/^^w ■4^p^''' .>- ••r:^ .^. *-#>^^" H%f MX. *-"• ^'^^■;; ri^ h*^ . *-^. *^>\'^^: :^^' •*.*/ 1^-N, > . ■Nw^? V^: '^^^ ^ rlor- 11 S-d THE CANADIAN NATURALIST AND ^uartevtg f ouvwat of ,f dcwte. WITH THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL: B. J. HARRINGTON, B. A., Fh. D., Editor. J. T. DONALD, B. A., - Assistant-Editor. NEW SERIES— Vol. 9. MONTREAL : DAWSON BROTHERS, Nos. 159 and 161 ST. JAMES STREET. S^ The Editors of this Journal are responsible only for such communications as bear their names or initials. Entered, according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year One thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, by Dawson Brothers, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. CONTENTS. PAGE Remarks on recent papers on the Geology of Nova Scotia. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D.,F.R.S 1 The Stratigraphy of the Quebec Group and the older Crystalline Rocks of Canada. By Alfred R. C. Selwyn, F.R,S., F.G.S 17 Notes on the Glaciation of British Colurabia. By George M. Dawson. D.S., As. R.S.M 32 On some points in Lithology. By Prof. James D. Dana 40 Notes on Canadian Ferns. By John B, Goode 49 Notes on Elephant remains from Washington Territory. By J. T. Donald, B.A 53 Natural History Society proceedings — . 56 The Mound Builders of the West 60 Traces of au early race in Japan 62 A gigantic Conularia of the Niagara group of Hamilton. Ont 62 Development of Filaria sanguinis hominis, and the Mosquito considered as a nurse 63 On the origin of some American Indian tribes. By Rev. .John Campbell, M.A 65 On some points in Lithology. By Prof. James D. Dana 80 Remarks on Canadian Stratigraphy. By Thomas Macfarlane 91 A Canadian Pterygotus. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D, F.R..S 103 Mobius on Eozdon Canadense. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S 105 On the water su|)ply of Montreal and its suburbs. By .J. Baker Edwards, Ph.D.. D.C.L..F.C.S 116 Natural History Society proceedings 124 Some remarks on Inter-glacial epochs In reference to faina and flora exist- ing at the pret^ent day in the Northern hemisphere. By H. W. Fielden, F.G.S 126 The Rocky Mountain Locust 128 Sketches of the past and present condition of the Indians of Canada. By George M. Dawson. D.S., As. R.S.M 129 Some observations on the MenohranchuH maculatus. By Henry Montgomery, M.A 160 Natural History Society proceedings 164 Extract from the proceedings of the London Geological Society 189 Convoluta Schultzii 190 Simple process for the conversion of iron into steel 191 Geological discovery at Charing Cross 191 A new ehemieal di.^covery 192 On the origin of some American Indian tribes. By Rev. John Campbell, MA 193 Pre-glacial formation of the beds ot the great American lakes. By Prof. E. W. Chiypole. B.A.,B.Se 213 I t ii. CONTENTS. PAGE Notes on recent controversies respecting Eozoon Canadense. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R S 228 Natural History Society proceedings 241 Notes on a few Canadia:i rocks and minerals. By B. J. Harrington, B.A., Ph.D 242 The history of some Pre-(/ambrian rocks in Europe and America. By T. Sterry Hunt, LL.D., F.R.S 257 Hittites in America. By Rev. John Campbell, M.A 275 Notes on some Canadian Ferns. By John B. Goods 297 The Helderberg Rocks of St. Helen's Island. By J. T. Donald. B.A 302 Notes on Chrome Grarnet, Pj-rrhotite, and Titaniferous iron ore. By B. J, Harrington, B.A., Ph.D 305 Natural History Society proceedings 310 Meteorological abstract for the year 1879 316 Rain and snow fall during 1879 — 317 The functions of Chlorophyll ..... 318 Note on the distribution of some of the more important trees of British Co- lumbia. By George M. Dawson, D.S., As. R.S.M 321 New facts respecting the geological relations and fossil remains of the Silu- rian ores of Pictou. Nova Scotia. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D.. F.R.S 332 Hittites in America. By Rev. John Campbell. M.A 345 Tidal erosion in the Bay of Fundy. By G. F. Matthew. M. A., F.G.S 368 Natural History Society proceedings 373 Address of Prof. G. F. Barker on ."ome modern aspects of the life question, before the American Association for the Advancement of Science 385 Prof. Alex. Agassiz on Paleontological and Fmbryological development 391 The Photophone. By Prof. A. G. Bell 397 The chemical composition and nutritive values of fish 407 Baking powder? and their adulterants. By J. T. Donald, B.A 410 Natural selection and the ink-gland of dibranchiate cephalopods. By S. P. Robins, LL.D 414 American Geography. By Lieut. -General Sir J. H. Lefroy, C.B., F.R.S 420 Geological notes, or abstracts of recent papers. By T. Sterry Hunt, LL.D., F.R.S 429 A peculiar mineral of the Scapolite family. By Chas. Upham Shepard 437 Natural History Society proceedings 439 Report of cabinet-keeper of Natural History Society 442 Sketch of Geology of British Columbia 445 Abstract of notes by Principal Dawson on fossil plants collected by Mr. Sel- wj-n, F.R.S.. in the lignite tertiary formation at Roches Percees, Souris River, Manitoba 447 Revision of the land snails of the Paleozoic era, with descriptions of new species. By J. W.Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S 449 X Nole on fossils from the red sandstone system of Prince Edward Island. By Mr. F. Bain 463 ^he Sequoias or giant trees of California. By Prof. 0. Heer — 465 The horned Corydalis. By Rev. T. W.Fyles 470 Natural History Society proceedings 472 On New Erian (Devonian) Plants. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S 475 Index *77 V THE CANADIAN NATURALIST AND ^imvtetly loutnal of M^iut REMARKS ON RECENT PAPERS ON THE GEOLOGY OF NOVA SCOTIA. (From a Paper communicated to the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science, by J. \V. Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., &c.) The following remarks have reference to two papers by the Rev. D. Honeyman, D.C.L., Curator of the Provincial Museum, Halifax, published in the Transactions of the Nova Scotian In- stitute of Natural Science, Vol. iv., Part iv., 1878. These papers are respectively entitled — " Pre carboniferous Formations of Annapolis and King's Counties," and '' Nova Scotian Geology, Pre-carboniferous, Lower Carboniferous, &c." Special reference will be made to the following points: (1.) The age assigned by Dr. H. to the fossiliferous rocks of Nictaux and New Canaan and their relation to the intrusive granites of the region. (2.) The Geology of the Pre-carboniferous Rocks of the Eastern part of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. 1. Nictaux and New CaiNaan. In the first of the papers above referred to, Dr. H. very freely criticises my conclusions respecting the age of the rocks of these localities, but does not take the trouble to state what these con- clusions are, so that a reader unacquainted with the facts might take it for granted that all these rocks had been referred to the Devonian system, or that no definite idea of their age had pre- viously been given. For this reason I shall take the liberty to quote from a paper on the Silurian and Devonian Rocks of Nova Scotia (April, 1860), my actual results, which are given in nearly the same form in Acadian Geology, 2nd edition, 1868. I may premise that these results were worked out at a time when Vol. IX. A No. K 2 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. there were no railways or county maps to assist the explorer, and when the aids in determination of fossils were much less accessible than at present ; and also that I have added some explanatory notes, which are included iu brackets. " The oldest fossiliferous beds seen (at New Canaan) are the fine fawn-coloured and gray clay slates of Beech Hill, in which Dr. Webster, many years since, found a beautiful Dictyonema^ the only fossil they have hitherto afforded. It is a new species, closely allied to D. retlformis and D. gracilis of Hall, and will be described by that palseontologist under the name of i). Wehsteri, in honour of its discoverer. In the mean time I may merely state that it is most readily characterised by the cellules, which are very distinctly marked in the manner of Grapfolithus.^^ " The Dictyonema slates of Beech Hill are of great thickness, but have in their upper part some hard and coarse beds. They are succeeded to the south by a great series of dark coloured coarse slates, often micaceous, and in some places constituting a slate coDgloraerate, containing small fragments of older slates, and occasionally pebbles of a gray vesicular rock, apparently a trachyte. In some parts of this series there are bands of a coarso laminated magnesian and ferruginous limestone, containing fossils which, though much distorted, are in parts still distinguishable. They consist of joints of crinoids, casts of brachiopodous shells, trilobites and corals. Among the latter are two species of ^s^ro- cerium, not distinguishable from A. pi/ri/orme and venustum of the Niagara group, and a Heliolites allied to //. elegaiis, if not a variety of this species.-!^ On the evidence of tliese fossils and the more obscure remafns associated with them. Prof. Hall re- gards these beds as equivalents of the Niagara formation of the New York 2;eolo2;ists, the Wenlock of Murchison. Their g-eneral strike is N. E. and S. W. ; and to the southward, or in the pro- bable direction of the dip, they are succeeded, about six miles from Beech Hill, by granite. They have in general a slaty structure coinciding with the strike but not with the dip of the beds, and this condition is very prevalent throughout this inland metamorphic district, where also the principal mineral veins usually run with the strike. The beds just described run with S. W. strike for a considerable distance, and are succeeded in ascending order by those next to be described." * [These corals fortunately show their structure very distiuctlT' when cut and polished, though from the hardness of the rock their external forms are obscure.] No. 1.] DAWSON — GEOLOGY OP NOVA SCOTIA. 3 ** At Nictaux, 20 miles westward of New Canaan, the first old rocks that are seen to emerge from beneath the New Red Sand- stone of the low country, are fine-grained slates, which I believe to be a continuation of the Dictyonema slates of Beech Hill. Their strike is N. 30 to 60 E., and their dip to the S. E. at an angle of 72°. Interstratified with these are hard and coarse beds, some of them having a trappean aspect. In following these rocks to the S.E., or in ascending order, they assume the aspect of the New Canaan beds ; but I could find no fossils except in loose pieces of coarse limestone, and these have the aspect rather of the Arisaig series than of that of New Canaan. In these, and in some specimens recently obtained by Mr. Hartt, I observe Orthoceras elegantidum, Bucania trilobita, Coniulites Jlexuosus, Sjnrifer rugcecosta ? and apparently Chonefes JVova-scotica, with a large OrtJioceras, and several other shells not as yet seen else- where. These fossils appear to indicate that there is in this region a continuance of some of the Upper Arisaig species nearly to the base of the Devonian rocks next to be noticed." [Some Lamellibranchiate and G-astropod shells in the limestone above referred to, led me to infer that some member of the Upper Silurian series not seen at Arisaig may occur here, and may re- present the Salina formation of the American geologists, just as distinct Niagara fossils, not seen at Arisaig, occur in New Canaan.) "After a space of nearly a mile, which may represent a great thickness of unseen beds, we reach a band of highly fossiliferous peroxide of iron, with dark coloured coarse slates, dipping S.30° E. at a very high angle. The iron ore is from 3 to 4|- feet in thickness, and resembles that of the P]ast River of Pictou, except in containing less silicious matter. The fossils of this ironstone and the accompanying beds, so far as they can be identified, are ^piri'fer arenosus,'^ Stropliodonta magnijica, Atri/pa nnguiformis * There is in tlie iron ore and associated beds, another and smaller Spirifer^ as yet not identified with any described species, but eminently characteristic of the Nictaux deposits. It is usually seen only in the state of casts, and often strangely distorted by the slaty structure of the beds. The specimens least distorted may be described as follows : General form, semi-circular tending to semi-oval, convexity moderate ; hinge line about equal to width of shell ; a rounded mesial sinus and elevation with about ten [to twelve] sub-angular plications on each side ; a few sharp growth ridges at the margin of the larger valves. Average diameter about one inch; mesial siuus equal in width to about three plications. I shall call this specit^s, in the meantime, S. Nictavensis." [It is nearly allied to the well-known ;Spiri/er vtucro- tiatus of the Hamilton group.] 4 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix, [now known as Orthis hipparioni/x], Strophomena depressa [now usually known as S. rhomboidalis^, and species of ^yicwZa, Bellerophon, Favosites, Zaphrentis, &c. These Prof. Hall com- pares with the fauna of the Oriskany sandstone ; and they seem to give indubitable testimony that the Nictaux iron ore is of Lower Devonian age. " To the southward of the ore, the country exhibits a succes- sion of ridges of slate holding similar fossils, and probably repre- sentino; a thick series of Devonian beds, though it is quite possible that some of them may be repeated by faults or folds. Farther to the south these slates are associated with bands of crystalline greenstone and quartz rock, and arc then interrupted by a great mass of white granite, which extends far into the interior and separates these beds from the similar, but non-fossiliferous rocks on the inner side of the metamorphic band of the Atlantic coast. The Devonian beds appear to dip into the granite, which is in- trusive and alters the slates near the junction into gneissoid rock holding garnets. The granite sends veins into the slates, and near the junction contains numerous angular fragments of altered Elate. " Westward of the Nictaux River, the granite abruptly crosses the line of strike of the slates, and extends quite to their northern border, cutting them off in the manner of a huge dyke, from their continuation about ten miles further westward. The beds of slate in running against this great dyke of granite, change in strike from south-west to west, near the junction, and become slightly contorted and altered into gneiss, and filled with granite veins ; but in some places they retain trace= of their fossils to within 200 yards of the granite. The intrusion of this great mass of granite without material disturbance of the strike of the slates, conveys the impression that it has melted quietly through the stratified deposits, or that these have been locally crystallised into granite 171 situ. *' At Moose River, the iron ore and its associated beds recur on the western side of the granite before mentioned, but in a state of greater metamorphism than at Nictaux. The iron is here in the state of magnetic ore, but still holds fossil shells of the same species with those of Nictaux. ** On Bear River, near the bridge by which the main road crosses it, beds equivalent to those of Nictaux occur with a pro- fusion of fossils. The iron ore is not seen, but there are highly No. 1.] DAWSON — GEOLOGY OF NOVA SCOTIA. 