, designated by Dr. Carpenter as accrvuliiw, is well seen.
The white patches in the upper portion of the figure do not arise from
any imperfection in the electrotype, but represent the irregular growth
of this part of the calcareous skeleton.— T. S. H.J

1865.] DAWSON — STRUCTURE OF EOZOoN. 103

cleavage, their forms and structures have no relation to this. Their
cells and canals are rounded, and have smooth walls, which are
occasionally lined with films apparently of carbonaceous matter.
Above all, the minute tubuli are different from anything likely to
occur in merely crystalline calc-spar. While in such rocks little
importance might be attached to external forms simulating the
appearances of corals, sponges, or other organisms, these delicate
internal structures have a much higher claim to attention. Nor is
there any improbability in the preservation of such minute parts
in rocks so highly crystalline, since it is a circumstance of frequent
occurrence in the microscopic examination of fossils that the finest
structures are visible in specimens in which the general form and
the arrangement of parts have been entirely obliterated. It is also
to be observed that the structure of the calcareous laminae is the
same, whether the intervening spaces are filled with serpentine or
with pyroxene.

3. The structures above described are not merely definite and
uniform, but they are of a kind proper to animal organisms, and
more especially to one particular type of animal life, as likely as
any other to occur under such circumstances ; I refer to that of
the Rhizopods of the order Foraminifera. The most important
point of difference is in the great size and compact habit of growth
of the specimens in question ; but there seems no good reason to
maintain that Foraminifera must necessarily be of small size, more
especially since forms of considerable magnitude referred to this
type are known in the Lower Silurian. Prof. Hall has described
specimens of Eeceptaculites twelve inches in diameter ; and the
fossils from the Potsdam formation of Labrador, referred by Mr.
Billings to the genus Archoeoci/athus, are examples of Protozoa with
calcareous skeletons scarcely inferior in their massive style of
growth to the forms now under consideration.*

[* The following note is inserted in place of another, which, by an
error of the printer, is in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society incorporated with the text :

Mr. Billings has ascertained, since this paper was written, that one of
the species included in the genus drchceocyathus, has silicious spicula
which would place it with the sponges. But two other species of the
genus have, in accordance with his original description, a chambered
calcareous skeleton, which is, in my opinion, similar to that of Foramin-
ifera. (Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Canada, Nov. 1861, and
reprint of the same in 1864.)— J. W. D.]

104 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

These reasons are, I think, sufficient to justify me in regarding
these remarkable structures as truly organic, and in searching for
their nearest allies among the Foraminifera.

Supposing then that the spaces between the calcareous laminae,
as well as the canals and tubuli traversing their substance, were
once filled with the sarcode body of a Rhizopod, comparisons with
modern forms at once suggest themselves.

From the polished specimens in the Museum of the Canadian
Geological Survey, it appears certain that these bodies were sessile,
with a broad base, and grew by the addition of successive layers
of chambers separated by calcareous laminae, but communicating
with each other by canals or septal orifices sparsely and irregularly
distributed. Small specimens have thus much the aspect of the
modern genera Carpenter la and Polytrema. Like the first of
these genera, there would also seem to have been a tendency to
leave in the midst of the structure a large central canal, or deep
funnel-shaped or cylindrical opening, for communication with the
sea-water. Where the laminae coalesce, and the structure becomes
more vesicular, it assumes the ' acervuline' character seen in such
modern forms as Nuhecnhrria.

Still the magnitude of these fossils is enormous when compared
with the species of the genera above named ; and from the speci-
mens in the larger slabs from Grenville, in the Museum of the
Canadian Survey, it would seem that these organisms grew in
groups, which ultimately coalesced, and formed large masses pene-
trated by deep irregular canals ; and that they continued to grow
at the surface, while the lower parts became dead and were filled
up with infiltrated matter or sediment. In short, we have to
imagine an organism having the habit of growth of Carpenteria,
but attaining to an enormous size, and by the aggregation of indi-
viduals assuming the aspect of a coral reef.

The complicated systems of tubuli in the Laurentian fossil
indicate, however, a more complex structure than that ol any of
the forms mentioned above. I have carefully compared these with
the similar structures in the ' supplementary skeleton' (or the
shell-substance that carries the vascular system) of Ualcarina and
other forms,* and can detect no difference except in the somewhat

* I desi'*e to express my obligations to the invaluable memoirs of Dr.
Carpenter on the Foraminifera, in the Transactions of the Royal
Society, and in the publications of the Ray Society ; without which

1865.] DAWSON — STRUCTURE OF EOZOON. 105

coarser texture of the tubuli in the Laurentian specimens. It
accords well with the great dimensions of these, that they should
thus thicken their walls with an extensive deposit of tubulated cal-
careous matter ; and from the frequency of the bundles of tubuli,
as well as from the thickness of the partitions, I have no doubt that
all the successive walls, as they were formed, were thickened in this
manner, just as in so many of the higher genera of more modern
Foraminifera.

It is proper to add that no spicules, or other structures indica-
ting affinity to the Sponges, have been detected in any of the
specimens.

As it is convenient to have a name to designate these forms,
I would propose that of Eozoon, which will be specially appropriate
to what seems to be the characteristic fossil of a group of rocks
which must now be named Eozoic rather than Azoic. For the
species above described, the specific name of Canadense has been
proposed. It may be distinguished by the following characters : —

Eozoon Canadense; gen. et spec. nov.

General form. — Massive, in large sessile patches or irregular
cylinders, growing at the surface by the addition of successive
laminae.

Internal structure. — Chambers large, flattened, irregular, with
numerous rounded extensions, and separated by walls of variable
thickness, which are penetrated by septal orifices irregularly
disposed. Thicker parts of the walls with bundles of fine branch-
ing tubuli.

These characters refer specially to the specimens from Grenville
and the Calumet. There are others from Perth, C. W.,
which show more regular laminae, and in which the tubuli have
not yet been observed ; and a specimen from Burgess, C. W.,
contains some fragments of laminae which exhibit, on one side,
a series of fine parallel tubuli like those of Nummulina. These
specimens may indicate distinct species ; but on the other hand,
their peculiarities may depend on different states of preservation.

With respect to this last point, it may be remarked that some of

it would have been impossible satisfactorily to investigate the structure
and affinities of Eozoon. I have also to acknowledge the kindness of
Dr. Carpenter in furnishing me with specimens of some of the forms
described in his works.

106 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

the specimens from Grenville and the Calumet show the structures
of the laminae with nearly equal distinctness whether the chambers
have been filled with serpentine or pyroxene, and that even the
minute tubuli are penetrated and filled with these minerals. On
the other hand, there are large specimens in the collection of the
Canadian Survey, in which the lower and older parts of the masses
of Eozobn are mineralized with pyroxene, and have to a great
extent lost the perfection of structure which characterizes the more
superficial parts of the same masses, in which the chambers have
been filled with a light green serpentine. Dr. Sterry Hunt has
directed his attention to the conditions of deposit of these minerals,
and will, I have no doubt, be able satisfactorily to explain the
manner in which they may have been introduced into the chambers
of the fossils without destroying the texture of the latter.

It is due to Dr. Sterry Hunt to state that, as far back as 1858,
in a paper published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society,* he insisted on certain chemical characters of the Lauren-
tian beds as affording " evidence of the existence of organic life
at the time of the deposition of these old crystalline rocks"; and
that he has zealously aided in the present researches.

I may also state that Mr. Billings, the palaeontologist of the
Survey, has joined in the request that I should undertake the
examination and description of the specimens, as being more
specially a subject of microscopical investigation.

Before concluding this part of the subject, it is proper to
observe that the structures above described can be made out only
by the careful study of numerous slices, and in some instances
only with polarized light. Even in the more perfect specimens of
Eozoon, as those accustomed to such researches will readily under-
stand, *the accidents of good preservation and the cutting of the
slices in the proper place and direction must conspire in order to
a clear definition of the more minute structures.

It is also to be observed that the specimens present numerous
remarkable microscopic appearances, depending on crystallization
and concretionary action, which must not be confounded with
organic structure. It would be out of place to give any detailed
description of them here ; but it is necessary to caution observers
unaccustomed to the examination of mineral substances under the
microscope, as to their occurrence. I may also mention that the

* Vol. xv, p. 493.

1865.] DAWSON — STRUCTURE OF EOZOON. 107

serpentine presents many curious varieties of structure, especially
when associated with apatite, pyroxene, and other minerals, and
that it affords magnificent objects under polarized light, when
reduced to sufficiently thin slices.

In connexion with these remarkable remains, it appeared desir-
able t > ascertain, if possible, what share these or other organic
structures may have had in the accumulation of the limestones
of the Laurentian series. Specimens were therefore selected by
Sir W. E. Logan, and slices were prepared under his direction.
On microscopic examination, a number of these were found to
exhibit merely a granular aggregation of crystals, occasionally with
particles of graphite and other foreign minerals ; or a laminated
mixture of calcareous and other matters, in the manner of some
more modern sedimentary limestones. Others, however, were
evidently made up almost entirely of fragments of Eozoon, or of
mixtures of these with other calcareous and carbonaceous fragments
which afford more or less evidence of organic origin. The contents
of these organic limestones may be considered under the following
heads : —

1. Remains of Eozoon.

2. Other calcareous bodies, probably organic.

3. Objects imbedded in the serpentine.

4. Carbonaceous matters.

5. Perforations, or worm-burrows.

1. The more perfect specimens of Eozoon do not constitute the
mass of any of the larger specimens in the collection of the
Survey : but considerable portions of some of them are made up
of material of similar minute structure, destitute of lamination,
and irregularly arranged. Some of this material gives the impression
that there may have been organisms similar to Eozoon, but growing
in an irregular or acervuline manner without lamination. Of
this, however, I cannot be certain; and on the other hand there is
distinct evidence of the aggregation of fragments of Eozoon in
some of these specimens. In some they constitute the greater part
of the mass. In others they are imbedded in calcareous matter
of a different character, or in serpentine or granular pyroxene. In
most of the specimens the cells of the fossils are more or less filled
with these minerals ; and in some instances it would appear that
the calcareous matter of fragments of Eozoon has been in part
replaced by serpentine.

108 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

2. Intermixed with the fragments of Eozoon above referred to,
are other calcareous matters apparently fragmentary. They are
of various angular and rounded forms, and present several kinds
of structure. The most frequent of these is a strong lamination,
varying in direction according to the position of the fragments,
but corresponding, as far as can be ascertained, with the diagonal
of the rhombohedral cleavage. This structure, though crystalline,
is highly characteristic of crinoidal remains when preserved in
altered limestones. The more dense parts of Eozoon, destitute of
tubuli, also sometimes show this structure, though less distinctly.

Other fragments are compact and structureless, or show only a
fine granular appearance; and these sometimes include grains,
patches, or fibres of graphite. In Silurian limestones, fragments
of corals and shells which have been partially infiltrated with
bituminous matter show a structure like this. On comparison with
altered organic limestones of the Silurian system, these appearances
would indicate that, in addition to the debris of Eozoon, other
calcareous structures, more like those of crinoids, corals, and
shells, have contributed to the formation of the Laurentian
limestones.

3. In the serpentine* filling the chambers of a large specimen
of Eozoon from Burgess, there are numerous small pieces of
foreign matter; and the silicate itself is laminated, indicating
its sedimentary nature. Some of the included fragments appear
to be carbonaceous, others calcareous ; but no distinct organic
structure can be detected in them. There are however in the
serpentine many minute rounded siliceous grains of a bright green
color, resembling green-sand concretions ; and the manner in which
these are occasionally arranged in lines and groups suggests the
supposition that they may possibly be casts of the interior of
minute Foraminiferal shells. They may however be concretionary
in their origin.

4. In some of the Laurentian limestones submitted to me by
Sir W. E. Logan, and in others which I collected some years ago
at Madoc, Canada West, there are fibres and granules of carbon-
aceous matter, which do not conform to the crystalline structure,
and present forms quite similar to those which in more modern
limestones result from the decomposition of algae. Though retain-
ing mere traces of organic structure, no doubt would be entertained

[* This is the dark green mineral named loganite by Dr. Hunt.]

1865.] DAWSON— STRUCTURE OP EOZOoN 109

as to their vegetable origin if they were found in fossiliferous
limestones.

5. A specimen of impure limestone from Madoc, in the collection
of the Canadian Geological Survey, which seems from its structure
to have been a finely laminated sediment, shows perforations of
various sizes, somewhat scalloped at the sides, and filled with grains
of rounded siliceous sand. In my own collection there are specimens
of micaceous slate from the same region, with indications on their
weathered surfaces of similar rounded perforations, having the
aspect of ScolithuSj or of worm-burrows,

I would observe, in conclusion, that the observations detailed in
this paper must be regarded as merely an introduction to a most
interesting and promising field of research. The specimens to
which I had access were for the most part collected by the explorers
of the Survey merely as rocks, and without any view to the possible
existence of fossils in them. It may be hoped, therefore, that
other and more perfect specimens may reward a careful search in
the localities from which those now described have been obtained.

Further, though the abundance and wide distribution of Eozoon,
and the important part it seems to have acted in the accumulation
of limestone, indicate that it was one of the most prevalent forms
of animal existence in the seas of the Laurentian period, the
non-existence of other organic beings is not implied. On the
contrary, independently of the indications afforded by the
limestones themselves, it is evident that in order to the existence
and growth of these large llhizopods, the waters must have
swarmed with more minute animal or vegetable organisms on which
they could subsist. On the other hand, though this is a less certain
inference, the dense calcareous skeleton of Eozoon may indicate
that it also was liable to the attacks of animal enemies. It is also
possible that the growth of Eozoon, or the deposition of the
serpentine and pyroxene in which its remains have been preserved,
or both, may have been connected with certain oceanic depths and
conditions, and that we have as yet revealed to us the life of only
certain stations in the Laurentian seas. Whatever conjectures we
may form on these more problematic points, the observations above
detailed appear to establish the following conclusions : — First, that
in the Laurentian period, as in subsequent geological epochs, the
llhizopods were important agents in the accumulation of beds of
limestone ; and secondly, that in this early period these low forms
of animal life attained to a development, in point of magnitude

110 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

and complexity, unexampled, in so far as yet known, in the succeed-
ing ages of the earth's history. This early culmination of the
Rhizopods is in accordance with one of the great laws of the
succession of living beings ascertained from the study of the
introduction and progress of other groups ; and, should it prove
that these great Protozoans were really the dominant type of
animals in the Laurentian period, this fact might be regarded as
an indication that in these ancient rocks we may actually have the
records of the first appearance of animal life on our planet.

Since the above was written, thick slices of Eozoon from Gren-
villehave been prepared, and submitted to the action of hydrochloric
acid until the carbonate of lime was removed. The serpentine then
remains as a cast of the interior of the chambers, showing the
form of their original sarcode-contents. The minute tubuli are
found also to have been filled with a substance insoluble in the
acid, so that casts of these also remain in great perfection, and
allow their general distribution to be much better seen than in the
transparent slices previously prepared. These interesting prepara-
tions establish the following additional structural points :

1. That the whole mass of sarcode throughout the organism was
continuous ; the apparently detached secondary chambers being, as
I. had previously suspected, connected with the larger chambers
by canals filled with sarcode.

2. That some of the irregular portions without lamination are
not fragmentary, but due to the acervuline growth of the animal j
and that this irregularity has been produced in part by the formation
of projecting patches of supplementary skeleton, penetrated by
beautiful systems of tubuli. These groups of tubuli are in some
places very regular, and have in their axes cylinders of compact
calcareous matter. Some parts of the specimens present arrange-
ments of this kind as symmetrical as in any modern Foraminiferal
shell.

3. That all except the very thinnest portions of the walls of the
chambers present traces, more or less distinct, of a tubular
structure.

4. These facts place in more strong contrast the structure of the
regularly laminated specimens from Burgess, which do not show
tubuli, and that of the Grenville specimens, less regularly laminated
and tubulous throughout. I hesitate however to regard these two
as distinct species, in consequence of the intermediate characters

1865.] CARPENTER— STRUCTURE OF EOZOON. Ill

presented by specimens from the Calumet, which are regularly
laminated like those of Burgess, and tubulous like those of Gren-
ville. It is possible that in the Burgess specimens tubuli originally
present have been obliterated ; and in organisms of this grade,
more or less altered by the processes of fossilization, large series
of specimens should be compared before attempting to establish
specific distinctions.

Some additional specimens, from a block consisting principally of
serpentine, differ from the ordinary Grenville specimens in the
more highly crystalline character of the calc-spar and ser-
pentine, in the development of certain minute dendritic crys-
tallizations, and in the apparent compression and distortion of the
fossils. These appearances I regard as due to the mode of
preservation, rather than to any original differences ; certain
portions less altered than the others presenting the ordinary typical
characters.

Two slices of limestone from the British Islands, and supposed
to be Laurentian, have been compared with the Canadian lime-
stones above noticed. One is a serpentine-marble from Tyree. It
appears to be fragmental like some of the Laurentian limestones
of Canada, and may contain fragments of Eozoou. The other is
from Ireland,* and presents what I regard as traces of organic
structure, but not, in so far as can be made out, of the character
of Eozoon. Both of these limestones deserve careful microscopic
examination.

NOTES ON THE STRUCTURE AND AFFINITIES OF
EOZOON CANADENSE.

By W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., F.G.S.
[In a Letter to Sir William E. Logan, LL.D., P.R.S., F.G.S.]

The careful examination which I have made — in accordance
with the request you were good enough to convey to me from Dr.
Dawson, and to second on your own part — into the structure of

[* Given by mistake as " Iona" in the Journal of the Geological Society.
It is a specimen of Connemara marble from the collection of Dr. Hunt,
who supposed it to be Laurentian. See note on page 93, and for
further observations on this marble see below, p. 128. J

112 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

the very extraordinary fossil which you have brought from the
Laurentian rocks of Canada,* enables me most unhesitatingly to
confirm the sagacious determination of Dr. Dawson as to its Rhi-
zopod characters and Foraminiferal affinities, and at the same
time furnishes new evidence of no small value in support of that
determination. In this examination I have had the advantage of
a series of sections of the fossil much superior to those submitted
to Dr. Dawson ; and also of a large series of decalcified specimens,
of which Dr. Dawson had only the opportunity of seeing a few ex-
amples after his memoir had been written. These last are pecu-
liarly instructive ; since in consequence of the complete infiltration
of the chambers and canals, originally occupied by the sarcode-
body of the animal, by mineral matter insoluble in dilute nitric
acid, the removal of the calcareous shell brings into view not only
the internal casts of the chambers, but also casts of the interior of
the ' canal-system ' of the ' intermediate ' or ' supplemental skele-
ton,' and even casts of the interior of the very fine parallel tubuli
which traverse the proper walls of the chambers. And, as I have
remarked elsewhere,*)" " such casts place before us far more exact
representations of the configuration of the animal body, and of the
connexions of its different parts, than we could obtain even from
living specimens by dissolving away their shells with acid; its
several portions being disposed to heap themselves together in a
mass when they lose the support of the calcareous skeleton."

The additional opportunities I have thus enjoyed will be found,
I believe, to account satisfactorily for the differences to be observed
between Dr. Dawson's account of the Eozobn and my own. Had
I been obliged to form my conclusions respecting its structure
only from the specimens submitted to Dr. Dawson, I should very
probably have seen no reason for any but the most complete
accordance with his description : while if Dr. Dawson had
enjoyed the advantage of examining the entire series of prepara-
tions which have come under my own observation, I feel confident
that he would have anticipated the corrections and additions which
I now offer.

* The specimens submitted to Dr. Carpenter were taken from a block
of Eozoon rock, obtained in the Petite Nation Seigniory, too late to afford
Dr. Dawson an opportunity of examination. They are from the same
horizon as the Grenville specimens. — W. E. L.

f Introduction to the Study of the Foraminifera, p. 10.

1865.]

CARPENTER — STRUCTURE OF EOZOoN.

113

Although the general plan of growth described by Dr. Dawson,
and exhibited in his photographs of vertical sections of the fossil,
is undoubtedly that which is typical of Eozoon, yet I find that the
acervuline mode of growth, also mentioned by Dr. Dawson, very
frequently takes its place in the more superficial parts, where the
chambers, which are arranged in regular tiers in the laminated
portions, are heaped one upon another without any regularity, as is
particularly well shown in some decalcified specimens which I have
myself prepared from the slices last put into my hands. I see no
indication that this departure from the normal type of structure
has resulted from an injury ; the transition from the regular to the
irregular mode of increase not being abrupt, but gradual. Nor
should I be disposed to regard it as a monstrosity ; since there are

^amms^

4. Diagram illustrating the structure of Eozoox.
A', A', A'. Three chambers of one layer, communicating with each other
directly at a, and by three passages through a shelly par-
tition at b.
A 2 , A 2 , A 2 . Three chambers of a more -superficial layer.

B, B, B. Proper wall of the chambers, composed of finely tubular shell-

substance.

C, C, C. Intermediate or supplemental skeleton, traversed by D, a

stolon of communication between two chambers of different
layers, and by E, E, a canal-system originating in the lacu-
nar space P.

many other Foramhufera in which an originally definite plan of
growth gives place, in a later stage, to a like acervuline piling-up of
chambers.

In regard to the form and relations of the chambers, I have little
Vol. II. h No. 2.

114 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

to add to Dr. Dawson's description. The evidence afforded by
their internal casts concurs with that of sections, in showing that
the segments of the sarcode-body, by whose aggregation each layer
was constituted, were but very incompletely divided by shelly par-
titions ; this incomplete separation (as Dr. Dawson has pointed out)
having its parallel in that of the secondary chambers in Carpen-
teria. But I have occasionally met with instances in which the
separation of the chambers has been as complete as it is in Foramin-
ifera generally ; and the communication between them is then
established by several narrow passages exactly corresponding
with those which I have described and figured in Cycloclypeus*
The mode in which each successive layer originates from the
one which had preceded it, is a question to which my attention
has been a good deal directed ; but T do not as yet feel confident
that I have been able to elucidate it completely. There is certainly
no regular system of apertures for the passage of stolons giving
origin to new segments, such as are found in all ordinary Polytha-
lamous Foraminifera, whether their type of growth be rectilinear,
spiral, or cyclical; and I am disposed to believe that where one
layer is separated from another by nothing else than the proper
walls of the chambers, — which, as I shall presently show, are tra-
versed by multitudes of minute tubuli giving passage to pseudo-
podia, — the coalescence of these pseudopodia on the external surface
would suffice to lay the foundation of a new layer of sarcodic seg-
ments. But where an intermediate or supplemental skeleton, con-
sisting of a thick layer of solid calcareous shell, has been deposited
between two successive layers, it is obvious that the animal body
contained in the lower layer of chambers must be completely cut
off from that which occupies the upper, unless some special pro-
vision exist for their mutual communication. Such a provision I
believe to have been made by the extension of bands of sarcode,
through canals left in the intermediate skeleton, from the lower to
the upper tier of chambers. For in such sections as happen to
have traversed thick deposits of the intermediate skeleton, there
are generally found passages distinguished from those of the ordi-
dary canal-system by their broad flat form, their great trans-
verse diameter, and their non-ramification. One of these passages
I have distinctly traced to a chamber, with the cavity of which it
communicated through two or three apertures in its proper wall

* Op. cit., p. 294.

1865.] CARPENTER — STRUCTURE OF EOZOON. 115

(plate, figure 3. c) ; and I think it likely that I should have
been able to trace it at its other extremity into a chamber of the
superjacent tier, had not the plane of the section passed out of its
course. Riband-like casts of these passages are often to be seen
in decalcified specimens, traversing the void spaces left by the re-
moval of the thickest layers of the intermediate skeleton.

But the organization of a new layer seems to have not unfre-
quently taken place in a much more considerable extension of the
sarcode-body of the pre-formed layer ; which either folded back its
margin over the surface already consolidated, in a manner somewhat
like that in which the mantle of a Cyproea doubles back to deposit
the final surface-layer of its shell, or sent upwards wall-like la-
mella), sometimes of very limited extent, but not unfrequently of
considerable length, which, after traversing the substance of the
shell, like trap-dykes in a bed of sandstone, spread themselves out
over its surface. Such, at least, are the only interpretations I can
put upon the appearances presented by decalcified specimens. For
on the one hand, it is frequently to be observed that two bands of
serpentine (or other infiltrated mineral), which represent two layers
of the original sarcode-body of the animal, approximate to each other
in some part of their course, and come into complete continuity ; so
that the upper layer would seem at that part to have had its origin
in the lower. Again, even where these bands are most widely sepa-
rated, we find that they are commonly held together by vertical
lamellae of the same material, sometimes forming mere tongues, but
often running to a considerable length. That these lamellae have
not been formed by mineral infiltration into accidental fissures in
the shell, but represent corresponding extensions of the sarcode-
body, seems to me to be indicated not merely by the characters of
their surface, but also by the fact that portions of the canal-system
may be occasionally traced into connection with them.

Although Dr. Dawson has noticed that some parts of the sections
which he examined present the fine tubulation characteristic of the
shells of the Nummuline Foraminifera, he does not seem to have
recognized the fact, which the sections placed in my hands have en-
abled me most satisfactorily to determine, — that the proper walls of
the chambers everywhere present the fine tubulation of the Nummu-
line shell (plate, figs. 3, 6) ; a point of the highest importance in
the determination of the affinities of Eozoon. This tubulation
although not seen with the clearness with which it is to be discerned

116 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

in recent examples of the Nurninuline type, is here far better dis-
played than it is in the majority of fossil Nunmiulites, in which the
tubuli have been filled up by the infiltration of calcareous matter,
rendering the shell-substance nearly homogeneous. In Eozoon these
tubuli have been filled up by the infiltration of a mineral different
from that of which the shell is composed, and therefore not coalesc-
ing with it ; and the tubular structure is consequently much more
satisfactorily distinguishable.. In decalcified specimens, the free mar-
gins of the casts of the chambers are often seen to be bordered with
a delicate white glistening fringe ; and when this fringe is examined
with a sufficient magnifying power, it is seen to be made up of a
multitude of extremely delicate aciculi, standing side by side like
the fibres of asbestos. These, it is obvious, are the internal casts
of the fine tubuli which perforated the proper wall of the cham-
bers, passing directly from its inner to its outer surface ; and their
presence in this situation affords the most satisfactory confirma-
tion of the evidence of that tubulation afforded by thin sections of
the shell-wall.

