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 IFrom the Quakterly Jouknal of the Geological Society /or 
 
 August 1874. J 
 
 On the Uppmu Coal-formation of Eastern Nova Scotia and Prince- 
 Edwaut) Island in its Relation to ths Permian. By J. W. Dawson, 
 LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., McGill College, Montreal. 
 
 This formation was first distinguished as o separate member of tho 
 Carboniferous system in Eastern Nova Scotia by the writer, in a 
 paper published in tho first volume of the * Journal of the Geological 
 Society,' in 1845 — and was defined to be an upper or overlying 
 series superimposed on the productive Coal-measures, and distin- 
 guished by the absence of thick coal-seams, by the prevalence of 
 red and grey sandstones and red shales, and by a peculiar group of 
 vegetable fossils. 
 
 Subsequently, in my paper on the South Joggins* and in my 'Aca- 
 dian Geology,' this formation was identified with the upper series of 
 the Joggins section, Divisions 1 & 2 of Sir William Logan's sectional 
 list, and with the Upper Barren Measures of the English Coal-fields 
 and the third or upper zone of Geinitz in the Coal-formation of 
 Saxony f. 
 
 Still more recently, in a * Report on the Geology of Prince Edward 
 Island,' 1871, I have referred to the upper part of the same forma- 
 tion the lower series of sandstones in Prince-Edward Island, not 
 previously separated from the overlying Trias t. 
 
 In Prince-Edward Island, however, where the highest beds of this 
 series occur, they become nearly horizontal, and are overlain appa- 
 rently in a conformable manner by the Red Sandstones of the Trias, 
 which differ very little from them in mineral character. It thus 
 happens that, but for the occurrence of some of the characteristic 
 Carboniferous plants in the Lower series and of a few equally cha- 
 racteristic Triassic forms in the Upper, it would bo difiicult to affirm 
 that we have to deal with two formations so different in age. 
 
 In connexion with this, the entire absence of the Permian system, 
 not only here but throughout Eastern America, raises the question 
 which I have already suggested in ' Acadian Geology,' whether the 
 conditions of the Upper Coal-formation may not have continued 
 longer here than in Europe, so that rocks in the former region con- 
 stituting an upward extension of the Carboniferous may synchronize 
 with part at least of the Permian. On the one hand, there seems 
 to be no stratigraphical break to separate these rocks from the 
 Middle Coal-formation of Nova Scotia ; and their fosoils are in the 
 main idei\tical. On the other hand, where the beds are so slightly 
 inclined that the Trias seems conformable to the Carboniferous, no 
 very marked break is to be expected ; and some of the fossils, as the 
 conifers of the genus Walcliia, and Catamites gigas, have a decided 
 Permian tendency. 
 
 * Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. x. t Acadian Geology, p. 149. 
 
 :|; ' Eepoi-t on tlie OJeologieal Structure of Prince-Edward Island,' by J. W. 
 Dawson, LL.D.&c, and 13. I. Harrington, B.A., Ph.D. 
 
210 
 
 J. W. DAWSON ON THE UPPER COAL- FORMATION OF 
 
 On the whole, in tho * Report ' above referred to, I declined to 
 separate the red beds of the Lower Series in Prince Edward Island 
 from tho Newer Coal-formation. Prof. Geinitz, however, in noticing 
 my Report*, and also in a private letter, expresses tho opinion that 
 the fossils have, as an assemblage, so much of a Permian (or Dyadic) 
 aspect that they may fairly be referred to that formation, more 
 particularly to its lower part, the Lower Rothlicgende. Attaching, 
 aa every one must, great weight to the judgment of Prof. Geinitz on 
 such a point, T have in recent visits to Nova Scotia reexamined tho 
 more instructive sections of the Newer Coal-formation on the eastern 
 coast of that province, with the view of ascertaining whether any 
 stratigraphical or palaeontological line can be found to divide the 
 Upper Coal-formation series of my former papers into two members 
 or to separate it from the Middle Coal-formation. The results of 
 this reexamination and their bearing on general geological questions 
 I propose to state shortly as follows : — 
 