5 fcssiliferous slates and coarse arenaceous limestone, and a bed of gray sandstone with numerous indistinct impressions apparently of plants. In addition to several of the fossils found atNictaux, these beds afford Tentaculites^ an Atrypa, apparently identical with an undescribed species very characteristic of the Devonian sandstones of Gaspe [this is now known as Leptocoelia JiabelHtes]^ and a coral which Mr. Billings identifies with the Pleurodicfji/um prohlematicum, Goldfuss, a form which occurs in the Lower De- vonian in England, and on the continent of Europe." It will thus be seen that I recognized, on the evidence of strati- graphy and fossils, in the district extending from New Canaan to Bear River, the following groups of rocks : — 1. The Niagara series, the Wenlock of English geologists, re- presented by the Dictyouema shales and the coral-bearing rocks of New Canaan. This group may be called either Middle or Upper Silurian, according to different classifications in use. 2. The Upper Arisaig series (of my arrangement, not of that subsequently advocated by Dr. H.) This is the equivalent of the Lower Helderberg series of America, the Ludlow of England, and is the upper member of the Upper Silurian as held at that time. 3. The Oribkany series, represented by iron ores, sandstones or slates. At that time the Oriskany was regarded by all as Lower Devonian. More recently some American geologists have proposed to place it in the upper part of the Upper Silurian, above the Lower Helderberg, with which its fossils have some afl&nity. If I understand Dr. H,, he admits the ages which I have assigned to Nos. 1 and 2 above mentioned, though, after his usual manner, without giving the slightest credit for the original dis- covery of the facts, but he assigns No. 3 to the horizon of the Medina sandstone, a formation older than the Niagara, and re- garded as an equivalent of the Mayhill sandstone (Llandovery) of Great Britain. The first reason assigned for this opinion is one based on mineral character, "I at once recognized the May- hill sandstone," &c. On this I may merely remark that any geologist who would profess to distinguish at sight the Oriskany sandstone from the Medina sandstone would be more character- ised by boldness than prudence. The stratigraphy of the district is confessedly somewhat obscure, and I fail to find in Dr. H.'s paper any new light tending to the inversion of the section as it 6 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Voi. ix. was understood by me many years ago. The fossils must in this matter furnisli the most reliable information, and in this depart- ment unfortunately Dr. H. merely gives lists of genera, most of which have a very wide range, and which prove nothing, unless the species can be determined with accuracy. In this, however, there is some difficulty. The specimens are usually merely casts, they are much distorted, and from the hardness of the rocks they can usually be procured only in fragments. When in the region, I collected very diligently, and have since carefully Etudied my collections, and compared them with fossils of various portions of the Upper Silurian and Devonian ; but though I have arrived at much more definite determinations than those given by Dr. H., 1 have hesitated to publish detailed lists. It is now necessary, however, to go into details, and I trust I can show to the satisfaction not only of pala3ontologists but to that of any student who possesses a geological text-book, that Dr. H.'s con- clusions on this subject are wholly illusory. The following list refers to my collections from the Nictaux ore and the neighbouring beds, and from Moose River and Bear River, on approximately the same horizon : — 1. Zaplirentis, a large species with deep calyx ; but a cask merely, and therefore not determinable specifically. — Nictaux. 2. Favosites. General form and size of cells similar to those of F. cei-vicornis, Ed. and Haime; tabulae continuous and very close. — Nictaux and Bear River. 3. Pleurodicti/um prohlcmaticum, Goldfuss. Cast of a large specimen. — Bear River. 4. Stenoj)ora. A branching species with very fine cells. [Of the above corals No. 3 is characteristically Devonian. The others are found in association both in the Upper Silurian and Devonian.] 5. Stroplwdonta magnijica, Hall. A large Strophodonta, rc- Bembling, as far as the specimens admit comparison, the above species, characteristic of the Oriskany. — Nictaux and Bear River. Dr. H. somewhat disingenuously writes of Stroplwdonta as if it were a characteristically Clinton genus. In point of fact, of 56 species of this genus catalogued by Miller in his American Palae- ozoic fossils, 43 are found in the Oriskany and overlying forma- tions, and only three as low as the Clinton and Niagara, while no species whatever is known in the Medina. No. 1.] DAWSON— GEOLOGY OP NOVA SCOTIA. - 7 6. Strophomena rhomhoidalis. Fmgments from Nictaiix. 7. Spirifer arenosus, Hall. This characteristically Oriskany epecies is so abundaot at Nictaux, that though the specimens are imperfect, I think its recognition certain. It is found also at Bear River. 8. Spirifer arrectus, Hall, or allied, also an Oriskany species. — Nictaux. 9. Spirifer Nictavensis. This is the most abundant species in the Nictaux ore, some specimens of which are crowded with it, and it is also found at Bear River. It is very nearly allied to the well known Spirifer mucronafus of the Devonian. It is perhaps still nearer to S. Ga.yjensis of Billings from the Gasp^ sandstone ; and no Spirifers of this type are known to extend so low as the Medina. — Nictaux and Bear River. 10. Orthis hipparionyx, Hall. A characteristic Oriskany shell, apparently represented by casts of the interior. — Nictaux. 11. Leptocelia flaheUites, Hall. This littlo >hell is abundant at the base of the Devonian in Gaspe, and the same or a very similar species is found at Nictaux and Bear River. 12. RenfeUitria ovoides, Eaton. A very characteristic Lower Devonian species at Gaspe and elsewhere. — Nictaux. 13. Megnmhonia, very near to the Oriskany species M. lamel- losa, Hall. — Nictaux. 14. Avicula, a large species of the type of the Oriskany species A. textilis, but too imperfect for determination. — Nictaux. 15. Tentacidites, not distinguishable from T. elongatus, Hall, of the Lower Helderberg. — Bear River. 16. I group together a Plati/ceras very near to an Oriskany species, a Belleroplion and an Orthoceras, found at Nictaux. Fragments in my collection indicate several other species; but the above I hold to be amply sufficient to prove that the beds in which they occur are approximately of the age of the Oriskany sandstone, and cannot possibly be so old as the Clinton formation. I may notice in farther evidence of the facts stated above, that slates very near to 'the ore-bed hold Upper Arisaig (Helderberg) specie-^, so that there appears to be a passage from the Lower Helderberg to the Oriskany, which would be quite natural ; whereas the juxtaposition of Lower Helderberg and Medina fossils could take place only by extensive faulting or the absence of all the intermediate formations. It is also to be observed 8 ' THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. that independently of the determination of species, the whole aspect of the fauna of the Nictaux iron bed, in its abundance of large ribbed spirifers, of large strophomenoid shells, and of great lamellibranchiate species, is different from that of the Medina, and on the contrary reminds an observer forcibly of the Oriskany sandstone of Gaspd and of western Canada. I shall show in the sequel that it is also distinct from that of the Upper Silurian red hematite of Pictou. It should; however, be distinctly understood, that, in so far as I have held Devonian rocks to exist at Nictaux and Bear River, the upward extension of such rocks is limited to the Oriskany sandstone, and should any one hold that this formation may be included in the Upper Silurian, I have no objection; though I think that on physical grounds and by virtue of its close relation- ship with the overlying formations, it has quite as good claims to be correlated with the Lower Devonian. The question which has been raised respecting the age of the granite, can only be discussed profitably on the ground. My notes of many years ago assure me, however, that I have traced the Lower Devonian beds into contact with the granite in such circumstances as prove the later date of the latter, and there are now in my collections specimens showing the gradations from the fossiliferous to the altered strata, includins: some which hold Oriskany fossils, but have assumed an incipient gneissic struc- ture, and were penetrated by granite veins. It is further to be observed that the age assigned by me to these granites accords with the fact that in Nova Scotix the formations older than the Carboniferons are more or 'less in an altered and disturbed con- dition, and that granite debris does not occur as a prominent ingredient in our formations till the Lower Carboniferous a":e. In the district in question, the thick beds of granitic sandstone in the Lower Carboniferous near Wolfville and Lower Horton, afford a good illustration. I hope that this interesting district may soon be surveyed and mapped by the officers of the Geolo- gical Survey, when we may expect to have more light thrown on this subject. In the meantime I would caution geologists against accepting the somewhat crude deductions of the paper referred to, more especially as this question affects our conclusions as to the age of the auriferous veins of the Atlantic coast, and as to the correlation of the intrusive granites of Nova Scotia with those of other parts of Eastern America. no. 1.] dawson — geology of nova scotia. 9 2. Pre-carboniferous Rocks of Eastern Nova Scotia. The second paper, cabove referred to, is of a character so auto- biographical, contains so little that is new in a scientific point of view, and deals so unceremoniously with the reputations of nearly all who have worked in the geology of Nova Scotia, that it is difficult to criticise it without being personal. I shall en- deavour however, to avoid this, and to confine myself to the geological questions involved. The first attempt, after Dr. Gesuer's Geology of 1836, to deal with the complexities of the older rocks in Eastern Nova Scotia, was made nearly thirty years ago, in a paper on the Metamorphic and Metalliferous Rocks of Nova Scotia, published in the Journal of the Geological Society in 1850; a very imperfect attempt, no doubt, but still a step of progress, and one involving much hard labour under very difficult circumstances. Before preparing the paper, I had examined lines of section from Pictou to the Atlantic coast, and had collected fossils at Arisaig and on the East River of Pictou. In this paper, the " shales, slates and thin-bedded limestones of Arisaig" were referred to the Silurian system, on the evidence of their fossils, as were also the similar rocks occurring on the east side of the East River of Pictou. I was obliged, however, to add that specimens taken to England by Sir C. Lyell, with whom I had visited the East River in 1842, had been re- ferred by palaeontologists there to the Lower or Middle Devonian age, and that Prof. Hall, the best American authority on these fossils, appeared to lean to a similar conclusion. The cause of this doubtful position of the matter is easily ex- plained, without attaching any blame to the eminent geologists above named. At that time the line of separation of the Devo- nian and Upper Silurian was not very clearly defined ; and indeed it may be said yet to be in some uncertainty, since it is only within a few years that it has beea proposed to transfer the Oriskany sandstone to the Upper Silurian,^ and in the latest classification of the Gaspe series by the Geological Survey of the Dominion,* no less than 880 feet of shales and limestones are designated as "passage beds" between the two. In addition to this, the fossils from the Nova Scotia beds were to a large extent dififereot from those both of the New York series and of England, * Billing'tj Palaeozoic Fossils, 1874. 10 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. BO that their general facies only could be compared, many of them were in an imperfect state of preservation, and our whole collections were Dot large. Matters remained in this state until the preparation of my Acadian Geology, published in 1855, when it became very desir- able to obtain some clearer light on the subject, and accordingly considerable collections of the fossils were made and sent to Prof. Hall, and to palasontological friends in England, in the hope that these difficulties might be cleared up. But up to the time of the publication of the book, and for some time thereafter, no aid came from either quarter. In these circumstances, being con- vinced that some of the lower fossiliferous beds must be Silurian, and supposing that some of the upper beds were Devonian, but having no means of separating them, I included both under one chapter, and placed over the few fossils I ventured to figure, the title "Devonian and Upper Silurian." On ray removal to Canada in 1855, I at once availed myself of access to the collections of the Geological Survey, and of the advice of Mr. Billings in the arrangement of my collections, and sent further specimens, along with a number of species commu- nicated to me by Dr. Honeyman, the late Dr. Webster of Kent- ville, the late Dr. Harding of Windsor, and Mr. Hartt of Wolf- ville,^ to Prof Hall ; and in 1859 I. received from him the scries of descriptions of the Nova Scotia Upper Silurian fossils published in 1860 in the Canadian Naturalist, and which really constituted the " first step " in the palseontology of these difficult rocks. The only credit that the gentlemen above named or the writer can claim is the collection of materials ; and Nova Scotia owes a debt of gratitude to the New York Palaeontologist for his gratuitous labours in our behalf, at a time when he was pressed with many and engrossing occupations. It was at this time, and while I was in correspondence on the subject with all the friends in Nova Scotia above named, and with Prof Hall, that, in advance of the latter gentleman's full report, I sent to the Nova Scotia Literary and Scientific Association a communication, in which I referred to the labours of all these srentlemen. and stated the results arrived at as follows : — " At Arisaig and other places in the East, where • Afterwards Prof. Hartt of Cornell, and the nead of the 8nrvey cf Brazil ; a very able geologist, too early removed by death, and who worked most successfully in the geology of New Brunswick and Nova Bcotia. No. 1.] DAWSON — GEOLOGY OF NOVA SCOTIA. II the older rocks come out from beneath the Carboniferous system, we have a series of shaly and calcareous beds, consisting of two members. The Upper, and more calcareous and fossiliferous of the two, is of the same age with the Lower Helderberg of the New York geologists and the Ludlow of the English geologists. The Lower, more shaly and containing Graptolites, maybe as old as the Clinton, the Upper Llandovery of England." In the fol- lowing sentences the occurrence of similar fossils on the East River and at Earlton is indicated, and the several ages of the New Canaan and Nictaux series already stated are referred to. This paper was written in the summer of 1859, and was pub- lished in a Halifax newspaper, I suppose, in the winter of the same year. It appears that Dr. Honeyman had previously, in a paper which he calls his "debut" in writing on Nova Scotia geology, and dates April, 1859, asserted the Upper Silurian age of the Arisaig series, and on this ground has based very large claims with reference to Nova Scotia geology. I have not a copy of this paper, and do not remember its contents, if indeed I ever saw it ; but on his testimony I have, both in my paper of 1860 and in the 2nd edition of Acadian Geology (page 566), acknow- ledged his prior publication, feeling, however, that the credit ot establishing the age of these rocks on a firm basis belonged to Hall, and that Dr. H.'s reiterated assertion of his claims, coupled with sneers at my " supposed Devonian age " of these rocks, was, to say the least, in very bad taste. In truth, what we required at that time was not a mere opinion from any local geologist as to the age of these rocks, but a careful comparison by a palaeon- tologist of the wide experience of Hall. Here intervenes an unfortunate circumstance, on which Dr. H. dilates with evident pleasure, though he perfectly well knows the true explanation of it. In the masterly description of the Pictou coal-field by Logan and Hartley (Reports of Geological Survey, 1869), one of the most thorough geological investigations ever made in Nova Scotia ; by some unexplained oversight, these authors referred to the older rocks, east of the East River, as Devonian, and gave my authority for this; although in my paper of 1860 and again in 1868 in Acadian Geology, I had described these rocks as Upper Silurian. Immediately on noticing this error, I mentioned it to Sir William, but this was not till after the publication of the Report. The rocks in question were not within the direct scope of Sir William's work at the time, and 12 . THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. "were merely incidentally noticed, but I know that he regretted the error very much, though of course as I had, eight or nine years before, abandoned u\\ idea of these rocks being Devonian, I €Ould not be blamed for it. Another point raised in the paper now in question, is the use of the terms Upper Arisaig and Lowe?