The successive layers, each having its own proper wall, are often
superposed one upon another without the intervention of any sup-
plemental or intermediate skeleton such as presents itself in all the
more massive forms of the Nummuline series ; but a deposit of this
form of shell-substance, readily distinguishable by its homogeneous-
ness from the finely tubular shell immediately investing the seg-
ments of the sarcode-body, is the source of the great thickening
which the calcareous zones often present in vertical sections of
Eozoon. The presence of this intermediate skeleton has been
correctly indicated by Dr. Dawson ; but he does not seem to have
clearly differentiated it from the proper wall of the chambers. All
the tubuli which he has described belong to that canal-system
which, as I have shown, * is limited in its distribution to the in-
termediate skeleton, and is expressly destined to supply a channel
for its nutrition and augmentation. Of this canal-system, which
presents most remarkable varieties in dimensions and distribution^
we learn more from the casts presented by decalcified specimens
than from sections, which only exhibit such parts of it as their plane
may happen to traverse. Illustrations from both sources, giving
a more complete representation of it than Dr. Dawson's figures
afford, have been prepared from the additional specimens placed in
my hands (plate, figure 7).

* Op. cit., pp. 50, 51.

1865.] CARPENTER — STRUCTURE OF EOZOON. 117

It does not appear to me that the canal-system takes its
origin directly from the cavity of the chambers. On the contrary,
I believe that, as in Calcarina (which Dr. Dawson has correctly
referred to as presenting the nearest parallel to it among recent
Foraminifera), they originate in lacunar spaces on the outside of
the proper walls of the chambers, into which the tubuli of those
walls open externally ; and that the extensions of the sarcode-body
which occupied them were formed by the coalescence of the pseu-
dopodia issuing from those tubuli.*

It seems to me worthy of special notice, that the canal-system ,
wherever displayed in transparent sections, is distinguished by a
yellowish-brown coloration, so exactly resembling that which I have
observed in the canal-system of recent Foraminifera (as Polystom-
ella and Calcarina') in which there were remains of the sarcode-
body, that I cannot but believe the infiltrating mineral to have been
dyed by the remains of sarcode still existing in the canals of Eozoon
at the time of its consolidation. If this be the case, the preserva-
tion of this color seems to indicate that no considerable metamor-
phic action has been exerted upon the rock in which this fossil
occurs. And I should draw the same inference from the fact that
the organic structure of the shell is in many instances even more
completely preserved than it usually is in the Nummulites and
other Foraminifera of the Nummulitic limestone of the early
Tertiaries.

To sum up, — That the Eozoon finds its proper place in the For-
aminiferal series, I conceive to be conclusively proved by its accor-
dance with the great types of that series, in all the essential charac-
ters of organization; — namely, the structure of the shell forming
the proper wall of the chambers, in which it agrees precisely with
Nummulina and its allies; the presence of an intermediate skele-
ton and an elaborate canal-system, the disposition of which
reminds us most of Calcarina ; a mode of communication of the
chambers when they are most completely separated, which has its
exact parallel in Cycloclypeus ; and an ordinary want of complete-
ness of separation between the chambers, corresponding with that
which is characteristic of Carpentaria.

There is no other group of the Animal Kingdom to which Eozoon
presents the slightest structural resemblance ; and to the sugges-
tion that it may have been of kin to Nullipore, I can offer the most
distinct negative reply, having many years ago carefully studied

* Op. cit.j p. 221.

118 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

the structure of that stony Alga, with which that of Eozoon has
nothing whatever in common.

The objections which not unnaturally occur to those familiar
with only the ordinary forms of Foraminifera, as to the admission
of Eozoon into the series, do not appear to me of any force. These
have reference in the first place to the great size of the organism;
and in the second, to its exceptional mode of growth.

1. It must be borne in mind that all the Foraminifera normally
increase by the continuous gemmation of new segments from those
previously formed; and that we have ; in the existing types, the
greatest diversities in the extent to which this gemmation may
proceed. Thus in the Globigerina^ whose shells cover to an un-
known thickness the sea-bottom of all that portion of the Atlantic
Ocean which is traversed by the Gulf-stream, only eight or ten seg-
ments are ordinarily produced by continuous gemmation ; and if
new segments are developed from the last of these, they detach them-
selves so as to lay the foundation of independent Globigerince. On
the other hand in Cydochjpeus, which is a discoidal structure attain-
ing two and a quarter inches in diameter, the number of segments
formed by continuous gemmation must be many thousand. Again,
the ReceptacuUhs of the Canadian Silurian rocks, shown by Mr.
Salter's drawings* to be a gigantic Orbitolite, attains a diameter of
twelve inches ; and if this were to increase by vertical as well as by
horizontal gemmation (after the manner of Tlnoporus or Orbitoi-
des) so that one discoidal layer would be piled on another, it would
form a mass equalling Eozoon in its ordinary dimensions. To say,
therefore, that Eozoon cannot belong to the Foraminifera on ac-
count of its gigantic size, is much as if a botanist who had only
studied plants and shrubs were to refuse to admit a tree into the
same category. The very same continuous gemmation which has
produced an Eozoon would produce an equal mass of independent
Globigerince, if after eight or ten repetitions of the process, the
new segments were to detach themselves.

It is to be remembered, moreover, that the largest masses of
sponges are formed by continuous gemmation from an original
Rhizopod segment ; and that there is no a j^'iori reason why a
Foraminiferal organism should not attain the same dimensions as
a Poriferal one, — the intimate relationship of the two groups, not-
withstanding the difference between their skeletons, being unques-
tionable.

* First Decade of Canadian Fossils, pi. x.

1865.] CARPENTER — STRUCTURE OF EOZOON. 119

2. The difficulty arising from the zoophytic plan of growth of
Eozoon is at once disposed of by the fact that we have in the
recent Polytrema (as I have shown, op. cit. p. 235) an organism
nearly allied in all essential points of structure to Rotalia, yet no
less aberrant in its plan of growth, having been ranked by Lamarck
among the Millepores. And it appears to me that Eozoon takes its
place quite as naturally in the Nummuline series as Polytrema in
the Rotaline. As we are led from the typical Rotalia, through
the less regular Planorbulina, to Tinoporus, in which the cham-
bers are piled up vertically, as well as multiplied horizontally, and
thence pass by an easy gradation to Polytrema, in which all regu-
larity of external form is lost; so may we pass from the typical
Operculum or JSfummulina, through Heterostegina and Cyclocly-
peus to Orbitoides, in which, as in Tinoporus, the chambers
multiply both by horizontal and by vertical gemmation; and from
Orbitoides to Eozoon the transition is scarcely more abrupt than
from Tinoporus to Polytrema.

The general acceptance, by the most competent judges, of my
views respecting the primary value of the characters furnished by
the intimate structure of the shell, and the very subordinate value
of plan of growth, in the determination of the affinities of Fora-
minifera, renders it unnecessary that I should dwell further on my
reasons for unhesitatingly affirming the Nummuline affinities of
Eozoon from the microscopic appearances presented by the proper
wall of its chambers, notwithstanding its very aberrant peculi-
arities ; and I cannot but feel it to be a feature of peculiar interest
in geological inquiry, that the true relations of by far the earliest
fossil yet known should be determinable by the comparison of a
portion which the smallest pin's head would cover, with organisms
at present existing.

I need not assure you of the pleasure which it has afforded me
to be able to co-operate with Dr. Dawson and yourself in this
development of my previous researches ; but I may venture to add
the anticipation that the discovery of Eozoon is the first of many
discoveries in the Laurentian series, which will vastly add to our
knowledge of the primaeval life of our globe. And I am strongly
inclined also to concur in the belief expressed by Dr. Dawson in a
private letter to myself, that a more thorough examination of some
of the Silurian fossils (such as Stromatopora) hitherto ranked
among corals and sponges, will prove that they are really, like
Eozoon and Receptaciilitcs, gigantic Foraminifera.

120 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

Illustrating the Structure and Affinities of Eozoon Canadense.

Of the figures here given, 1, 3, 6 a, 6 b, and 7, are selected from
two plates given by Dr. Carpenter to illustrate his paper ; while 2, 4,
and 5, are from the plates accompaning Dr. Dawson's description, and
are from drawings by Mr. Horace H. Smith, the artist of the Survey.

The figures, with the exception of 7, are from transparent sections of
specimens in which the original shell was well preserved, and its
minutest cavities infiltrated with serpentine. Figure 7 is from a speci-
men from which the calcareous skeleton was removed by an acid, and
represents the internal casts of the tubes, as seen by reflected light.

' Fig. 1. Vertical section of regularly stratified portion of Eozoon
showing the ordinarily continuous connection of the cham-
bers of each stratum ; magnified 10 diameters.

2. Horizontal section of Eozoon from Grenville, magnified 25

diameters ; a, systems of tubuli ; b, secondary chamber.

3. Portions of two chambers of different layers, showing at a, a,

the proper walls of their chambers ; at b, b, the intermediate
skeleton ; and at c, c, a stoloniferous passage : magnified 25
diameters.

4. One of the systems of tubuli cut transversely; magnified 100

diameters.

5. Part of a system of tubuli cut transversely ; magnified 200 dia-

meters.

6. Portions of the proper wall of the chambers, showing its Num-

muline tubulation, as seen at a in longitudinal, and at b in
transverse section; magnified 100 diameters.

7. Cast of the interior of canal-system ; an entire group magni-

fied 10 diameters.

ON THE MINERALOGY OF EOZOON CANADENSE,*

By T. Sterry Hunt, M.A., F.R.S.

The remains of Eozoon Canadense, a Foraminiferal organism
recently discovered in the Laurentian limestones of Canada, pre-
sent an interesting subject of study, both to the mineralogist and
geologist. For a zoological description of this organic form the
reader is referred to the preceding descriptions by Dr. Dawson and
Dr. Carpenter.

The details of structure have been preserved by the introduction
of certain mineral silicates, which have not only filled up the

[* See preliminary notice, Silliman's Journal [2] xxxvii, 431. J

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EOZOON CAE E DAWSON

1865.] HUNT — MINERALOGY OF EOZOON. 121

chambers, cells, and canals left vacant by the disappearance of
the animal matter, but have in very many cases been injected
into the tubuli, filling even their smallest ramifications. These
silicates have thus taken the place of the original sarcode, while
the calcareous septa remain. It will then be understood that
when the replacement of the Eozo'on by silicates is spoken of, this
is to be understood of the soft parts only ; since the calcareous
skeleton is preserved, in most cases, without any alteration. The
vacant spaces left by the decay of the sarcode may be supposed to
have been filled by a process of infiltration, in which the silicates
were deposited from solution in water, like the silica which
fills up the pores of wood in the process of silicification. The
replacing silicates, so far as yet observed, are a white pyroxene, a
pale-green serpentine, and a dark-green alumino-magnesian mineral,
which is allied in composition to chlorite and to pyrosclerite, and
which I have referred to loganite. The calcareous septa in the
last case are found to be dolomitic, but in the other instances are
nearly pure carbonate of lime. The relations of the carbonate
and the silicates are well seen in thin sections under the micro-
scope, especially by polarized light. The calcite, dolomite, and
pyroxene exhibit their crystalline structure to the unaided eye ;
and the serpentine and loganite are also seen to be crystalline
when examined with the microscope. When portions of the fossil
are submitted to the action of an acid, the carbonate of lime is
dissolved, and a coherent mass of serpentine is obtained, which is
a perfect cast of the soft parts of the Eozo'on. The form of the
sarcode which filled the chambers and cells is beautifully shown,
as well as the connecting canals and the groups of tubuli; these
latter are seen in great perfection upon surfaces from which the
carbonate of lime has been partially dissolved. Their preservation
is generally most complete when the replacing mineral is serpen-
tine, although very perfect specimens are sometimes found in
pyroxene. The crystallization of the latter mineral appears, how-
ever, in most cases to have disturbed the calcareous septa.

Serpentine and pyroxene are generally associated in these
specimens, as if their disposition had marked different stages of a
continuous process. At the Calumet, one specimen of the fossil
exhibits the whole of the sarcode replaced by serpentine ; while,
in another one from the same locality, a layer of pale green translu-
cent serpentine occurs in immediate contact with the white pyrox-
ene. The calcareous septa in this specimen are very thin, and are

122 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

transverse to the plane of contact of the two minerals ; yet they
are seen to traverse both the pyroxene and the serpentine with-
out any interruption or change. Some sections exhibit these two
minerals filling adjacent cells, or even portions of the same cell, a
clear line of division being visible between them. In the specimens
from Grenville, on the other hand, it would seem as if the develop-
ment of the Eoznon (considerable masses of which were replaced
by pyroxene) had been interrupted, and that a second growth of
the animal, which was replaced by serpentine, had taken place
upon the older masses, filling up their interstices.

The results of the chemical examination of these fossils from
different localities may now be given: —

I. A specimen of Eozobn from the Calumet, remarkable for the
regularity of its laminated arrangement, gave to warm acetic acid
27-0 per cent of soluble matter, consisting of carbonate of lime
97-1, carbonate of magnesia 2-9 ; ■=. 100.

II. Another specimen of the fossil, from Grenville, replaced
by pyroxene, yielded in the same way 12*0 per cent of soluble
matter, which, was composed of carbonate of lime 98*7, carbonate
of magnesia 1*3 ; — 100.

III. In this specimen of the fossil, which adjoined the last,
serpentine was the replacing mineral. The soluble portion froin
this equalled 47*0 per cent, and consisted of carbonate of lime
96*0, carbonate of magnesia 4-0 ; == 100. It thus appears that the
septa in these specimens of Eozoon are nearly pure carbonate of
lime, The somewhat larger proportion of magnesia from the last
is due to the use, as a solvent, of dilute nitric acidj which slightly
attacked the serpentine.

The pyroxene of the above specimens is a very pure silicate of
lime and magnesia; that from I gave, by analysis, silica 54-90,
lime 27-67, magnesia 16 76, volatile matter 0-80 ; = 100-13. A
partial analysis of the pyroxene from II yielded lime 28-3, magnesia
13-8. This specimen was interpenetrated with serpentine, amount-
ing to about 10-0 per cent, which was first removed by the suc-
cessive action of heated sulphuric acid and dilute soda-ley. The
serpentine from III yielded silica 42*85, magnesia 41-68, protoxide
of iron 0.67, water 13-89; =99-09. As already mentioned, this
serpentine had lost a little magnesia from the action of nitric acid.
A similar serpentine from the Calumet, associated with the Eozoon,
gave silica 41*20, magnesia 43*52, protoxide of iron 0.80, water

1865.] HUNT — MINERALOGY OP EOZOON. 123

15*40 ; z=r 100-92. These serpentines from the Laurentian lime-
stones are remarkable for their freedom from iron-oxide, for their
their large amount of water, and their low specific gravity.*

Specimens of Eozoon from Burgess differ from the foregoing in
the composition both of the replacing material and septa. The
latter consist of a somewhat ferriferous dolomite, the analysis of
which was made upon portions mechanically separated from the
enclosed silicate : it yielded carbonate of magnesia 40-7, carbonate
of lime,with a little peroxide of iron, 59-0 ; = 99'7. The septa of the
specimen from this locality are in some parts more than 30 milli-
metres in thickness, and exhibit the chambers, cells, and septal
orifices ; but no tubuli are seen. The replacing material has the
hardness of serpentine, for which it was at first mistaken. Its
color is blackish-green ; but olive-green in thin sections, when it
is seen by transmitted light to be crystalline in texture. Its frac-
ture is granular, and its lustre feebly shining. It is decomposed
by heated sulphuric acid, and was thus analyzed, yielding the re-
sult I. The centesimal composition of the soluble portion is given
under II.

I. II. in.

Silica 33-75 35-14 36-50

Alumina 9-75 10-15 10-80

Magnesia 30-24 31-47 28-20

Protoxide of iron 8-19 8-60 9-54

Water 14-08 14-64 14-62

Insoluble sand 2-50

98-51 100-00 99-66

The silicate which here takes the place of the pyroxene and ser-
pentine observed in the other specimens of Eozoon is one of fre-
quent occurrence in the Laurentian limestones, and appears to con-
stitute a distinct species, which I "long since described under the
name of loganite, and which occurs at the Calumet in dark brown
prismatic crystals, j I have since observed a similar mineral in
two other localities besides the one here noticed. The result III,
which is placed by the side of the analysis of the Burgess fossil,
was obtained with a greenish-grey sparry prismatic variety from
North Elmsley, having a hardness of 3*0, and a specific gravity of

* See my descriptions, Silliman's Journal [2] xxvi, 236.
f Phil. Mag., 4th ser., vol. ii, p. 65.

124 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

2*539. These hydrous alumino-magnesian silicates, which I have
included under the name of loganite,* are related to chlorite
and to pyrosclerite in composition ; but these last are distinguished
from it by their eminently foliated micaceous structure.

When examined under the microscope, the loganite which re-
places the Eozo'on of Burgess, shows traces of cleavage-lines, which
indicate a crystalline structure. The grains of insoluble matter
found in the analysis, chiefly of quartz-sand, are distinctly seen as
foreign bodies imbedded in the mass, which is moreover marked by
lines apparently due to cracks formed by a shrinking of the silicate,
and subsequently filled by a further infiltration of the same ma-
terial. This arrangement resembles on a minute scale that of sep-
taria. Similar appearances are also observed in the serpentine which
replaces the Eozo'on of Grenville, and also in a massive serpentine
from Burgess, resembling this, and enclosing fragments of the fos-
sil. In both of these specimens also grains of mechanical impuri-
ties are detected by the microscope ; they are however rarer than
in the loganite of Burgess.

From the above facts it may be concluded that the various sili-
cates which now constitute pyroxene, serpentine, and loganite were
directly deposited in waters in the midst of which the Eozo'on was
still growing, or had only recently perished ; and that these silicates
penetrated, enclosed, and preserved the calcareous structure pre-
cisely as carbonate of lime might have done. The association of
the silicates with the Eozo'on is only accidental ; and large quantities
of them, deposited at the same time, include no organic remains.
Thus, for example, there are found associated with the Eozoon-
limestones of Grenville, massive layers and concretions of pure ser-
pentine ; and a serpentine from Burgess has already been men-
tioned as containing only small broken fragments of the fossil. In
like manner large masses of white pyroxene, often surrounded by
serpentine, both of which are destitute of traces of organic struc-
ture, are found in the limestone at the Calumet. In some cases,
however, the crystallization of the pyroxene has given rise to con-
siderable cleavage-planes, and has thus obliterated the organic struc-
tures from masses which, judging from portions visible here and
there, appear to have been at one time penetrated by the calcareous
plates of Eozo'on. Small irregular veins of crystalline calcite, and

* For a description of this and similar silicates, see Geology of Can-
ada, p. 491.

1865.] HUNT — MINERALOGY OF EOZOON. 125

of serpentine, are found to traverse* such pyroxene-masses in the
Eozoon-lirnestone of Grenville.

As already mentioned in Sir TV. E. Logan's description, it ap-
pears that great beds of the Laurentian limestones are composed
of the ruins of the Eozobn. These rocks, which are white, crys-
talline, and mingled with pale-green serpentine, are similar in as-
pect to many of the so-called primary limestones of other regions.
In most cases the limestones are non-magnesian, but one of them
from Grenville was found to be dolomitic. The accompanying strata
often present finely crystallized pyroxene, hornblende, phlogopite,
apatite, and other minerals. These observations bring the forma-
tion of siliceous minerals face to face with life, and show that their
generation was not incompatible with the contemporaneous exist-
ence and the preservation of organic forms. They confirm, more-
over, the view which I some years since put forward, that these
silicated minerals have been formed, not by subsequent metamojr
phism in deeply buried sediments, but by reactions going on at the
earth's surface.f In support of this view, I have elsewhere re-
ferred to the deposition of silicates of lime, magnesia, and iron from
natural waters, to the great beds of sepiolite in the unaltered Ter-
tiary strata of Europe; to the contemporaneous formation of neolite
(an alumino-magnesiau silicate related to loganite and chlorite in
composition) ; and to glauconite, which occurs .not only in Second-
ary, Tertiary, and Recent deposits, but also, as I have shown, in
Lower Silurian strata. J This hydrous silicate of protoxide of iron
and potash, which sometimes includes a considerable proportion of
alumina in its composition, has been observed by Ehrenberg, Man-
tell, and Bailey associated with organic forms in a manner which
seems identical with that in which pyroxene, serpentine, and lo-
ganite occur with the Eozoon in the Laurentian limestones. Ac-
cording to the first of these observers, the grains of green-sxind, or
glauconite, from the Tertiary limestone of Alabama are casts of

* Recent examinations have shown that some of these masses encrusted
with Eozoon replaced by serpentine, consist of crystalline pyrallolite
(rensselaerite), which seems, like the other silicates, to have replaced
the organic matter of the Rhizopod. Further examinations aided by the
microscope, are however needed to determine with certainty the relations
of the Eozoon to these masses of pyrallolite.

f Silliman's Journal [2] xxix, 284 ; xxxii, 286. Geology of Canada
p. 577.

X Silliman's Journal [2] xxxiii, 277. Geology of Canada, p. 487.

126 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

the interior of Polythalamia, the glauconite having filled them by
" a species of natural injection, which is often so perfect that not
only the large and coarse cells, but also the very finest canals of
the cell-walls and all their connecting tubes, are thus petrified and
separately exhibited." Bailey confirmed these observations, and ex-
tended them. He found in various Cretaceous and Tertiary lime-
stones of the United States, casts in glauconite, not only of Foram-
inifera, but of spines of Echinus, and of the cavities of corals.
Besides, there were numerous red, green, and white casts of minute
anastomosing tubuli, which, according to Bailey, resemble the casts
of the holes made by burrowing sponges (Cliond) and worms.
These forms are seen after the dissolving of the carbonate of lime by
a dilute acid. He found, moreover, similar casts of Foraminifera,
of minute mollusks, and of branching tubuli, in mud obtained from
soundings in the Gulf-stream, and concluded that the deposition of
glauconite is still going on in the depths of the sea.* Pourtales
has followed up these investigations on the recent formation of glau-
conite in the Gulf-stream waters. He has observed its deposition
also in the cavities of Millepores, and in the canals in the shells of
Balanus. According to him, the glauconite grains formed in For-
uminifera lose after a time their calcareous envelopes, and finally
become " conglomerated into small black pebbles," sections of which
still show under a microscope the characteristic spiral arrangement
of the cells.f

It appears probable from these observations that glauconite is
formed by chemical reactions in the ooze at the bottom of the sea }
where dissolved silica comes in contact with iron-oxide rendered
soluble by organic matter ; the resulting silicate deposits itself in
the cavities of shells and other vacant spaces. A process analogous
to this in its results, has filled the chambers and canals of the
Laurentian Foraminifera with other silicates ; from the compara-
tive rarity of mechanical impurities in these silicates, however, it
would appear that they were deposited in clear water. Alumina
and oxide of iron enter into the composition of loganite as well as
of glauconite; but in the other replacing minerals, pyroxene and
serpentine, we have only silicates of lime and magnesia, which wer e
probably formed by the direct action of alkaline silicates, either

* Silliman's Journal [2] xxii, 280.
f Report of United States Coast-Survey, 1858, p. 248.

1865.] APPENDIX DAWSON ON EOZOON. 127

dissolved in surface-waters, or in those of submarine springs, upon
the calcareous and magnesian salts of the sea-water. Experi-
ments undertaken with the view of determining the precise con-
ditions under which these and similar silicates may thus be formed,
are now in progress.

Appendix to Dr. Dawson's Paper (pages 99 — 111).

Since the above papers were published, I have had opportunities
of examining slices and decalcified specimens of Eozoon from Petite
Nation, the locality which afforded the specimens referred to by Dr.
Carpenter (pages 112, 116), and I have much pleasure in adding
my testimony to his observation of the distinctness of the proper wall
of the chambers from the supplemental or intermediate skeleton,
as exhibited in these specimens. In the specimens previously
examined I could not distinctly ascertain that the structure of the
proper wall had been preserved, except in a small fragment from
Burgess, not certainly known to be of the same species with the
specimens from Grenville. Although I believed that such a
distinction must have existed, I could not affirm that it had been
preserved. I therefore regard these additional structures, ascer-
tained by Dr. Carpenter, as affording strong confirmation of the
foraminiferal nature of Eozoon, and as indicating its high rank in
the order of Foraminifera ; while at the same time no more satisfac-
tory guarantee for the correctness of the observations made here
could be given, than the concurrence of one whose authority in
such subjects is deservedly so high.

It is also gratifying to find in recent British publications,* notices
to the effect that Mr. Sanford has found the structure of Eozoon
in the Laurentian limestone of Ireland), the Connemara marble of
the Binabola Mountains) already referred to on page 111. Mr.
Sanford's specimens have been further examined by Prof. Rupert
Jones, who says : " except that the serpentine replacing the sarcode
is lighter than in specimens furnished by Sir William Logan, there
is no real difference between the two." Eozoon Canadense will thus,
in all probability, be found to be characteristic of the Laurentian,
and possibly of a particular portion of that series on both sides of
the Atlantic, and will become important to palaeontologists as a
means of recognizing rocks of this early life-zone. It would appear
also that in Ireland as in Canada the remains of the creature have

* Geol. Mag., Nov. 1864; Reader, Feb. 25, 1865.

128 THE CANADIAN NATUALIST. [April

contributed largely to the formation of limestone, since Prof. Jones
remarks that he has detected its structure abundantly in chips of
' Irish-green ' marble from marble-works in London ; and Mr.
Sanford represents a somewhat extensive bed of limestone in the
Binabola Mountains, as abounding in it throughout, though not
always in a good state of preservation. J. w. D.

NOTES ON CERTAIN SPECIES OF NOYA-SCOTIAN
FISHES.

By J. Matthew Jones, F.L.S.

The Yellow Perch. — Percajiavescens.

Perca flavescens Cuv. et Val., ii, p. 46.

" Rich., Faun. Bor. Amer., p. 1, pi. 74.

" Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 5.

" DeKay, N. Y. Faun., p. 3, pi. 1, fig. 1.

" Holb., Ich. S. C, p. 2, pi. 1, fig. 1.

" Gunth., Cat. Fishes, i, p. 59.

Bodianus flavescens Mitch., Ph. Trans. N. Y., i, p. 421.

This fish is very common in the fresh waters of this province,
and is similar in habit to the common perch of Europe. It is
sold in the Halifax market during winter in small bunches of a
dozen each at the rate of sixpence sterling per bunch, but it is
not much esteemed as food.

Gunther, in his catalogue of the acanthopterygian fishes in the
British Museum collection, states his belief, after an examination
of the skeletons of this and the European P.fiuviatilis, that they
are merely varieties of one and the same species.