 The Carboniferous district of Pictou county, extending for about 
 45 miles along the shores of Northumberland Strait, exposes in that 
 distance in coast- and river-sections the whole thickness of the Carbo- 
 niferous system, arranged in three synclinal forms (see Section, fig. 1). 
 The first or eastern synclinal (No. 1 in the Section), extending from 
 the older metamorphic rocks on the eastward and southward to a 
 line running nearly east and west through the town of New Glasgow, 
 consists entirely of the Lower Carboniferous, Millstone Grit, and 
 Middle Coal-formation, and contains all the known workable Coal- 
 measures of the county. Its northern boundary, the New-Glasgow 
 anticlinal, brings up a bed not recognized in the other Nova-Scotia 
 Coal-fields — the New-Glasgow Conglomerate, an immense mass, 
 believed in some parts to be 1600 feet in thicknessf, and containing 
 boulders 3 feet in diameter, with pebbles of all sizes, many of its 
 largest stones being composed of the hard brown or purplish sand- 
 stones of the Lower Carboniferous. Its stratigraphical position is 
 that of the upper part of the Millstone Grit or lower part of the 
 Middle Coal-formation ; and it is evidently an exceptional bed, re- 
 presenting an immense bar or beach of gravel and stones stretching 
 from the eastern end of the metamorphic chain of the Cobequid 
 Mountains across the Pictou Coal-field, and protecting those deep 
 swamps in which the Pictou main coal, 36 feet thick, and its black 
 shale roof, more than 1000 feet thick, were deposited. The theory 
 of this remarkable deposit, one of the most singular connected with 
 any Coal-field, is fully discussed in the second edition of my * Aca- 
 dian Geology.' I may merely remark that, facing as this bed does 
 the open sea stretching to the northward in the Coal-formation 
 period, it is not ur reasonable to suppose that it indicates the action 
 of heavy ice grounding on the shores behind which grew the Sigil- 
 ifam-forests of the Coal-swamps. The arrangement of the beds in 
 
 * Neues Jahrbuch, 1872. 
 
 t This is Sir W. Logan's estimate, and is warranted by the breadth which 
 the bed occupies in the Section ; but there are indications that it thins rapidly 
 toward the dip. 
 
K.VSTERN NOVA SCOTIA AND PRINCE-EDWARD ISLAND. 211 
 
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212 
 
 /. W. DAWSON ON TUE UPPER COAL-FOHMAXION Of 
 
 the late Mr. E. Hartley. ^ ^^- ^" ^^"«'^" ""^ 
 
 The second or middle synclinal CNo 2 in fhn q„ r \ i. , 
 
 The third synclinal (No 3 in the Sectien) extend, from Cnrribon 
 21/11™ ^!''■^•''^J■'°^«»'™'^ 'h'ough the CW 
 
 »nd ,nost centinuom seetLsf ™d ftth? e In I *t* f'".''.'.'' 
 
 1. Seclioii oa lite East River of Pkloit. 
 
 1. On tho river-section, below New-Glasgow brid..o tlio eonrfn 
 morate is succeeded in ascendin- order h? 7 „Zlf' "?"S'''- 
 limestone 20 feet thick, associa^S wl"sl"sto' fand'X k'S 
 
 nvor^^cuon, but on the flank of tho cong/eLrate cToT tw 
 
 2. Abovo this is a series of black shales and underclavs with 
 grey sandstones and some reddish and nurole shale, 3?1,-^ 
 of bituminous shale and coal. These bi*,o„t„i„i° " T"^' 
 
 dode,uha, Entomostracans and flX-i^mlins retS""'/?.'" 
 
 Th^SUsfoftt^'e^fraZT^rfcS "' "■" ""■'^'"■°^""^- 
 
 4. Above this is a second series of dark shales and under-clays, 
 
 witVtt'^ilSieS-'oS^^^^^^^^ H-stone „,ay be compared' 
 
 .hire Coal-rids in England^.^^e^ hSp cZ-fiS S.S'Kin.^""^''^"''- 
 
EAHTBRN NOVA SOOTIA AND PRINCE-KDWAKD ISLAND. 
 
 213 
 
 and bituminous shales associated with grey sand-stones and contain- 
 ing fossils similar to those of the series below. It especially abounds 
 in ftsh-acalcs and Oythere ; and several of the fishes are specifically 
 identical with those of the upper part of the Middle Coal-measures 
 as seen in the Bouthom trough, south of New Glasgow. These beds 
 are about 200 feet thick. Mr. H. Poole has described them in the 
 ' Canadian Naturalist' for August 1860. 
 