- Arisaig, a point perhaps of no great geological importance, but of some consequence since the abuse of those names has tended to cause confusion. Dr. H. calls this a " new division introduced in the second edition of the Acadian Geology, 1868," but it was really introduced in my paper of 1859 above quoted, and this Dr. H. has himself ad- mitted in the Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xx, p. 233, though it seems now to have escaped his memory. The reasons for this division were as follows. The term "Arisaig series" is a useful local name for the peculiar development of the Upper Silurian in Eastern Nova Scotia. The results of Prof Hall showed that the fossils were referable to the Clinton and Lower Helderberg, without the intervention of any distiuct representa- tive of the Niagara limestone, and as the lower and upper mem- bers were somewhat distinct in mineral character, it seemed the most natural course to divide the series into Lower and Upper. Dr. H., who had an opportunity of showing his fossils to the late eminent palaeontologist Mr. Salter, gives on his authority a more minute subdivision into five members. This will be found discussed in Acadian Geology, I trust in a fair spirit, and the relations of the two arrangements pointed out. But more recently Dr. H. has thought proper to change the name of the whole Ari- saig series as before understood, to "Upper Arisaig," and to in- clude as " Lower Arisaig" rocks which he regards as Laurentian. This is objectionable, not only as interfering with established and useful names, but as extending local terms to a degree which no other geologist can possibly accept. It amounts in fact to calling the whole Eozoic and Lower Palaeozoic by the local name " Arisaiu; series." For these reasons I shall continue, as hereto- fore, to use the terms Upper and Lower Arisaig for the subdivi- sions of the Upper Silurian as represented at that place. Another question raised in this paper relates to certain rocks at Lochaber, in which Dr. H. affirms that he found fossils of the oenus Fetraia, which I had informed him belonged to the genus Zaphreiitis, and thereby misled him as to their age. The specimens referred to were sent to Montreal in 1860, along with No. 1.] DAWSON — GEOLOGY OF NOVA SCOTIA. 13 a paper by Dr. H,, which was read before the Natural History Society, and I was requested by him to give some opinion as to their age and nature, which I did, after consulting the late Mr. Billings, and added a note on the subject to Dr. H.'s paper when it was published. Some time afterwards I was surprised to find Mr. Salter's authority cited in direct opposition to mine, with the usual flourish of trumpets as to a great mistake discovered and exposed. On re-examining the fossils, which still remain in my collection, T could not change my opinion of their nature; and never having had an opportunity to compare notes with my poor friend Salter, one of the soundest palaeontologists of our time, and who has on more than one occasion done us good service in determining difl&cult fossils, as the pages of Acadiaa Geology show, I have not yet had any solution of the mystery, and have not complained of this, though I felt that I had received a poor return for an intended service. The fossils themselves are however of some interest. They consist of two turbinate corals from Lochaber, one from Marshy Hope, one from Doctor's Brook, and one from French River, with a few other species from Lochaber. These corals arc in the form of mere impressions, in which state it is not always easy even to distinguish genera. Still, in the deep fossette, the character of the septa, and the traces of the horizontal tabulae, they all have the characters of Zaphrentis naher than Petraia; except one from Lochaber, wliich which can scarcely be anything other than a Heliophijllam. The other fossils from Lochaber are a Steiiopora similar to one found at Arisaig and East River, Strophomena rJiomhoidalis, an Orthis resembling 0. elegantida, and shells resembling Pentumeras and Atrypa^ but not well preserved. The Zaphrentis from Doctor's Brook resembles Z. Stokesii, a species of Niagara age. That from Marshy Hope seems different, and in its form and deep cup resembles the Z. rugnlata of Billings from the G-aspe limestones. These might f.iirly belong to the Lower Arisaig series, and pos- sibly to the lower part of it. The French River specimen is merely a cast of the exterior and quite undeterminable. But the Lochaber species seems different, having a shallow cup, with deep fossette, and from its association with Ilelioplijjlliun and the other fossils, I still think it probable that it belongs at least to a higher horizon than that of the Lower Arisaig. Of course as I have not seen the speciaiens submitted to Salter, I cannot express any opinion as to them ; but if similar to mine, I am at a loss to 14 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. account for his opinion, and as the specimens in my possession seem to contradict the greater age assigned to the rocks, I have not ventured to adopt that opinion — though, up to this time, without taking any notice of Dr. H.'s references to my supposed mistake.* Another point in which I find I am at issue with Dr. H. is the age of the great iron ore bed of " Webster's " or " Bhmch- ard's " on the East River of Pictou, and which also has been traced to the eastward in Merigomish. This I have assigned to the Lower Helderberg on the evidence of stratigraphy and fossils. ■Of the latter large collections have been made by Mr. D. Fraser and myself in connection with the recent explorations of these ores. They appear to be of unequivocal Upper Arisaig facies, but include many new and interesting forms which I had hoped to have described ere this time, but this has proved absolutely im- possible from want of leisure. They may represent a special hori- zon in the Upper Arisaig, or even between the upper and lower members, or their peculiarities may be the result of local condi- tions of deposit. Dr. H. seems to affirm that this iron ore is of the same age with that of Nictaux, and that both are of the age of the Clinton or Medina sandstone. Neither of these positions can be correct, for the fossils of the East River hematite seem closely related to those of the typical Upper Arisaig series, while those of the Nictaux ores are, as already shewn, newer than the Upper Arisaig. These two great deposits of iron ore are therefore not of the same age, and neither of them can be as old as the Clinton. Dr. H. correlates them with the Clinton ore-beds of the United States, but he omits to notice that there are also ore-beds in the Helderberg series of that country. I should not, indeed, be surprised were some of the newly opened beds at Nictaux, which I have not seen, to prove of Helderberg age, or were beds of Oriskany age to be found at Pictou. It is probable, however, that these ore-beds are less constant than some of the strata associated with them. * It is to be observed here that the relations of the genera Petraia and Zaphrentis are not so clearly defined as they should be. Some palaeontologists of eminence reject Petraia altogether, and unite these corals with Cyathophyllum, and the limits of the genus Zaphrentis are xlifferently understood by difierent authorities. Still there are certain forms, by whatever name known, which are, in our American geology, characteristic of certain foiniations, and it is by this indication thai I 1/ave been guided in this case. No. 1.] DAWSON — aEOLOQY OP NOVA SCOTIA. 15 The remarks made by Dr. H. on the alleged Lower Silurian of Wentworth, scarcely merit criticism. It is to be rcocretted, for his own sake, that he has ventured to attack Mr. Billings's determination of the age of the fossils, as he has done (p. 480), and also that he has republished his section of the Wentworth cutting, in which the well-known intrusive dykes of dark diabase, 60 abundant in the Coboquids, figure as bedded diorites, and swell the thickness of a section which is in many respects truly "remarkable." I have not had an opportunity to examine Dr. Honeyman's collections from Wentworth ; but those I have my- self made, and those I have seen in the Museum of the Geological Survey, by no means warrant his determination of a Bala or Hudson River age. This subject will be found noticed in the Supplement to Acadian Geology, p. 75. This review has extended to too great a length ; but one is tempted to notice the Laurentian discoveries of the author. Dr. Honeyman, when employed by Sir W. E. Logan in 1868 in ex- ploring at Arisaig, examined the coast east of Malignant cove, and found there the extension to the sea cliff of rocks apparently identical with that old metamorphic series which I have named the Cobequid series. These he has described as Laurentian, and quarrels with Sir W. E. Logan, Dr. Hunt and myself for failing to admit this age. My own justification is, — first, that, as Dr. H. admits, there is no good evidence from stratigraphy or fossils to prove this great age ; and secondly, that after somewhat exten- sive studies of Laurentian rocks, I have been unable to see any resemblance btitween the typical rocks of this age and the so- called Laurentian of lirisaig, the Cobequids and southern Cape Breton. All these rocks I hold, for reasons stated in the Supple- ment to iVcadian Geology, to be probably either Lower Silurian, Cambrian or Huronian. Dr. H. repeatedly taunts me with affirm- ing these rocks, and even those of St. Anne's in Northern Cape Breton, to be Devonian ; and goes so far as to relate an anecdote (p. 453) which would seem to show that so late as 1867 he had retailed this fiction to Sir Wyville Thomson, in connection with specimens of Eozoon stated to have been obtained in these rocks. Lest the same practical joke should be played on others, it may be well to say that I have never seen anything resembling Eozoon from St. Anne's, and that I am not aware of ever having supposed the crystalline rocks of that promontory to be Devonian. la reality, after much study of specimens, and after revisiting ia 16 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. 1877 some of the most instructive sections in Nova Scotia, I fail to perceive any good lithological evidence for the Laurentian age of any of the older rocks of the Province, except some of those in Northern Cape Breton, and notably those of St. Anne's moun- tain, which have, apparently on good grounds, been referred to this age by the late Mr. Hartley and Mr. Fletcher. One word as to the geological map in ' Acadian Geology,' which notwithstanding its imperfections, needs no apology, when its nature as a mere preliminary and imperfect sketch, the result of private effort and not of a regular survey, is fairly considered. The materials do not exist for a detailed map of the older forma- tions of Nova Scotia. They are being slowly accumulated by the labours of the Geological Survey of the Dominion ; but I do not expect to live to see them complete. Dr. H.'s criticisms, which are so microscopic as scarcely to allow for the accidents of printing, would be unfair, if applied to a map on this scale, even had I been employed to make a regular survey of the country, and had many years been spent in the work. They are specially objectionable when applied to a work executed without public aid ; and when proceeding from a man who has enjoyed opportunities of official employment not accorded to me. Note. — Since writing the above, I have received Volume " F " of the Report of the Second Survey of Pennsylvania, relating to the "Fossil Iron Ore Beds " of Middle Pennsylvania. In this report, bedded iron ore. deposits are described as occurring in the Clinton, Lower Helderberg. Oriskany, Corniferous and Marcellus, so that the}"" range, as I believe they do in Nova Scotia, from the Middle of the Upper Silurian to the Lower Devonian inclusive. The principal deposits in Pennsylvania are in the Clinton, Oriskany and Marcellus. In Nova Scotia only small layers are known to me, at Arisaig and East Kiver, so low as the Clinton, and the i)rincipal deposits seem to be Lower Helderberg and Oriskany. The analogy is thus sufficiently close, beds of the age of the Marcellus not having been recognised in Nova Scotia. I have used the term "Devonian" in the above paper; but, owing to the doubts and controversies respecting the Devonian rocks of England, I greatly prefer the term " Erian," derived from the great development of the typical rocks of this age on the shores of Lake Erie. No. l.J SELWYN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 17 THE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE QUEBEC GROUP AND THE OLDER CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF CANADA. By Alfred R. C. Selwyn, F.R.S., F.G.S., Director of the Dominion Geological and Natural History Survey. I propose in this paper to state as briefly as possible the con- clusions I have arrived at from examinations made in the field during the seasons of 1876 and 1877 with the object of satisfying myself, before publishing the geological map of the Eastern Townships, respecting the much-discussed questions of the struc- ture and the age of the rocks ia the region on the south-east side of the St. Lawrence, extending from the Vermont, New Hamp- shire and Maine boundaries north-easterly to Gaspe. I shall also make some remarks on the results of the work of the Geolo- gical Survey in connection with the stratigraphy of the Lauren- tian rocks on the north side of the St. Lawrence valley and the conclusions at which they seem to point. In some respects my views are in accordance with those of others, while as regards some points they are I believe new. Whether they eventually prove correct or otherwise, I can say that they have been arrived at solely upoQ and after careful consideration of the evidence and the facts collected by myself and colleagues, and without any bias or pre-conceived ideas, which, had I allowed these any weight, would have led to con- clusions entirely different. All who have taken any interest in Canadian geology are aware that the whole of the region referred to has been described by the Canadian Geological Survey as occupied by only four great formations or groups of strata, which in descending order are: — 1. Devonian. 2. Upper Silurian. 3. Lower Silurian. 4. Laurentian. YOL. IX. * B No. 1. 18 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. No. 3 includes : a. Utica slates. h. Hudson Kiver or Lorraine Shales. c. Trenton limestone. d. Bird's-eye and Black River limestone. e. The Quebec group and its equivalents, Chazy and Calciferous. /. Potsdam. Subdivision e. the Quebec group, is the one about which so much discussion has arisen and so many different opinions have been expressed. Indeed so varied have these been that it is now almost impossible to suggest anything which some one has not already suggested, but most of these opinions have been advanced on palseontological, mineralogical or theoretical grounds, without any study of the actual stratigraphy in the field. According to the latest determination, by the geological corps, under my pre- decessor Sir W. E. Logan, the Quebec group is divided into three conformable formations, viz. in decending order : — The Sillery. The Lauzou. The Ldvis. These have been supposed to occupy the whole of the region lying south of the St. Lawrence between the great St. Lawrence and Champlain fault and the Upper Silurian overlap, notwith- standing the very diverse mineralogical, palaeontological, and physical conditions under which they appear in different parts of the area. The base and the summit of the middle division, which was only introduced in 1866, has been supposed to be characterised by copper ores, dolomites and serpentines, and it would really seem that in mapping the structure the presence of any one of these has almost invariably been made to determine the limits of this division. It is not, however, my object now to refer to the past, or to recapitulate the opinions of others, and I shall confine myself as much as possible to a statement of my own views respecting the stratigraphy of the Quebec group. First, then, I may say that I recognize in it three distinct groups, which in descending order may be enumerated as 1. The Lower Silurian group, Levis formation. 2. The Volcanic group, probably Cambrian. 