Its geographical distribution is extensive, — being found in
nearly every part of North America.

Sculpin. — Cottus Groenlandicus.

Cottus Groenlandicus Cut. et Val., iv, p. 156.

" « Rich, iii, pp. 46, 297, pi. 95, fig. 2.

" " Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 16.

11 " De Kay, p. 54, pi. 4, fig. 10.

" " Gunth., Cat. Fishes, ii, p. 161.

" Scorpius Fabr., Faun. Grcenl., p. 156.

This daring and voracious fish is very abundant on our shores.
It cares but little for the presence of man, and will not leave its

1865.] JONES — NOVA-SCOTIAN FISHES. 129

position in the shallow water even when roughly touched with a
boat-hook. It acts as a perfect scavenger at the fish-curing
stations, gorging itself with the refuse thrown into the sea. Al-
though somewhat repulsive in appearance and mode of life, it is
remarkable for the beauty of its colors, which, in some specimens,
are highly brilliant. The Rev. J. Ambrose informs me that a
deep red-colored variety is found at St. Margaret's Bay, and is
known to the fishermen under the name of ' deep-water sculpin.'
The sculpin is very tenacious of life, existing for some time after
removal from its native element.

Norway Haddock. — Sehastes Nbrvegicus.

Sebastes Xorvegicus Cuv. et Val., iv., p. 327, pi. 87.

" " Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, i, p. 87.

'• " Rich., Faun. Bor. Amer., p. 52.

" Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 26.

" " -De Kay, p. 60, pi. 4, fig. 2.

" " Gunth., Cat. Fishes, ii, p. 95.

Perca marina Pennant, Brit. Zool., iii, p. 226.

Holocentrus Norvegicus Lacep., iv, p. 390.

This beautiful fish, which vies in brilliancy of color with the
gaudy-coated denizens of the tropical seas, is by no means uncommon
on our coast during winter and summer. It occurs more frequently,
perhaps, during the winter season. As the minute young has been
procured from the stomach of a cod caught in the vicinity of
Halifax, it is more than probable that it breeds with us. When
fishing for cod, it is taken on the banks several miles from shore,
and is known in the Halifax market as the l John-a-Dory,' where
it sells at the rate of two pence sterling each, but is never ex-
hibited for sale in any quantity. The Greenland and Arctic seas
appear to be the proper habitat of this species. I have procured
the opercular spines from the Kjockkenmoedding on our Atlantic
«oast.

Spotted Wrymouth. — Cryptacanthodes maculatus.

Cryptacanthodes maculatus Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 28.

" Gunth., Cat. Fishes, iii, p. 291.

A fine example of this rare fish was taken while swimming with
its head out of water near the Commercial Wharf, Halifax, on the
14th of June 1860, and was presented to me by Andrew Downs
Esq. It was perfectly white in color, and had the exact appear-
ance of a cast in plaster of Paris. This white color changed — after
it had been some time in spirits — to a light brown about the body,
Yol. II. i no. 2.

130 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

but the head still retains its original plaster hue. Br. Storer
appears to have been the original discoverer of this curious fish
on the Atlantic coast of America. ]

The following is a brief description of the dimensions, &c. of
the specimen in my collection :

Extent, 33 inches. Depth at the deepest part across vent 2J
inches ; at caudal extreme, 9 lines. Diameter of body at base
of pectorals, 3 inches. Extent of head, 4 J inches ; breadth at
broadest part, the juncture with the neck, 4J inches ; depth, from
summit to extended bony point beneath, 3J inches ; circumference
over expanded gill-covers, 11 J inches. Horizontal gape of mouth,
2f inches. Lower jaw 4 lines in advance of upper. Teeth conical,
two rows in lower jaw curved inwards and extending outwards at
chin ; four rows in upper jaw, the third and fourth of which are
incomplete. Palatines, armed with small teeth posteriorly. Lips,
wide, protruding from either side of divisional ridge to posterior
corner. Snout abrupt, indented at extreme. Two triangular
fleshy processes occur on either side of the nasal bone. Eyes, 9J-
lines distant from each other, diameter 4J lines. An elevated
bony ridge commences immediately above the eyes, and runs back
for 4 lines, then rising gradually to the summit of the caput 3
inches from chin-point, and descending again to post extreme of head.
A deepened pit-like depression of the form of the eye occurs
behind each eye and a smaller pit between them in advance, situate
in the groove formed by the bony ridge above the eyes. The bony
ridges are distant from each other at widest part, 8 lines. A bony
elevated ridge also occurs in front of the eyes. Anus about 3
lines in advance of anal fin. The branchiostegous rays are much
inflated, causing the gill-covers to appear as if severed from the
head. The dorsal and anal fins are higher at posterior extreme
close to the caudal, the former having rays an inch long near its
termination, and its commencement partially hid in a groove. The
pectorals are 5 lines in extent, having a basal width of 8J lines;
they are rounded, and the eight primal rays (with the exception
of the first) jointed about 2 or 3 lines from their tips. The
caudal is 2 inches 8 lines in extent, having a spread of 2 inches,

Mackarel. — Scomber vernalis.

Scomber vernalis DeKay, p. 101, pi. 12, fig. 34.

« « Cuv. et. Val., viii, p. 48.

" " Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 41.

1865.] JONES — NOVA-SCOTIAN FISHES. 131

Scomber scomber Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, ed. 2, i, p. 137.

" Owen, Osleol. Cat., i, p. 61.

" " Gunth., Cat. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 357.

As with the common herring of this coast, I have every reason
to believe that this fish is identical with the European species, and
must adhere to such opinion until satisfactory evidence is shown
to prove the contrary. Gunther in his catalogue even includes
JS. grex under the same head ; but as I have not had an opportunity
of examining one of this latter species, I am unable to speak as to
the similarity which exists between them. The shores, harbors,
and inlets of this province, particularly on the eastern and north-
ern coasts, are annually visited by vast multitudes of the common
mackarel, some of which are smaller and others larger than the
medium-sized individuals. They are classed by merchants and
fishermen as of three kinds: — No. 1, the largest and fattest; No. 2,
the medium sized ; and No. 3, the smallest. The habits of the
mackarel are very capricious : some seasons it visits us in such
vast abundance that the waters literally swarm with them ; while
in others, loud complaints are heard of their scarcity. Many are
the reasons given to account for this singular habit; but no satis-
factory conclusion can be reached until accurate observers on differ-
ent parts of the coast take cognizance of the abundance or scarcity
of their usual food during the time of their visit, and also of the
temperature of the water, whether influenced by the warm current
of the Gulf stream, or the colder waters of the Arctic current.
Much remains for the investigation of the naturalist ere a true
solution can be given to the mystery which hangs around the peri-
odical appearance of marine fishes on our shores ; and it must ever
be a source of regret that some of our better-educated fishermen
do not put their knowledge of the habits of fish to advantage by
communicating any facts which would tend to throw light upon so
interesting a subject.

From the middle of September to the end of October, appears to
be the season of the best mackarel-fishing on our eastern coast, the
larger kind being generally more abundant towards the close of
the latter month. About the middle of June the spawn is generally
ripe for depositing. Along the coast it is said that mackarel prove
poisonous to pigs, but I have no facts to verify such an assertion.
This fish is also supposed to be free from disease of any kind.
Some years ago a fisherman at Prospect near Halifax was spearing
for eels in mid-winter through the ice near shore, in the sandy mud ?

132 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

and to his surprise caught a mackarel which appeared half torpid,
and had its eyes covered with a filmy substance. "Was this fish
hibernating in the mud, or what could have brought it into such
position at a time of year when its fellows were supposed to be
away at some distance in the deep ?

To show the extent to which the mackarel-fishery is carried on
in our Province, I may state that in the year 1860, 49,748 bar-
rels of mackarel were cured by our fishermen. But this is nothing
in comparison to the total amount taken off the coast by United
States fishermen and others who resort to these grounds in the
season in their large and well-appointed craft, with more tackle than
our fishermen possess. Specimens of No. 1 mackarel often attain
large dimensions : one taken in the harbor of Port Mulgrave in
September 1861, weighed two lbs., and measured 17 inches in
length.

Tunny. — Thynnus vulgaris.

Thyunus vulgaris Cuv. et VaL, viii, p. 58, pi. 210.

" " Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, i, p. 150.

" " Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 47.

" thynnus Gunth., Oat., ii, p. 362.

Scomber thynnus ■ Don., Brit. Fishes, i, pi. 5.

" " Bisso., Ich. Nice, p. 163.

The tunny is very common on our eastern coast during the
summer months, and is known to the fishermen as the ' albicore.'
The Rev. John Ambrose informs me that it visits St. Margaret's
, Bay regularly every summer, several specimens being taken and
rendered down for oil. They have been especially abundant this
autumn (1864) in that locality.

Sword-Fish. — Xipliias gladius.

Xiphias gladius Bisso., Ich. Nice, p. 99.

» " Cuv. et. VaL, viii, p. 255, pi. 225, 226.

" " Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 51.

" " DeKay, p. Ill, pi. xxvi, fig. 79.

" " Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, i, p. 164.

The sword-fish is by no means common on our coast, and only
makes its appearance at intervals in our harbors and bays, One
was taken last year in Bedford Basin, at the head of Halifax
Harbor.

1865.] JONES — NOVA-SCOTIAN FISHES. 133

B utterfish . — Gun nellus vulgaris.

Gunnellus vulgaris Nilss., Skand. Faun., iv, p. 200.

" mucronatus DeKay, p. 153, pi. 12, fig. 36.

" « Cuv. et Val., xi, p. 427.

Blennius gunnellus Rich., Faun. Bor. Amer., p. 91.

« " Lacep., ii, p. 503.

Centronotus gunnellus Gunth., Cat. Fishes, iii, p. 285.

" " Bloch., Schn., p. 167.

Murcenoides guttata Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 65.

In the transactions of the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural
Science (Part i, p. 50) I described this species from specimens
forwarded to me by the Rev. J. Ambrose, who procured them with
the dredge, in twelve to fourteen fathoms water, at the entrance of
St. Margaret's Bay, in August 1860. I find that they are com-
mon on the coast, and afford food for the more voracious ground-
feeders. DeKay's G. mucronatus does not coincide in color with the
present species; but as it particularly corresponds in all other re-
spects, I scarcely consider this variation a sufficient reason for dis-
puting its identity, as all ichthyologists are aware how many fami-
liar forms vary in the color of their markings, although beyond all
doubt belonging to the same species.

Wolf-Fish. — Anarrliicas lupus.

Anarrhicas lupus Linn., Syst., i, p. 430.

« « Fabr., Faun. Grcenl., p. 138, n. 97.

" « Lacep., ii, pp. 299, 300, pi. 9, fig. 2.

" » Rich., Faun. Bor. Amer., p. 95.

« « Yarrell, Brit. Fishes, ed. 3, ii., p. 384.

" » Gunth., Brit. Mus. Cat., iii, p. 208.

« " DeKay, p. 158, pi. 16, fig. 43.

« » Nilss., Skand. Faun., iv, p. 208.

" maculatus Bloch., Schn., p. 496.

A very common fish in our waters, and perhaps the most vora-
cious of all. When taken from the water it is covered with a thick
coating of slime, which renders it difficult to be taken hold of. In
February 1863, when examining the Greenland shark (Scymnus
borealis) which had been taken by some of our fishermen, I observed
two of these wolf-fish, of good size, protruding from its mouth, the
shark having disgorged them after its capture.

Angler. — Lophius piscatorius.

Lophius piscatorius Linn., Syst., i, p. 402.

« " Cuv. et Val., xii, p. 344, pi. 362.

134 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

Lophius piscatorius Nilss., Skand. Faun., p. 245.

11 " Gunth., Cat. Fishes, iii. p. 179.

" " Rich., Faun. Bor. Amer., p. 103.

*' " Storer, Fishes of Mass., pp. 71, 404.

" Americanus DeKay, p. 162, pi. 28, fig. 87.

This is not an uncommon fish, although I have only had an
opportunity of examining one specimen, which was forwarded by
the Rev. J. Ambrose from St. Margaret's Bay.

Bergall. — Ctenolabrus burgall.

Ctenolabrus burgall Gunth., Cat. Fishes, iv. p. 90.

11 coeruleus DeKay, p. 172, pi. 29, fig. 93.

Crenilabrus burgall Storer, Fishes of Mass., p. 78.

Labrus burgall. Bloch., Schn., p. 251.

This species is known to the fishermen as the l Conner.' It is
abundant in Halifax Harbor during the summer months, and is
readily taken with hook and line by boys at the wharves. In the
summer of 1862, when the French fleet anchored here, the sailors
used to catch them in great numbers for cooking, but the inhabi-
tants rarely touch them. At St. Margaret's Bay, according to Mr.
Ambrose, they are given as food to pigs ; but as the pork of these
fish-fed pigs always tastes oily in consequence, they are generally
fed upon other food, and well dosed with sulphur, for a short time
prior to being killed.

Gunther gives as a variety of this species C. uninotatus, which
is taken in our harbor in company with the former. It differs in
having a black spot on the base of the two anterior soft dorsal rays.
DeKay makes it a distinct species.

Pipe-Fish. — Fistularia ?

A very fine specimen of this genus was taken on the 16th of
September 1863, at Portuguese Cove, near Halifax. As I had only
an opportunity of examining it for a few minutes after its purchase
by a tradesman, the following very deficient description was all
I could draw up at the time. It did not resemble very closely
the F. verrata of Storer and DeKay, nor could I identify it with
the F. tabacaria of the latter author, although the orbital pro-
cesses corresponded. It was of greater size than either of the speci-
mens mentioned by DeKay and Storer, and may possibly prove
new to the Nova-Scotian fauna.

Description. — Extent from frontal extreme to caudal termina-
tion, 31 inches ; from frontal extreme to base of snout immediately

1865.] OBITUARY — CAPT. GILLISS. 135

anterior to eye cup, 7 inches ; from frontal extreme to commence-
ment of dorsal, 24 inches 2 lines ; from frontal extreme to posterior
edge of opercle, 10 inches ; from pectorals to ventrals, 4 inches 7
lines ; from ventrals to anal, 8 inches 8 lines ; from anal to caudal,
4 inches 1 line ; breadth at fifteen inches from frontal extreme, 1
inch 7h lines ; over pectorals, 1 inch ; over dorsal, 1 inch 2 lines ;
over caudal base, 4 lines; vertical base of caudal extreme, 3J lines ;
width of mouth over base of snout, 5 lines.

Head : — Width over eyes, 8 lines ; vertical depth over eyes, 9
lines. Two bony processes at anterior occipital angle of eye cup.

Mouth : — Vertical gape, 1 inch ; horizontal gape, *l\ lines ;
armed with small teeth on vomer and jaws ; lower jaw 2 lines in
advance of upper.

Eyes : — Lateral diameter, 10 lines : vertical diameter, 5 lines.

Fins: — Pectoral; diameter at base, 7J lines. Dorsal ; diameter
at base, 1 inch 2J- lines. Ventrals ; extent, 9 lines ; diameter at
base, 3 lines. Anal ; diameter at base, 1 inch 2J lines. Caudal ;
extent, 1 inch 7A- lines ; caudal filament broken off 1 inch 7J- lines
from base.

Color: — Above, reddish brown; beneath, cupreous, longitudi-
nally lined with white. — Communicated by the Natural History
Society of \_St. John] New Brunswick.

OBITUARY NOTICES.

Capt. James M. Gilliss, U. S. N. — Captain Gilliss, the Super-
intendent of the Washington Observatory, died suddenly, at Wash-
ington, of apoplexy, on Thursday, the 9th of February. The
Naval Observatory, under his charge at the time of his death, was
constructed from his plans, and equipped with its original instru-
ments by him, during the years 1843-44, Congress having au-
thorized its establishment by an Act passed in 1842 ; but only since
1861, when Maury, faithless to his country, left his post of duty,
has it been under his abler direction. It would have been better
for the scientific reputation of the country had it continued in his
hands. An earlier observatory at Washington fitted up mainly by
him, had been the scene of his labors from 1838 to 1842, and in
the volume containing the results — the first volume of American
Astronomical Observations — Mr. Gilliss expresses in his Preface,
his pleasure that " the prosecution of these observations should

136 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

have resulted in the foundation of a permanent Naval Observa-
tory."

During the three years 1849 to 1851, Capt. Gilliss was in Chile
in charge of the U. S. Expedition for determining the Solar Paral-
lax ; and if his observations failed of all that was expected of them,
it was from the want of that cooperation in the northern hemis-
phere which was reasonably looked for by him. The National In-
telligencer (Washington, U. S.) of the day before his death (Feb.
8), contains his last astronomical communication, — one relating to
the planet Mars, — dated Feb. 7.

Capt. Gilliss was an observer of great skill and accuracy, a man
of noble personal character, and a patriot in the highest sense of
the word. Three of his sons have been in the recent armies of his
country, and the eldest — a captain — reached home from the Libby
prison, after four months' imprisonment, only the day before his
father died. — Sillimans Journal.

George P. Bond. — It is seldom that astronomical science has
received a more severe blow than that occasioned by the death of
George Philips Bond, of Harvard College, Philips Professor of As-
tronomy, and Director of the Observatory connected with that insti-
tution. After a lingering illness of more than a year, during which
his ardor in the study of the heavens led him oftentimes to expo-
sures entirely incompatible with the state of his health, he closed
a useful and an unblemished life on the 17th of February, — eight
days after his compeer, Captain Gilliss.

As an accurate and truthful observer of astronomical phenomena,
he was, without question, unequalled by any one in this country,
and among the first in the world. In his short career he contri-
buted many valuable papers of original discoveries and calculations
to various periodicals and institutions in this and other countries.
His greatest work, and that which gave him honor the world over,
is his account of the Donati comet, which constitutes the third
volume of the Annals of the Observatory. To this, the palm of un-
rivalled excellence has been freely awarded by the best astronomi-
cal observers of Europe.* Well trained by his lamented and dis-

* We are informed that, a month since, Mr. Bond received word from
President De La Rue, of the Royal Astronomical Society, that the Socie-
ty, at its last annual meeting in January, had voted him a gold medal
for his work on this comet.

1865.] OBITUARY — DR. FALCONER. 137

tinguished father, and taking advantage of the best telescope
mounted in so high a southern latitude, he explored with searching
scrutiny the great nebula of Orion, a work which he pursued with
untiring zeal and anxiety in his latter days ; and while we fear his
waning strength may have left it incomplete in form, we are as-
sured, and rejoice in the assurance, that abundant ability remains
in the observatory to prepare it for publication.

We might dwell much longer on his astronomical history, but
the necessary brevity of this notice requires that we should turn to
his private life. It is rare indeed, that so many virtues are blend-
ed in any man. His innocent unpretending manners, the per-
fect absence of every air of vanity or pretension, crowned with an
unwavering Christian faith and deep sense of religious obligation 7
secured for him, not the mere respect, but the kindest regard of all
who had the happiness of his acquaintance. — Sillimari s Journal.

Biographical Notice of the late Hugh Falconer,
M.D., &c. &c. — Hugh Falconer was one of those rare men, — an
original discoverer ; and his life is deserving of a larger record,
than that of a man who gains the popular fame of a discoverer by
writing of other men's labors.

On the 29th of February 1808, Hugh Falconer was born
at Forres, in the north of Scotland, a town best known from
its traditional connection with the ' blasted heath ' of Macbeth.
He received his early education at the grammar school of Forres,
and afterwards studied arts for four years at the University of
King's College, Aberdeen, and medicine for four years at the
University of Edinburgh. From the former University he
received the degree of A.M., and from the latter, in 1829, the
degree of M.D. As a boy, he had exhibited a decided taste for
the study of natural objects, which he eagerly followed up in
Edinburgh under the systematic tuition of Profs. Graham and
Jameson. Qualified for the practice of medicine by the diplomas
of the Eoyal College of Surgeons and of the University of Edin-
burgh, he was nominated to an appointment as assistant-surgeon
on the Bengal Establishment. But not having attained the
required age of twenty-two years, and the real bent of his mind
being upon natural history, he devoted the compulsory interval to
assisting the late Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, in the distribution of his
great Indian herbarium, and to the study of geology and palaeon-
tology. The Museum of the Geological Society, under the charge

138 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

of Mr. Lonsdale, gave him access to the collection of Indian fossil
mammalia from the banks of the Irawaddy formed by Mr. John
Crawford, during his mission to Ava. The description of these
remains by Mr. Clift had excited much interest in the scientific
world, as the first instance in which the ground was broken in the
Palaeontology of tropical regions. In both cases the occupation
proved of material service to the subject of our memoir in his sub-
sequent career, and in the latter instance it determined the labors
to which he afterwards so zealously devoted himself. For, imme-
diately after his arrival in Calcutta, in September 1830, he
undertook the examination of a collection of fossil bones from Ava,
in the possession of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and communi-
cated a short paper upon them, which appeared early in 1831, in
the third volume of the c Gleanings in Science,' an Indian journal
then conducted by the late Mr. James Prinsep.

Early in 1831, Dr. Falconer was ordered to the army station
of Meerut, in the north-western provinces. His first and last
military duty during twenty-six years of service was to take charge
of a detachment of invalids proceeding to the Sanatorium of Lan-
dour in the Himalayas. This led him to pass through Suharun-
pore, where the late Dr. Boyle was then superintendent of the
Botanic Gardens. Kindred tastes and common pursuits soon
knit Falconer and Royle together ; and at the instance of his
friend, Falconer was speedily appointed to officiate for him during
leave of absence, and, on his departure for Europe in 1832, to
succeed him in charge of the Botanic Garden.

In 1832 Dr. Falconer commenced his field explorations by
an excursion to the sub-Himalayan range ; and from the indication
of a specimen in the collection of his friend and colleague Captain,
now Sir Proby T. Cautley, he was led to discover vertebrate fossil
remains in situ in the tertiary strata of the Sewalik Hills. Early
in 1834 Dr. Falconer gave a brief account of the Sewalik Hills,
describing their physical features and geological structure, with
the first published section showing their relation to the Himalayas.

The researches thus begun were followed, about the end of
1834, by the discovery, by Lieuts. Baker and Durand, of the
great ossiferous deposits of the Sewaliks, near the valley of
Markunda, westward of the Jumna and below Nahun. Capt.
Cautley and Dr. Falconer were immediately in the field ; and, by
the joint labors of these four officers, a sub-tropical mammalian
fossil Fauna was brought to light, unexampled for richness and

1865.] OBITUARY — DR. FALCONER. 139

extent in any other region then known. The Sewalik explorations
soon attracted notice in Europe, and in 1837 the Wollaston medal
in duplicate was awarded for their discoveries to Dr. Falconer and
Capt. Cautley, by the Geological Society, the fountain of geological
honors in England.

Concurrently with these researches, Dr. Falconer's official duties
as superintendent of the Suharunpore Botanic Garden led him to
explorations in the snowy range of the neighboring Himalayas.
In 1834, a commission was appointed by the Bengal government
to inquire into and report on the fitness of India for the growth of
the tea plant of China. Acting on the information and advice
supplied by Dr. Falconer, the commission recommended a trial.
The government adopted the recommendation ; the plants were
imported from China, and the experimental nurseries were placed
under Falconer's superintendence in sites selected by him. Tea-
culture has since been greatly extended in the north-west.

In 1837 Dr. Falconer was ordered to accompany Burnes's
second mission to Caubul, which preceded the Affghan war.
United at Peshawur, the party consisted of Burnes, Mackeson,
Leech, Lord, Wood, and Falconer. Of these six officers, the sole
survivor now is Wood, the explorer of the Oxus. Dr. Falconer
first proceeded westward to Kohat, and the lower part of the valley
of Bunguish, in order to examine the Trans-Indus portion of the
Salt range; and then, in company with Lieut. Mackeson, made
for Cashmeer, where he passed the winter and spring, examining
the natural history of the valley. The following summer (1838)
he crossed the mountains to Iskardo, in Bulkistan, and, by the aid
of Rajah Ahmed Shah, traced the Shiggar branch of the Indus to
its source in the glacier on the southern flank of the Mooztagh
range, now ascertained to be 28,200 feet above the level of the sea.
Having examined the great glaciers-of Arindoh and of the Brahl-
doh valley, he then returned to India, via Cashmeer and the Pun-
jab, towards the close of 1838, to resume charge of his duties at
Suharunpore. During the whole of this expedition to Cashmeer,
Falconer kept copious diaries, which, it is to be hoped, are in
a state fit for publication.

In 1840, his health, shattered by previous attacks of jungle
fever, rheumatic fever, dysentery, and disease of the liver, the
results of incessant exposure, gave way ; alarming indications of
constitutional break up set in ; and in 1842 he was compelled to
seek for a chance of recovery by sick leave to Europe, bringing

140 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

the natural history collections amassed by him during years of
exploration of the Himalayas and plains of India.

Soon after his arrival in England in the autumn of 1843, fresh
duties devolved on him in connection with the Sewalik fossils.
Capt. Cautley had presented his vast collection to the British
Museum. Its extent and value may be estimated from the fact
that it filled 214 large chests, and that the charges on its trans-
mission alone to England amounted to £602 stg. Dr. Falconer's
selected collection was divided between the India House and the
British Museum : the great mass was presented to the former, but
a large number of unique or choice specimens, required to fill
blanks or improve series, was presented to the latter. Most of the
specimens were still imbedded in matrix. The authorities at the
India House fitted up a museum room specially for the reception
of their acquisitions; and Sir Robert Peel's government gave
a liberal grant to prepare the materials in the national museum for
exhibition in the Palaeontological gallery. Dr. Falconer was
intrusted with the superintendence of the work, and rooms were
temporarily assigned to him by the Trustees in the British
Museum.

His botanical collections were less fortunate. Having partially
suffered from damp on the voyage to England, they were left
deposited in the India House during his second absence in India,
and the specimens underwent a ruinous process of decay. In 1857
Dr. J. D. Hooker applied to the Court of Directors for the
herbarium collections in the India House, and saved a few of the
Cashmeer and Himalayan dried plants.

In 1848, on the retirement of the late Dr. Wallich, Dr. Fal-
coner was appointed his successor as Superintendent of the
Calcutta Botanic Garden, and Professor of Botany in the Medical
College. In 1850 he was deputed to the Tenasserim Provinces to
examine the teak forests, which were threatened with exhaustion
from reckless felling and neglected conservation. His Report,,
suggesting remedial measures, was published in 1850, in the
" Selections from the Records of the Bengal Government," In
1852 he communicated a paper "On the Quinine-yielding Cincho-
nas and their Introduction into India." In 1854, assisted by his
friend, the late Mr. Henry Walker, he undertook a " Descriptive
Catalogue of the Fossil Collections in the Museum of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal," which was published as a distinct work in
1859. In the spring of 1855 he retired from the Indian Service ;

1865.] OBITUARY — DR. FALCONER. 141

and on his return home he visited the Holy Land, whence he pro-
ceeded along the Syrian coast to Smyrna, Constantinople, and the
Crimea, during the siege of Sebastopol.