 5. The beds up to this point may be considered the equivalents 
 of the Middle Coal-measures or of the upper part of them, and are 
 now succeeded in ascending order by thick grey and reddish sand- 
 stones and reddish and grey shales, including, however, thin coaly bed 
 and underclays, and clays with nodular limestone. These may be 
 regarded as belonging to the Upper Coal-formation ; and their aggre- 
 gate thickness as far as Pictou Harbour may be 2000 feet. They 
 contain Oatamites, trunks of Dadoxylon materiarium, Lepidodendron, 
 Pecopteris arhoreseensf and Neuropteris. 
 
 The dip of the Conglomerate is high ; and that this is not alto- 
 gether due to false stratification is shown by the fact that to the 
 eastward of New Glasgow the limestone and the Coal-measure beds 
 rest on the Conglomerate at an angle of 45°; but this rapidly dimi- 
 nishes to 20°, and in the greater part of the section it is only from 
 8° to 6°. 
 
 The line of demarcation between the Middle and Upper Coal- 
 formations is not marked here by any great physical break, but merely 
 by the cessation of the characteristic beds of the Middle Coal-forma- 
 tion and the change to sandstones associated with red shales. 
 
 At first sight it might appear that as the beds north of the Con- 
 glomerate dip uniformly to the north, and mostly at slight angles, 
 and thdse south of its outcrop are much more disturbed, there might 
 be evidence of unconformabiUty. This, however, is due to a line of 
 fault extending along the outcrop of the Conglomerate, and to the 
 greater relative disturbance of the beds of the southern synclinal. 
 
 2. Section west of Carribou Harbour. 
 
 This Section exposes the south side of the third or northern syn- 
 clinal, and may be supposed to begin not far above the base of the 
 Upper Coal-formation. It extends in ascending order obliquely across 
 the synclinal for about ten miles along a coast in which the beds are 
 on the whole well exposed, with uniform dips of about N. 30° E. 
 magnetic, or nearly true north, and at an angle of about 10° ; and 
 no break or evidence of unconformability exists throughout the 
 series, which amounts here in thickness to about 2500 feet. 
 
 The lowest beds seen in this section at the mouth of Carribou 
 River are red and grey shales, and grey, red, and brown sandstones, 
 including a small bed of coal 5 inches thick, with /S^^waria-rootlets 
 in the underclay; and at Carribou Island, nearly in the line of strike, 
 there is a somewhat thicker bed of coal. The overlying series may 
 be described as consisting of indefinite alternations of shales, mostly 
 deep red, with sandstones, grey, red, and brown, the latter sometimes 
 
 Q. J. G. S. No. 119. R 
 
214 
 
 i. W. DAWSON ON XHK UPI'ER COAL-FORMATION OV 
 
 coarse and pobbly, and occasionally in thick massive bods. Several 
 of the beds of shale contain concretions of limestone, in one case 
 forming a nearly continuous bed, and with no fossils except a few 
 casts of a Cythere. In one of the lower beds of sandstone seen on 
 Carribou River there are concretions of grey copper, and foscil trunks 
 of trees penetrated by this mineral ; and some of the iossil trees 
 found in the sandstones on the coast are partly mineralized with 
 sulphate of baryta. 
 
 The only material difference in mineral character is that red beds 
 become more prevalent toward the upper part of the section, where 
 the general character of the beds is precisely that of the supposed 
 Upper Coal-formation rocks at Miminigash, Governor's Island, and 
 OuUas Point in Prince-Edward Island, and on the coast of New 
 Brunswick at Cape Jourimain*. 
 
 The following statements, reduced from my sectional lists, will 
 nerve to illustrate these points of mineral character. 
 
 Ill the whole section the sandstones, including the argillaceous 
 sandstones, are to the shales in the proportion of about two to one 
 in vertical thickness, and the grey and buff sandstones are about 
 equal to those which are brown and red, while the red and mottled 
 shales greatly preponderate over those which are grey. 
 
 In the lower half of the section, extending to the mouth of Toney 
 Eiver,. the groj sandstone, red sandstone, and shales (mostly red) are 
 in the proportions of 4|, 3, 6|. In the upper half of the section they 
 are in the proportions of 4^, 5|, 3 ; so that red sandstones become 
 decidedly more prevalent in the upper part, where there is also a 
 greater proportion of coarse pebbly sandstones and of light-red shale 
 with greenish stains. 
 