3. The Crystalline Schist group. No. l.J SELWYN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 19 No. 1 consists of a great variety of slates or shales (argillites), red, green and black ; limestones, in thin bands ; limestone con- glomerates, sandstones and quartzites. In every part of their distribution from the Vermont boundary to Gasp<3, 500 miles they hold a large number of genera and species of characteristic Lower Silurian fossils, full descriptions of which have been o-iven in the reports of the Geological Survey. This fossiliferous belt occupies a strip of country on the south side of the St. Lawrence which in its widest part, in the valleys of the Chaudiere and the Etchemin does not exceed twenty-five miles, and in this portion the structure presented is that of a broad crumpled and folded synclinal with prevailing south-easterly dips on the north-western side, and north-westerly dips on the south-eastern side; the characteristic Point Levis limestone conglomerates comina; up near the base on both sides. There are doubtless a number of local and unimportant overturn dips, but there seems to be no evidence whatever of a general inversion of the strata. On the north-western side this belt is bounded by the St. Lawrence and Champlain fault, or overlap, which brins^s the even-bedded shales and limestones of the Hudson River or Lor- raine Shale group into contact with the crumpled and twisted strata of the Levis formation. The line of this dislocation or unconformity — whichever it may be — has been supposed to pass in rear of the Quebec citadel. This I hold to be a mistake, and I think it can be distinctly shewn that it passes from the south-west end of the Island of Orleans under the river and between Point L^vis and Quebec ; it appears again on the north shore about one mile north of Point Pizeau, passes north of St. Foy, and thence in a direct course to where it again crosses the river south-west of Cap Rouge. The entire absence of Levis fossils in the Citadel rocks is thus easily explained. I have traced this break carefully from the last-named point on the north shore of the St. Lawrence to the north-east end of the Island of Orleans, where on the beach the actual contact of the two formations is well seen, and a short distance inland we find the characteristic Levis limestone conglomerate. JSalterella and Archmocyathus occur both at Point Levis and on the Island of Orleans, and the graptolite {PhylogrcqHus) shales are interstrati- fied both above and below the limestone conglomerates. Oholella occurs also in shales clearly above the conglomerates and below other shales holding graptolites, and in some beds both occur together. 20 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. As regards the belt of Potsdam rocks — upper, middle and lower — which have been described in the Geological Survey Re- port for 1866-69, pp. 119-141, I must state, that after having carefully examined some portions of these supposed Potsdam rocks, I hold that there are no reasons whatever for separating them from the Levis formation, either stratigraphical or palaeon- tological. Obolella, graptolites, and fragments of other fossils, too indistinct to be determined, have been found in them. On the south-eastern side, the fossiliferous belt is bounded by a line which, commencing on the United States boundary near St. Armand, runs on a course nearly parallel with the St. Law- rence, passing through the townships of Dunham, Brome, Shefford, Stukeley, Melbourne, Cleveland, Tiugwick, Chester, Halifax and Leeds, to the vicinity of St. Marie on the Chaudiere. Be- tween St. Marie and St. Claire on the Etchemin River, the strata which I have referred to division 2 increase greatly in width, cropping out, apparently unconformably, from beneath the fossiliferous belt and separating it from division 3. The boundary we have been tracing of the Levis formation is here suddenly deflected to a course nearly north for some sixteen or eighteen miles, viz. from St. Claire to St. Vallier, where it again turns north-east, and beyond this it has not yet been defined with certainty. It may be that this apparent unconformity is really a fault which running transverse to the strike brings the Levis black slates and limestone conglomerates into contact with a set of strata which lithologically can not in this part well be distinguished from the typical Sillery sandstones of New Liver pool, Sillery Cove, &c., above Quebec, or from those of Acton, Roxton and Granby, which they still more nearly resemble, and which there are some reasons for supposing may occupy a similar unconformable position beneath the Levis formation. The dis- tribution of these sandstones as indicated on the unpublished map of the Eastern Townships very forcibly suggests this idea. Division No. 2 embraces a great variety of crystalline and sub-crystalline rocks ; coarse, thick bedded, felspathic, chloritic^ epidotic and quartzose sandstones, red, grey and greenish siliceous slates and argillites, great masses of dioritic, epidotic and ser- pentinous breccias and agglomerates, diorites, dolerites, and amygdaloids, holding copper ore ; serpentines, fe!sites, and some fine grained granitic and gneissic rocks, also crystalline dolomites and calcites. Much of the division, especially on the south- No. 1.] SELWYN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 21 eastern side of the axis, is locally made up of altered volcanic products, both intrusive and interstratified, the latter being clearly of contemporaneous origin with the associated sandstones and slates. The greatest development of these volcanic rocks appears to occur, as above stated, on the south-eastern side of the main axis, to which I shall presently refer, and about the summit of Division 3, of which they may perhaps be only an upward extension, as we have at present no evidence of any un- conformity between these two divisions. The rocks composing it have hitherto nearly all been included in the Sillery sand- stone formation, and supposed to be everywhere the highest member of the " Quebec group " ; represented by a yellow color on the geological map of Canada and on the unpublished map already referred to. It appears to me, however, that neither their true stratigraphical position nor their geological characters have been correctly defined, and they have, regardless of these, been confounded and incorporated with the true Sillery sandstones, which are only a local development of thick sandstones at several horizons in the Quebec group or fossiliferous Ldvis formation. At Sillery above Quebec, and at various points thence north- eastward to Gaspe, good exposures of these sandstones may be examined, and it has now been shewn that at Little Metis at Ste. Anne (the Pillar sandstones of Mr. Murray's report of 18 J:-i) and elsewhere they are characterized by graptolites and other Levis fossils, whereas in the massive red and green sandstones and slates which are associated with the volcanic rocks, and which the stratigraphy, as I think, clearly shews to be a lower unconformable formation, no fossils of any description have yet been found. Certain fucoid markings in slates near Actonvale may perhaps, however, belong to this division. Further exami- nation will probably afiTord other fossils, but if so I should expect them to indicate a lower horizon than the Levis formation, prob- ably not far removed from that of the St. John group and the Atlantic coast series of Nova Scotia. In describing this belt of sandstones and slates which extends north-eastward from St. Claire on the Etchemin river, Sir W. Logan writes : " The area over which these strata occur commences in a point near the Chaudiere ; it has been traced to the north-eastward across the Seignories of St. Mary and Joliette into St. Gervaise, and it probably extends much further The distance between this area and its equivalent to the south is about ten miles." 22 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. " The sandstones in the two areas on the opposite sides of the Riviere du Sud are massive ; on the northern side they are often very coarse grained, and in general of a green color, while the shales which separate the masses are usually red. Very coarse beds are not so frequent on the south side, and there the red color is not confined to the shales, but characterizes the sandstones also, which are as often red as green." ^ There are two other distinctions not pointed out by Sir W. Logan. The one is that fossils, oholella and graptolites, charac- terize the northern area, and are apparently absent in the southern area. Another is that the sandstones in the latter frequently present a peculiar schistose structure, not, so far as I know, to be seen in the true Sillery sandstones of the Levis formation, to which the northern of these two sandstone areas clearly belongs. I shall now pass on to the consideration of Division 3, which, however, as I have already stated, may be intimately related to the preceding. The rocks composing it are chiefly slaty and schistose, and embrace a great variety of chloritic, micaceous, siliceous and magnesian strata with copper ores, also imperfect gneisses, white and gray micaceous dolomites and magnesian limestones. They constitute the main anticlinal axis of the region, which axis may be traced from Sutton Mountain, east of Lake Memphremagog, on a gently curving line, northeastward to the counties of Montmagny and L' Islet — a distance of 150 miles. Between the St. Francis and the townships of Chester and Wolfes- town, a very considerable dislocation crosses the axis transversely, and the structure here is exceedingly complicated, and is rendered still more obscure by the overlapping of the Upper Silurian rocks, and by the interposition, in the magnesian belt — by a complica- tion of faulting and unconformable superposition — of a long, narrow band of the black shales and dark earthy limestones of the fossiliferous Levis formation. Further north, however, the magnesian belt again assumes its normal relation to the over- lying divisions 1 and 2. And on page 258 of the Geology of Canada, we find its course thus descrebed : " The general course of the magnesian rocks on the south side of the synclinal is, however, pretty well determined by a band of dolomite occasion- ally passing into serpentine, which has been traced from the * Geology of Canada, p. 258. No. 1.] SELWYiN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 23 13th lot on the line between Chester and Halifax to the Chau- dierc, near the line between St. Mary and St. Joseph." The synclinal spoken of is a purely theoretical one, and if we lay the above described line down on the map, it will be found to cross diagonally not only this Sillery synclinal, but likewise the Lauzon and the Levis formations, as shown on the map ; while, on the other hand, it runs entirely parallel with the line which, without any previous knowledge of the above quoted description, I had myself carefully traced on the ground, in 1867, as the upper limit of the magnesian belt and division 2, and the unconform- ably overlying fossiliferous Ijevis formation. The gneissic mica schists of Sutton Mountain are probably the deepest exposed portion of this great anticlinal. To the north- east, between the county of I'lslet and the Trois Pistoles River, the rocks of the anticlinal have not been traced. They will, however, doubtless be found to continue till they pass beneath the overlapping Upper Silurian strata which on the Rimouski River are stated to rest directly on the fo-siliferous Levis forma- tion. Rocks which clearly belong to the upper part of the division, with associated traps, emerge from beneath the Upper Silurian all along the northern shore of Matapedia Lake, and I think it will be found that they extend thence into the Shick- shock Mountains, which on the north are flanked by the L^vis fossiliferous rocks, and on the south by strata of Upper Silurian age. The investigation of the structure of these mountains pre- sents a fine field for any active and enterprising geologist. The copper ores of the region under consideration, to which too much importance has, I think, been attached, in determining the limits of the divisions of the Quebec Group, appear to me to belong to two distinct periods, and to occur under conditions almost, if not quite, as distinct as they do in the Huronian and " Upper Copper-bearing " rocks of Lake Superior. Those of the first period belong to the crystalline, magnesian schist group, and occur both in beds and in lenticular layers parallel with the strati- fication, and]also in veins cutting the strata transversely, but in no case accompanied by intrusive crystalline rocks. The Harvey Hill mine, the Viger mine and the Sherbrooke mines are examples of this mode of occurrence. Those of the second period seem to be cheifiy confined to the rocks of Division 2, but occur also within the limits of the Levis fossiliferous belt. They are in almost every instance more or less closely associated with cer- "24 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. tain highly crystalline rocks : diorites, dolerites, amygdaloids and volcanic agglomerates, with bands of white, grey and mottled dolomites and calcites which have much more the appearance of great lenticular, vein-like, calcareous masses than of beds belonging to the stratification. No traces of ors-anic forms have been found in them, and yet many of them are scarcely more crystalline than certain Devonian and Carboniferous limestones in which fossils are abundant. The Acton mines, and the numerous openings that have been made in searching for copper ore in that vicinity and in the neighbouring townships of lloxton, Milton, Wickham and "VYendover, may be cited as instances of this second class. And it certainly appears as if the copper ore in these upper divisions were in some way connected with the intrusion or segregation of the crystalline rocks which everywhere accompany it. In any case, I think, there are very few who would agree with Dr. Hunt in the general proposition that the diorites and serpentines of the Quebec group are of sedimentary origin, and the amygdaloids altered argillites ; and, unless all contemporaneously interbedded volcanic products are to be considered as of sedimentary origin, the Quebec group might be said to present some of the most marvellous instances on record of '■^selective met amor phism.'^ But whether this is so or not, there seem to be no sood grounds for assigning either an age or an origin to the cupriferous diorites, dolerites, and amygdaloids of the Eastern Townships different from that of the almost identical rocks of Lake Superior, which Dr. Hunt * states have been shewn to overlie unconformahly the Huronian and Moutalban series, but which at Keeweenaw Point are stated by Professor Pumpellyj- to rest conformably on the Huronian; and Prof. Pumpelly justly remarks that '' the question would still seem to be an open one, whether the cupriferous series is not more nearly related to the Huronian than to the Silurian." The same may certainly be said of the cupriferous rocks of the Eastern Townships. Brooks does not, in his paper | quoted by Dr. Hunt, give any very conclusive reasons for his change of views since 1872, and writes altogether as if the question of the unconformable superposition of the copper- bearing rocks on the Huronian were still undecided ; and so late as 1877, Professor * 2 G. S. of Penn., Special Keport on Azoic Rocks and Trap Dj-lces, §458. t Geo. Survey of Michigan, Vol. I, 1873. X Am. J. of Sc, Vol. XI, 1876, pp. 206-207. No. 1.] SELWYN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 25 Roland Irving writes : the unconformity between the Huronian and the upper copper-bearing rocks " is not certainly proven ^^ A very considerable amount of careful investigation and laborious work in the field is yet required before the indicated divisions can be correctly delineated on the map. The two maps exhibited shew respectively the supposed distribution of the old divisions of Levis, Lauzon and Sillery, and that of the new divi- sions (so far as they have been determined), which I now propose to adopt. These latter have at least the advantage of simplicity ; they also obviate the necessity of invoking any of the numerous almost impossibilities in physical and dynamical geo- logy which are required to explain the previous theory of the structure, and they are, moreover, very closely in accord with the views entertained by Professor Hitchcock as regards the general succession of the formations in the adjoining States of New Hamp- shire and Vermont. Laurentian. — I shall now make some observations on the results of the recent work of the Survey in unravelling the com- plications of the stratigraphy of the older " crystallines " on the north side of the St. Lawrence Valley. Since 1866. 