Soon after his arrival in England he resumed his palaeontological
researches, and in 1857 he communicated to the Geological
Society two memoirs " On the Species of Mastodon and Elephant
occurring in the Fossil State in England." Having occupied him-
self during several years with the special investigation of the mam-
malian Fauna of the pliocene, as distinguished from that of the
quaternary period of Europe, he was conducted to the examination
of the Cave Fauna of England. In 1860 he communicated a
memoir on the numerous ossiferous caves of Grower, explored or
discovered by his friend, Lieut.-Col. Wood. The existence of
Elephas antiquus and Rhinoceros hcemitcechus as members of the
Cave Fauna was then for the first time established, and the age of
that Fauna precisely defined as posterior to the Boulder Clay,
or period of the glacial submergence of England. In 1862^'
Dr. Falconer communicated to the British Association at Cambridge
an account of Elephas 3IeUtensis, the pigmy fossil elephant of
Malta, discovered with other extinct mammals, by his friend,
Capt. Spratt, C.B , in the ossiferous cave of Zebbug. This
unexpected form presented the Proboscidia in a new light to
naturalists.

For nearly thirty years Dr. Falconer had been engaged more or
less with the investigation of a subject which has lately occupied
much of the attention both of men o£ science and the educated
classes generally, viz. the proof of the, remote antiquity of the
human race. In 1833, fossil bones, procured from a great depth
in the ancient alluvium of the valley of the Ganges, in Hindostan,
were figured and erroneously published as human. The subject
attracted considerable attention at the time in India. In 1835,
while this interest was still fresh, Dr. Falconer and Capt. Cautley
discovered the remains of the sris-antic miocene fossil tortoise
of India, which, by its colossal size, realized the mythological con-
ception of the tortoise which sustained the world on his back.
About the same time, several species of fossil Quadrumana were
discovered in the Sewalik Hills, one of which was thought to have
exceeded in size the ourang-outang, while another was hardly dis-
tinguishable by millemetrical differences from the living ' Hoon-
unian' monkey of the Hindoos. Coupling these facts with the
occurrence of certain existing species, and of the camel, giraffe,

142 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

horse, &c, in the Sewalik Fauna, and with the further important
fact that the plains of the valley of the Ganges had undergone no
late submergence, and passed through no stage of glacial refrigera-
tion to interrupt the previous tranquil order of physical conditions,
Dr. Falconer and Capt. Cautley were so impressed with the con-
viction that the human race might have been early inhabitants of
India, that they were constantly on the look out for the upturning
of the relics of man or of his works from the miocene strata of the
Sewalik Hills. In their account of the gigantic tortoise, after dis-
cussing the palseontologieal and mythological bearings of the case,
they sum up by stating, — " The result at which we have arrived is,
that there are fair grounds for entertaining the belief that the
Colossochelys Atlas may have lived down to an early epoch of the
human period, and become extinct since."

Ten years later, Dr. Falconer resumed the subject in India,
while investigating the fossil remains of the Jumna. In May,
1858, having the same inquiry in view, while occupied with his
cave researches, he communicated a letter to the Council of the
Geological Society, which suggested and led to the exploration
of the Brixham cave, and the discovery in it of flint-implements
of great antiquity, associated with the bones of extinct animals.
In conjunction with Prof. Ramsay and Mr. Pengelly, he drew up
a report on the subject, which, communicated in the autumn of the
same year to the Councils of the Royal and Geological Societies,
excited the interest of men of science in the case. Following up
the same object, he immediately afterwards proceeded to Sicily, to
examine the ossiferous caves there, and discovered the ' Grotto di
Maccagnone,' in which flint implements of great antiquity were
found adhering to the roof-matrix, mingled with remains of
hyasnas now extinct in Europe. Having examined the collection
of M. Boucher de Perthes, on his route to Sicily, he was impressed
with the authenticity of some of the flint implements discovered in
the valley of the Somme, and urged his friend, Mr. Prestwich, who
is of the highest authority in this branch of geology, to proceed
there, and investigate the conditions of the case. Thus, in 1859,
the subject of the antiquity of the human race, which had pre-
viously been generally discredited among men of science, was again
launched upon fresh evidence in both the stratigraphical and
cave aspects. Since then it has been actively followed up by
numerous inquirers; and Dr. Falconer himself was contemplating,
and had indeed actually commenced, a work on ' Primeval Man.'

1865.] OBITUARY — DR. FALCONER. 143

In 1863, Dr. Falconer took an active share in the singularly-per-
plexed discussion of the cause cilebre of the human jaw of Moulin-
Quignon; and, in the conference of English and French men of
science held in France, he expressed doubts as to its authenticity,
but in that guarded and cautious manner which was characteristic
of him. In the spring of last year he called attention in the ' Times'
to an account of the remarkable works of art by ' Primeval Man '
discovered by his friends, Messrs. Lartet and Henry Christy, in
the ossiferous caves of the Dordogne ; and in September he
accompanied his friend, Prof. Busk, to Gibraltar, to examine caves
in which marvellously well-preserved remains of man and mammals
of great antiquity had been discovered. Before starting, he drew
up, in conjunction with Mr. Busk, a preliminary report on the
specimens brought from Gibraltar to this country, which was pre-
sented to the British Association at Bath. He suffered consider-
ably from exposure and fatigue on his return journey through
Spain from Gibraltar, so that the inclement winter told with
additional force upon a constitution naturally susceptible of cold
and weakened by long exposure and disease in India. On Jan-
uary 19th, on his return from a meeting of the Council of the Royal
Society, he felt depressed and feverish. The attack speedily
became developed into acute rheumatism, complicated with
bronchitis and congestion of the lungs, which proved fatal on the
morning of January 31st. On the 4th of February his remains
were committed to their last resting-place, at Kensal Green, in the
presence of a large number of his sorrowing friends and fellow-
laborers.

From what has been said, it is obvious that Falconer did
enough during his lifetime to render his name immortal in science
as one of the greatest palaeontologists that ever lived. But the
work which he published was but a small fraction of that which he
actually accomplished. The amount of scientific knowledge which
has perished with him is prodigious, for he was cautious to a fault ;
he never liked to commit himself to an opinion until he was sure
that he was right ; and he has died, in the fulness of his power,
before his race was run. — Abridged from The Athenceum.

144 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

REVIEWS.

" Monogram of the Bats op North America." By H.
Allen, M.D. Washington : Published by the Smithsonian In-
stitute.

This is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of a group of
animals little studied, though of great interest. As an incite-
ment to their study, we take the following extracts from the
introduction : —

Among the numerous agents which Nature employs for restrict-
ing the excessive increase of the insect world, the bats hold a
conspicuous position. Eminently adapted to an animal regimen,
the vast majority of these animals are exclusively insectivorous in
their habits. Mosquitos, gnats, moths, and even the heavily-
mailed nocturnal Coleoptera, fall victims in large numbers to their
voracious appetites. Certain members of the order, such as flying
Foxes (Pteropodld^e), are strictly frugivorous, it is true; and
others, as the Dog-bat of Surinam (yoctula leporina), classified
as an insect-eating bat, partakes occasionally of fruit in addition to
its more animal diet. None of the species found in this country,
however, are known to subsist on any other than insect food. In
this respect they hold a decided relationship to certain birds ; and
it is interesting to observe how, under different circumstances,
these widely-separated animals serve us to the same end. The func-
tions which the latter perform during the day, the former assume
in the evening. The latter prey upon the diurnal insects, while
the former feed exclusively upon the crepuscular and nocturnal
kinds. The disappearance of the birds of day is a signal for the
advent of the dusky host, which, as it were, temporarily relieve from
duty their most brilliant rivals in guarding the interests of Nature.

But, while thus connected with birds in their position in the
world's economy, bats have none of that grace of form or beauty
of coloring so characteristic of the others. Their bodies are clumsy
and repulsive ; their hues are dull and unattractive ; nor can the
eye dwell with pleasure upon their grotesque and awkward motions.
This aversion — so universally evinced toward these little animals
— is heightened by the associations of the time and place of their
daily appearance. Attendant, as they are, upon the quiet hours
of twilight, when the thickening gloom is conducive to the develop-
ment of superstitious feeling, bats have always been associated

1865.] REVIEW — ALLEN ON BATS. 145

■with ideas of the horrible and the unknown. In olden times,
when the imagination of the people exceeded the accuracy of their
observations, it was one of the numerous monsters inhabiting their
caverns and forests. It has done service in many a legend ; its
bite was fatal ; it was the emblem of haunted houses ; its wino;s
bore up the dragon slain by St. George.

It is easy to trace from this early impression the permanent
position that the bat, as an emblem of the repulsive, held in let-
ters and the arts. It is mentioned in the book of Leviticus as
one of the unclean things. Its image is rudely carved upon the
tombs of the ancient Egyptians. The Greeks consecrated it to
Proserpine. It is part of the infernal potion of the witches in
Macbeth, while Ariel employs it in his erratic flights. In art, its
wings have entered largely into the creation of those composite
horrors, evil spirits ; nor have modern artists escaped from the
absurdity of encumbering the Satan of Holy Writ with like
appendages.*

Of this association with the monstrous the intelligent observer
ceases to take note when the finer beauties of structure develop
themselves under his gaze. Upon acquaintance, he learns, per-
haps with surprise, that, in anatomical and physiological peculiari-
ties, and zoological position, the bat is a subject for study worthy
of the attention of the most contemplative. Indeed no order of ani-
mals is more interesting, and none has received greater attention
from the hands of savans.

The early pioneers of natural history were far astray in their
endeavors to correctly define the nature and position of the bat.

" Some authors place bats among the birds, because they are able
to fly through the air ; while others assign them a position among
the quadrupeds, because they can walk on the earth. Some again,
who admitted the mammalian nature of the creatures, scattered
them at intervals through the scale of animated beings, heedless
of any distinction excepting the single characteristic in which
they took their stand, and by which they judged every animal.

* To this fancy of the ancients of placing the wings of a bat upon de-
mons, is happily opposed the sweet conceits of poets in adorning the figures
of angels and cherubim with the wing3 of birds. The wing of a bat is
sombre and angular ; that of a bird is of delicate hues, and replete with
curves. It is therefore poetic justice to have the one become an emblem
of the infernal, as the other is an expression of the heavenly form.

Vol, II. k No. 2.

146 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

These are but a few of the diverse opinions which prevailed among
the naturalists of former times, among which the most ingeniously
quaint is that which places the bat and the ostrich in the same
order, because the bat has wings, and the ostrich has not."*

Without reviewing the recorded errors of these observers, we
will be content to call the attention of the reader to the following
brief account of the structure of flying animals, so that the true
position of the bat among them may be definitely fixed.

There are two distinct types of modifications which the verte-
brate skeleton has undergone in adapting the animal for flight,
both of which depend upon some peculiarity in the structure of
the anterior extremities ; and in order to obtain a correct opinion
of them, we propose to cast a glance at each in turn.

The first act of the bat, after emerging in the evening from its
retreat, is to fly to the water. The following account, illustrating
the peculiarity, as well as showing the enormous numbers in which
these animals will live together, is of great interest. It is
from the pen of M. Figaniere, Minister to this country from
Portugal, in a letter addressed to Prof. Henry, Secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution : —

" In the winter of 1859, having purchased the property known as
Seneca Point, on the margin of the Northeast River, near Char-
lestown, in Cecil County, Maryland, we took possession of it in
May of the next year. The dwelling is a brick structure covered
with slate in the form of an L two-storeyed, with garret, cellars,
and a stone laundry and milk-house attached. Having been un-
inhabited for several years, it exhibited the appearance, with the
exception of one or two rooms, of desolation and neglect, with
damp, black walls, all quite unexpected, as it had been but very
slightly examined, and was represented in good habitable condition,
merely requiring some few repairs and a little painting.

" The boxes, bundles, and other packages of furniture which
had preceded us, lay scattered around and within the dwelling :
these, with the exception of some mattresses and bedding for im-
mediate use, were hastily arranged for unpacking and placing in
order at leisure. The weather, which was beautiful, balmy, and
warm, invited us toward evening to out-door enjoyment and rest
after a fatiguing day of travel and active labor ; but chairs, settees,
and benches were scarcely occupied by us on the piazza and lawn,

*Wood, Nat. His., 1 (Mam.), 114.

1865.] REVIEW — ALLEN ON BATS. 147

when, to our amazement, and to the horror of the female portion
of our party, small black bats made their appearance in immense
numbers, flickering around the premises, rushing in and out of
doors and through open windows — almost obscuring the early-
twilight, and causing a general stampede of the ladies, who fled,
covering their heads with their hands, fearing that the dreaded
little vampires might make a lodgment in their hair.

" This remarkable exhibition much increased our disappoint-
ment in regard to the habitable condition of our aquisition, and
was entirely unexpected, inasmuch as the unwelcome neighbors
were in their dormant state and ensconced out of sight when the
property was examined previous to purchase. With their appear-
ance, and in such immense numbers, the prospect of immediate in-
doors arrangement and comfort vanished ; the paramount, the urgent
necessity was to get rid of such a nuisance as quickly as possible ;
and the question was, by what means could this be accomplished.
Our scientific friends and acquaintances, both in New York and
Philadelphia, were consulted ; various volumes of natural history
where examined in order to ascertain the peculiar habits of the
vermin, but we derived no effectual consolation from these sources.
One of our friends, indeed, sent us from New York an infallible
exterminator in a form of a receipt obtained at no inconsiderable
cost. Strips of fat pork saturated with a subtle poison were to be
hung up in places where the annoying creatures did most congre-
gate ; of this they would surely eat, and thus ' shuffle off their
mortal coil.' How many revolving bat-seasons it might have re-
required by this process to kill off the multitude, the urgency of
the case would not allow us to calculate, and the experiment was
therefore abandoned.

" Evening after evening did we patiently, though not compla-
cently, watch this periodical exodus of dusky wings into light
from their lurking-places one after another, and in some instances
in couples and even triples, according as the size of the holes or aper-
tures from which they emerged in the slate-roofing would permit.
Their excursions invariably commenced with the cry of the ' whip-
poorwill,' both at coming evening and early dawn ; and it was
observed that they always first directed their flight towards the river,
undoubtedly to damp their mouse-like snouts, but not their spirits,
for it was likewise observed that they returned to play hide and
seek, and indulge in all other imaginable gambols ; when, after
gratifying their love of sport and satisfying their voracious appe-
tites (as the absence of mosquitos and gnats testified), they would

148 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

re-enter their habitation, again to emerge at the first signal of their
feathered trumpeter. I thus ascertained one very important fact,
namely, that the bat, or the species which annoyed us, ate and
drank twice in twenty-four hours. Such appeared their habit,
such therefore was their indispensable need. Upon ascertaining
this fact, after having tried suffocation by the fumes of brimstone
with only partial success, I concluded to adopt a more efficient
plan of warfare ; and for this purpose commenced by causing all
the holes, fissures in the wood-work, and apertures in the slating
to be hermetically sealed with cement. This put a stop to their
egress. But to avoid their dying by starvation and deprivation of
water, which would manifold increase the annoyance by adding
their dead to their living stench, I ordered apertures of about two
feet square to be opened in the lathe and plastered partition on
each side of the garret windows, and also in the ceiling of every
garret room ; lastly, when the bats' reveille was sounded by the
bugle of the whippoorwill, all the hands of our establishment,
men and boys, each armed with a wooden implement (shaped like
a cricket-bat), marched to the third floor, ' on murderous deeds
with thoughts intent;' a lighted lantern was placed in the middle
of one room, divested of all furniture, to allure the hidden foe from
their strongholds. After closing the window, to prevent all escape
into the open air, the assailants, distributed at regular distances
to avoid clubbing each other, awaited the appearance of the bats,
enticed into the room by the artificial light, and impelled by
their own natural craving. The slaughter commenced, and pro-
gressed with sanguinary vigor for several hours, or until brought to a
close by the weariness of dealing the blows that made the enemy
bite the dust, and overpowered by the heat and closeness of the
apartment. This plan succeeded perfectly. After a few evenings
of similar exercise, in vhich the batteurs became quite expert in the
use of their weapon,every wielding of the wooden bat bringing down
an expiring namesake, the war terminated by the extermination of
every individual of the enemy in the main building. However, there
still was the cock-loft of the laundry, which gave evidence of a
large population. In this case I had recourse to a plan which had
been recommended, but was not carried out in regard to the dwell-
ing-house. I employed a slater to remove a portion of the slating
which required repairing. This process discovered some fifteen
hundred or two thousand bats, of which the larger number were
killed, and the remainder sought the barn, trees, and other places
of concealment in the neighborhood.

1865.] REVIEW — ALLEN ON BATS. 149

" In the main building nine thousand six hundred and forty
bats, from actual counting, were destroyed. This was ascertained
in the following manner : After the battling of each evening the
dead were swept in one corner of the room, and in the morning,
before removing them to the manure-heap, they were carefully
counted and recorded. Many had been killed before and some few
after the reckoning was made, and were not included in it, nor
were those killed under the adjoining laundry roof. The massacre
commenced by killing fewer the first evenings, the number in-
creasing, and then diminishing towards the end ; but it was gene-
rally from fifty or a hundred, up to six hundred and fifty, — the
highest mortality of any evening's work, — dwindling down to eight,
five, three, and two.

" This species of bat is generally small, black, and very lively.
Some smaller than the ordinary size were found, probably young
ones, and one or two larger, supposed to be grandfathers, or of a
reddish hue, which was thought to be from age. These vermin
were generally more or less covered with a small-sized bug, not
very dissimilar to the common chinch, but of a different species.
As previously stated, the bat has a very disagreeable odor, which
pertains to its ejection.

" The manure, as well as the bodies of the slain, was used to fer-
tilize the flower and vegetable garden ; and thus, in some degree,
they served to compensate us for the annoyance to which we had
been subjected. The manure, however, required to be applied
with caution ; since, if used in too large a quantity, it appeared to
burn the organism of the plants.

" To remove the very disagreeable odor which remained in the
upper part of the house, various kinds of disinfectants were em-
ployed with some advantage ; but the most effectual method re-
sorted to was that of opening holes of about four inches square, two
at each gable-end, to permit a current of air to pass through.

" These holes were covered with iron gauze to prevent the re-
entrance of any of the remainder of the army of the enemy which
might hover around the premises.

"At the end of five years the odor has now nearly disappeared,
being hardly perceptible during a continuance of very damp
weather."

The fact mentioned above of the numerous parasites infesting
bats is perhaps the most revolting features in these creatures.
The enormous population of Acari found upon their bodies is due
to the great generation of animal heat in their close haunts, a

150 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

condition conducive to a rapid increase of all kinds of vermin.
In this country the common bed-bug (Cimex, leetularu) is fre-
quently found upon their fur. The entrance of a bat with its
precious burden, into the open window of a farm-house, is the
solution of that frequently-propounded question of the despairing
house-wife, " Where can the bugs come from ?"

Of individual anecdotes of bats we have but few examples.
The following, illustrating the material instinct, is taken from
Godman's Nat. Hist., i, 1831, 56. It is narrated by Mr. Titian
Peale:—

" In June, 1823, the son of Mr. Gillespie, the keeper of the city
square, caught a young red bat (L. Nov-Eboracensis), which he
took home with him. Three hours afterwards, in the evening, as
he was conveying it to the Museum in his hand, while passing
near the place where it was caught, the mother made her appear-
ance and followed the boy for two squares, flying around him,
•and finally alighted on his breast, such was her anxiety to save
her offspring. Both were brought to the Museum — the young
one firmly adhering to its mother's teat. This faithful creature
lived two days in the Museum, and then died of injuries received
from her captor. The young one, being but half grown, was still
too young to take care of itself, and died shortly after."

Like most specialists in these days, the author has a tendency
to form genera and families on very trivial characters, and thus
arrives at a classification which, though convenient for reference,
is not natural. As a consequence of this, he elevates the bats to
the rank of an Order, an arrangement which certainly will not
accord with any natural division of the class Mammalia.

Of the species described in the work, the following have been
recognised at Montreal :

Lasiurus cinereus, Palisot de Beau- Scotopkilus noctivagans, Leconte,

vois, (the Hoary Bat). (the Silvery-haired Bat).

Lasiurus Nov-Eboracensis, Tomes, Vespertilis subulatus, Say,

(the Red Bat). (the Little Brown Bat).

"Flora of the British West-Indian Islands." By A.
H. B. Grisebach, M.D., Professor of Botany, in the University
of Gottingen, London, 1864.

This is one of the Colonial Floras, to which reference has
often been made in our pages. It includes all the Phenogamic

1865.] REVIEW — FLORA OF THE WEST INDIES. 151

plant3 and vascular Cryptogamia, with full indices and a table of
the local names. Dr. Gray says of it : " The preface gives
an account of the circumstances under which the work was
undertaken, and of the materials which the author so sedu-
lously and promptly elaborated. West-Indian botany was
very difficult and confused : ' Almost all the principal authors
who have written on West-Indian plants belong to the last
century, and consequently to the Linnaean school, and a general
synopsis of West-Indian plants has never before been attempted,
not even by Swartz, whose flora contains descriptions of his new
species only, with a few remarks on allied forms.' Moreover, the
British West Indies offer only the separate fragments of a larger
flora. Trinidad, as its geographical situation indicates, natu-
rally belongs to the flora of Venezuela and Guiana. The northern
Bahamas might be supposed to have a vegetation very like that of
East Florida, from which they are separated by the Gulf Stream ;
but this seems not to be the case. ' Jamaica, again, from its
mountainous character and more distant position ; most of the Lee-
ward islands, from being wooded volcanos ; and the majority of the
windward ones, with a dry climate and a low calcareous soil, — form
three divisions of this tropical archipelago, which show as many
peculiarities. Thus the whole of the British West Indies, as com-
prised in this flora, may be divided into five natural sections, each
with a distinct botanical character.' Altogether they amount to
about 15,000 English square miles, or nearly twice the area of
Wales. But yet Hayti alone is nearly twice, and Cuba nearly
thrice, as large as all the British Islands together, and not only
far richer in vegetation, but far less explored ; the publications of
Jacquin, Swartz, &c, having been almost confined to the British
possessions; so that it was with old species mainly, that Br. Grise-
bach had to deal, those which were ' the foundation, indeed, of our
scientific knowledge of the flora of tropical America. And these
have so often been misunderstood that their synonyms are far
more numerous than their numbers.' A general West-Indian
flora being out of the present question, we learn with interest
that Br. Grisebach is preparing a special paper on the geographi-
cal range of the West-Indian plants, including the capital island
of Cuba, which Mr. Charles Wright has so industriously and suc-
cessfully explored through its length and breadth, and is expecting
still further to explore."

152 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

Count Kumford and his Researches on Heat. — The

highest law in physical science which our faculties permit us to
perceive, is, to quote the words of Faraday, " the Conservation of
Force." The generalizations which serve to illustrate this great
principle of the conservation of force in all its varied applications,
are generally referred to as the law of the Correlation of Forces,
and have been set forth by various writers within the last twenty
years. Prof. Youmans, who is already favorably known for his
new Class-book of Chemistry, — a work which deserves, by its lucid
method, scientific accuracy, and felicity of illustration, to super-
sede all others as an elementary manual, — has just rendered an
important service to the scientific student by bringing together in
a single volume a series of expositions of this doctrine of the
correlation and conservation of force, * by Grove, Helmholtz,
Mayer, Faraday, Liebig, and Carpenter. With the exception of
the first named, a treatise of considerable extent, and of great merit,
which has gone through at least two editions, and the wonderful
essay of Mayer on Celestial Dynamics, the productions here col-
lected are scattered through scientific journals not always accessible
to the general reader. Besides bringing them together with notes,
explanatory remarks, and a good index, Dr. Youmans has, in a
modest introduction of forty pages, given a review of the subject,
and has called attention to the labor of that most remarkable
thinker of our day, Herbert Spencer, who, to use our author's
words, " has the honor of crowning this sublime inquiry by show-
ing that the law of conservation, or, as he prefers to call it, of the
Persistence of Force, as it is the underlying principle of all being,
is also the fundamental truth of all philosophy."

It would have added to the value of this excellent compilation
if our author had included in it the essay of Dr. Joseph Henry, on
the Conservation of Force, published in the Agricultural Report of
the United States Patent Office for 1857, and in Silliman's Jour-
nal [2] , xxx, 32 ; and Dr. Joseph Leconte's exposition of the
Correlation of Physical, Chemical, and Vital Forces, and of the
Conservation of Forces in Vital Phenomena, which appeared in the
same Journal [2], xxviii, 305. A valuable, and in many respects,

* The Correlation and Conservation of Forces : a series of expositions
by Prof. Grove, Prof. Helmholtz, Dr. Mayer, Dr. Faraday, Prof. Liebig,
and Dr. Carpenter. With an introduction and brief biographical notices
of the chief promoters of the new views : by Edward L. Youmans, M.D.
New York: D. Appleton & Co. Montreal: Dawson Brothers.

1865.] REVIEW — YOUMANS OX FORCE. 153

original contribution to this subject will be found in a thesis by
Dr. Maurice Bucke on the Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces,
Montreal, 1862.

Our object at present, however, in noticing Dr. Youmans's
book is to bring before our readers his sketch of the life and
scientific labors of Count Piumford, to whom, as he has proved,
belongs the merit of having, long before any other one, shown that
heat was a mode of motion, demonstrating its immateriality and
the conversion of its mechanical force into heat. It is, says Dr.
Youmans, with a just feeling of national pride, that we recall that
" the two men who first demonstrated the two capital propositions of
pure science, that lightning is but a manifestation of electricity,
and heat but a mode of motion, were not only Americans by birth
and education, but men eminently representative of the peculiari-
ties of American character — Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin
Thompson, afterwards known as Count Bumford."

" Benjamin Thompson was born at Woburn, Mass., in 1753.
He received the rudiments of a common school education ; became
a merchant's apprentice at twelve, and subsequently taught school*
Having a strong taste for mechanical and chemical studies, he cul-
tivated them assiduously during his leisure time. At seventeen
he took charge of an academy in the village of Rumford (now
Concord), N. H., and in 1772 married a wealthy widow, by whom
he had one daughter. At the outbreak of revolutionary hostilities
he applied for a commission in the American service, was charged
with toryism, left the country in disgust, and went to England.
His talents were there appreciated, and he took a responsible posi-
tion under the government, which he held for some years.