 If we compare this with the upper part of the Joggins section as 
 given in Sir William Logan's lists, we find a thickness of 2267 feet ; 
 and if we regard the Ragged-Reef Sandstones as equivalent to the 
 heavy sandstones at the base of the Pictou section, it is possible 
 that the upper part of the latter is not represented at the Joggins. 
 Taking the proportions of sandstones and shales at the latter place, 
 we find them to be grey sandstone 12, red and brown sandstone 1, 
 shale 10 ; so that here the proportions of sandstones to shales are 
 not very dissimilar to those in the lower part of the Pictou series, 
 but the grey sandstones are greatly more prevalent. Like those in 
 the upper part at Pictou, some of the upper beds at the Joggins are 
 coarse and pebbly, a character not observed, in either Coal-field, in 
 the sandstones of the Middle Coal-formation. 
 
 If, on the other hand, we turn to Prince-Edward Island, the 
 geological relations, and especially the fact that the outcrops on 
 Prince-Edward Island correspond with the extension of two of the 
 New-Brunswick Carboniferous anticlinals, would lead us to believe 
 that the upper Coal-formation beds seen at Gallas Point, and 
 amounting to about 800 feet in vertical thickness, must belong to 
 the upper part of the Pictou series, or may even reach some way 
 above its summit. Accordingly we find the proportions of the 
 * Beporl on Pvince-Eciward Island. 
 
 f n » 
 
V 
 
 KASTKRN NOVA SCOTIA AND PKINCE-KDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 215 
 
 
 i 
 
 several rocks to be grey sandstone 2, red and brown sandstone 4 , 
 shales 2, or a still greater proportion of red s.uidstoiie us compared 
 with Pictou. All this accords with the idea of a gradual increase 
 of red beds in approaching the summit of the formation, so that the 
 upper Coal-formation passes in its upper part into beds having more 
 the aspect of some parts of the Lower Dyos or Permian. No true 
 dolomite is present in these beds ; but Dr. Harrington's analyses 
 show that some of the thin beds of concretionary limestone are 
 highly magnesian, and the sandstones contain concretions of sul- 
 phate of copper, while the fossil trees which abound in them are 
 often mineralized with sulphates of copper and iron, and sulphate 
 of baryta. 
 
 Fossils of the Upper Coal-formation. 
 
 Fossils are by no means so abundant in the Upper as in the 
 Middle Qoal-formation, and they are chiefly vegetable. One of the 
 most characteristic plants is Bado.vylon materiarium, a species with 
 simple medullary rays, drifted trunks of which abound in a calcified 
 or silicified condition in the sandstones. The fine specimens or' 
 the i^ternbergia pith of this species which I described in 1857* 
 and 1871 1 arc from this formation. In the upper beds leafy 
 branches of the genus Wa'cJiia are common fossils, probably be- 
 longing to trees of the genus Dadoxyhn, the only pines which accom- 
 pany them. Calamites are also abundant, especially C. JSuckovii 
 and C. Crstii; and Calamoclendron approxtmattim is not uncommon, 
 while Calamites ffigas occurs rarely in the upper part. Anmdaria 
 sphenophylloides is a characteristic plant in the lower part, and Cor- 
 da'ites simplex is very abundant in some beds. Lepidodendra are rare, 
 and -represented principally by a species which is identical with, or 
 very near to L. pictoense. Among ferns the most abundant species 
 are Pecopteris arhorescens and a variety of Alethopteris nervosa. 
 Stiymariai and Sigillarice are much less frequent even in the lower 
 part than in the Middle Coal- formation, and have not yet been re- 
 cognized in the upper part. 
 
 The following tabular view may serve as a summary of the flora 
 of the Upper Coal-formation as at present known. The first two 
 columns represent the upper and lower parts of the Upper Coal- 
 formation in Nova Scotia ; and the third column represents that of 
 Prince-Edward Island. Of the species all but about ten, or more 
 than three fourths, have been found in the Middle Coal-formation 
 also. It will be observed that the number of species, which in all 
 is much smaller than that in the Middle Coal-formation, becomes 
 rapidly reduced in the upper part, and that there is a considerable 
 similarity between the upper series in Nova Scotia and that in 
 Prince-Edward Island. This is further noticeable in the great 
 prevalence of specimens of Dadoxylon materiurium, Walchia, Cor- 
 da'ites simplex, and Pecopteris arhorescens in this part of the forma- 
 tion in both districts. 
 