3Ir. H. G. Vennor, of the Geological Corps, has been occupied in a careful examination of the stratigraphical relations of the Laurentian rocks. His observations, commencing in Hastings county, north of Lake Ontario, have now extended across the Ottawa River, eastward, to Petite Nation and Grenville, embracing a band of country 200 miles in length, with an average breadth of 55-60 miles. Throughout this tract of country, Mr. Vennor has fol- lowed and mapped, in all their windings and convolutions, the great series of Laurentian limestone bands first investigated and described by Sir W. E. Logan, in the years from 1853 to 1856, more particularly in the Grenville region, and in 1865, by Mr. Macfarlane, in the Hastings region. The results and con- elusions of all these earlier examinations are given in detail in the Geological Survey Reports. And these shew that the classi- fication then adopted by Sir W. E. Logan was regarded by him as provisional. (See Note, p. 93, G. S. R., 1866.) Thus, at the commencement of Mr. Vennor's investigation in 1866, it was supposed that the limestones and calcareous schists of Tudor and Hastings holding eozoon, together with certain * Am. J. of Sc, Vol. XIII, 1877. 26 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. associated dioritic, micaceous, slaty and conglomerate rocks, were a newer series than those already examined and described by Sir W. E. Logan, and they were accordingly designated, in the report published in 1870, the Hastings series, and it was further supposed, from its apparent stratigraphical position and from certain lithological resemblances, that it might be of Huronian age. The gradual progress of the work, however, from west to east has now, I think, conclusively demonstrated that the Has- tings group, together with the somewhat more crystalline lime- stone and gneiss groups above referred to, form one great conformable series, and that this series rests quite unconformably on a massive granitoid gneiss — the gneiss la of Sir William Logan's Grenville map, published in 1865, in the Atlas to the Geology of Canada. I wish it to be understood that I have not personally examined this region, and I am therefore expressing the views of Mr. Vennor, from which, however, I have no reason to dissent. Of the actual distribution of this lower or " Ottawa" gneiss very little is at present known with certainty, though it probably occupies very extensive areas from the eastern shores of Lake Winnipeg to Labrador. And between these same localities there will doubtless yet be found many large areas of the so-called Norian System. The first suggestion of this unconformable Upper Laurentian series, which, it seems to me, is intimately connected with the Hastings and Grenville series, appears to occur in the supplementary chapters to The Geology of Canada, 1863, pages 838-839 ; but the evidence there given by no means proves the subsequent assumption of this unconformity ; while the careful descriptions by Sir W. Logan, both in the supplementary chapter above cited and likewise in chapter III, shewing the intimate association and interstratification of the orthoclase gneisses, quart- zites and crystalline limestones with these supposed unconformable Upper Laurentian anorthosites, much more strongly favor the supposition that they are part and parcel of the great crystalline limestone series. The exhaustive History of the labradorite rocks by Dr. Hunt, in the volume already cited,* while giving much valuable and interesting historical information, does not advance us a single step beyond the position taken by Sir W. E. Logan, in 1863, as regards their true stratigraphical relations. In not one of the * 2nd O. S. of Penn,, Special Report on Azoic Rocks and Trap Dykes. No. 1.] " SELWYN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 27 several areas where they are known to occur in Canada, have they yet been mapped in detail, and even their limits, as indica- ted on the geological map, are more or less conjectural. This appears to be likewise the case as regards the areas where they have been noticed in Essex and adjoining counties in New York State and in New Hampshire, where Profess^ir Hitchcock shews that they rest unconformably on the upturned edges of the " Mont- alban " gneisses,^ leading to the conclusion that the gneisses of the White Mountains are older than the *'Norian," whereas Dr. Hunt, solely, I believe, on mineralogical considerations, sup- poses these same '■'• Montalhan'''' gneisses to constitute a system newer than the Huronian. Here then, as in the Hastings region, we find theory and experience at variance. But the question suggests itself, may we not have labradorite rocks belonging to systems younger than Laurentian ? Dr. Hunt refers (§ 318), to the valuable chemical and microscopic examination of these rocks in Essex county, New York, by Mr. Albert Leeds, the results of which are given in the American Chemist, March, 1877 ; but Mr. Leeds does not appear to have studied the stratigraphy of the region, and his general conclusions are stated as follows : " That these norites are a stratified rock but have undergone a metamorphosis so profound as to have caused them to be re- garded by Emmons and earlier observers as unstratified. The dolerites which are formed of the same constituent minerals, and are of the mean specific gravity of these norites, have prob- ably been formed from a portion of these stratified deposits, by deeply seated metamorphic action and have further modified and greatly tilted the superposed rocks in the course of their extru- sion." Prof. James Hall in 1866f has stated his conclusions that the limestones of Essex and adjoining counties in New York State " do not belong to the Laurentian system either lower or upper." The facts, on which a part of this conclusion is based, viz. the unconformity of the Laurentian limestone series to the lower orthoclase gneisses agree with those of Mr. Vennor, and there is, I think, but little doubt that all these crystalline limestone groups — that is those of Essex and St. Lawrence Counties, U. S. * Geology of New Hampshire, Vol. II, pp. 217-218. t A. J. of S. Vol. XII, p. 298. 28 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. and RawdoD, Grenville and Hastings in Canada — are parts of one great series, and at present I see no evidence for excluding from this series the associated Norian rocks. Whether the series as a whole will eventually retain the name Upper Laurentian or whether it will be found to be more convenient to desio^nate it Huronian System does not much signify. We can, however, confidently state that this series occupies an unconformable position between a massive gneiss formation below and unaltered Potsdam or Lower Silurian rocks above, and this may likewise be stated respecting the ^stratigraphi- cal position of the typical "Huronian series" of the Georgian Bay, which together with its close proximity to the western-most known exposures of the crystalline Laurentian limestone series which we now know, extends from Parry Sound to Lake Nip- pising, and includes some Labradorite gneiss, renders it very probable that a connection will eventually be traced out between even these supposed greatly different formations, similar to that now, as already stated, proved to exist between the Hastings and Grenville series. Prof. Hall in his note already referred to, states that the La- bradorite formation is "associated" with bands of crystalline limestone, and further on that the limestones do not belong to either the upper or lower Laurentian. He does not however say what the upper Laurentian he alludes to is, though in another paragraph we find it stated that the " lower Laurentians are succeeded by massive beds of Labradorite," which we may infer are considered upper Laurentian, in which case there would seem to be, in New York State two sets of Labradorite rocks, one associated with the limestones which are "altogether newer than Laurentian," and another massive and representing upper Laurentian. There is, however, so far as I am aware, no evi- dence of this being the case in Canada. If it is admitted — which, in view of the usual associations of Labrador feldspars, is the most probable supposition — that these anorthosite rocks represent the volcanic and intrusive rocks of the Laurentian period then also their often massive and irre(2:ular and sometimes bedded character and their occasionally interrupting and cutting off some of the limestone bauds as described by Sir W. Logan, is readily under- stood by any one who has studied the stratigraphical relations of contemporaneous volcanic and sedimentary strata, of paleozoic, mesozoic, tertiary and recent periods. Chemical and microscop- No. 1.] SELWYN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 29 ical investigation both seem to point very closely to this as the true explanation of their origin. That they are eruptive rocks is held by nearly all geologists who have carefully studied their stratigraphical relations. But I am not aware of any one having suggested that they are the products of volcanic action in the Laurentian or perhaps lower Huronian epoch ; doubtless, as Mr. Leeds says ^'profoundly metamorphosed'^ as of course they would be from having suffered all the physical accidents which have resulted in producing the associated gneisses quartzites, dolomites, serpentines and schists. When we recall the names of Dahl. Kerulf and Torrell in Norway, Maculloch and Geike in Scotland, Emmons, Kerr, Hitch- cock, Arnold Hague, and others in America, all of whom consider these norites as of eruptive origin, we may well pause before ac- cepting Dr. Hunt's conclusions respecting them, and that they should often appear as " bedded metamorphic rocks" (the opinion expressed respecting those of Skye by Prof. Haughton of Dublin) is quite as probable as that we should find the mineralogically similar dolerites occurring in dykes and bosses and in vast beds interstratified with ordinary sedimentary deposits of clay, sand, etc. In conclusion I may say that I fail to see that any useful pur- pose is accomplished, in the present stcige of our knowledge of the stratigraphical relations of the great groups of rocks which under- lie the lowest known Silurian or Cambrian formations, by the in- troduction of a number of new names such as those proposed by Dr. Hunt for systems which are entirely theoretical, in which category we may in my opioion include the Norian, Montalban, Taconian and Keeweenian. These, one aud all, so far as known, are simply groups of strata which occupy the same geological interval, and present no greater differences in their physical and mineralogical characters than are commonly observed to occur both in formations of the same epoch in widely separated regions, and when physical accidents, such as contemporaneous volcanic action or subsequent metamorphism have locally affected the general character and aspect of the formation within limited areas. No better instances of such differences could be cited than the Mesozoic and Carboniferous formations of British Columbia and those of the same periods in Eastern America, and the Silurian and Cambrian formations of Australia, Europe and America. 30 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yoi. ix. It seems to me that the well-kDOWii and recognized names Laurentian Buronian Cambrian and Silurian — with the introduction, where found desirable, to denote some local break, of the terms upper, middle and lower — meet all pres- ent requirements so far as systems are concerned. Unfortunately in Canadian geology, hitherto the stratigraphy has been made subordinate to mineralogy and palaeontology, and as the result we find groups of strata which the labours of the field geologist during the past ten years have now shewn all to occupy a place between Laurentian and Cambrian, assigned to Carboniferous and Upper Silurian in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to the peculiar palasontological Levis group and its sub- divisions Lauzon and Sillery in the Eastern Townships ; and to lower and upper Laurentian, Huronian, lower Silurian and Trias- sic on the north side of the St. Lawrence valley and around Lake Superior. The same system of mineralogical stratigraphy is now further complicating and confusing the already quite suf- ficiently intricate problem by the introduction of the new nomen- clature I have referred to, and in some cases these names are applied regardless of and in direct opposition to well ascertained stratigraphical facts. A similar unfortunate instance oi imlceon- tological stratigraphy is found in the history of the Quebec group ; and especially in the late introduction in it of the belt of supposed Potsdam rocks, about which I have already stated my opinion. Id the reconstruction of the Geological map of Eastern Canada, — and in this I include the country from Lake Winnipeg to Cape Breton and Labrador — rendered necessary by the present state of our knowledge, I should propose to adopt the following divi- sions of systems to include the groups enumerated : I. Laurentian : To be confined to all those clearly lower un- conformable granitoid gneisses in which we never find interstratified bands of calcare- ous, argillaceous, arenaceous and conglome- ratic rocks. No. l.J SELWYN — THE QUEBEC GROUP. 31 II. Huronian : To include 1. The typical or original Hu- ronian of Lake Superior and the conform- ably — or uuconformably as the case may be — overlying upper copper-bearing rocks. 2. The Hastings, Templeton, Buckingham, and Grenville groups. 3. The supposed upper Laurentian or Norian 4. The altered Quebec group as shewn on the map now exhibited, and certain areas not yet defined betw^eeu Lake Matapedia and and Cape Maquereau in Gaspe. 5. The Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, pre-primordial sub-crystalline and gneissoid groups. III. Cambrian : In many of the areas especially the western ones, the base of this is well-defined by un- conformity, but in the Eastern Townships and in vsome parts of Nova Scotia it has yet to be determined. The limit between it and Lower Silurian is debatable ground upon which we need not enter. The apparent great unconformity of the Nipigon group to the Huronian around Lake Nipigon may perhaps be explained by our having here the deep-seated parts of an ancient volcanic crateriform vent greatly denuded and the crater now occupied by the waters of the lake. The eruptions from this crater may have commenced in the Huronian epoch and been continued at intervals even up to the Triassic period ; but in the meantime we have no evidence of any of the eruptions being newer than Cam- brian. One point I wish particularly to insist on is that great local unconformities may exist without indicating any important difference in age, especially in regions of mixed volcanic and sedi- mentary strata, and that the fact of crystalline rocks (greenstones, diorites, dolerites, felsites, norites, &c.,) appearing as stratified masses and passing into schistose rocks, is no proof of their not being of eruptive or volcanic origin — their present metamorphic character is as the name implies a secondary phase of their existence, and is unconnected with their origin or original forma- tion at the surface. (Read before the Natural History Society, 24th February, 1879.) 32 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. NOTES ON THE GLACIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. By George M. Dawson, D.S., Assoc. R.S.M., F.Gr.S., of the Geological Survey of Canada. While engaged in geological work in British Columbia during the seasons of 1875 and 1876 many points bearing on the glacial period, or epoch of extreme cold and great accumulation of ice which immediately preceded the present condition of affairs, came under notice. The regions more particularly examined during these years were in the interior of the province south of the 54th parallel of latitude, and about the Strait of Georgia on on the coast. Journeys of a more hurried character in other parts of the country enabled me, however, to extend the general conclusions arrived at so as to embrace the greater part of the area of the province. These proved to be of considerable interest, and important particularly in doing away with the apparently anomalous absence of traces of general glaciation on the Pacific slope, a hypothseis based on certain statements rather loosely made, which were afterwards extended to an area greater than they were at any time intended to cover. My observations above referred to, were embodied in a communication presented to the Geological Society, forming an extension to the coast of the Pacific of investigations formerly carried, in the vicinity of the 49th parallel, across the width of the great plains from the Laurentian axis to the Rocky Mountains.