" After receiving the honor of knighthood, he left England and
entered the service of the elector of Bavaria. He settled in
Munich in 178 4, and was appointed aide-de-camp and chamberlain
to the Prince. The labors which he now undertook were of the
most extensive and laborious character, and could never have been
accomplished but for the rigorous habits of order which he carried
into all his pursuits. He reorganized the entire military estab-
lishment of Bavaria, introduced not only a simple code of tactics,
and a new system of order, discipline, and economy among the
troops, and industrial schools for the soldiers' children, but greatly
improved the construction and modes of manufacture of arms and
ordnance. He suppressed the system of beggary, which had grown
into a recognized profession in Bavaria, and become an enormous

154 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

public evil; — one of the most remarkable social reforms on record.
He also devoted himself to various ameliorations, such as improv-
ing the construction and arrangement of the dwellings of the
working classes, providing for them a better education, organizing
houses of industry, introducing superior breeds of horses and
cattle, and promoting landscape-gardening, which he did by con-
verting an old abandoned hunting-ground near Munich into a
park, where, after his departure, the inhabitants erected a monu-
ment to his honor. For these services Sir Benjamin Thompson
received many distinctions, and among others was made Count of
the Holy Roman Empire. On receiving this dignity he chose
a title in remembrance of the country of his nativity, and was
thenceforth known as Count of Rumford.

"His health failing from excessive labor and what he considered
the unfavorable climate, he came back to England in 1798, and
had serious thoughts of returning to the United States. Having
received from the American government the compliment of a
formal invitation to revisit his native land, he wrote to an old
friend requesting him to look out for a ' little quiet retreat ' for
himself and daughter in the vicinity of Boston. This intention,
however, failed, as he shortly after became involved in the enter-
prise of founding the Royal Institution of England.

" There was in Rumford's character a happy combination of
philanthropic impulses, executive power in carrying out great
projects, and versatility of talent in physical research. His
scientific investigations were largely guided and determined by his
philanthropic plans and public duties. His interest in the more
needy classes led him to the assiduous study of the physical wants
of mankind, and the best methods of relieving them ; the laws
and domestic management of heat accordingly engaged a large
share of his attention. He determined the amount of heat arising
from the combustion of different kinds of fuel, by means of a
calorimeter of his own invention. He reconstructed the fire-place,
and so improved the methods of heating apartments and cooking
food as to produce a saving in the precious element, varying from
one-half to seven-eighths of the fuel previously consumed. He
improved the construction of stoves, cooking-ranges, coal-grates,
and chimneys ; showed that the non-conducting power of cloth is
due to the air enclosed among its fibres, and first pointed out that
mode of action of heat called convection ; indeed he was the first
clearly to discriminate between the three modes of propagation of

1865.] REVIEW — YOUMANS ON FORCE. 155

h ea t fj — radiation, conduction, and convection. He determined the
almost perfect non-conducting properties of liquids, investigated
the production of light, and invented a mode of measuring it. He
was the first to apply steam generally to the warming of fluids and
to the culinary art ; he experimented upon the use of gunpowder,
the strength of materials, and the maximum density of water, and
made many valuable and original observations upon an extensive
range of subjects.

" Prof. James D. Forbes, in his able Dissertation on the recent
Progress of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, in the last
edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, gives a full account of
Rumford's contributions to science, and remarks :

' All of Rumford's experiments were made with admirable pre-
cision, and recorded with elaborate fidelity, and in the plainest
language. Every thing with him was reduced to weight and
measure, and no pains were spared to attain the best results.

I Rumford's name will be ever connected with the progress of
science in England by two circumstances ; first, by the foundation
of a perpetual medal and prize in the gift of the council of the
Royal Society of London, for the reward of discoveries connected
with heat and light ; and secondly, by the establishment in 1800
of the Royal Institution in London, destined primarily for the
promotion of original discovery, and secondarily for the diffusion
of a taste for science among the educated classes. The plan was
conceived with the sagacity which characterized Rumford, and its
success has been greater than could have been anticipated. Davy
was there brought into notice by Rumford himself, and furnished
with the means of prosecuting his admirable experiments. He
and Mr. Faraday have given to that institution its just celebrity,
with little intermission, for half a century.'

II Leaving England, Rumford took up his residence in France,
and the estimation in which he was held may be judged of by the
fact that he was elected one of the eight foreign associates of the
Academy of Sciences.

" Count Rumford bequeathed to Harvard University the funds
for endowing its professorship of the Application of Science to the
Art of Living, and instituted a prize to be awarded by the Ameri-
can Academy of Sciences for the most important discoveries and
improvements relating to heat and light. In 1804 he married the
widow of the celebrated chemist Lavoisier, and with her retired to
the villa of Auteuil, the residence of her former husband, where he
died in 1814.

156 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

" Having thus glanced briefly at his career, I now pass to the
discovery upon which Count Rurnford's fame in the future will
chiefly rest. It is described in a paper published in the transac-
tions of the Royal Society for 1798.

11 He was led to it while superintending the operations of the
Munich arsenal, by observing the large amount of heat generated
in boring brass cannon. Reflecting upon this, he proposed to
himself the following questions : Whence comes the heat pro-
duced in the mechanical operations above mentioned ? Is
it furnished by the metallic chips which are separated from the
metal ?

" The common hypothesis affirmed that the heat produced had
been latent in the metal, and had been forced out by condensation
of the chips. But if this were the case, the capacity for heat of
the parts of metal so reduced to chips ought not only to be
changed, but the change undergone by them should be sufficiently
great to account for all the heat produced. With a fine saw
Rumford then cut away slices of the unheated metal, and found
that they had exactly the same capacity for heat as the metallic
chips. No change in this respect had occurred, and it was thus
conclusively proved that the heat generated could not have been
held latent in the chips. Having settled this preliminary point,
Rumford proceeds to his principal experiments.

" With the intuition of the true investigator, he remarks that
*very interesting philosophical experiments may often be made,
almost without trouble or expense, by means of machinery con-
trived for mere mechanical purposes of the arts and manufactures.'
Accordingly, he mounted a metallic cylinder weighing 113.13
pounds avoirdupois, in a horizontal position. At one end there
was a cavity three and a half inches in diameter, and into this
was introduced a borer, a flat piece of hardened steel, four inches
long, 0.63 inches thick, and nearly as wide as the cavity, the area
of contact of the borer with the cylinder being two and a half
inches. To measure the heat developed, a small round hole was
bored in the cylinder near the bottom of the cavity, for the inser-
tion of a small mercurial thermometer. The borer was pressed
against the base of the cavity with a force of 10,000 pounds, and
the cylinder made to revolve by horse-power at the rate of thirty-
two times per minute. At the beginning of the experiment the
temperature of the air, in the shade, and also in the cylinder was
60°f\ ; at the end of thirty minutes, and after the cylinder had
made 960 revolutions, the temperature was found to be 130°F.

1865.] REVIEW — YOUMANS ON FORCE. 157

" Having taken away the borer, he found that 839 grains of
metallic dust had been cut away. ' Is it possible/ he exclaims,
' that the very considerable quantity of heat produced in this
experiment — a quantity which actually raised the temperature
of upward of 113 pounds of gun-metal at least 70° — could have
been furnished by so inconsiderable a quantity of metallic dust,
and this merely in consequence of a change in the capacity for
heat ?'

" To measure more precisely the heat produced, he next sur-
rounded his cylinder by an oblong wooden box in such a manner
that it could turn water-tight in the centre of the box, while the
borer was pressed against the bottom. The box was filled with
water until the entire cylinder was covered, and the apparatus was
set in action. The temperature of the water on commencing was
60°. He remarks, ' The result of this beautiful experiment was
very striking, and the pleasure it afforded amply repaid me for all
the trouble I had taken in contriving and arranging the compli-
cated machinery used in making it. The cylinder had been in
motion but a short time when I perceived, by putting my hand
into the water and touching the outside of the cylinder, that heat
was generated.'

. " As the work continued, the temperature gradually rose ; at two
hours and twenty minutes from the beginning of the operation, the
water was at 200°, and in ten minutes more it actually boiled !
Upon this result Rumford observes, 'It would be difficult to
describe the surprise and astonishment expressed in the counte-
nances of the bystanders, on seeing so large a quantity of water
heated and actually made to boil without any fire. Though there
was nothing that could be considered very surprising in this
matter, yet I acknowledge fairly that it afforded me a degree
of childish pleasure which, were I ambitious of the reputation of
a grave philosopher, I ought most certainly rather to hide than to-
discover.'

" Rumford estimated the total heat generated as sufficient to raise
26.58 pounds of ice-cold water 180°, or to its boiling-point; and
he adds, ' from the results of these computations, it appears that
the quantity of heat produced equally, or in a continuous stream,
if I may use the expression, by the friction of the blunt steel
borer against the bottom of the hollow metallic cylinder, was
greater than that produced in the combustion of nine wax candles
each three-quarters of an inch in diameter, all burning together
with clear bright flames.

158 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [April

' One horse would have been equal to the work performed,
though two were actually employed. Heat may thus be produced
merely by the strength of a horse, and in a case of necessity this
might be used in cooking victuals. But no circumstances could
be imagined in which this method of producing heat could be
advantageous, for more heat might be obtained by using the fodder
necessary for the support of the horse, as fuel.

' By meditating on the results of all these experiments, we are
naturally brought to that great question which has so often been
the subject of speculation among philosophers, namely, What is
heat ? Is there such a thing as an igneous fluid ? Is there any-
thing that with propriety can be called caloric ?

' We have seen that a very considerable quantity of heat may
be excited by the friction of two metallic surfaces, and given off in
a constant stream or flux in all directions, without interruption or
intermission, and without any signs of diminution or exhaustion.
In reasoning on this subject we must not forget that most remark-
able circumstance, that the source of the heat generated by friction
in these experiments appeared evidently to be inexhaustible. [The
italics are Rumford's.] It is hardly necessary to add, that any-
thing which any insulated body or system of bodies can continue
to furnish without limitation, cannot possibly be a material sub-
stance; and it appears to me to be extremely difficult, if not quite
impossible, to form any distinct idea of anything capable of being
excited and communicated in those experiments, except it be

MOTION.'

" No one can read the remarkably able and lucid paper from
which these extracts are taken, without being struck with the per-
fect distinctness with which the problem to be solved was pre-
sented, and the systematic and conclusive method of its treatment.
Rumford kept strictly within the limits of legitimate inquiry,
which no man can define better than he did. ( I am very far
from pretending to know how, or by what means or mechanical
contrivances, that particular kind of motion in bodies, which has
been supposed to constitute heat, is exerted, continued, and pro-
pagated, and I shall not presume to trouble the Society with new
conjectures. But although the mechanism of heat should in part
be one of those mysteries of nature which are beyond the reach of
human intelligence, this ought by no means to discourage us, or
even lessen our ardor in our attempts to investigate the laws of its
operations. How far can we advance in any of the paths which

1865.] REVIEW— TOUMANS ON FORCE. 159

science has opened to us, before we find ourselves enveloped in
those thick mists, which on every side bound the horizon of the
human intellect!'

" Rumford's experiments completely annihilated the material
hypothesis of heat, while the modern doctrine was stated in explicit
terms. He moreover advanced the question to its quantitative
and highest stage, proposing to find the numerical relation between
mechanical power and heat, and obtained a result remarkably near
to that finally established. The English unit of force is the foot-
pound, that is, one pound falling through one foot of space ; the
unit of heat is one pound of water heated 1°F. Just fifty years
subsequently to the experiment of Rumford, Dr. J. P. Joule, of
Manchester, England, after a most delicate and elaborate series of
experiments, determined that 772 units of force produce one unit
of heat ; that is, 772 pounds falling through one foot produces
sufficient heat to raise one pound of water 1°F. This law is
known as the mechanical equivalent of heat. Now, when we
throw Rumford's results into these terms, we find that about 940
units of force produced a unit of heat, and that, therefore, on
a large scale, and at the very first trial, he came within twenty per
cent, of the true statement. No account was taken of the heat
lost by radiation, which, considering the high temperature pro-
duced, and the duration of the experiment, must have been con-
siderable j so that, as Rumford himself noticed, this value must be
too high. The earliest numerical results in science are rarely
more than rough approximations, yet they may guide to the
establishment of great principles. Certainly no one could question
Dalton's claim to the discovery of the law of definite proportions,
because of the inaccuracy of the numbers upon which he first

rested it.

^ ^ * ^ %. ^ *

" Those doctrines [of the correlation and conservation of forces]
have received their subsequent development in the various direc-
tions, by many minds, but we may be allowed to question if the
contributions of any of their promoters will surpass, if indeed
they will equal, the value and importance which we must assign
to the first great experimental step in the new direction.

" The claims of Rumford may be summarized as follows :

I. He was the man who first took the question of the nature
of heat out of the domain of metaphysics, where it had

160 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST.

been speculated upon since the time of Aristotle, and
placed it upon the true basis of physical experiment.
II. He first proved the insufficiency of the current explanations
of the sources of heat, and demonstrated the falsity of the
prevailing view of its materiality.

III. He first estimated the quantitative relation between the heat

produced by friction and that by combustion.

IV. He first showed the quantity of heat produced by a definite

amount of mechanical work, and arrived at a result re-
markably near the finally-established law.
V. He pointed out other methods to be employed in determining
the amount of heat produced by the expenditure of me-
chanical power, instancing particularly the agitation of
water, or other liquids, as in churning.
VI. He regarded the power of animals as due to their food, there-
fore as having a definite source and not created ; and thus
applied his views of force to the organic world.
VII. Rumford was the first to demonstrate the quantitative con-
vertibility of force in an important case ; and the first to
reach, experimentally, the fundamental conclusion that heat
is but a mode of motion.

" In his late work upon heat, Prof. Tyndall, after quoting copi-
ously from Rumford's paper, remarks : ' When the history of the
dynamical theory of heat is written, the man who, in opposition to
the scientific belief of his time, could experiment, and reason upon
experiment, as did Rumford in the investigation here referred to,
cannot be lightly passed over.' Had other English writers been
equally just, there would have been less necessity for the foregoing
exposition of Rumford's labors and claims ; but there has been a
manifest disposition in various quarters to obscure and depreciate
them. Dr. Whewell, in his history of the Inductive Sciences,
treats the subject of thermotics without mentioning him. An
eminent Edinburgh professor, writing recently in the Philosophical
Magazine, under the confessed influence of ' patriotism,' under-
takes to make the dynamical theory of heat an English monopoly,
due to Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Humphrey Davy/jmd Dr. J. P.
Joule ; while an able writer in a late number of the North British
Review, in sketching the historic progress of the new views, puts
Davy forward as their founder, and assigns to Rumford a minor
and subsequent place."

Published, Montreal, April 18, 1865.

THE

CANADIAN NATURALIST.

SECOND SERIES.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHEMISTRY OF
NATURAL WATERS.

J3y T. Sterry Hunt, A.M., F.R.S. ; of the Geol. Survey of Canada.

II.

Analyses of Various Natural Waters.

Contents of Sections. — 35, mode of analysis, date of collection; 37,
waters of the first class ; 37, their probable origin ; the elimination
of sulphates; 38, separation of lime-salts from waters; 39, earthy
chlorids in saliferous formations; brines of New York, Michigan, and
England ; foot-note on errors in water-analyses ; 40, brines of weetern
Pennsylvania ; waters in which chlorid of calcium predominates ; 41,
origin of such waters ; separation of magnesia as an insoluble sil-
icate ; 42, waters of the second class ; 43, waters of the third class ;
44, waters of the fourth class; Chambly ; 45, other waters of the
same class; Ottawa River; 46, waters of Highgate and Alburg ;
47, changes in the Caledonia waters ; comparative analyses ; 48,
waters of the fifth class ; sulphuric-acid springs of New York and
Canada; 49, changes in the composition of these waters ; their
action on calcareous strata; 50, waters of the sixth class, their
various sources ; 51, examples of neutral sulphated waters ; sulphate
of magnesia waters.

§ 35. The analyses of the various mineral waters to be given in
the second part of the present paper, were made according to the
modes laid down in the treatise of Fresenius on Quantitative Analy-
sis. The carbonate of soda in the alkaline waters was determined
by the excess of the alkaline bases over the chlorine and sulphuric
acid present. This was generally controlled by the amount of the
carbonate of baryta thrown down from a solution of chlorid of
barium by a solution of the soluble salts obtained by the evapo-
ration of the mineral water; and in some cases, to be specified
farther on, this latter process was relied on as the only means

Vol. II. l No. 3.

162 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

of determining the amount of carbonate of soda. For some remarks
on the earthy carbonates of the waters, and on their relation to the
results of analysis, see part III of this paper.

The date at which the various waters were collected for analysis
is in each case appended to the notice of the spring. This is of the
greater importance, inasmuch as it will be shown that in the course
of years, some of those springs here described have suffered con-
siderable changes in their composition.

§ 36. In the following table are given the analyses of several
waters belonging to the first class, as defined in § 34.*

1. — This water is from a well thirty feet in depth, near the village
of Ancaster, on the western shore of Lake Ontario. It is sunk,
in the Niagara formation ; but like the other waters of this class,
probably has its source in the Lower Silurian limestones. The
water rises nearly to the surface, but there is no perceptible dis-
charge. Its temperature was found to be 48° F. when collected
for analysis in September 1847.

2. This water is from a copious spring which issues from the
limestones of the Trenton group at Whitby, on the north shore of
Lake Ontario. It contained small portions of baryta and strontia,
and was collected in October 1853.

3, 4. Several wells have been sunk in the Trenton limestone
in the township of Hallowell, on the Bay of Quinte, Lake On-
tario, in search of brine for salt-making, and have yielded bitter
saline waters, of which the two here noticed are examples. No. 3-
was obtained from a well twenty-seven feet deep, in October 1853.
No. 4 was taken in the summer of 1854 from a well a mile or two
distant from the last. Neither of these waters was examined for
baryta or strontia.

5, 6. At St. Catherines, near Niagara Falls, a boring of
five inches in diameter was carried to a depth of about 500 feet,
and after traversing the Medina formation, is said to have
penetrated fifty or sixty feet into the Hudson River shales. It
yields about twenty gallons a minute of a saline water, whose analy-
sis by Professor Croft of the University of Toronto, a few years
since, afforded the results given under 5. This water, which was

* Of the thirty-seven analyses of waters here given, ten have already
appeared in Silliinan's Journal [2] viii, ix, xi, but for the purposes of
comparison it is thought well to reproduce them in the present con-
nection. Of the others, the greater part have appeared in the Geology of
Canada, but several are now for the Hrst time in print.

1865.]

CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS.

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164 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

first sought for the manufacture of salt, is now much used for
medicinal purposes. Its strength seems subject to some variation,
since a specimen from the same well in December 1861 gave
me. by a partial analysis, chlorid of sodium 23.00, chlorid of cal-
cium 9.66, chlorid of magnesium 2.40, sulphate of lime 1.75; =
36.81 parts in 1000. No. 6, examined at the same time, is
from a second well sunk in 1861, not far from the last.

7, 8. — These are analyses of the waters from two borings in
the Trenton limestone at Morton's distillery in Kingston. The
analyses are by Dr. Williamson of Queen's College in that city,
and were made probably ten or twelve years since. They have
been recalculated so as to represent the whole of the sulphuric
acid as combined with calcium. The first of these waters gave
to Dr. Williamson both bromine and iodine, and the second was
found to be sulphurous. These waters differ from the preceding
in containing considerable amounts of earthy carbonates, and in
this respect are related to those of the second class, while they still
show a large predominance of earthy chlorids.

g 37. The waters of the above table contain, besides chlorid of
sodium and a little chlorid of potassium, large quantities of the
•chlorids of calcium and magnesium, amounting together, in several
cases, to more than one half the solid contents of the water. Sul-
phates are either absent, or occur only in small quantities, and the
same is true of earthy carbonates. Salts of baryta and strontia
are sometimes present, while the proportions of bromids and
iodids, though variable, are often considerable.

In the large amount of magnesian chlorid which they contain,
these waters resemble the bittern or mother-liquor which remains
after the greater part of the chlorid of sodium has been removed
from sea-water by evaporation. The bitterns from modern seas,
however differ in the presence of sulphates, and in containing, when
sufficiently concentrated, only traces of lime. The reason of this,
as already pointed out in § 22, is to be found in the fact that
in the waters of the present ocean the sulphates are much more
than equivalent to the lime, so that this base separates during
evaporation as gypsum.* But as shown in § 23 and § 24,
the waters of the ancient seas, which held in the form of chlorid of
calcium the greater part of the lime since deposited as carbonate,
must have yielded by evaporation bitterns containing a large
proportion of chlorid of calcium. Such is the nature of the

* See farther on this point, Bischof, Chem. Geology, i, 413.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 165

brines whose analyses are given in the above table, and such we
suppose to have been their origin. The complete absence of sul-
phates from many of these waters points to the separation of large
quantities of earthy sulphates in the Lower Silurian strata fro-n
which these saline springs issue ; and the presence in many of the
dolomitic beds of the Calciferous sand-rock of abundantly dissemina-
ted small masses of gypsum, is an evidence of the elimination of
the sulphates by evaporation. The frequent occurrence of crys-
talline masses of sulphate of strontian in the Chazy and Black
River limestones of this region, is also to be noted as another
means by which the sulphates were separated from the waters of
the Lower Silurian seas. From the proportions of chlorid of
sodium, varying from about one third to more than two thirds of
the solid contents of the above waters, it is apparent that
in most cases the process of evaporation had gone so far as to
separate a part of the common salt ; and thus successive strata of
this ancient saliferous formation must be impregnated with solid
or dissolved salts of unlike composition. The mingling of these
in varying proportions affords the only apparent explanation of the
differences in the relative amounts of the several chlorids in
waters from the same region, and even from adjacent sources. These
differences are seen on comparing the waters from the different
wells of St. Catherines, Hallowell and Kingston, with each other.

§ 38. The great solubility of chlorid of calcium renders it diffi-
cult to suppose its separation from the mother-liquors so as to be
deposited in a solid state in the strata. The same remark applies
to chlorid of magnesium. It is however to be remarked that the
double chlorid of potassium and magnesium (carnallite) is decom-
posed by deliquesence into solid chlorid of potassium and a solu-
tion of chlorid of magnesium ; and thus strata like those which at
Stassfurth contain large quantities^ of carnallite (§ 22), might give
rise to solutions of magnesian chlorid. This however would require
the presence of a large amount of chlorid of potassium in the early
seas. It will be observed by referring to the analyses above given,
that the chlorid of magnesium sometimes surpasses in amount the
chlorid of calcium ; and sometimes, on the contrary, is equal to only
one half or one fourth of the latter salt. While it is not impossible
that the predominance of the magnesian chlorid in some waters
may be traced to the decomposition of carnallite, it is undoubtedly
in most cases connected with the action of solutions of carbonate
of soda ; the effect of which, as already pointed out, is to first

166 £THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

separate the soluble lime-salt as carbonate, leaving to a subsequent
stage the magnesian chlorid (§ 18.) As this reaction replaces the
calcium-salt by chlorid of sodium, it might be expected that there
would be an increase in the amount of the latter salt in the
water wherever the magnesian chlorid predominates, did we not
remember that evaporation separates it from the water in a
solid form ; and that the two processes, one of which replaces the
chlorid of calcium by chlorid of sodium, while the other eliminates
the latter salt from the solution, might have been going on simul-
taneously or alternately. As the nature of the waters now under
consideration shows that the process of evaporation had been carried
so far as to separate the sulphate in the form of gypsum, and pro-
bably also a portion of the chlorid of sodium in a solid state, it is
evident that we have not yet the data necessary for determining
the composition of the water of the Lower Silurian ocean, as re-
gards the proportions of the sodium, calcium, and magnesium which
it held in solution ; and we can only conclude from these mother-
liquors, that the amount of the earthy bases was relatively very large.
§ 39. As already remarked in § 22, the mother-liquor from
modern sea-water contains no chlorid of calcium, but, on the con-
trary, large quantities of sulphate of magnesia ; the lime in the
modern ocean being less than one-half that required to combine
with the sulphate present. If however we examine the numerous
analyses of rock-salt and of brines from various saliferous forma-
tions, we shall find that chlorid of calcium is very frequently
present in both of them ; thus supporting the conclusions already
announced in § 24 with regard to the composition of the seas of
former geological periods. The oldest saliferous formation which
has been hitherto investigated is the Onondaga Salt-group of the
New York geologists, which belongs to the upper part of the Silu-
rian series, and supplies the almost saturated brines of Syracuse
and Saliua in New York. These, notwithstanding their great
purity, contain small proportions of chlorids of calcium and magne-
sium, as shown by the analyses of Beck, and the recent and careful
examinations of Goessmann. In the brines of that region the solid
matters are equal to from 14.3 to 16.7 per cent., and contain on an
average, according to the latter chemist, 1.54 of sulphate of lime,
0.93 of chlorid of calcium, and 0.88 of chlorid of magnesium in
100.00 ; the remainder being chlorid of sodium.*

* Goessmann. Report on the Brines of Onondaga : Syracuse, 1862 and
1864. Also Report on the Onondaga Salt Co. : Syracuse, 1862.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 167

The nearly saturated brines from the Saginaw valley in Michi-
gan, which have their source at the base of the Carboniferous series,
contain, according to my calculation from an analysis by Prof.
Dubois, in 100.00 parts of solid matters: chlorid of calcium 9.81,
chlorid of magnesium 7.61, sulphate of lime 2.20, the remain-
der being chiefly chlorid of sodium. Another brine in the same
vicinity gave to Chilton an amount of chlorid of calcium equal to
3.76 per cent.* In a specimen of salt manufactured in this
region, Goessmann found 1.09 of chlorid of calcium ; and in two
specimens of Ohio salt, 0.61 and 1.43 per cent of the same
chlorid. The rock-salt from the Lias of Cheshire, according to
Nicol, contains small cavities, partly filled with air, and partly
with a concentrated solution of chlorid of magnesium, with some
chlorid of calcium, f

* Winchell ; Silliman's Journal [2] xxxiv, 311.

f Cited by Bischof, Lehrbucb, ii, 1671. The results of the analyses by
Mr. Northcote of the brines of Droitwich and Stoke in the same region
(L. E. & D. Philos. Mag. [4] ix, 32), as calculated by him, show no
earthy chlorids whatever, and no carbonate of lime, but carbonates of
soda and magnesia, and sulphates of soda and lime. He regarded the
whole of the lime present in the water as being in the form of sulphate.
If however we replace in calculating these analyses, the carbonate of
soda and sulphate of lime by sulphate of soda and carbonate of lime,
we shall have for the contents of these brines, chlorid of sodium, with
notable quantities of sulphate of soda, some sulphate of lime, and car-
bonates both of lime and magnesia ; a composition which is more in
accordance with the admitted laws of chemical combinations. From
these results, it would appear that the earthy chlorids, which according
to Nichol are present in the rock-salt of this formation, are decomposed
by sulphates in the waters which, by dissolving it, give rise to the
brines.