 * Proc. Amer. Association, 1857, Canad. Nat. vol, ii. 
 t Report on Prince-Edward Island. 
 
 b2 
 
2iU 
 
 J. W. DAW80N ON fUB UPPER COAL-FOBMATION OP 
 
 ••^ 
 
 
 Upper 
 
 Coal-forination. 
 
 tipocies. 
 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 Prince- 
 Edward 
 iHland. 
 
 Lower 
 part. 
 
 Upper 
 part. 
 
 1. Dadoxylon materiariuin, Dawn 
 
 2. Walchia (AraucaritoB) gracilis, Daws 
 
 T .( - ..-.^ rnhiifltji DtlWS ....... ,,,,., 
 
 > 
 
 « 
 
 * 
 
 He 
 
 tt 
 # 
 
 # 
 # 
 
 * 
 # 
 
 # 
 # 
 
 1 
 
 « 
 
 * 
 
 « 
 * 
 
 J. Rifvillnriii ni*i 1^.^1111.111 lifOHflil 
 
 f\ SlficrninrifL ilpdirlnH lifOflOfl ••... 
 
 ft Pfilniiiit'pn Hiir*knvii liroiintl 
 
 7. CiBtii, Brongn 
 
 H rridin llrOUOfl 
 
 
 10. Calamodendroii approximatuin, Brongn. . 
 
 11. Annuiariiv Hphonopliylloidos, Zenker 
 
 l»> lonfrit'olin lironan .. 
 
 13. Sphenopliylluni oniargiimtum, Brongn.,., 
 
 lit Innfrirnliiini (rfihiifj 
 
 
 1ft nrti^rrti^livlln frOnT). 
 
 17 .__ ftmhriiifn fifSO 
 
 1R NAiirnntj>piH flpxuOBa Urondti 
 
 10 . rnrdatii Jlronuti ,. 
 
 ofk Vii^tnpnnli villi, lirovftn 
 
 
 
 23 ftnfirustifolia?, ^row^W 
 
 24, Odontopteris Sclilotheimii, Brongn 
 
 2ii SnhfinmitfiriB Intior. Daws 
 
 o« n-latji? Urofian .... ....... 
 
 97 AlnfVinnteris nervosa. Bronon 
 
 2ft Serlii Bronan 
 
 ^'O - ii/*iitA lironon ... . ..x..i.i 
 
 l\r\ 'PAPrtnfAriR arV*orftflf!flnft liTOTlQTt 
 
 ^1 — . nhhrnvintn, l^TOVnti, 
 
 fl9 — iinit.n. Brovcin. , 
 
 Q'i . rirridn T)(HliS 
 
 JM- oreonteroides. Bronan 
 
 35. Bucklandi?, Brongn., or FMasei- 
 
 lionis, Lcsq 
 
 Sfi T^piriApfin. n-fipnnprt.i. DaWS 
 
 
 'AR Popflai'tes RimDlex. Daws 
 
 89 Lenidodendron Dictoense, Daws 
 
 40 . iinrlulfttum Stemh . , .... 
 
 41 Tjfiniflonhlnios narvuB. /^flM/s 
 
 4.9 Lnnidonhvlluni. ^varioUi! BD.) 
 
 4n Pinmilaria .• •.. 
 
 44, Trigonocarpum Nceggerathii, Brongn. . . 
 
 45. sp 
 
 4fi T?,VinVif1nnnpnii9 insiffnia Daws 
 
 47 Anf.VinlitViRH snuamoBUB. Daws 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 There is unfortunately no recognized Permian in Eastern America 
 wyierewith to compare the fossils of the upper member of the Newer 
 Coal-formation ; but inasmuch as the Coal-formation of Nova 
 
*^ 
 
 EABTKKN MOVA bCOtU AND I'llINCK-KDWABD IHLAND. 
 
 217 
 
 •^ 
 
 f 
 
 Scotia 18, UH I huvo olsowhoro Hhown, more nearly allied in ita 
 fossils to that of Europe than to that of the interior of North 
 America ; and as the Permian flora consists to a greot extent uf 
 survivors from the Cool-forniution, it will not be unfair to compare 
 the above list with the species in Ocinitz's and Ooppert's Memoirs 
 on the European Permian. 
 