* This paper has been printed with a map and illustrations in the Quarterly Journal of the Society. f In a country with such pronounced physical features as British Columbia, the solution of the problems ofi"ered by the traces remaining to us of the glacial period, is by no means so simple as in less rugged districts, and it becomes necessary to keep clearly in view the chief outlines of its orography, and to endeavour in the field and at the time of observation to bring before the mind the various possible causes of each particular phenomenon. * Quarterly Journal Geological Society, Vol. XXXI, p. 603. t Ibid, Vol. XXXIV, p. 89. No. 1.] DAWSON — GLACIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 33 British Columbia may be described as including the whole width of a certain portion of the Cordillera region of the con- tinent. The Rocky Mountains, properly so called, form the boundary between the belt of the Cordilleras and the great plains to the east. The south-eastern flank of this system is defined by a remarkably deep and straight valley, in which lie consider- able portions of the courses of the largest rivers of the country. Beyond this valley to the south-west, is a second and broader mountain region, called by various names in different parts of its length, but which may be designated as the Selkirk or Gold Range. Many of the summits of these mountains are scarcely less in altitude than these of the Rocky Mountains, which frequently surpass 9000 feet. Nearly parallel to these two great ranges is the Coast or Cascade Range, in which the average altitude of the higher peaks may be stated as between 6000 and 7000 feet. A fourth range may be traced in a par- tially submerged condition, in the mountains of Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Between the Coast Range and the Selkirk or Gold Range lies the great Interior Plateau of British Columbia. This represents the interior basin included between the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain ranges in better known regions to the south. It has an average width of 100 miles, and a mean elevation of about 3500 feet. Its height on the whole increases to the south, while northward it falls gradually towards the cluster of great lakes, and the low country of the Peace River Valley. It is now dissected by deep and trough-like river valleys, into most of which water standing at 3000 feet above the present sea-level would penetrate; and though in some places pretty level and uniform, it is generally when broadly viewed only that its true character is apparent. The north- western end of this plateau appears to be blocked by a hio-h mountainous country formed by the coalescence of the three f>reat ranges about latitude 55° 30'; while nearly coincident with the 49th parallel, is a second irregularly transverse mountainous zone which is however traversed by several great river valleys, of which that of the Okanagan in longitude 119" 30' is the most important. The general conclusions arrived at as to the glacial phenomena of the country as quoted from the paper above referred to are as follows : — V'OL. IX. • c JSIo. 1. 34 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. 1. The character of the rock-strintion and fluting on the south- eastern peninsula of Vancouver Island shows that at one time a great glacier swept over it from north to south. The glacier must have filled the Strait of Georgia, with a breadth, in some places, of over 50 miles, and a thickness of ice near Victoria of considerably over 600 feet. Traces of the glacier are also found on San Juan Island and the coast of the mainland. 2. The deposits immediately overlying the glaciated rocks, besides hard material locally developed, and probably represent- ing moraine profonde, consist of sandy clays and sands, which have been arranged in water, and in some places contain marine shells. These, or at least their lower beds, were probably formed at the foot of the glacier when retreating, the sea standing con- siderably higher than at present. 3. Observations in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia, and the fjords opening into it — where the sources ot the great glacier must have been — show ice-action to a height of over 3000 feet on the mountain-sides. The fjords north of the Strait of Georgia show similar traces. Terraces along the coast of the mainland are very seldom seen, and have never been observed at great elevations. 4. In the interior plateau of British Columbia, there is a system of glaciation from north to south, of which traces have been observed at several localities above 3000 feet. Subsequent slaciation, radiant from the mountain-ranires, is also found. 5. The superficial deposits of the interior may be classified as unmodified and modified. The former, representing the "boulder-clay, hold many water -rounded stones, with some glacier- marked, and occurs at all heights up to over 5000 feet. The latter characterize nearly all localities below 3000 feet, and are most extensively developed in the northern low country, where they appear as a tine white silt or loess. 6. The interior is marked with shore-lines and terraces from the present sea-level up to 5270 feet, at which height a well- marked beach of rolled stones occurs on Il-ga-chuz Mountain. 7. Moraines occur in great numbers. Some of the moraine- like accumulations may have been formed in connexion with the north-to-south glaciation. Most of those now seen, however, mark stasres in the retreat of glaciers towards the various mountain-ranges. The material of the moraines resembles that of the boulder- clay, but wdth water-rounded stones even more abundant. No. 1.] DAWSON — GLACIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 35 8. The sequence of events in the interior region has been : — glaciation from north to south, with deposit of boulder-clay; for- mation of terraces by lowering of water-surface, accompanied or followed by a warm period ; short advance of glaciers from the mountains contemporaneously with formation of lower terraces ; retreat of glaciers to their present limits. Glaciation of Van- couver Island may have occured duriog both the first and second cold periods, or during the second only. 9. If the north-to- south glaciation has been produced by glacier-ice, it must have been either («) by the action of a sreat northern ice cap (against which grave difficulties appear), or (i) by the accumulation of ice on the country itself, especially on the mountains to the north. In either case it is probable that the glacier filled the central plateau, and, besides passing south- ward, passed seaward through the gaps and fjords of the Coast Range. The boulder-clay must have been formed along the front of the glacier during its withdrawal, in water, either that of the sea, or of a great lake produced by the blocking by local glaciers of the whole of the valleys leading from tbe plateau, to a depth of over 5000 feet. 10. If general submergence to over 5000 feet be admitted, the Japan current would flow strongly through Behring's Strait, and over part of Alaska, while arctic ice-laden water, passing south across the region of the great plains, would also enter the central plateau of British Columbia, accounting for the north- to-south glaciation and simultaneous formation of the boulder- clay. To these conclusions the facts met with during the continua- tion of the geological work in 1877 and the past summer, enable some very interesting additions to be made, all which tend to show that the opinions previously formed are in the main correct. The region examined in 1877 embraced the southern portion of the Interior Plateau, with portions of the Coast and Gold Ranges. Evidence of the north to south glaciation above referred to, were found in a number of additional localities, on the higher parts of the southern portion of the plateau, and traced to a height, on Iron Mountain at the junction of the Rivers Nicola and Coldwater, of 5280 feet. These observations, with those of former years, cover a portion of the Interior Plateau over three hundred miles in length, and show that the ice pressed onward over the southern portion of the plateau to, or even beyond the 36 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. line of the 49th parallel, notwithstanding the generally mountain- ous character of that part of the region. Travelled boulders and stones rounded by water action are found at like heights with the striation, occurring even at the summit of Iron Moun- tain ; and over the greater portion of the region, from the eastern slopes of the elevated land of the coast ranges, is spread a cover- ing of drift material, more or less abundantly charged with erratics, and where not modified by water action subsequent to its deposition, to be referred to the boulder clay. Terraces, or " benches," are in many places in this part of the province shewn in wonderful perfection, rising tier above tier from the bottoms of the valleys, till they are found in a more or less wasted state encircling the higher portions of the plateau remote from the river-courses. These in several places exceed 3500 feet in altitude above the level of the sea, but none so high as that previously observed on Il-ga-chuz Mountain, in the northern part of the province, were found. In the valleys connected with the Thompson, and especially about Kamloops Lake and the valley of the South Thompson above Kamloops, but also in the great Okanagan Valley, and forming small outlying patches for some distance up the Similka- meen, is a remarkable horizontally-stratified deposit of white silt, in the form of terraces. These are evidently remnants of a sheet of similar material, which has at one time formed the floor of these wide trough-like valleys. In composition it resembles the white silts of the Nechacco Basin, but occurs at a different horizon, reaching a maximum height, so far as ascertained, of about 1700 feet above the sea. In origin it is probably like that of the Nechacco, a deposit from the turbid waters of glaciers at a time when the ice still had a considerable extension from the various mountain ranges, and general depression of the land, or the damming up of the valleys gave rise to a system of winding water-ways — lakes or fjords — which occupied the main depres- sions of the surface. The heads of these valleys, in the flanks of the Gold Range, still hold long and deep lakes, on the bank^ of which drift deposits appear to be scarce and the white silts are not found. I refer in this connection particularly to the system of valleys occupied by the Shuswap Lakes. It appears not improbable that at the time the white silts were laid down the portions of the valleys now held by these lakes were filled with glacier ice, and that eventually a rather rapid dissolution No. 1.] DAWSON — GLACIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 37 tion occurring, the beds of the glaciers were left as hollows to become lakes. Whether any of these are true rock-basins can not be determined, as the material flooring the lower portions of the wide valleys is altogether detrital. A moraine appears to lie across the valley at the lower end of Little Shuswap Lake. Explorations along the coast of British Columbia, and more especially in the Queen Charlotte Islands, during the past sum- mer, have developed additional interesting details bearing on the glacial period. These have not yet been worked up, but the main points are as follows. The great glacier which filled the Strait of Georgia, overriding the south-eastern extremity of Vancouver Island, may be attributed with greatest probability tr the earlier and more intense period of glaciation. Its motion was from north to south, but whether this indicated a general glaciation of the coast in that direction, or was due entirely to the contour of the laud, was not known. It was evident that had any polar ice-cap or southward-moving glaciating ridge of ice been the agent, it must also have followed the wide sound separating the north-western end of Vancouver Island from the mainland, in a south-eastward direction. This has not occurred, but, on the contrary, a glacier equally massive with that of the Strait of Georgia has poured out of this sound north-westward, sweeping over the northern portion of Vancouver and adjacent islands. From a point nearly opposite the middle of Vancouver Island, where the channels separating it from the continental shore are most contracted, the ice has flowed south-eastward, forming the Strait of Georgia glacer, and north-westward as that of Queen Charlotte Sound. North of Vancouver Island, wherever looked for in the proper situations, marks of heavy glaciation are found in all the channels and fjords, to the southern extremity of Alaska where my obser- vations terminated, though a coast-line similar in its general features, and doubtless characterized by the same signs of a former glaciation. extends far to the north-westward. The glacier ice has not only filled the narrow fjords to a great depth, but passing westward has occupied the wider straits which separate the outer islands of the group which fringes the coast. In the Queen Charlotte Islands, parted widely from the mainland, traces of local glaciation only, due to ice accumulating on its own mountain system, are found. The northern shore of these islands is however strewn with erratics which may have 38 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix, come from the mainland. Along the eastern shore of Graham Island, a long line of cliffs displays deposits of clays and sands- similar to those previously described as occurring in the southern part of Vancouver Island. Many of the beds contain boulders and some hold marine shells of the species found in the deposits just referred to, with occasional fragments of wood. Quite recently, a great addition to our knowledge of western geology has been made by the publication by Clarence King of the volume of his series on the fortieth parallel, devoted to sys- tematic geology. In this the quaternary period is treated at some length, and in a comprehensive manner, enabling compari- sons to be drawn between the condition during the glacial period of that part of the Cordillera system included in British Colum- bia, and its southern continuation in the vicinity of the fortieth parallel. King has failed to find any evidence of a great southward- moving ice-mass, or general glaciating agent, and no sheet of boulder-clay covers the region ; the superficial deposits being either directly due to the descent of torrents from the mountains and high lands, or to the rearrangement of these by water action in lakes. Two great sheets of water which have been called Lakes Lahontain and Bonneville, spread widely in the high plateau region between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. Local glaciers were, however, extensively developed, coming down to altitudes of 2000 to 5000 feet above the sea in the Sierra Nevada, which was exposed to the moisture-bearing winds of the Pacific, but seldom reaching below a height of 7000 to 8000 feet in the dryer eastern ranges. These constitute the local expres- sions of the general change which further north produced great ice-fields, but at no time was more than about one-thirtieth of the area embraced in the fortieth parallel survey covered with ice. The most interesting point established by King, however, is the existence of two periods of moisture and flooding of the lake basins, alternating with two of extreme drought, the latter of which still continues. The evidence of these is found both in the relative arransjement of the stratified and unstratified mate- rials of the old lake bottoms, and in the chemical character of the deposit from their waters. These periods of great precipi- tation are correlated with great probability with the two epochs of glaciation proved in British Columbia. King, however^ adopts extreme views as to the power of glaciers in eroding No. 1.] DAWSON — GLACIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 39 valleys, attributing most of the canons of the region he has ex- amined to their action. He draws attention to the V-shaped gorges which become U-shaped in their upper reaches, and sup- poses that the former were cutout by flood waters accompanying and following the first period of glaciation, while in the latter we have the unaltered work of the glaciers of the second period, stating that the work of erosion in these valleys has been ab- solutely trivial since the glaciers left them. It is also advanced in support of these views that many if not most of the canons of which the age can be determined, have been cut out since Pliocene times, and that in the surfaces of the Archaean masses which must have stood out as islands during long geological periods, nowhere shew the junction of newer formations with them, to follow other than broad rounded curves. To this theory of the origin of canons and mountain-valleys it may be objected that whatever be the case in the fortieth parallel area, vast post-glacial erosion and the formation of deep valleys and gorges since that period have elsewhere been dis- covered ; that glaciers are never now found to exert such active erosive power, and that the idea that so sluggish and inert a portion of a glacier as its nevS should produce the great amphitheatrical valleys or cirques of the central mountain regions, seems incon- ceivable. Further, the post-pliocene age of the canons, supposing it to be correctly assigned to them in all cases, may mean nothing more than that the progressive elevation of the plateau area by which the cutting down of canons may be explained, was most active about that time. Canons and fjords are in any case rather exceptional phenomena, they occur only, on any hypothe- sis, in regions long raised above the sea level, and the chances that such features should be preserved during a depression of the land and afterwards brought to light in the particular por- tions of the lines of contact of newer and older rocks exposed by denudation, are exceedingly small. 