It is to be regretted that in many water-analyses by chemists of note,
the results are so calculated as to represent the co-existence of incompa-
tible salts. Of the association of carbonates of soda and magnesia with
sulphate of lime, as in the analysis just noted, it might be said that I
have shown that it may occur in the presence of an excess of carbonic
acid. (Silliman's Jour. [2] xxviii, 174). By evaporation, however, such
■solutions regenerate carbonate of lime and sulphates of soda and mag-
nesia ; and by the consent of the best chemists these elements are to be
represented as thus combined. But what shall be said when chlorid of
magnesium, carbonate of soda, and silicate of soda are given as the con-
stitueuts of a water whose recent analysis may be found in a late
number of the Chemical News ; or when bi-carbonates of soda, magnesia,
and lime are represented as co-existing in a water with sulphates and
chlorids of magnesium and aluminum ? These errors probably arise from

168 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

§ 40. The brines from the valley of the Alleghany River, obtained
from borings in the Coal formation, are remarkable for contain-
ing large proportions of chlorids of calcium and magnesium ; though
the sum of these, according to the analyses of Lenny, is never equal
to more than about one fourth of the chlorid of sodium. The
presence of salts of barium and strontium in these brines, and the
consequent absence of sulphates, is, according to Lenny, a constant
character in this region over an area of two thousand square miles.
(See Bischof, Chem. Geol., i, 377.) A later analysis of another one
of these waters from the same region, by Steiner, is cited by Will
and Kopp, Jahresbericht, 1861, p. 1112. His results agree closeb?
with those of Lenny. See also the analysis of a bittern from this
region by Boye (Silliman's Journal [2] vii, 74).

These remarkable waters approach in character to those of Whitby
and Hallowell ; but in these the chlorid of sodium forms only about
one half the solid contents, and the proportion of the chlorid of
magnesium to the chlorid of calcium is relatively much greater
than in the waters from western Pennsylvania, where the magnesian
chlorid is equal only to from one third to one fifth of the chlorid of
calcium; the proportions of the two being subject in both regions
to considerable variations.

In this connection may be cited a water from Bras d'Or, in the
island of Cape Breton, lately analyzed by Prof. How, which con-
tains in 1000 parts, chlorid of sodium 4-901. chlorid of potassium
0*650, chlorid of calcium 4*413, and chlorid of magnesium only
0*638, besides sulphate of lime 0*134, carbonates of lime and mag-
nesia 0*085, with traces of iron-oxyd and phosphates; =: 10*821.
(Canadian Naturalist, viii, 370.) The analyses of European waters
furnish comparatively few examples of the predominance of earthy
chlorids.*

determining in the recent water, or in water not sufficiently boiled, the
lime and magnesia which would by prolonged ebullition be separated
as carbonates, together with portions of alumina, silica, etc. In the
subsequent calculation of the analyses, these dissolved earthy bases
being regarded as sulphates or chlorids, instead of carbonates, thero
remains an excess of soda, which is wrongly represented as carbonate,
instead of chlorid, or sulphate of sodium.

* Lersch, Hydro-Chemie, Zweite Auflage : Berlin, 1864; vide?. 207. This
excellent work, which is a treatise on the chemistry of natural waters, in
one yolume 8vo. of 700 pages, was unknown to me when I prepared the
first part of this essay.

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 169

§ 41 . We have already shown in § 38 how the action of carbonate
of soda upon sea-water or bittern will destroy the normal propor-
tion between the two chlorids of magnesium and calcium by con-
verting the latter into an insoluble carbonate, and leaving at last
only salts of sodium and magnesium in solution. A process the
reverse of this has evidently intervened for the production of waters
like that from Cape Breton, and some others noticed by Lersch, in
which chlorid of calcium abounds, with little or no sulphate or
chlorid of magnesium. This process is probably one connected
with the formation of a silicate of magnesia. Bischof has already
insisted upon the sparing solubility of this silicate ; and he observed
that silicates of alumina, both artificial and natural, when digested
with a solution of magnesian chlorid, exchange a portion of their
base for magnesia, thus giving rise to solutions of alumina -
which, being decomposed by carbonates, may have been the source
of many of the aluminous deposits referred to in § 9. He also
observed a similar decomposition between a solution of an artificial
silicate of lime and soluble magnesian salts. (Bischof, Chem..
Geology, i, 13, also chap, xxiv.) In repeating and extending
his experiments, I have confirmed his observation that a solution
of silicate of lime precipitates silicate of magnesia from the
sulphate and the chlorid of magnesium ; and have moreover found
that by digestion at ordinary temperatures with an excess of
freshly precipitated silicate of lime, chlorid of magnesium is com-
pletely decomposed ; an insoluble silicate of magnesia being formed,
while nothing but chlorid of calcium remains in solution. It is
clear that the greater insolubility of the magnesian silicate, as com-
pared with silicate of lime, determines a result the very reverse of
that produced by carbonates with solutions of the two earthy bases-
In the one case the lime is separated as carbonate, the magnesia
remaining in solution ; while in the other by the action of silicate
of soda (or of lime), the magnesia is removed and the lime remains.
Hence carbonate of lime and silicate of magnesia are everywhere
found in nature ; while carbonate of magnesia and silicate of lime
are produced only under local and exceptional conditions. The
detailed results of some experiments on this subject are reserved
for another place. It is evident that the production from the
waters of the early seas of beds of sepiolite, talc, serpentine, and
other rocks in which a magnesian silicate abounds, must, in closed
basins, have given rise to waters in which chlorid of calcium would
predominate.

170 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

§ 42. Of the waters of the second class whose analyses are here
given, the first three occur, with many others of similar
character, on the south side of the Ottawa river, below the city of
that name. The remaining four are on the north side of the
St. Lawrence, between Montreal and Quebec, where also similar
waters abound. All of these springs rise from the Lower Silurian
limestones of the region.

1,2. These two waters are from the township of Plantagenet. The
first is known as Larocque's, and the second as the Georgian spring.
These waters were examined in 1849 and 1851. Two other
springs have been observed in the same vicinity, one resembling
Larocque's spring and containing borates, with a notable pro-
portion of strontia, while the other is an alkaline-saline water of
the third class.

3. Caledonia Intermittent Spring. This spring owes its name
to the intermitting discharge of carburetted hydrogen which takes
place from its waters. It is in the township of Caledonia, not far
from Plantagenet, and near three other waters from the same
township, to be mentioned in the next class. The water was
collected in September 1847.

4. Lanoraie. This is from the seigniory of Lanoraie. It
contains both baryta and strontia, and evolves an abundance of
carburetted hydrogen. The water was collected in March 1851.

5. Is from a copious spring in the seigniory of Berthier, and was
collected in July 1853.

6. Is from the township of Caxton, and yields six or eight gal-
lons of water a minute, besides a great abundance of inflammable
gas. The carbonic acid was found to equal 1.126 parts, of which
.651, or more than one half is required for the neutral carbonates
present. The water was taken from the spring in October 1848.

7. Is from the seigniory of St. Leon, and is a copious spring
which, like the last, disengages inflammable gas. The carbonic
acid was equal to 1.224 parts, of which .651, or not quite one half
is required for the neutral carbonates found by analysis. The water
was collected in October 1848.

8. 9. These are from two springs in the parish of Ste.
Genevieve on the Batiscan River, and are remarkable for the large
proportion of iodids which they contain. The first is known as
Trudel's spring, and the second is at the ferry opposite to the
church. The waters were collected in August 1853. Several
other saline springs occur in the same neighborhood.

1865.]

CHEMISTRY OV NATURAL WATERS.

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172 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

§ 43. Of the waters of the third class, which follow, the first four
rise from the Trenton limestone, and occur on the south side of the
Ottawa River, in the vicinity of the first three of the preceding
section. The others are from the south side of the St. Lawrence
below Montreal.

1, 2, and 3 are waters from Caledonia, and rise about two
miles from the spring No. 3, of the last table. These waters were
examined in September 1847. The first, which is known as the
Gas spring, then yielded about four gallons of water a minute,
and discharged in the same time about 300 cubic inches of car
buretted hydrogen gas, whence its name. At a distance of four
or five rods from this, are the second and third springs, known as
the Saline and White Sulphur waters, yielding each about ten
gallons a minute. The former affords a few bubbles of carbu-
retted hydrogen gas, and is not at all sulphurous, while the latter
contained a little sulphuretted hydrogen, equal to somewhat less
than a cubic inch to the gallon. The temperature of the three
waters was found to be respectively 44°. 4, 45° and 46° F. The
carbonic acid in 1000 parts of the Gas Spring was equal to .705 ;
of which .356, or a little more than one half, is required for the
neutral carbonates present. In the Saline spring there was found.
.648 of carbonic acid, being an excess of .292 over that required
to form neutral carbonates ; while in the Sulphur Spring, which,
contained in 1000 parts only .590 of carbonic acid, .349 are con-
tained in the neutral carbonates, leaving only .141 towards the
formation of bi-carbonates. For later analyses of these waters
see § 46.

4. This, which is known as Gillan's spring, is from the town-
ship of Fitzroy, not very far from the last. Its waters were
collected in July 1850.

5, 6. These two waters are from Yarennes, and are about
one hundred rods apart. The first is known as the Saline, and
the second is called the Gas spring, from the large volumes of
carburetted hydrogen gas which it disengages. The Saline spring
contained in 1000 parts .920 of carbonic acid, of which .451 or
nearly one half is required to form the neutral carbonates present.
In the Gas spring was found .792 of carbonic acid, leaving thus
.312 over that required to form neutral carbonates. The waters
were collected in October 1848.

7. This is from Labaie du Febvre, and is known as Courchene's
spring. It evolves small quantities of carburetted hydrogen gas.

1865.]

CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS.

173

174 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

The water was collected in September 1852. Several other
mineral springs occur in this vicinity, one of them belonging to this
class, and others to the second and fourth classes.

8. This water, from the seigniory of Belceil, was collected
in 1851.

§ 44. We shall now proceed to the springs which, in § 34, have
been referred to the fourth class — and begin with three analyses
of a mineral water from Chambly. Here, on a plateau, over an area
of about two acres, the clayey soil is destitute of vegetation and
impregnated with alkaline waters ; which in the dry season give
rise to a saline effloresence on the partially-dried up and fissured
surface. A well sunk here to a depth of eight or ten feet in the
clay, which overlies the Hudson River formation, affords at all
times an abundant supply of water, which generally flows in a small
stream from the top of the well. Small bubbles of carburetted
hydrogen are sometimes seen to escape from the water. The
temperature at the bottom of the well was found in October 1861
to be 53° F., and in August 1865 to be nearly 54° F. The mean
temperature of Chambly can differ but little from that of Mon-
treal, which is 44°. 6 F., so that this is a thermal water. Another
alkaline and saline spring in the same parish has also a temper-
ature of 53° F. The water of the spring here described has a
sweetish saline taste, and is much relished by the cattle of the
neighborhood. Three analyses have been made of its waters, the
results of which are here given side by side. The first was
collected in October 1851 ; the second in October 1852 ; and the
third in August 1864, during a very dry season.

I. II. in.

Chlorid of potassium, undet. -0324 -0182

" sodium, -8689 -8387 -8846

Carbonate " 1.0295 1.0604 -9820

" lime, -0540 -0380 -0253

" magnesia, -090S .0765 -0650

" strontia, undet. -0045 undet.

" iron, " 0024 ll

Alumina and phosphate, u -0063

Silica, -1220 -0730 -0166

Borates, iodids and bromids, . . undet. undet. undet.

In 1000 parts, 2.1652 2.1322 1.9917

A portion of barium is included with the strontium salt. The
water contains moreover a portion of an organic acid, which

1865.]

CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS.

175

causes it to assume a bright brown color when reduced by evapo-
ration. Acetic acid gave no precipitate with the concentrated
and filtered water ; but the subsequent addition of acetate of cop-
per yielded a brown precipitate of what was regarded as apocrenate
of copper. The organic matter of this and of many other mineral
springs has probably a superficial origin. The carbonic acid was
determined in the third analysis, and was equal in two trials to
.903 and .905. The neutral carbonates in this water require .452
parts of carbonic acid.

§ 45. In the following table are given the analyses of several
other waters which belong like the last to the fourth class.

TABLE IV.— WATERS OF THE FOURTH CLASS.

1

2

3

4

5

1

Chlorid sodium

.0207

.0347

.3818

.3920

....

" potassium...

.049G

.0076

.0067

.0318

.0169

Sulphate soda

traces.

.0215

traces.

.0188

" potassium..

.0081

....

....

.0122

Carbonate soda

.1340

.1952

.2301

1.1353

.0410

" lime

.1740

.0710

.0620

undet.

.2480

" magnesia.

.1287

.0278

.0257

"

.0690

Iron, alumina, phos..

traces.

....

....

ft

traces.

Silica

.0161

.0110

.0245

II

.2060

In 1000 parts

In 10,000 parts

.5311

.3473

.7523

1.5591

....

.6116

1. This spring was met with some years since in constructing
a lock on the Richelieu River at St. Ours, and was enclosed
in such a way that it is only accessible through a pump ; so
that it is impossible to determine the amount of water furnished
by the spring, or its freedom from admixture. The water was
obtained in November 1852, and is remarkable for the large pro-
portion of potassium salts. 1000 parts of the water gave of alkalies
determined as chlorids, 0.2250; of which 0.0565 parts, or 25.11
per cent, were chlorid of potassium. Another trial gave 24.52
per cent, ; while a portion of the water taken from the spring three

176 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

weeks earlier gave a larger proportion of alkalies, equal to 0.3400
of chlorids; of which 0.0596, or 17.53 per cent, were chlorid of
potassium.

2. This spring occurs on the bank of the Jacques Cartier River,
a little above Quebec. It is strongly impregnated with sulphuretted
hydrogen, and appears to contain a considerable proportion of
borates. It was collected for analysis in the summer of 1852.

3. This water is from a spring in the township of Joly, on the
opposite side of the St. Lawrence, a few miles south from the last,
and like it is sulphurous, and affords a strong reaction of boric
acid. It was collected for analysis in July 1853.

4. A small area of marshy ground in the seigniory of Nicolet,
near the line of St. Gregoire, is, like the similar tract in Chambly,
so impregnated with mineral water as to be destitute of vegeta-
tion. The water collected in a small pit dug in this locality in
the autumn of 1853, was yellowish colored, and alkaline to the
taste, and gave by analysis the above results. Several other
alkaline springs occur in this vicinity. All of the preceding
waters, with the exception of No. 2, which comes from out the
Utica slates, rise, like that of Chambly, from the Hudson River
formation.

5. This water, unlike the preceding, is that of a large river,
the Ottawa, which drains a region occupied chiefly by ancient
crystalline rocks, covered by extensive forests and marshes. The
soluble matters which it contains are therefore derived in part
from the superficial decomposition of these rocks, and in part from
the decaying vegetation. The water which was taken at the head
of the St. Anne's rapids, on the 9th of March 1854, before the
melting of the winter's snows had begun, had a pale amber-yellow
color from dissolved organic matter, which gave a dark brown
hue to the residue after evaporation. The weight of this residue
from 10,000 parts, dried at 300° F., was .6975, which after
ignition was reduced to .5340 parts. As seen in- the above table,
one half of the solid matters in this water were earthy carbonates,
and more than one third was silica, so that the whole amount of salts
of alkaline bases was .088 (of which nearly one half is carbonate
of soda) ; while the St. Ours water, which resembles that of the
Ottawa in its alkaline salts, contains in the same quantity 4.248,
or more than forty-eight times as much. The alkalies of the
Ottawa water equalled as chlorids, -0900, of which .0293, or 32.5
per cent, were chlorid of potassium. The results of some obser-

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 177

vations on the silica and organic matters of this river-water will
be given in part III. It will be observed that in the above table
the figures given for the first five waters are for 1000 parts, while
those of the Ottawa are for 10,000 parts.

§ 46. In this connection may be given the analyses of two
similar springs from Vermont, — the Highgate and Alburg springs.
The waters were sent me in October and November 1861, and the
results have already appeared in " Geology of Vermont," ii, 926.
Both of these waters, when examined, were slightly sulphurous,
and yielded the reactions of boric acid. The amount of carbonate
of soda was estimated from the carbonate of baryta obtained by
the process already mentioned in § 35.

Highgate. Alburg.

Chlorid of sodium , . . . £ .402 r 140

Sulphate of soda 042 024

Carbonate of soda 235 230

" lime 024 036

" magnesia 010 022

Potash and borates undet undet.

In 1000 parts , 713 -452

§ 47. On the 5th January 1865, after a lapse of more than
seventeen years, I again visited the three springs of Caledonia
whose analyses have been given in the table §43, and collected
their waters for a second examination. The results of my recent
analyses show that considerable changes have occurred in
the composition of each of these springs, and tend to confirm in
an unexpected manner, the theory which I long since put forward, —
that the waters of the second and third classes owe their origin to
the mingling of saline waters of the first class with alkaline
waters of the fourth class. It will be observed that the three
Caledonia waters in 1847 were all., alkaline, though the propor-
tions of the carbonate of soda were unlike. Sulphates were
also present in all of them, though most abundant in the Sulphur
spring, which, although holding the smallest amount of solid mat-
ters, was the most alkaline. In January 1865, however, the first
and second of these waters had ceased to be alkaline, and con-
tained, instead of carbonate of soda, small quantities of earthy
chlorid, causing them to enter into the second class. They no
longer contained any sulphates, but, on the contrary, portions of
baryta and strontia. Only the Sulphur spring, which in 1847
contained the largest proportion of carbonate of soda and of sul-

Yol. II. m No. 3.

178

THE CANADIAN NATURALIST.

[June

phates, still retained these elements, though in diminished amounts,
and was feebly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. If we
suppose these waters to arise from the commingling of saline waters
like those of Whitby and Lanoraie, containing earthy chlorids and
salts of baryta and strontia, with waters of the fourth class, hold-
ing carbonate and sulphate of soda, it is evident that a sufficient
quantity of the latter water would decompose the earthy chlorids
and precipitate the salts of baryta and strontia present ; while
an excess would give rise to alkaline-saline waters containing sul-
phate and carbonate of soda, such as were the three springs of
Caledonia in 1847. A falling-off in the supply of the sulphated
alkaline water has however taken place, and the result is seen in
the appearance of chlorid of magnesium and of baryta and strontia
in two of the springs, and in a diminished proportion of carbonate
of soda in the Sulphur spring.

These later analyses being directed chiefly to the determination
of these changes, no attempt was made to determine the potassium,
iodine, and bromine. For the purposes of comparison, the two series
of analyses are here put in juxtaposition ; the elements just men-
tioned- being included with the chlorid of sodium, and the figures
reduced to three places of decimals. The precipitate by a solution
of gypsum from the concentrated and acidulated water was re-
garded as sulphate of strontia, and calculated as such, but was
in part sulphate of baryta.

TABLE V.— SHOWING THE CHANGES IN THE CALEDONIA
SPRINGS.

1. Gas

Spring.

2. Saline Spring.

3. Sulphur Spring.

1847.

1865.

1847.

1865.

1846.

1865.

Chlor. sodium.....

7.014

6.570

6.488

6.930

3.876

3.685

u magnesium

.024

.026

Sulph. potash ....

.005

.005

.018

.021

Carb. soda

.048

.176

....

.456

.091

" lime

.148

.096

.117

.095

.210

.077

" magnesia..

.526

.455

.517

.469

.294

.228

" strontia....

....

.009

....

.012

....

Silica

.021

.020

.042

.015

.084

.021

In 1000 parts

7.762

7.174

7.345

7.547

4.938

4.123

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 179

In the recent analyses of these waters, the carbonic acid in the
Gas spring was found to equal for 1,000 parts, .671 ; of which .278
were required for the neutral carbonates. The Saline spring con-
tained .664 of carbonic acid ; of which .290 go to make up the neu-
tral carbonates. The Sulphur spring, in like manner, gave of car-
bonic acid .573 ; while the neutral carbonates of the water required
only .191. All of these waters, in January 1865, thus contained an
excess of carbonic acid above that required to form bicarbonates
with the carbonated bases present ; while the analyses of the same
springs in 1847, showed, as we have seen in § 43, a quantity of car-
bonic acid insufficient for the formation of bicarbonates. The
questions of this deficiency, and of the variation in the amount of
carbonic acid in these and other waters, will be considered in the
third part of this paper.

§ 48. The waters of our fifth and sixth classes, as defined in
§ 34, are distinguished by the presence of sulphates ; the former
being acid, and the latter being neutral waters. In the fifth class
the principal element is sulphuric acid, associated with variable and
accidental amounts of sulphates of alkalies, lime, magnesia, alumina,
and iron. Apart from the springs of this kind which occur in re-
gions where volcanic agencies are evidently active, the only ones
hitherto studied are those of New York and western Canada; which
issue from unaltered, and almost horizontal Upper Silurian rocks.
(§ 31.) The first account of these remarkable waters was given
in Silliman's Journal in 1829 (vol. xv, p. 238), by the late Prof.
Eaton, who described two acid springs in Byron, G-enesee Co.,
N. Y. ; one yielding a stream of distinctly acid water sufficient to
turn a mill-wheel, and the other affording in smaller quantities a
much more acid water. The latter was afterwards examined by
Dr. Lewis Beck (Mineralogy of New York, p. 150). He found it
to be colorless, transparent, and intensely acid, with a specific gravity
of 1.113; which corresponds to a solution holding seventeen per
cent of oil of vitriol. No chlorids, and only traces of lime and iron,
were found in this water, which was nearly pure dilute sulphuric
acid. Prof. Hall (Geology of New York, 4th District, p. 134) has
noticed, in addition to these, several other springs and wells of acid
water in the adjacent town of Bergen. Farther westward, in the
town of Alabama, is a similar water, whose analysis by Erni and
Craw will be found in Silliman's Journal [2] ix, 450. It contained
in 1000 parts about 2.5 of sulphuric acid, and 4.6 parts of sul-
phates, chiefly of lime, magnesia, iron, and alumina. In this, as in

180 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

the succeeding analyses, hydrated sulphuric acid, S0 8 HO, is
meant.

The earliest quantitative analyses of any of these waters
were those by Croft and myself of a spring at Tuscarora, in
1845 and 1847, of which the detailed results appear in Silliman's
Journal [2] viii, 364. This, at the time of my analysis in Sep-
tember 1847, contained in 1000 parts. 4.29 of sulphuric acid,
and only 1.87 of sulphates; while the previous analysis by
Prof. Croft gave approximatively 3.00 of neutral sulphates, and
only about 1.37 of sulphuric acid. Similar acid waters occur on
Grand Island above Niagara Falls, and at Chippawa.

All of these springs, along a line of more than 100 miles from
east to west, rise from the outcrop of the Onondaga salt-group ;
but in the township of Niagara, not far from Queenston, are
two similar waters which issue from the Medina sandstone. One
of these is in the southwest part of the township, and fills a small
basin in yellow clay, which, at a depth of three or four feet, is
underlaid by red and green sandstones. The water, which, like
those of Tuscarora and Chippawa, is slightly impregnated with sul-
phuretted hydrogen, is kept in constant agitation from the escape
of inflammable gas. It contained in 1000 parts about two parts
-of free sulphuric acid, and less than one part of neutral sulphates.
This water was collected in October 1849, and at that time
another half-dried-up pool in the vicinity contained a still more
acid water. Another similar spring occurs near St. Davids in the
same township.

In connection with the suggestion made in § 31 as to their
probable origin at great depths, it would be very desirable to have
careful observations as to the temperature of these acid springs.
When, on the 19th October 1847, I visited the Tuscarora spring,
the water in two of the small pools had a temperature of 56° F. ;
but on plunging the thermometer in the mud at the bottom of
one of these it rose to 60°. 5.

§ 49. It appears from a comparison of the analysis of Croft with
my own that the waters of the Tuscarora spring underwent a con-
siderable change in composition in the space of two years; the
proportion of the bases to the acid at the time of the second
analysis being little more than one third of that in the analysis of
Croft. This change was indeed to be expected, since waters of
this kind must soon remove the soluble constituents from the rocks
through which they flow, and eventually become, like the water

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 181

from Byron, little more than a solution of sulphuric acid. The
observations of Eaton at Byron, and my own at Tuscarora, show
that half-decayed trees are still standing on the soil which is now
so impregnated with acid waters as to be unfit to support vegeta-
tion. Reasoning from the changes in composition, it may be sup-
posed that these waters were at first neutral, the whole of the
acid being saturated by the calcareous rocks through which they
must rise. It was from this consideration that I was formerly
led to ascribe to the action of these waters the formation of some
of the masses of gypsum which appear along the outcrop of
the Onondaga salt-group (Silliman's Journal [2], vii, 175). That
waters like those just mentioned must give rise to sulphate
of lime by their action on calcareous rocks is evident ; and some of
the deposits of gypsum in this region, as described by good
observers, would appear to be thus formed. So far however as
my personal observations of the gypsums of western Canada have
extended, they appear to be in all cases cotemporaneous with the
shales and dolomites with which they are interstratified, and to
have no connection with the sulphuric-acid springs which are so
common throughout that region. (Silliman's Journal [2], xxviii?
365, and Geology of Canada, 352.)

§ 50. We have included in a sixth class the various neutral
saline waters in which sulphates predominate, sometimes to the
exclusion of chlorids. The bases of these waters are soda,
potash, lime, and magnesia; which are usually found together,
though in varying proportions. For the better understanding of
the relations of these sulphated waters, it may be well to recapitulate
what has been said about their origin ; and to consider them, from
this point of view, under two heads.