 The very abundant Dado.vi/lun materiarium is a tree of the same 
 typo with several species found in the European Permian, as for 
 instance D. aaxonkum, Reich., and D. Hchrollianum, Giipp. WaU 
 chia is also regarded as characteristic of the European Dyas ; but 
 as it is not imj)robablo that it represents merely leafy branches 
 of Dadoxylon, it belongs to the Carboniferous as well. One of our 
 species, however, is very near to W. pinlformia of the Dyas. 
 Galamitea arenaceus, whether or not an internal axis of Equiaetites, 
 is Dyadic in Europe ; and some of my specimens may well belong to 
 C. hioderma of the European Permian. 0. yigas is a decidedly 
 and peculiarly Permian species. C. Sucl'ovii and C. Cistn are 
 Permian as well as Carboniferous in Europe, as is also Cnlamoden- 
 dron appro.vimatum. Annularia longifolia is Permian as well as 
 Carboniferous. Neuropteris rarinet'vis is peculiarly American and 
 very widely distributed ; but it is questionable if some of its larger- 
 leaved varieties are not identical with European forms known by 
 other names. Neuropteris Jleamosa, N. cordata, and N. auriculata, 
 as well as Pecopteris (Cyathettes) arborescens, P. oreopteroidea, and 
 P. abhrevia^a are both Carboniferous and Permian ; and the species 
 which I have compared doubtfully with P. BacMandi, and with P. 
 Massilionia of Lesquereux, has strong points of afRnity with P. 
 denaifoUus of Gdppert. Cordaitea aimpleoo is a peculiar American 
 species, but nearly allied, according to Geinitz, to his C. lioesalerianus 
 from the Lower Dyas. Finally Geinitz thinks the Trigonocarpum 
 from Prince-Edward Island to be the same with his Bhabdocurpva 
 dyadkua. 
 
 We thus have an undoubted paloeontological rec^mblance between 
 the upward extension of the Carboniferous in Nova Scotia and 
 Prince-Edward Island and the Permian of Europe, though in the 
 former regions no stratigraphical break enables us to establish on 
 that ground any well-marked line of division. Taking into con- 
 sideration the great thickness of the Carboniferous in Nova Si*.otia 
 and the large development of this Upper Permo-Carboriiferous 
 member, it would not be surprising that in this last we may have 
 a chronological equivalent of part at least of the European Permian. 
 
 We have no evidence as to age derivable from marine shells. 
 The highest marine limestone known to me, a bed near Wallace 
 Harbour, which I described many years ago in the Journal of this 
 Society *, belongs to the base of the Newer Coal-formation, and 
 contains Productua cora, P. aemireticulatua, and Avictdopecten 
 aimplex, all characteristic Lower Carboniferoiis forms. 
 
 In Prince-Edward Island the Upper Carboniferous and the Trias 
 are appparently conformable, and may almost be said to pass into 
 * ScD also 'Acadian Geology,' p. 214, 2nd edition. 
 
218 
 
 J. W. DAWSON ON THE UPPEK COAL-FOBMATION OF 
 
 » 
 % 
 
 euch other, though in Nova Scotia the Tria?. rests unconformably 
 on the Carboniferous. T believe, however, that this apparent 
 conformity in Prinoe-Edward Island, and the resemblance of the 
 two serie" in mineral characters, arises from the almost horizontal 
 position of the Carboniferous beds, and from the circumstance 
 that the Trias has been in part formed from their waste. The 
 Triassic fossils, though few, are of species quite distinct from those of 
 the Carboniferous. Further details as to the relations of these 
 formations in Prince-Edward Island will be found in my Report on 
 that island. 
 
 To sum up, it may be said that the beds which overlie the Coal- 
 field of Pictou and extend into Prince-Edward Island, and which 
 constitute the upper part of the Upper Coal- formation, have such 
 strong points of resemblance to the lower part of the European- 
 Permian, both in their mineral character and organic remains, that 
 they may fairly bo named Permo-Carboniferous, a name already 
 applied to certain marine limestones in the West, in which the 
 Carboniferous graduates upward iito the Permian. They may 
 also be held to some extent to bridge over the gap which in Eastern 
 America separates the Carboniferous from the Trias. 
 