40 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. ON SOME POINTS IN LITHOLOGY. By Prof. James D. Dana. (^From the American Journal of Science.) I. On some of the characters employed in distinguishing DIFFERENT KINDS OF RoCKS. Lithology is a department of G-eology, rocks being the material in and through which geological problems are presented for study. The true aim of the science of lithology is to describe the kinds of rocks mineralogically and chemically, and to note down their distinctions in such a manner as shall best contribute to the objects of geology ; and these latter objects include, as regards rocks, the origin of the minerals and mineral associations, constituting or occurring in rocks ; the origin of the rock masses and their relations to other geological phenomena; and the origin of all changes or transformations that have taken place in rocks in the course of the earth's physical development. Geology, chemistry and mineralogy have each to be considered in deter- mining the proper distinctions between the kinds of rocks. Should lithology make much of mere difference in texture, or in ingredients that are present only in minute proportion, geology might rightly say that, for such a purpose, these points are of small importance compared with the nature or composition of the mass. The defining of rocks is attended with special difficulties on account of their mutual transitions. From granite down they are, with very few exceptions, mixtures of minerals, as much so as the mud of a mud bank. They graduate into one another by indefinite blendings, as the mud of one mud bank graduates into the mud of others around it. In fact a large part of the crys- talline rocks were once actual mud beds or sand beds ; and even part of the eruptive rocks may have been so in their earlier history. Strongly drawn limits nowhere exist. Rocks are hence of different kinds, not of different species; and only those mix- tures are to be res-arded as distinct kinds of rocks which have a sufficiently wide distribution to make a name important to the geologist. Other kinds have to be classed as varieties, if worthy of that degree of recognition. No. 1.] DANA — SOME POINTS IN LITHOLOGY. 41 In the following pages I propose to consider the value of some of the distinctive characters which are generally accepted at the present time in defining certain kinds of rocks. 1. ^^OMer'' and ^^ younger.'' — The distinctions "older" and ^' younger " often applied to a number of kinds of eruptive rocks, seem to imply that the earth has generated different kinds of rocks as it has grown old. The terms have reference, however, to only one epoch of abrupt change — that between the cretaceous and tertiary, " older " signifying pre-Tertiary, and "younger" Tertiary or later in date. It is of eminent importance to geology to know definitely whether this epoch was one of great change in the earth's ejections, and an epoch so marked that the rocks on one side of the time-boundary are deserving generally of different names from those of the other; for thus lithology, judging from some recent works, as well as older, has seemingly decided. Some examples of the "older" kinds are dloryte^ diabase, and a large part offehyte ; and some of the "younger" are propyJyte, doleryte or basalt, and trachyte. The value of (the distinction may be learned from a comparison of the rocks of one of these series with the rocks of the other. First as to diabase and doleryte. Typical diabase consists according to the descriptions, of labradorite and augite, with some magnetite or titanic iron ; and so does doleryte. Diabase, to a large extent, is a crystalline-granular rock, so is doleryte. Diabase was formerly supposed to be peculiar in containing chlorite, but it is now proved, as asserted by Rosenbusch, that chlorite is not an essential characteristic, so that diabase may be chloritic or not ; and the same is true of doleryte. Old diabase was described as differing from the younger rock doleryte in containing no glassy portions or grains among the crystalline grains ; but this is also set aside by later observations, and Rosen- busch accordingly divides diabase into (1) massive granular diabase, (2) diabase-porphyrite, and (3) glass-bearing diabase; and corresponding subdivisions are as good for doleryte. Thus in chemical composition, in mineral composition, in texture, in the presence or absence of chlorite, in the presence or absence of glassy portions, the two rocks are identical. Analyses of " dia- bases " from the Archaean to the Tertiary, and of " dolerytes " of subsequent time, have shown that material of essentially the same composition, has been ejected in all geological ages, as has been well urged by Allport and others. The analyses might be 42 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix» cited ; but this is not necessary, since in mineral composition typical diabase and doleryte are admitted to be identical. The facts as regards these two rocks, then, give no foundation for the idea of such a transition epoch in rock-making at the close of the Cretaceous period. And if not, it is bad for geology to have such epithets as *' younger" and "older" treated with so great distinction. Again: the difference between dioryte ("older") and ^^ro/jy- lyte ("younger") is not in the chemical or mineral composition of the rocks ; and hence, whatever difference there be is only in texture and is, therefore, of little geological value. Agaiin, felsj/te and tracfiyte are rocks of one and the same chemical and mineral constitution. Ordinary felsyte consists of orthoclase, or ortho- clase and olisroclase with sometimes disseminated hornblende or quartz ; and the same is precisely the constitution of some kinds of trachyte. They differ in aspect, and feel differently under the fingers, and still some varieties of felsyte differ from ordinary trachyte only in having the disseminated orthoclase crystals not translucent, a difference of very small value mineralogically, and not less so geologically. [^The rock of certain felsitic dykes ^in Canada and Vermont, Paleozoic in age, is called trachyte by T. Sterry Hunt in the Canada Geological Report, because of the essential identity with that rock ; and Mr. G. W. Hawes, in his New Hampshire Report, says (p. 187), of New Hampshire's " orthoclase-porphyry," " Were it not that the feldspar is opaque othoclase, instead of clear sanidin [that is, glassy orthoclase] one would immediately think of trachyte on examining these rocks." Moreover, Messrs. E. Reyer and Suess, eminent geologists of Vienna have shown that trachyte occurs in the Euganean Hills of Cretaceous and Jurassic age, as well as of Tertiary. Further, there are felsytes among the "younger" rocks of the globe, that is, among the products of volcanoes, where there is no trachyte ; and, on the other hand, trachyte sometimes graduates indefinitely into fel- syte. The facts show, consequently, that orthoclase rocks, or orthoclase and oligoclase, have been erupted from Paleozoic time onward, and that the distinctions found in some of the latest kinds are superficial : a little rougher surface, more trans- lucency in the feldspar, and some glass at times among the crystalline grains ; but nothing that has any geological weight. While then it may be well to retain the names of trachyte and No. 1.] DAxNA — SOME POINTS IN LITHOLOGY. 43 felsyte. on account of the obvious external difierences and the wide extent to which the two varieties of rock are distributed over the earth's surface, the epithet "younger" as applied to trachyte and some felsyte can subserve plainly no good use. The essential chemical identity of the " older " and " younger " rocks is further exhibited in the fact that the hornblende-bearing rock labradorite-diori/te, called one of the "older," has the same ulti- mate constitution as the augite-bearing rocks, "older" and "younger," called diabase, doleryte and basalt. This fact em- phasizes the great truth, that the rock-making materials of former times are the same as those of recent. During and since the Tertiary era more subserial volcanic eruptions have taken place than in any one ancient period ; but there were also many then. As to fundamental differences between the materials ejected by the " older ^' and "younger" world there appear to be none which are of essential importance , Glass or no glass is made an important criterion ; but glass is simply a result of comparatively rapid cooling, and alone indicates no essential differences in the melted mass. Dropping the adjectives "younger" and "older" would require the dropping of the distinctive names based on them, unless some better reason exists for retaining them. If diabase is not distinct from doleryte in some important way beside? that of time of eruption, the name diabase (the newer of the two) is unnecessary. In fact, the rocks are not distinct in external characters any more than in chemical or mineralogical. The rock of the Giant's Causeway was pronounced diabase on microscopic grounds when its geological age was unknown ; but it has since been proved to be Miocene Tertiary ; and now, although just as much diabase in constitution as before, it be- comes, on the " younger " and " older " scale, doleryte or basalt. Some of the differences attributed to difference in age may be due to differences in origin — that is, to the rock's being metamorphic in one case, and eruptive in another. There are distinctions of this kind of great interest yet to be followed out ; and they may sometimes have a sufl&cient geological value for recognition in distinct names, although this may not be generally the case. 2. Foliated or not. — Some rocks are described as having foliated pyroxene or foliated hornblende, that is, diallage, pseudo- hypersthene or smaragdite as the characterizing ingredient. The question here is whether the distinction o^ foliated or not foliated 44 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. is of sufficient importance to be used as a distinction among kinds of rocks. In the first place, it is trivial as a crystallo- graphic distinction. Secondly, although mineralogy once made much of the distinction, it now makes little of it. Thirdly^ it is not sustained by the analyses of the varieties of foliated pyroxene — diallage and the wrongly called hypersthene being essentially identical in composition with common augite of erup- tive rocks, and the smaragdite, with other crystallized horn- blende. This is shown in any work giving full lists of analyses of minerals, and is well understood ; yet the introduction here of a few of the analyses may not be superfluous. Nos. 1 to 5 are of diallage and pseudo-hypersthene, and 6 to 8 of augite crystals from Etna and Vesuvius. Si02 AI2O3 FeO MnO MgO CaO H2O 1. Florence, X>ta« 53-20 2-47 8-67 0-38 14-91 19-09 1-77=100-49 Kohler. 2. Piedmont, i)io/^ 50 05 2-58 11*98 17-24 15-63 2-13 = 99-61 Regnault 3. Graubiindten, Dio/^ . 49-12 3 04 11-45 1533 18-54 1-46 = 98.94 V. Rath. 4. Harzburg, ifi/i) 52-34 3-05 8-84 15-58 19-18 0-66 = 99-65 8treng. 5. Neurode, ^i/j) 5.3-60 1-99 8-95 0-28 13-08 21-06 0-86 = 99-82 V. Rath. 6. Etna, Augite Cryst. . . . 50-5-5 4-85 7-06 13-01 22-29 = 98-66 Kudernatsch. 7. Vesuvius " .... 50-90 5-37 6-25 14-43 22*96 = 99-91 Kudernatsch. 8. Vesuvius " .... 49-61 4-42 9-08 14-22 22-83 =100-16 Rammelsberg. The mineralogical and chemical differences are thus too slight to make the distinction of any lithological importance, and this importance can be sustained, if at all, only on geological con- siderations. The particular rock, in the description of which the character stands prominent, is that called Gahhro in Germany. It is well known that this Italian word was the provincial name originally of common serpentine. Ferber, in his "Briefe ausdem Walsch- land " (Letters from Italy), written in the years 1771, 1772, and published in 1773, describes so well the rock near Florence, that we cite briefly from him. He first says, in a letter from Florence, of Dec. 11, 1771 (in which he gives scientific notes on the minerals and rocks of the regions), that the Gabbro of the Italians, occurring in Italy, Tuscany and Genoa, is identical with the serpentine of Saxony. Then, in another of May 23, 1772, he repeats the statement and describes particularly, and with scien- tific precision, the gabbro of Mt. Impruneta, near Florence, and mentions the occurrence in it of a talky, micaceous mineral, No. 1.] DANA — SOME POINTS IN LITHOLOGY. 45 which affords, he says, a powder greasy to the touch (the diallage), and also amianthus. He then adds that "in horizontelen Schich- ten in den Gabbro-Bergen um Impruneta findet sich der soge- nannte Granltone, welcher aus weissen Feldspat, der an einigen Stellen Kalchspatartig ist und mit Siiuren brauset, etwas griin- lichtem silberfarbigen wiirflichten Glimmer, und griinlicher Ser- pentin-Erde, besteht: " a description that distinguishes thegabbro from the granitone. Further, he says that some of the granitone consists of the " white feldspar in large parallelopipeds and green gabbro-earth, without the micaceous mineral." The word Gabbro, as it is now used (and was so first by von Buch, in 1810), is applied to the granitone, the associate of the Italian gabbro ; but, besides this, to rocks consisting of foliated pyroxene (sometimes called hypersthenite), and cleavable labra- dorite, the idea o^ foliated standing out prominently; and also to an eruptive diabase-like or doleryte like rock, in which the augite happens to be foliated. In this last variety, as the analyses show, there is evidently no foundation whatever for separating the rock from other labradorite-augite eruptive rocks. Granitone is the same as euphotide, a rock distributed at inter- vals along the Alps from Savoy and Isere, in France, through Piedmont, to the valley of the Saas, north of east of Monte Rosa, and the Graubiindten, occurring also in Silesia and on the island of Corsica, and found commonly associated with serpentine. Its chief characteristic is — not its foliated diallajre or smarasdite (either of which is usually a mixture of hornblende and pyroxene), but its consisting largely of the compact jade-like material called saussurite ; for it would be the same rock, essentially, whether the hornblende and pyroxene were distinctly foliated or not ; and, in fact, in part of it the texture is aphanitic, and nothino* foliated is distinguishable. Saussurite has a close relation to some of the feldspars in its constituents, it being essentially a soda-lime- alumina silicate ; and still, as has Ions been recof'nised. it is not a feldspar. This has been rightly sustained by the fact of the high density, which is over 2-9 (2*9 to 3-4) in saussurite, and less than 2'765 in the feldspar group. It is further proved by its occurrence occasionally under the crystalline forms of a triclinic feldspar, but with a fine granular or aphanitic structure ; thus bavins:, instead of the cleavage structure belonging to the feldspar, a feature belonging to a pseudomorph. In such cases it was once feldspar ; but some 46 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. IX. change has come over it that has resulted in a molecular trans- formation, affecting both the crystalline character and the density. Saussurite appears to cover a group of minerals, like feldspar. One kind is between anorthite and zoisite in composition, though diiFerino; from both in the soda and mai^nesia. and from all feld- spars in its not having the feldspar-ratio between the silica and soda. A second has the composition of labradorite ; and a third the composition nearly of oligoclase. A fourth, from Corsica, analysed by Boulanger, is a lime-alumina silicate, like anorthite and zoisite. The saussurite group, with density between 2-9 and 3*4, runs nearly parallel with the feldspar group. The first is Saussurite, Th. de Saussure having named thus the Lake Geneva variety, after his father, in 1806; the third is Jddeite ; and the second may be called, from one of its localities, Genevrite, The following are the analyses of three prominent kinds, and of normal anorthite, labradorite and oligoclase. Si2 AI2O3 FeoOs FeO I.L.Geneva 43-59 'Zl-l'Z 2-61 2. L. Geneva 45-34 30-28 1-37 3. Schwartzwald 42-64 31-00 2-40 II. 4. Mt. Genevre 49-73 29-65 0-85 5. Silesia 5084 26-00 2-73 6. Silesia 51*76 26 82 1-77 7. Unst 52-21 29-64 0-48 8. Unst 53-14 29-99 0-25 9. Durance 56-12 17-40 7-79 III. 10. Jadeite, China, 59-17 22-58 1-56 11. " Switz 58-89 22-40 1-66 12. " " 58-28 21-86 2-41 13. Normal anorthite . . 