First, those formed from the solution of neutral sulphates pre-
viously existing in a solid form in the earth. Strata enclosing na-
tural deposits of sulphates of soda and magnesia, sometimes with
sulphate of potash, (§ 17, § 19,) afford the most obvious source
of these waters. The frequent occurrence of gypsum however
points to this salt as a more abundant source of sulphated waters.
Solutions of gypsum may in some case exchange their lime for the
soda of insoluble silicates, or this salt may be decomposed by solu-
tions of carbonate of soda (§ 7, § 19). The decomposition of the
sulphate of lime by hydrous carbonate of magnesia, as explained in
§ 21, is doubtless in many cases the source of sulphate of mag-
nesia, which is more frequently than sulphate of soda a predomi-

182 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

nant element in mineral waters. In connection with a suggestion
made in the section last cited, it may be remarked that I have since
found that predazzite, in virtue of the hydrate of magnesia which
it contains, readily decomposes solutions of gypsum holding car-
bonic acid in solution, and gives rise to sulphate of magnesia.

In the second place, sulphuric-acid waters, like those described
in § 47, by their action upon calcareous and magnesian rocks, or by
the intervention of carbonate of soda, may, as already suggested,
give rise to neutral sulphated waters of the sixth class. It is
evident also that waters impregnated with sulphates of alumina and
iron from oxydizing sulphates, as mentioned in § 28, may be de-
composed in a similar manner, and with like results.

Neutral sulphated waters generated by any of the above pro-
cesses, are evidently subject to admixtures of saline maters from
other sources, and may thus become impregnated with chlorids
and carbonates. Indeed it is rare to find waters of the sixth
class without some portion of chlorids ; and a transition is thus
presented to the waters of the first four classes, in which also
portions of sulphates are of frequent occurrence. The presence of
sulphates being one of the conditions required for the generation
of sulphuretted hydrogen (§ 10), we find that the waters of the
sixth class are very often sulphurous.

§ 51. Waters of the sixth class are very frequently met with
in the palaeozoic rocks of New York and western Canada, and are
probably derived from the gypsum which is found in greater
or less abundance at various horizons, from the Calciferous sand-
rock to the Onondaga salt-group. It is however not improbable
that the sulphuric-acid waters which abound in this region (§ 48)
may, by their neutralization, give rise to similar springs. In the
waters of the district under consideration, the sulphate of lime
generally predominates over the sulphates of the other bases, and
chlorids are frequently present in considerable quantities. For
numerous analyses of these waters, see Beck, Mineralogy of New
York. The results of an examination of the Charlotteville spring,
remarkable for the amount of sulphuretted hydrogen which it con-
tains, will be found in Silliman's Journal [2], viii, 369. A copious
sulptm- spring which issues from a mound of calcareous tufa in
Bra. /, C.W., overlying the Corniferous limestone, is distinguished
by the absence of any trace of chlorids ; in which respect it resem-
bles the acid waters of the fifth class from the adjacent region.
A partial analysis of a portion of it collected in 1861, gave for

1865.] CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL WATERS. 183

1000 parts, sulphate of lime 1.240, sulphate of magnesia .207, and
carbonate of lime .198. From a slight excess in the amount of
sulphuric acid, it is probable that a little sulphate of soda was
also present.

Of waters of this class, in which sulphate of magnesia predomi-
nates, but few have yet been observed in this country. A remark-
able example of this kind from Hamilton, C. W., was examined by
Prof. Croft of Toronto, and described by him in the Canadian
Journal for 1853 (page 153). It had a specific gravity of 1006.4,
and gave for 1000 parts,

Chlorid of sodium , « -5098

Sulphate of soda 1-6985

" lime 1-1246

" magnesia 4-7799

8-1128
The rocks exposed at Hamilton include the Medina sandstone
and the Niagara limestone, with the intermediate Clinton group.
Along the outcrop of the latter, crystalline crusts of nearly pure
sulphate of magnesia are observed to form in many localities,
during the dry season of the year, (Geology of Canada, p. 460.)
According to Emmons, the post-tertiary clays near Crown
Point, on the western shore of Lake Champlain, are during dry
weather covered with efflorescences of sulphate of magnesia, which
impregnates several springs in the vicinity. The water of one of
these, according to Emmons, had a specific gravity of 1014.0, and
contained in 1000 parts, 18.78 of saline matter, which was chiefly
sulphate of magnesia, with some sulphate of lime (cited by Beck,
Mineralogy of New York, p. 252). The strata underlying the clays
of this region belong according to the State geological map, to the
Potsdam, Calciferous, and Trenton formations ; but the source of
the magnesian salt is, not improbably, to be found in the clays
themselves.

In the third and concluding part of this paper it is proposed to
notice briefly some of the more important points in the chemistry
of the various waters which have been here described, and to
inquire into their geological relations. — SilUman's Journal.

184 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. June

NOTES ON SOME OF THE MORE REMARKABLE
GENERA OF SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS,

By E. Billings, F.G.S.

Genus Receptaculites, Defrance.

1. — Diagram of the structure of Receptaculites as it would be shown
in a vertical section through a sub-conical species, a, the aperture
in the summit ; b, the endorhin or inner integument lining the central
cavity ; c, the ectorhin or external integument ; n, the usual posi-
tion of the nucleus ; v, the great internal cavity. The unshaded bands
running from the ectorhin to the endorhin represent the tubes.

The structure and zoological position of Receptaculites have
been more or less elaborately investigated by Goldfuss, Eichwald,
Roemer, Salter, Hall, and other eminent observers, and yet, owing
to the imperfection of the materials, a great deal remains to be
done before the various questions involved in the relations of this
curious genus can be regarded as positively settled. Since the
publication of Salter's paper in the first Decade of our Geological
Survey, numerous specimens of several distinct species have been
collected in the Silurian rocks of Canada, and I am, by the study
of these, now enabled to furnish a few additional details. The
principal new points are, the perforated structure of the internal
integument, the existence (in most, if not in all, of the species) of
a great central cavity and an orifice in the upper side. The flat
watch-shaped specimens which are usually figured as constituting
the whole of the body, are probably only the basal portion of the
body-wall of the discoid species.

1865.] BILLINGS— SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS. 185»

The genus may be described as consisting of organisms, which,
when full grown and perfect, are of a discoid, cylindrical, ovate, or
globular shape, hollow within, and usually, if not always, with an
aperture in the upper side. In or near the centre of the lower
side there is generally to be seen a small rounded protuberance, in-
dicating, most probably, the position of the primitive cell or nu-
cleus from which the animal commenced its growth. In some spe-
cies the lower side is more or less concave, and often the nucleus is
not at all elevated above the surface adjacent thereto. Its place,,
however, in the absence of any other guide, may generally be found
by observing the point towards which the spiral lines or rows of
plates on the outer surface converge. The body-wall is of a some-
what complex structure. It consists of three parts, — an external
and an internal integument, and, between these, the peculiar tubu-
lar or spicular skeleton presently to be described. The exter-
nal integument may be called ' the ectorhin,' and the internal
' the endorhin.'

The ectorhin is usually composed of numerous small rhomboidal
plates closely fitting together, and arranged in curved rows which
radiate in all directions from the nucleus outwards to the peripheral
margin of the base, and thence, ascending upwards, converge to the
edge of the aperture in the upper side. Two or three of those rows
of plates (the precise number is not yet determined) originate in
the nucleus, and, as they diverge from each other, new rows are in-
troduced between them. The number of rows diminish again on
the upper side according as they converge towards the apex of the
fossil. The plates at and immediately around the nucleus, and
also towards the centre of the upper side, are somewhat smaller
than they are at the widest part or middle region of the body. It
seems probable that, in some of the species, this integument was
of a flexible, coriaceous consistence. In others the plates were
solid. In R. occidentalis (Salter), when silicified specimens are
treated with acid the plates are easily separable, and, therefore,
although in close contact, they were not anchylosed together.

The endorhin is also composed of small rhomboidal plates ar-
ranged in curving rows ; but it differs from the ectorhin in being
perforated by numerous small circular orifices, one of which is
situated at each point where the angles of four plates meet. From
the centre of each of the plates of this integument there radiate
four small canals, one proceeding straight to the middle of each of
the sides of the plate, where it communicates with a similar canal.

186 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

in the adjoining plates. Each one of these plates is, therefore;
connected by these canals with the four plates in contact with it.
The canals are excavated in the substance of the plates, and com-
municate with the central canal of the transverse tubes. The
canals are not always perfectly circular, but are often flattened or
irregularly circular. The endorhin varies greatly in the extent to
which it is developed. In some specimens the plates are well-
defined and rhomboidal, with perfectly circular pores at the angles.
In others the plates are not at all defined, the ectorhin being one
continuous integument without sutures, but always with the full
complement of pores. The latter in such specimens are not all
circular, but are variously shaped orifices, sometimes with rough
edges. There are also specimens in which the endorhin consists
of only a thin film capping, as it were, the tubes and inclosing the
canals, the pores being proportionally larger than they are in those
with well- developed plates. The end of each tube, in these speci-
mens, forms an irregular, rounded tubercle instead of a rhomboidal
plate.

The tubular skeleton above alluded to consists of numerous
small, straight, rarely curved, cylindrical tubes or hollow spicula,
placed parallel to each other and at right angles to the plane of the
body-wall of which they form the greater portion. They connect,
and at the same time keep asunder, the ectorhin and the endorhin.
One of these tubes springs from the centre of each plate of the
ectorhin : it is, at its base, or next to the ectorhin, very slender,
but enlarges so as to attain its full thickness at about one fourth of
its length, and then remains at the same diameter throughout
until it reaches the endorhin, by a single plate of which its inner
extremity is, as it were, capped. The outer extremity of each tube
has four small slender stolons, one proceeding to each of the four
angles of that particular plate of the ectorhin from the centre
of which it (the tube) springs. It there seems to form a connec-
tion with the stolons of the three adjacent plates whose angles meet
at that point. The stolons are so arranged that one of them al-
ways points inwards towards the nucleus, and another on the oppo-
site side of the tube outwards or upwards. It is proposed to call
these the radial stolons ; they form continuous lines radiating in
all directions away from the nucleus. The other two stolons of
each tube project at right angles to the direction of the radial
stolons ; they form circles round the nucleus, and may therefore

1865.] BILLINGS — SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS. 187

be called the cyclical stolons. The connection of all these differ-
ent parts may be bstter understood by studying the following
figures.

c ^&x&

2. A small portion of R. occidentalis showing the tubes. 3. A part of
the lower side of the same species showing the nucleus and ectorhin.
4. A fragment of the same, showing the endorhin, the pores at the
angles of the plates, and the nucleus, which, on this side, is usually
deeply concave.

At the lower side of fig. 2, is shown the ectorhin and the aper-
tures in the hollow stolons, broken off in the specimen. The aper-
tures are slightly enlarged in the figure. In fig. 2, the usual
aspect of the central portion of the lower side of this species is
given. It will be seen that the greater number of the plates are
not truly rhomboidal, but approach the form of a spherical triangle
with two of the sides concave. This form of the plates fre-
quently occurs. The convex side of such plates is always
outwards towards the periphery of the fossil, and the acute
angle formed by the two concave sides always directed towards
the nucleus. This shows that the consolidation of the plates
commenced at the nucleus and gradually extended outwards. In
many specimens the plates are all perfectly rhomboidal, and in such
they may have solidified simultaneously all over the body. One
corner of the specimen at a is represented as denuded of the ector
hin, showing the various markings beneath, which will be hereafter
explained by other figures. By fig. 4 is represented the ordinary

188

THE CANADIAN NATURALIST.

[June

appearance of the endorhin of silicified specimens when cleared of
the limestone matrix by treatment with acid. Although the pores
have been seen in this species only, yet it seems quite probable
that they occur in all others of the genus.

In the diagram fig. 5 the tubes are placed proportionately much
farther apart than they are in any known species, in order to ex-
hibit the structure with the greater clearness. The endorhin is
drawn as if it were transparent to show the position of the tubes
beneath it. The dotted lines give the outlines of the upper por-
tions of the tubes, and also define the course of the endorhinal
canals, — four radiating from the top of each tube. The endorhi-
nal pores — one situated at each of the points where the angles of
four plates meet — penetrate through the endorhin into the space
between the tubes, and not into the tubes themselves, as might be
supposed from a superficial examination. In the ectorhin the rough
lines h represent the sutures between the plates ; and it will be
observed that they have the same direction as the endorhinal su-
tures in the upper part of the figure. The stolons have not the

Diagram to explain the structure of the body-wall of Receptaculites.
b, the endorhin ; c, the ectorhin ; d, suture between the plates of
the endorhin ; e, endorhinal pore ; /, endorhinal canal ; g-, radial

stolon ; h,
ectorhin.

cyclical stolon ; /c, suture between the plates of the

same direction as the endorhinal canals, but are, as it were, turned
one eighth round, so that the two directions are inclined to each

1865.] BILLINGS — SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS. 189

other at an angle of 45°. The stolons run along the inner sur-
face of the ectorhin, but the endorhinal canals are excavated in the
substance of the endorhin. The space between the tubes is almost
always filled with the rock of the same kind as that in which the
fossil is imbedded. In perfect specimens, the rock, while it was
still in the condition of soft mud, must have found its way through
the aperture in the upper side into the great central cavity, and
thence through the endorhinal pores into the spaces between the tubes.
In general the upper side or vault, as it may be called, over the cen-
tral cavity is not preserved, and the specimen then consists of the
whole or a portion of the base with the nucleus, as in figs. 3, 4.
These are also filled with matrix ; the soft ooze having entered not only
through the pores, but also through the broken margin. It is prob-
able that the animal lived with its base partly buried, a portion of
the vault with the aperture projecting above the surface of the mud.
During the life the central cavity was perhaps kept free from
sediment by currents of water which the animal had the power of ex-
citing. But as soon as the currents ceased (with vitality), the mud
would enter freely. The vault would also soon fall to pieces, and the
fragments of all those individuals of which it (the vault) projected
above the surface of the sediment would be soon scattered while
the partly buried base would be preserved.

The specimen represented hy fig. 6 is a .fragment of the
ectorhin of R. calciferus, from the Calciferous formation Mino-an
Islands. It shows only the inner surface on which the stolons
are still preserved, but the tubes are worn nearly to their bases.
It is rare to find specimens in that condition; and this one was
not suspected to be a RecejptacuUtes for several years after its
discovery, until a large portion of the base of an individual of
E. occidentalis was found, which, by having been slowly weathered
down from the upper side, retains the tubes over an area of several
square inches, while a considerable space around the nucleus
is covered with the squares formed by the stolons, precisely as
in this example. Fig 7 is a cast of the inner surface of the
ectorhin of E. Oweni (Hall), from the Lower Silurian rocks of
Illinois. The integument itself is totally removed. The vertical
lines are the impressions of the radial stolons, while the more
irregular and slightly curved transverse lines are the imprints
of the cyclical stolons. The dark points are the apertures of the
cylindrical perforations in the rock once occupied by the tubes
now entirely removed. On following any one of the lines, it will

190

THE CANADIAN NATURALIST.

[June

be seen that there is, between every two of the orifices, a point
where two of the lines cross without an orifice at their intersection.
Each one of these marks the point where the angles of four plates
met. Four stolons also met at each of these points. This will
be readily understood by comparing fig. 5. In specimens in this
state of preservation we see no traces of the sutures between the
plates, as the whole substance of the ectorhin — plates, sutures and
all — is destroyed.

3.

6. Fragment of R. calciferus (Billings). 1. R. Owe.nl (Hall).
Tetragonis Murchisonii (Eichwald).

and 9

Fig. 8 is a reduced outline of Tetragonis Murchisonii, from
Eichwald's ' Urwelt Russlands,' pi. iii, fig. 18. It does not show
all the lines given in the original figure, as they could not well be
represented on so small a scale. Fig. 9 is the upper part of the
same figure, of the size of the original. The vertical lines are the
impressions of the radial stolons, and the finer transverse lines the
grooves of the cyclical stolons. By comparing fig. 7, it will be
seen that the grooves in both figures have precisely the same
arrangement ; that is to say, the dark points, representing the
openings of the cylindrical cavities, once occupied by the tubes,
occur at each alternate crossing of the grooves. It would appear,

1865.] BILLINGS — SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS. 191

therefore, that Eichwald's genus Tetragonis was founded on a
species of Receptaculites, with the ectorhin removed. The genus
Ischaditcs also exhibits very similar markings, as may be seen by
comparing the figures of/. Kcenigii (Murch.), on pi. 12, ' Siluria,'
and the following of R. Canadensis.

The specimen represented by fig. 10 has been figured by me in
the Geology of Canada, p. 304, under the name of Ischadites
Canadensis. It is the cast of the inner surface of the ectorhin,
and differs remarkably from the similar specimen of R. Oweni
(ante, fig. 7). It is deeply pitted all over with sub-quadrangular
or rhomboidal depressions, the form of each cavity being such as
would be made by the impression of a small four-sided pyramid.
In the bottom of each is a small rounded orifice, from which
radiate three grooves to three of the angles of the square. These,

11.

10.

10. R. Canadensis (Billings). 11. R. Iowensis (Owen). 12. R. Jonesii
(Billings).

I have not the least doubt, are the grooves of three of the stolons.
The absence of the fourth stolon may be accounted for in this
way. Among the detached silicified tubes of R. occidentalis
which are found in the sediment left at the bottom of the vessel,
after dissolving specimens of limestone holding these fossils in
acid, numerous specimens have been collected with only three
stolons in contact with the plate or at the end of the tube, but
with the fourth a small distance from the end. It is evident that
in casts of the inner surface of the ectorhin of specimens with all
the tubes thus constructed, there would be only the three grooves
of the terminal stolons visible on the surface, the fourth being

192 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

buried beneath the surface. I have also ascertained that this
fourth stolon is in R. occidentalis, one of the radials, and always
when it can be seen in situ, the one pointing outwards away from
the nucleus.

Fig. 11 is a vertical section of R. Jonesii, a small species which
occurs in the upper part of the Lower Helderberg rocks of Gaspe.
The shaded bell-shaped area is the central cavity. It is dis-
tinctly observed in several others of the same species. It will be
seen that the body-wall in the vault above and on the sides of the
cavity is thicker than it is in the base, but the tubes are much
more slender. They here assume the form of the elongated con-
necting spicula of the true sponges. Fig. 12 is a similar section,
though a specimen of it. Iowensis from the Trenton limestone at
Ottawa. At a, the central cavity is distinctly shown, filled with
the grey limestone matrix, which has also found its way between
the tubes in the base of the fossil. The shaded portions b b are
replaced by a reddish magnesian spar. The under side of the
specimen is deeply concave, and the peripheral margin is so convex
as to resemble a cylinder coiled into a ring. The aperture in one
specimen of R. Jonesii is rounded, and resembles the umbilicus of
an apple.

The figures given by different authors of foreign species show a
considerable range of variation in the general form, and apparently
also in the structure of the body-wall. The details given in this
paper have been made out principally by the study of numerous
specimens of R. occidentalism which is undoubtedly congeneric
with R. Neptuni, the typical form of the genus. In others, such
as Tetragonis sulcata and T. parvipora (Eichwald), there appears
to be a transition to species in which the ectorhin was a soft
coriaceous integument, not distinctly plated, although connected
with the interior by tubes or spicula. The genus Tetragonis^
instead of becoming obsolete, might be retained for some of the
species which have a structure different from that of R. Neptuni.

As to the zoological rank of Receptaculites there yet remains
much diversity of opinion. At the present time the most ably
supported view is that which places the genus in the Foraminifera
near Orbitolites. Seen in this light, the diagram at the head of
this paper would represent the soft and not the hard parts of the
animal. If this be the true interpretation, then we must suppose
that outside of the ectorhin there was a layer of shell, and another
layer covering the endorhin, or lining the great central cavity.

1865.] BILLINGS— SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS. 193

All the space between the tubes was also a compact mass of shelly
substance similar to that of the Foraminifera. But not a vestige
•of any such shell has ever been discovered. The space between
the tubes is invariably filled with the same kind of rock as that
in which the specimens are imbedded, while all that is, in this
paper, described as constituting the skeleton is in the same mineral
condition as are the hard parts of the corals, crinoids and
molluscs found buried in the same beds. In the ordinary limestone
whenever the solid portions of the other fossils are replaced either
by calcareous spar or silica, or partly by one and partly by the
other, the skeleton of Receptaculites is always found converted
into the same mineral substances. And again in the magnesian
limestones where the hard parts of fossils are, in general, totally
removed, so that the cavities once occupied by them remain empty,
we find Receptaculites in the same condition. We have not the
tubes themselves, but only the cylindrical perforations in the rock
which they at one time filled, while the existence of the stolons is
only indicated by grooves such as those represented in figs. 7, 9,
10. These facts seem to prove clearly that the space between the
tubes was not filled with shell substance, but either empty, or
entirely, or partly full of soft matter, which was immediately dis-
sipated after the death of the animal, and its place occupied by the
soft mud in or on which the creature lived. Were it otherwise
we would now find the space in question a compact mass of
calcareous spar or amorphous silex, while the tubes (or cells as
they would be in that case) might be filled with limestone.
In the magnesian specimens the ectorhin seldom, if ever,
remains ; and in species with flat plates the form (of the plates)
can rarely be made out, the only markings on the surface being
the grooves of the stolons. But where the plates were deeply
concave the position of the sutures- is indicated by more or less
strongly elevated ridges enclosing rhomboidal depressed spaces
with a tube-cavity in the centre. Fig. 1 represents a fragment
of R. Canadensis in that state of preservation. The rhomboids
in this case are not the plates themselves, but only their impres-
sions. In describing such specimens, the tubes are sometimes
spoken of as having rhomboidal openings, but this is an error ;
the tubes when perfect, as can be proved by hundreds of specimens,
are not open at all, but completely closed, at one end by the
ectorhin and at the other by the'endorhin. They all, however,
communicate with each other through the stolons and endorhinal
canals.

Vol. II. n • No. 3.

194 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

Were the tubes of Receptaculites to be closely crowded together
so that their walls would everywhere be in contact, and no space
between them, then the structure would be similar to that of
Orhitolites, but with the system of connecting stolons arranged on
a different plan. The genus would then also closely resemble
Dactylopora ; but I do not yet see that the evidence is sufficient to
prove clearly that the tubes are strictly the homologues of the
cells of any group of the Foraminifera. They appear to me to be
more nearly related to the connecting spicula of the SpongidsD.
Each tube with its cylindrical shaft, and plate at each extremity,
resembles not remotely a birotulate spiculum. Or it might perhaps
with more probability be described as consisting of two spicula
united at their points. Thus the ectorhinal plate with the four
stolons may be a peculiar form of the foliato-peltate spicula, of
which many different kinds are figured by Bowerbank. The
cylindrical shaft may be a spiculum approaching the acuate or
acerate varieties with its point inserted into the nucleus of the
foliato-peltate spiculum. Most sponge spicula are hollow ; and we
know how often it happens in the structure of the animal kingdom
that organs may at one time subserve one function, and elsewhere
a very different function. The cylindrical cavity, which in the
spicula of the ordinary sponges seems to be functionless, may in
Receptaculites be transformed into a canal for the transmission of
fluids. But although the cavities of all the tubes in Recepta-
culites communicate with each other through the endorhinal canals,
and perhaps through the stolons also, they may not constitute a
canal-syste'm. The so-called tubes are extremely slender, and may
be solid in some species.

On comparison it will be found that the general form of Recep-
taculites and structure of its body-wall is almost precisely that of
the seed-like body that plays so important a part in the devel-
opment of Spongilla. This consists of a small ovate or spherical
sac with an aperture on one side leading into the cavity within.
The enclosing wall consists of a coriaceous membrane on the out-
side of which there are arranged, perpendicularly to the surface^
numerous small birotulate spicula, exactly as the tubes of Recepta-
culites are arranged on the endorhin. The outer extremities of
these spicula give off at right angles a number of small spines
corresponding to the stolons above figured. These spines coalesce,
and (if I understand the figures rightly) become connected
together, so that they form by their union a plate similar to that of

1865.] BILLINGS — SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS. 195

Receptaculites, only that it is hexagonal. The plates of all the
spicula enlarge until all come into contact, and thus an outer
tesselated integument corresponding to the ectorhin is formed. In
this stage a section through the seed-like body shews an inner
integument (or endorhin), and an outer plated integument (or
ectorhin), the two being separated and at the same time connected
by the pillar-like cylindrical shafts of the spicula representing the
tubes of Receptaculites. The space between the tubes is, according
to some authors, filled with a gelatinous silicious matter ; but
Bowerbank says he did not detect this substance in the specimens
examined by him. This little sac or cell is a Receptaculites in
miniature, and it is also one of the embryonic stages of a sponge.
When we consider that the full grown and adult individuals of
many of the long extinct tribes of animals never attained in their
structure a more advanced organization than that exhibited by the
embryos of orders living at the present day, it does not seem sur-
prising that we should find in the palaeozoic rocks a sponge which
although often of large size, never became more highly developed,
than is the recent genus Spovgilla, when it has only advanced to
the sac-like stage above described. It is not intended to assert
here positively that Receptaculites is a sponge, or to determine the
question of its zoological rank one way or the other, but only to
direct attention to such peculiarities in its structure as appear to
me worthy of being taken into account in the investigation.

Genus Pasceolus, Billings.

13. 14.

13. P. Halli. From the Middle Silurian, Anticosti. 14. P. globosus.
Trenton limestone, Ottawa.

The fossils of this genus are of an ovate or globular form cov-
ered with an integument of small polygonal plates (?) and with one

196 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

or more circular apertures. Two species are at present known to
occur in the Silurian rocks of Canada, both of which are above
figured.

P. Halll is of an ovate form, from one to two inches in length
and about one-fourth less, in width. At one end there is a narrow
prolongation which, most probably, constituted the pedicle by
which the body was attached to the bottom. No trace of any
other point of attachment can be seen ; and it is almost certain, there-
fore, that this smaller extremity is the base. A little below the
mid-height of the body there is a small circular elevation which
appears to mark the place of an orifice ; but as the integument is
not preserved in this part, it cannot, at present, be positively deter-
mined whether there was an aperture here or not. All that can
be said is that there appears to have been an orifice where this ele-
vation occurs. The specimens collected are all casts of the interior,
but of the one figured a portion of the integument remains attached
to the matrix. It is about one-third of a line in thickness, of a
translucent, horny color, the surface covered with minute corrugated
wrinkles just visible to the naked eye. No sutures can be distin-
guished, and the form of the plates can only be made out as so many
obscure convexities on the outside. But where the integument is
removed the cast shows the place of the sutures most distinctly, and
that the plates were deeply concave on the inside. The polygonal
spaces, in the above figure, represent only the outlines of the casts of
the inner surfaces of the plates, and, as those are deeply concave, of
course the whole surface of the cast of the fossil is covered with
small convex elevations. In some places these are so exceedingly
convex that they present the appearance of a mass of small globu-
lar cells just so much pressed together as to produce the hexagonal
outline along the boundary of contact. Many of these elevations
have a small round knob in the centre with an obscure ridge radi-
ating to the middle of each of the sides, where they meet similar
ridges from the other convexities. These markings are very ob-
scurely developed, and in some places cannot be seen at all.