 I may add that in Nova Scotia the Lower Carboniferous beds are 
 usually more hardened and altered than those of the Middle Coal- 
 formation, and the latter more than thote of the Tipper Coal-forma- 
 tion. Moreover there are instances in Nova Scotia of local uncon- 
 formability of the Lower Carboniferous beds ; and the New -Glasgow 
 conglomerate affords evidence of extensive denudation of the Lower 
 Carboniferous before the deposition of the productive Coal-measures. 
 These facts indicate the long duration of the Carboniferous period 
 and the extent of the physical changes which it included ; and it is 
 evident that, had unconformability or extensive local denudation 
 occurred somewhat higher in the system, it might have been 
 regarded as forming the base of an overlying Permian series. 
 
 1 have discussed somewhat fully the relations of the flora of the 
 Lower Carboniferous to those of the Devonian on the one hand, and 
 of the Upper Members of the Carboniferous on the other, in a ' Report 
 on the Fossil Plants of the Lower Carboniferous and Millstone Grit,' 
 recently published by the Geological Survey of Canada*. I hope 
 that I may be ablo at some future time to describe and ill.-.?trate 
 fully the plants of the Upper Coal-formation in the same manner. 
 
 DiscrssiON. 
 
 Prof, Ramsay agreed with the author in thinking that these 
 Upper Carboniferous rocks represented the Permian, and that there 
 is a gradual passage from the Carboniferous to the PtTmian. In 
 North Staffordshire there is some evidence of this passage, but not 
 in other parts of England. Mr. Binney had argued that the Per- 
 mian is the uppermost part of the CarbonifcroitS series ; but this is 
 not true in the English area, although it is true if we consider the 
 
 * Montreal, 187:3. 
 
EASTERN NOVA SCOTlA AND PRINCE-EDWARD ISLAND. 
 
 219 
 
 glob« in general. The Coal-measures are grey, black, and blue ; but 
 in the upper portion they sometimes change to a red tint. During 
 the Coal-period we have evidence of estuarine conditions ; but subse- 
 quently the access of the sea was cut off, and the Permian rocks were 
 formed in vast inland lakes. 
 
 Prof. Hughes remarked that the group referred to by Principal 
 Dawson under the head of Permo-Carboniferous could not be con- 
 sidered as in any way proving a passage from Carboniferous to Per- 
 mian, seeing that the Permian was altogether wanting in Eastern 
 America, unless the fossils approached those of undoubted Permian 
 in Europe. But he pointed out that many large portions of the so- 
 called Permian of Europe had been already proved to be only stained 
 Carboniferous. The fossil lists were founded on a wrong classifi- 
 cation of the rocks, which had not yet been set right. Believing, 
 therefore, that the Permian system must be broken up and part 
 given back to the Lower New Eed and Magnesian Limestone series, 
 previously so weU established, and part to the Upper Carboniferous, 
 he was inclined to refer the Permo-Carboniferous of Principal Daw- 
 son to the latter, the difference in the plants being only such as 
 might reasonably be expected between the newer and older portions 
 of a series representing immense lapse of time and changing condi- 
 tions. Principal Dawson had shown that the beds in question were 
 similar in almost all but colour, and conformable to the underlying 
 undoubted Carboniferous. If, therefore, they were higher than any 
 Carboniferous beds of England, they must be synchronous with the 
 lower part of the unrepresented time between the Carboniferous and 
 so-called Permian ; but being more closely connected with the lower 
 rocks, he saw no necessity in the present state of our knowledge for 
 such a term as Permo-Carboniferous. 
 
 Prof. Ramsay could not agree with Prof. Hughes in his opinion 
 as to the value of the term Permian. The staining of rocks occurs 
 in two ways — namely, by infiltration from above through overlying 
 beds, and by direct depositioii. Silurian rocks are often stained in 
 the former manner. 
 
 Mr. Evans remarked that this paper had given rise to an inter- 
 esang discussion. The fact of the two deposits being conformable 
 in one place and unconformable in another, did not, in his opinion, 
 neces:?arily convert them into one system. He thought there were 
 symptoms that the Permian would eventually be regarded as Upper 
 Carboniferous. He believed that there was a third mode in which 
 rocks were stained— namely, by the oxidation of iron already existing 
 in the beds.