P. globosus only differs from P. Halli in being larger and of a
spherical shape. The specimens are sometimes three inches across,
but the common size is about two inches. They are, usually, more
or less compressed and distorted, in general of a hemispherical
shape, the base flattened as if the body had been a soft globular
sac of matter which had settled down by its own weight. They
are, however, occasionally found of a nearly spherical form. On

1865.] BILLINGS — SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN FOSSILS. 197

one side (the flattened side) of a specimen in the cabinet of Dr. J.
A. Grant, of Ottawa, there is a small elevation which may have
been the point of attachment. No orifices have yet been made out,
but it must be observed that no specimen has been collected in
which the whole of the surface can be examined. None that I
have seen have a vestige of the integument remaining. The plates
(or rather their impressions) are, in these specimens, for the greater
part, strongly convex and precisely like those of P. Ilalli, only
larger. In some they are partly concave and partly convex or flat.
Individuals also occur which have them either convex, all flat, or
all concave. Yet as these occur together in the same localities, I
think them all one species. They have, as yet, been found only
at the city of Ottawa in the Trenton limestone.

In one piece of shale scarcely a yard square, I collected about
fifty individuals, but although they occur thus abundantly in cer-
tain spots, good specimens are exceedingly rare.

This genus was first described by me in the Report of the
Geological Survey of Canada for 1857, p. 342, and placed among
the fossils of uncertain class. The two species above figured are
also there described. They have been on exhibition in the cases
of our museum for the last ten years, and have been examined by
a great many of the naturalists of all countries. But I do ot
think we yet know to what class they belong. P. Halli and
Ischaditcs Canadensis are figured on p. 304, of the Geology of
Canada, as members of the Tunicata. The latter, however, is a
true Receptaculites. It is barely possible that the former may be
a tunicate, but we have no positive evidence that it is.

Eichwald, in his Lethaea Rossica, has described and figured two
species, Cyclocrinus Spaskii and C. exilis, which appear to me to
be either congeneric with our two, or, at least, to belong to the
same family. Both of Eichwald's species are small globular
bodies covered with hexagonal or pentagonal plates. The plates
of C. Spaskii have a tubercle in the centre and a number of
obscure rounded ridges radiating to the sides. He says there is a
small oral orifice on one side, and on the side opposite, a rudimen-
tary pedicle. One of his figured specimens is covered with a tubular
incrustation consisting of small cells which he considers to be a
part of the integument itself. It may be, however, a coral. A
fragment of one of the specimens of P. Halli from Anticosti is
incrusted in precisely the same manner with what I take to be a
species of Stenopora. Eichwald places his genus among the

198 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

Cyatidea ; but the more general characters, such as a jointed crinoi-
dal column, the arms or pinnulae, and the peculiar orifices which
characterise all true Cystideans, are not forthcoming. It is barely
possible that his view may be the correct one.

The fossil called Sphceronites tesselatus (Phillips), from the
English Devonian rocks has the surface covered with hexagonal
plates, and resembles, in general aspect, a species ofPasceolus. Mr.
Pengelly has figured a specimen in the Geologist, vol. iv, which shows
the interior, covered with a net-work of vertical and horizontal
ribs, giving the appearance of the inner surface of the specimen of
Receptaculites calciferus above noticed. He proposes a new gen-
eric nome, JSphcerospongia, for it. If the specimen figured by him
be truly of the same species as that described by Phillips, it would
seem that an internal structure like that of Recaptaculites is not
inconsistent with an integument of hexagonal instead of quadrila-
teral plates. I do not see, however, how the net-work figured by
Mr. Pengelly ean be made to fit hexagonal plates in the way that
the squares formed by the stolons of Receptaculites are adjusted.

M. M. Edwards and Hainie have referred Eichwald's genus
Cyclocrinus to the Zoantharia. Whether they are right or not
with regard to the Russian species, I can most confidently assert
that Pasceolus is not a coral. It may be allied to Receptaculites,
but its true zoological position is quite undecided at present.

( To be continued. )

GOLD MINES AND GOLD MINING IN NOVA SCOTIA.

By Henry F. Perley, Esq., Halifax, N. S.

As in other parts of the world where gold is now being pro-
duced, the discovery of the precious metal in Nova Scotia was
made by accident. A man drinking at a small brook ; a few specks
of the shining metal found in the sands of the sea-shore ; particles
of gold in a piece of loose quartz, — first brought the auriferous
character of the Tangier, the Wine-Harbor, and the Renfrew Gold-
Districts into notice. In other localities, search was made among
the quartz-boulders which had lain undisturbed and unnoticed for
years, and they proving auriferous, led to the establishment of
such localities into gold districts. It is somewhat strange that

1865.] PERLEY — GOLD MINING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 199

the existence of these auriferous deposits should have remained so
long undiscovered even by the road-maker or the agriculturist,
and after the many scientific explorations of the country, which
have been made during the present century, by men eminent in
Geology and Mineralogy. Principal Dawson, in 1855, suggested
the probability of the discovery of gold, and with some accuracy
indicated the region in which it might possibly be found, but he
made no search for it.

The first discovery of gold was made in the early part of the
year 1860, on the Tangier River ; and since that time, other
localities have been discovered, nearly the whole of which are now
being worked upon. During the excitement of first discovery,
individuals fancied that fortunes were to be made speedily, by the
aid of a shovel, a pick, a pan, and with the expenditure of but
little capital. Mining-lots were laid off by the Government, fifty
by twenty feet, for which high rentals were asked ; and in one
or more of these the miner, whether practical or amateur, expended
his labor and his capital, and in the end all failed; — the practical
man from the want of space on which to deposit the debris of his
underground excavations ; and the amateur, because his patience,
his hopes of making a speedy fortune, and his capital, were all
exhausted. Individual enterprise having thus proved unsuccess-
ful, companies were formed ; and the Government, seeing the
absurdity of leasing such small areas, increased their size to
150 by 200 feet, and modified and improved the law relating
to the Gold Fields. Even with these advantages, many companies
failed or sold out to others ; and now a large proportion of the
mining areas in the province are held by companies raised
and incorporated in Massachusetts and New York, having capitals
ranging from 8100,000 to 11,000,000. A number of these com-
panies have proved to be stock-jobbing operations; speculators
having taken advantage of an excitement created on the stock-
markets of Boston and New York, to palm off unproductive and
almost valueless properties ; and to aid their operations, exami-
nations and reports were made by able and scientific men brought
for the purpose, who were capable of investigating thoroughly the
geological phenomena and characteristics of the auriferous districts.
It is to be regretted that their reports are only servicable to
assist in the sale of stock, and add but little to the otherwise
scanty information of the geology of the gold districts. The va-
rious companies at work have had indifferent success; a few are

200 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

carrying on operations and making a profit ; whilst others barely
pay expenses ; but the whole are now suffering from a depreciation
in the value of their stock, caused by the bursting of speculative
bubbles thrown into the market, and wafted upwards by seductive
scientific reports, by the exhibition of rich nuggets and massive
bars of gold, and by wondrous tales of the yield to the ton of ore
and of the expected profits. The question whether gold mining in
Nova Scotia is a profitable and safe investment for capital, is still
an unsettled one, though, judging from the past, it would appear
to be both, unsatisfactory and unprofitable.

The whole southern coast of Nova Scotia, from Cape Canso
to Cape Sable, consists of altered or metamorphic rocks, such
as slates, quartz-rock, gneiss, &c. This zone averages about thirty
miles in width, and in it are found the gold-bearing quartz-veins
for which Nova Scotia has now become noted, and from which
a large amount of wealth is being derived. The aspect of the
country is barren and sterile, the hills in many places being
covered with a sparse and stunted growth of trees ; huge boulders
of granite, quartzite, or conglomerate abound, giving to the district
under consideration the appearance of a country entirely unsuitable
for agriculture. Prof. Dawson, in his •' Acadian Geology,' page
364, in treating on the Metamorphic district of the Atlantic coast,
states, " With respect to the surface and industrial capabilities,
the different rocks occurring in this district present very various
aspects. The clay-slate often has a regular undulating surface
and a considerable depth of shingley or clay soil of a fair quality,
though usually deficient in lime. These slate-districts, however,
contain beds of quartz-rock, which form rocky ridges, from which
boulders have been scattered abroad, and which, by damming-up
the surface waters, produce lakes and bogs, an effect also produced
by the ridged structure of the slate itself, and the impervious sub-
soil which it affords. Wherever, as for instance in North Queens
and Lunenburg, the slate is sufficiently elevated for drainage, and
not encumbered with surface stones, it supports fine forests and
valuable farms. Where quartz-rock prevails, the soil is almost
invariably extremely stony and barren. Instances of this occur in
Southern Queens, near Halifax, and in the hills near St. Mary's
River."

With regard to the position of this metamorphic band in the
logic scale, some doubt seems to exist. There is no positive

evidence of its geologic age— no trace of a fossil has been found in

1865.] PERLEY— GOLD MINING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 201

any of the slates or associated rocks.* Prof. Dawson favors the belief
that they are metamorphic Lower Silurian rocks. It is evident to
the observer that they are highly metamorphic, as well as changed
from the horizontal position they once occupied, by upheavals
which have thrown them into positions almost vertical ; and that
at the time of upheaval the innumerable quartz-veins which are
now known to exist, must have been formed.

The general character of the geology of the district may be
stated in a few words. It consists of thick bands of slate and
quartzite, having a general east and west strike, and highly
inclined. In several places, masses of granite project through
these rocks, and in their vicinity the quartz-rock and clay-slate
are usually replaced by gneiss and mica-slate, or other rocks more
highly metamorphosed than usual. The general dip of the strata
is about 60°, but it ranges in localities from the vertical to the
horizontal. From the examinations of Mr. Campbell of Halifax,
it was found that the strata in the metamorphic district have been
folded or plicated no less than six times, and that the summits of
the folds or the anticlinal axes thus formed, were denuded or
abraded during the drift or glacial period. To quote from a report
made by Mr. Campbell to the Provincial Government: " In all
vertical sections hitherto made out across the rocks of the south or
Atlantic coast of the Province, but one line of elevation, or anticli-
nal axis, is represented along the centre of a band of strata over
thirty miles in breadth.f If this had, in reality, been the strati-
graphical arrangement in the south coast-band, there would exist
but a poor chance of many of its older strata being brought to the
surface in lines of upheaval along the north coast of the Province,
where so great an accumulation of newer schistose and Carbon-
iferous rocks has taken place; for such an arrangement as one
line of elevation in such a broad band of strata, would necessarily
imply a vertical thickness of at least ten miles of beds.

" As it is, however, scarcely two miles in vertical thickness, the
beds are brought in section to the surface, for they are brought up
in six different lines of elevation or anticlinal axes, instead of one.

" By referring to the section attached [to the Report] it will

* Dr. Honeyman has recently announced the discovery of fossils sup-
posed by him to be primordial ; but they have not been described. — Eds»

f This is scarcely correct ; though no attempt had previously been
made to work out the details of the numerous folds or dislocations. — Eds,

202 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

be observed that the clay-state is superimposed on the quartzite
as a distinct group, and not interstratified with it.

" The line on which this section is made extends from the
Atlantic, at the south-east entrance of Halifax Harbor, to the
Renfrew Gold-Fields, a distance of a little over thirty miles,
intersecting the anticlinals mentioned. These anticlinals run nearly
parallel with each other from the extreme western coast of the
province to the sea-shore between Cape Canso and Liscomb Harbor.
This gives them a curve, from the strike altering from east and
west to south 60° east, and to the westward of Halifax, to the
south-westward. They do not lie at equal distances apart, owing
no doubt to the strata being folded up irregularly with different
angles of dip."

That Nova Scotia has been subjected to glacial action, and
that during the period of that action the summits of these
anticlinals were denuded and swept away, is plainly apparent.
Where the rock is exposed, whether by the removal of the boulder-
clay or otherwise, it will almost invariably be found to have a
smooth polished surface, and to be marked with furrows, scratches,
and striae, all of which must have been formed by the passage of
heavy and hard substances over it. These scratches indicate the
direction in which the moving masses passed over, and they are
found to have a south-eastern direction over the whole province,
modified of course by local circumstances.

The fact that this denudation has taken place, and the non-
discovery of rich alluvial washings, have led to the belief that the
major portion of the drift has been carried away and deposited in
the Atlantic Ocean, forming the submarine banks which skirt the
southern shore of the Province. This belief is further strength-
ened by the fact that gold is largely disseminated through the
sands of Sable Island ; this being the only point of those banks
raised above the sea, and at the same time lying in the general
direction of the drift.

Mr. Campbell does not suppose that the abrading force was
sufficient to expose the whole of the quartz-veins on the strata,
but that many exist which have a capping on the summits of the
anticlinals. "Where the veins are exposed in these abraded surfaces,
they are found to dip to the north or south, as they lie to the north
or south of the anticlinals. Thus, at Waverley, which is situated
on the fourth anticlinal axis, the veins which have been opened are
found all to dip to the north, proving them to be on the north side

1865.] PERLEY — GOLD MINING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 203

of the anticlinal; while at Oldham, which is on the fifth axis, the
veins are found dipping both to the north and south, which leads
to the belief they lie on either side of the axis.

The rock most noticed in the mining districts is the quartzite —
commonly called ' whin ' by the miners. It is a strong compact
rock of a grey color, consisting of finely granular quartz. It is
supposed to be of immense thickness, for, according to Mr. Campbell,
where it lies exposed to view in the cuttings of the railway from
Halifax to Truro, and where measurements were made, it was
found to be over one mile in depth.

The slate-rock which usually accompanies all the gold-bearing
quartz-veins, is generally argillaceous; and, according to the
authority of Prof. B. Silliman, not an example of talcose slate
appears. His examinations only extended to the eastern portion
of the Province, and if it does exist, it seems to have escaped his
notice. Mr. Poole, who reported to the Provincial Government in
1862, on an examination which he made of the metamorphic dis-
trict west of Halifax, states that he found talcose state at La Have
River and Ritchie's Cove, and talcose slate with pyrites in quartz
at the Cream Pots. Near Cranberry Head, in the county of
Yarmouth, chloritic slate exists ; pure chlorite, and quartz intimately
coated with minute crystals of chlorite, are found abundantly at
Tangier. The slates are generally found forming the lower or foot
wall of the quartz-veins, whilst the hanging or upper wall is
usually quartzite. In some instances both walls are of slate ;
but that both are of quartzite is of very rare occurrence. Some-
times it is found that a vein is split into two, by a third and narrow
vein, having thin walls or partings of slate.

The associated minerals found are zinc, blende, iron pyrites,
mispickel or arsenical pyrites, galena, and the yellow sulphuret of
copper.

Both iron pyrites and mispickel are found in the quartz-slates
and quartzite indifferently ; and with the mispickel, gold is almost
invariably associated, particularly at Montague, where large quan-
tities of this mineral are found, in which gold may be plainly
observed; indeed a lump can hardly be broken up without exposing
to view particles of gold. Galena is found in small quantities, and
some specimens have gold in admixture with it. Blende is found
intimately mixed with the quartz, and sometimes lying on the
quartzite at its junction with the quartz. Its presence is accepted
as a good sign by the miners. The pyrites is often found

204 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

decomposed, and converted into peroxide of iron, and, by discoloring
the adjacent rocks, often marks the outcropping of a vein.

The question may however be asked, are the veins of quartz in
Nova Scotia true veins, or beds? Up to the present time no
decision has been arrived at in reference to this subject ; and it is
to be regretted that the gentlemen who, during the past year, have
visited the gold-fields to examine them geologically, have not made
known their views on this point. That the quartz is found follow-
ing the planes of cleavage is apparent ; but whether the plane of
cleavage is the true bedding of the slate, is not yet fully settled.
If the dip and plane of cleavage are identical, then the veins of
quartz must be termed true beds or strata ; but if the dip and
plane of cleavage do not coincide, then the quartz occurs in
veins. A solution of this point can easily be accomplished, and
will be of interest to the geological student.

The quartz-veins of Nova Scotia vary in width from one eighth
of an inch to eight feet, though the general width is found to
range from three to twenty inches. Experience has shown that
the larger the veins, the poorer their yield in gold. On the property
of the Waverley Gold-Mining Company at Waverley, there are
three veins respectively, twenty-four and thirty and thirty- six inches
in width, which are barren ; while in their neighborhood, veins
of from six to eighteen inches produce from thirteen to twenty
penny-weights of gold to the ton of quartz. In the larger veins
the quartz appears to be free from the foreign minerals already
mentioned, of a milk-white color, very much laminated, and breaks
into irregular masses ; while the productive quartz varies in color,
is pure and crystalline, breaks into more regular forms, and is
intimately mixed with the minerals above alluded to.

Gold is not however entirely confined to the quartz-veins, but is
often found mixed with the slates on the foot-walls, and in the
partings in several veins. But whether it is found in the quartz,
in the metallic sulphurets, or in the slates, it is always pure, and,
where visible, is seen in the form of grains or nuggets, called 'sights'
by the miners. In some cases, however, it is invisible to the eye,
and can only be separated by crushing and amalgamation. It has
been observed, that where a very large sight, or quantity of sights,
is found, which would indicate increased richness in the vein, it
most generally follows that for some distance or depth on either
side of the rich spot thte vein is almost barren.

Veins do not preserve their width as they descend : they are

1865.] PERLEY — GOLD .MIXING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 205

found to vary greatly, sometimes gradually thinning out to a
mere thread, and then increasing in size as a greater depth is
reached. They are often split-up into two or more branches, or
are greatly enlarged by the junction of cross-veins. Neither do
the veins dip with any degree of regularity, many of them having
three or four rates of dip, which renders the sinking of shafts a
troublesome and oftentimes an expensive matter ; for the shafts
are sunk vertically through the earth to the bed-rock, and
then generally driven with the vein, and always on the lower or
foot-wall side. Faults occur in most veins, owing no doubt to
dislocations of the strata ; and instances are known where the vein
has been cut entirely off, and thrown for some feet.

It is generally supposed that auriferous veins present the richest
ore at the surface, and decrease in the value of their yield with the
depth, until at depths ranging from one to two hundred feet they
no longer pay for working. This opinion is countenanced by the
highest French and English authorities, and is supported by a wide
class of facts. In Australia very large sums were spent in deep
sinking on veins which were productive at the surface, but when
certain depths were reached they proved barren and unprofitable.

In 1859 and 1 860, after the quartz veins of Victoria (Australia)
had been for some time neglected, the received opinion that auri-
ferous veins diminished in value with their depth was disregarded,
and, judging from a few exceptional cases where veins had paid at
depths of from two to four hundred feet, those veins that had
proved rich at the surface or within a depth of one hundred feet,
were again opened and active operations carried on. But it was
found that the rule held good ; and it is boldly stated, that there
are not six veins in the colony of Victoria (in 1860) from which
a sufficient quantity of gold had been extracted at a depth of four
hundred feet to pay the cost of extraction. Sir Roderick Murchison
has stated, that the rule prevails in "auriferous countries " that the
working of gold-bearing quartz is not remunerative excepting near
the surface, the ore being concentrated in the upper parts of the
lodes."

Whether this rule will hold good in Nova Scotia still remains to
be proved. So far, varied success has been met with in different
shafts, which have been sunk to depths reaching from eighty to
one hundred feet. At Waverley a shaft is now down one hundred
and eighty-five feet, and the quartz obtained at that depth proves
richer than that obtained at or near the surface.

206 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June

A fact respecting the distribution of gold in the vein-rock, has
been established in the mines of Nova Scotia: it is, that the
precious metal does not pervade the whole vein alike, but runs in
bands or streaks, at different rates of dip or inclination, in different
veins. Were this fact fully understood, miners would be enabled
to calculate, from observations and measurements made in openings
on the vein which they propose to mine, at what depth they may ex-
pect to reach the auriferous and paying portion of the vein in new
shafts. The following extract from Hittell's " Resources of Cali-
fornia " is in elucidation of this fact : —

" Most of the gold in a lode is usually in a rich streak near the
foot-wall or lower side, as if the metal had settled down by its
gravity. The rock near the hanging-wall or upper side of the lode
is the poorest. Occasionally several rich streaks will be found in
a lode — one streak with coarse particles, another with fine. All
parts of a lode are not equally rich ; but the gold is found in
spots. A lode which is very rich in one place, may be poor in
another not very far off ; indeed, there is no auriferous vein in the
state known to be rich for a long distance on the surface. The
gold is found in streaks or pockets ; the rich streak runs down-
ward, or has a dip in the lode. It is a matter of very great impor-
tance to the miner to ascertain the direction of this dip, and here
is the rule: Take out some of the vein-stone, and examine the
wall-rock carefully. In most veins it will be found that the wall
has little furrows, as though the lode had been pushed upwards.
These furrows indicate the direction of the dip of the rich streaks.
Pockets may be considered as interrupted streaks ; and when one
rich pocket is discovered, others may usually be found by going-
down into the vein in the proper direction, and that is ascertained
in the same manner as for continuous streaks."

Among all the veins of quartz discovered, none has excited so
much curiosity, or given rise to so much speculation on the theory
of its formation, as the horizontally plicated or folded vein found on
Laidlaw's hill in the Waverley district.*

The following description of this vein by J. Arthur Phillips,
of London, will convey some idea as to the appearance of this
peculiar vein : —

" The most remarkable deposit of auriferous quartz hitherto

* See a description and figures of them by Prof. Silliman in Silliman's
Journal [2], xxxviii, 104.

1865.] PERLEY — GOLD MINING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 207

found is undoubtedly that of Laidlaw's farm. The principal
workings are situated near the summit of a hill composed of hard
metamorphic shales, where openings have been made to the depth
of from four to five feet upon a nearly horizontal bed of corrugated
quartz of from eight to ten inches in thickness. This auriferous
deposit is entirely different from anything I had before seen, and,
when laid open, presents the appearance of trees or logs of wood
laid together side by side, after the manner of an American
corduroy road. From this circumstance the miners have applied
the name of ' barrel-quartz ' to the formation, which in many cases
presents an appearance not unlike a series of small casks laid to-
gether side by side and end to end."

" The rock covering this remarkable horizontal vein is exceed-
ingly hard ; but beneath it for some little distance it is softer, and
somewhat more fissile. The quartz itself is foliated parallel to the
lines of curvature, and exhibits a tendency to break in accordance
with these striae."

" The headings, and particularly the upper surface of the corru-
gations, are generally covered by a thin bark-like coating of brown
oxide of iron, which is frequently seen to enclose numerous
particles of coarse gold, and the quartz in the vicinity of this
oxide of iron is itself often highly auriferous."

Up to the present time this vein has not been. found further to
the eastward than the point of its first discovery, whilst it has
been traced some eight hundred feet to the west, in all cases being
overlaid with rock, and that again with earth, in some places to
the depth of ten feet. Under the impression that the stratum in
this locality either lay in its original horizontal plane of deposi-
tion, and had not been subjected to upheaval ; or that after bein^
uplifted it had become folded over into the position it occupies ;
or that it is the summit of an anticlinal axis ; it was judged that
other and parallel veins would be found at lower depths, under-
lying the vein exposed. Shafts were sunk to depths of over fifty
feet, and exploring drifts run out at that depth, but without
success; and it is doubted whether any other veins do exist.
This is all the more singular when it is stated, that on the oppo-
site side of Lake Thomas, a distance of only one quarter of a mile
to the westward, the strata are upheaved at an angle of 80° and
numerous veins of quartz are found, and afford profitable returns
on being worked.

The discovery of gold in the conglomerate at Gay's River has

208 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. June

given rise to much speculation as to its origin in that matrix.
The following description has been extracted from a letter from
Mr. C. Fred. Hartt, to Principal Dawson, on this subject, a copy
of which has been kindly famished by Mr. Hartt : —

" At Corbett's Mills the clay-slates are overlaid unconformably
by nearly horizontal beds of grey and red conglomerate grit, and
sandstone of the Lower Carboniferous, probably of the age of the
lower coal-measures. These are overlaid by a mass of drift of
variable thickness, and beds of stratified sand and clay. These
conglomerates are not Silurian, for they overlie unconformably the
rocks of that age, and they are totally unlike any Devonian rocks
occurring in the Province. Lying as they do on the margin of
the Carboniferous basin, they agree perfectly with the conglom-
erates and sandstones of the Lower Carboniferous group, for they
contain a few ill-preserved fossil-plants like those found in similar
Carboniferous beds.

" The under part of the bed of the conglomerate or grit, at its
junction with the slates, is highly aurifertras, the gold occurring
principally in the form of flattened scales, sometimes a quarter of
an inch in diameter, disseminated through the rock. Many frag-
ments of conglomerate have been found, not a cubic inch in size,
on the surfaces of which from twenty to thirty of the scales could
be observed with the naked eye. In the workings now being
carried on, levels are driven into the bank at the junction of the
two formations ; a foot or more of the under part of the conglom-
erate bed is removed, and washed in the common miner's cradle
and pan, and yields rich returns. Only one vein of quartz, one
quarter of an inch iu thickness, has as yet been discovered in the
slates under the Carboniferous beds ; it is highly auriferous, and
has a strike of about north and south, and dips to the eastward
about 70°."

No alluvial washings to any extent exist in the Province at the
present time. In 1861, the discovery of gold in the sands of the
sea-beaches of the peninsula known as the Ovens, in the County
of Lunenburg, created great excitement for a time; but this sub-
sided as the returns gradually grew poorer, and by the end of
the summer of that year the washings were exhausted. The gold
found is not to be ascribed to deposition during the drift-period,
but is probably derived from the cliffs which form the shores.
These cliffs are about fifty feet in height, and are composed of
bands of hard and soft laminated slates, with veins of auriferous

1865.] PERLEY— GOLD MINING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 209

quartz, and bands of common and arsenical pyrites intermixed.
The action of the elements in decomposing the pyrites, the effects
of the sea-waves in crumbling the soft slates, together with the
frosts of each succeeding year, all have a tendency to undermine
and destroy the coast ; and the debris thus formed is washed away
during heavy gales, and, after a lapse of time, again appears in
the shape of sand and gravel, together with t