43-1 36-9 14. Normal labradorite. 52'9 30.3 15. Normal oligoclase . . 61*9 24-1 Specific gravity of 1, 3-227 ; of 2, 3-3-3-4 ; of 3. 3-16: of 4, 3-10 ; of 5, 2-998: of 6, 2.74 ; of 7. 2.95 : of 8, 2 954 : of 9. 2.923 : of 10, 333-3.35 : of 11, 3 32 ,- of anorthite, 2-66-2-763; of labradorite. 2 67-2-76; of oligoclase. 2-5-51. and to 11, ZnO 0.73. Nos. 10 to 12 are only known worked into ornaments, biit the kind may yet be found in the Alps. No. 5 has the specific gravity of labradorite fnd was therefore that species, a mineral that would be present where the crystallization took place without, or with only par- tially, the conditions needed to produce saussurite. No. 9 is of the globules of the " Variolite of Durance." a rock associated with euphotide. Boulanger's saussurite. from Corsica, is near zoinite in composition and density (G.=3-18), as stated by T. S. Hunt, who referred all true saussurite to zoisite confirming his view by his analysis above), and the part near labradorite to that of feldspar. Damour obtained for yac/e^Ve the ratio 1:2:6. MgO CaO Na20K2 ign 2-98 19-71 3-08 0-35 = 100-04 Hunt. 3-88 13-87 4-23 0-71 = 99-68 Fikenscher. 5-73 8-21 3-83 3-83 = 97-64 Hutlin. 0-56 11-18 4-04 0-24 3-75 = 100 00 Delesse. :o-22 14-95 4-68 0-61 1-21 = 101-24 v. Rath. 0-35 12-96 4-61 0-62 0-68 = 99-57 Chandler. 0-26 12-43 4-00 0-44 0-11 = 99-56 Heddle. 0-21 12-29 3-86 0-47 0-21 = 100-42 Heddle. 3-41 8-74 3-72 0-24 1-93 = 99.35 Delesse. 1-15 2 68 12-93 tr. = 100.07 Damour. 1-28 3-12 12-86 0-49 0-20 = 100 63, Fellenberg. 1-99 2-53 13-97 MnO 0-22. Fellenberg. 20-0 = 100 12.3 4-5 = 100 5-2 8-8 = 100 No. 1.] DANA — SOME POINTS IN LITHOLOGY. 47 The relation to the feldspar group iodieates the occurrence of special geological circumstances, which turned feldspathic mate- rial into saussurite. The circumstance that determined the crystallization or metamorphism may have produced, in its in- cipient stage, soda- lime feldspar ; but it ended in making a large part, or the whole, saussurite. Moreover the hornblende has been shown to be, in part at least, pseudomorphous after pyroxene ; so that the foliated ingredient bears like evidence of this mode of origin. Consequently saussurite rocks not only differ molecu- larly from any labradorite or feldspar rock, but are indications of peculiar geological operations on a large scale ; and this con- nected with other differences, makes it desirable to distiniruish such rocks by a special name. The saussurite and not the foli- ated mineral is the chief ingredient on which the distinction rests. Euphotide is therefore a different rock from any, consisting of cleavahle labradorite and pyroxene or hornblende, both on mineralogical and geological grounds. The foliated condition of the latter constituent is not reason enough for overlooking the more fundamental differences. As the name gahhro has covered rocks of so different kinds, lithology would be freer of ambigui- ties without it. The true labradoriteand-pyroxene rock of Scandinavia, the Adirondacks, British America, and other regions, sometimes called Noryte — the third kind of gabbro — has the chemical and mineralogical constitution of diabase or doleryte. But it differs from these in its granitoid aspect and geological relations, and is of metamorphic origin ; and as it is of wide geographical dis- tribution, geology seems to require for it a distinct name, and noryte is an appropriate one. The pyroxene, though generally foliated, is not always so. When, in place of pyroxene, there is true hypersthene, a mineral of different composition and character, as at St. Paul's, Labrador, the rock is then rightly called Hypersthenyte, and this name is so used by Zirkel. 3. PorpJiyritic Structure. — Porphyry naturally took the posi- tion of a species in the mineralogy of the ancients. But it is now well known, and generally admitted, that the porphyritic structure is largely due to conditions attending the former tem- perature and cooling of the rock-mass, and distinguishes only varieties. But still it is usual to find dioryte divided, for its primary subdivisions, into ordinary dioryte and dioryte-porphyry; 48 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. diabase into granular diabase and diabase-porphyry or diabase- porphyrite; felsyte into felsyte and felsyte- porphyry ; and so on, as if the porphyritic structure were deserving of first prominence in the question of division into varieties, even greater than mineral constitution ; and sometimes it is even made the basis of a dis- tinct kind of rock. But, first, this porphyritic feature is only one grade in the crystalline condition, and is of no more value as resrards rock-distinctions than other s-rades. Secondly, it is of far less importance in this respect than any variations in chemical or mineral compositions, such as are made the basis of other varieties. Thirdly, it has often little stability in a rock-formation ; for transitions in a dioryte from porphyritic dioryte to non porphy- ritic are often found to take place at short intervals, laterally as well as vertically ; and so it is with other porphyritic rocks. — Within three miles west of New Haven, Connecticut, a labradorite- dioryte undergoes many such transitions in intervals of a few rods, illustrating the little value of the distinction based merely on this condition in the feldspar. Half a dozen miles farther west there is porphyritic granite which graduates, in a few yards at some points, into porphyritic gneiss (the crystals of orthoclase, two inches long and three-fourths of an inch broad) and this last graduates near by into ordinary gneiss ; and gradations from por- phyritic to ordinary gneiss are very common in the region. Such facts make it evident that the porphyritic structure is a charac- teristic of little relative importance ; that a porphyritic variety may have rightly a place on a level with other ordinary varieties, but never above one based on variations in composition. The porphyritic structure is an easy character to observe ; but this is not an argument in its favor that science can entertain. Such names as fehite-porphyre, amygdcdoporpliyre, granitoporphyre, melaporphyre (this last signifying "black porphyry ") and others (abbreviated sometimes to felsophyre, amygdalophyre,granopliyre, etc.) have high authority. But they seem to belong rather to books on polished stones than to scientific works on lithology. The occurrence also of the augite of an eruptive rock in dis- tinct crystals, or of quartz in double pyramids, and other similar cases, can have nothing more than a small varietal value. The criterion — crystals or not — is sufficient to distinguish only varie- ties in mineralogy : and lithology can rightly make no more of it. (^To he continued.^ No. 1.] GOODE — NOTES ON CANADtAN FERNS. 49 NOTES ON CANADIAN FERNS. [Having particular reference to the discovery of Aspidiam Lonchltis at Gaspe in 1875.] By Jno. B. Goode, Esq. {Read hefore the Natural History Society^ Mo?ttrea/j Jany. 27 t/i, 1879.) The mounted specimens which I have now the pleasure of exhibiting to the members of this Society, represent thirty-five of the species indigenous to the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia combined, leaving some eight to ten species to complete the list of the Ferns of these Provinces. Many of the specimens now before you, were collected at Gaspe last July, in the neighbourliood of Grande Greve, which is rather rich in ferns, some of the rare species being there found in abundance. Asplenium viride. This species was first discovered in Canada, by the late John Bell, M. D. It was found in Gaspe in the summer of 1863, since which I have found it in abundance at Grande Greve, where it can be seen in perfection, growino- in the seams of the limestone ridges, in shady, cool aspects. FtUcta gracilis is not rare there, and appears to thrive in the immediate vicinity of the sea, similar in this respect to the Asplenium marinum on the western coast of England ; it thrives best in damp, rocky fissures, or caverns in the shore cliff's, so close to the sea, that in rough weather it must receive a liberal sprinkling of spray. This fern, I may mention, is one of the most difficult to establish in cultivation, and, consequently, although a very pretty one, is rarely or never seen in greenhouse collections. Asjyleniuin marinum, to which reference has just been made, has been reported on the coast of New Brunswick, on one occasion. I may say that my diligent researches on the Gasp^ coast were unsuccessful, and, I think, before accepting it as a Canadian species, it should be found in other localities. Aspidium aculeatum, var. Braunii. A beautiful and rather rare fern ; is common in certain localities at Gaspe, preferrin cool, shady woods on eminences, or slopes. Vol. IX. D No. 1 g 50 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. Aspidium Lonchitis, or Holly Fern of the Old Country. This species I discovered at Grande Greve in 1875, previous to which the only known locality, I believe, was Owen Sound, where plants had been found, in 1859, by the Rev. Professor Hincks. I again found it in the nei,2:hbourhood of Grande Greve, last summer, where my specimens were collected. It is a very hand- some fern, but losing much of its beauty when in cultivation ; throwing out a circle of rich, shining, green and narrow lanceolated fronds, often two feet in length ; it appears to thrive luxuriantly amongst the weathered, broken limestone rocks, that have fallen from the heights above and become mixed with the fallen leaves. Evidently perfect drainage for the roots is essential to a vigorous growth, combined with a cool, breezy atmosphere, with a northerly to easterly aspect. I have transplanted some roots oF this fern, as well as Asplenium viride and Asplenium aculeatum, to suit- able situations on our own mountain, and hope there will be opportunities of seeing them in their early, brilliant spring beauty. The foregoing are the only rare ferns I have found at Grande Greve. Aspidium spinulosum there presents several beautiful forms, as shown in the specimens before you. Pellcea atropurpurea . For this specimen I am indebted to the kindness of "Mrs. Roy, of Owen Sound, where I believe it is sparingly located. I found this fern in 1875, on the cliffs over- hanging the whirlpool at Niagara, on the American side ; but last year, I found it on the Canadian side, and in the most frightfully dangerous-looking places, on the perpendicular sides of high calcareous rocks, which had become partially detached from the main rocks, and were slowly moving, preparatory to a final plunge into the turbulent river beneath. Its dark, tough, wiry roots penetrate the smallest fissure, and thrive with less soil than any other fern with which I am acquainted. No doubt the great amount of humidity from the falls and rapids helps to counteract! the want of root nourishment, the atmos- phere being conatantly filled with light particles of moisture ; otherwise, I think they would be burnt up, being exposed to the scorching sun. I have never seen this species in any other locality. Aspidium fragrans. For the present fine specimen I am in- debted to the Rev. Robert Hamilton, of Grenville, who collected it on one of the mountains in that locality. It is a rare species, growing in the seams or fissures of limestone rocks, into which No. 1.] GOODE — NOTES ON CANADIAN FERNS. 51 its strong wiry roots penetrate, and possesses a most pleasant perfume, almost equalling the sweet-scented violet. It thrives only indiiferently well in cultivation. Camptosorus rhizophyllus, or Walking Leaf. This specimen was contributed from Hemmingford ; it is found on Isle Jesus, on large, mossy boulders, and throughout Quebec and Ontario. This species is the only one of our Canadian ferns which pos- sesses the property of forming new plants from the rooting of the attenuated extremities of the old fronds, and in this manner travels over the face and sides of the rocks. Asjylenium Trichomanes. This fern, so common to collectors in the Old Country, appears to be rare in Canada, the only places I have found it being at the rapids below Niagara Falls, and at Bolton Springs, in the Townships, where I collected the fine specimen now exhibited, last summer. I have transplanted some roots of this neat and pretty fern to our own mountain. Dicksonia 2yunctiIohula. This fern is very beautiful in its early stages, and emits, while drying, a strong odor, like sweet hay. I have not yet found it on the Island of Montreal ; but it is very common in the Eastern Townships, especially at Knowlton, opposite Rockwood, Boscobel, and other places. Its creeping rhizomes push vigorously in every direction, soon form- ing immense clumps. Bofri/chium gracile. The specimens of this pretty dwarf species were found at Gaspe, last summer. I have never seen it elsewhere. Our Montreal mountains and their surroundings contain a very fair share of ferns. I have collected twenty-five species there twenty-four of which were seen last summer, the followino- beino- a list : Polypodium vnlgare, - - abundant on N. E. side, amongst loose rocks. " phegopteris, - N. E. base, « dryopteris, - luxuriates on well-rotten stumps, in shady woods. Struthiopteris germaiiica, - in swamp, S. E. side Mount Royal Cemetery. Pteris aquilina, . - _ dry, open spots. Adiantum pedatum, - - very abundant oft" Mt. Royal Cemetery avenue. Asplenium angustifolium - rather rare ; grows on N. W. side Mt. Royal Cemetery. 52 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. Asplenium thelypteroides, Asplenium filix fcEmina, Woodsia Ilvensis, Cystopteris bulbifera, - Cystopteris fragilis, Aspidiuni thelypteris, - Aspidium Noveboracense, Aspidium spinulosum,] - Aspidium ciistatum, Aspidium marginal^, Aspidium acrostichoides, Onoclea sensibilis, Osmunda regalis, Osmunda Cinnamomea, Osmunda Claytoniana, - Botrychium lunarioides, Botrychium Virginicum, Aspidium Goldianura, - } western side Mt. Royal Cemetery. in rich damp woods ; common. on exposed rocks, top of mountain overlooking the city. abundant on N. E. slope of the moun- tain, beyond Sir Hugh Allan's. in rocky seams or cracks, in shade. swamp between Cemeteries. between Cemeteries ; turns nearly w^hite in autumn. swamp between Cemeteries. (I li u common on rocky slopes ; shade pre- ferred. back of Sir Hugh Allan's and behind Cemetery ; is getting scarce. common in wet places. swamps top of mountain and Smith's swamp. Smith's swamp. dry open spot top of mountain, back of the Kedpath property. rich woods, westerly side. have not found for some years ; was formerly on the northern and wes- tern mountain. Other species than the forgoing have been reported as found on the mountain, but are now probably extinct. No. 1.] DONALD — ELEPHANT REMAINS. 53 NOTES ON ELEPHANT REMAINS FROM WASHINGTON TERRITORY. By J. T. Donald, B.A. The molar now before us forms part of a collection of elephant remains found at Hangman's Creek in the south-western part of Washington Territory. The entire collection numbers over 300 pieces, supposed to represent at least six individuals. These remains were found in a bog, at a depth of twelve feet below the surface. It is thought the same locality, on careful search, would yield more bones. It is with a portion of this collection — found in a position to indicate that it probably belonged to the same individual — we are eoncerned. The principal bones of this portion are, a lower jaw, a pelvis, the first lumbar vertebra, a left scapula, and a horn or tusk. The lower jaw is nearly perfect, and contains the two molars in a good state of preservation. Its length on the outer curve is thirty-six inches ; shortest line from posterior summit of condyle to mandibular extremity, twenty-two and one-half inches. Distance between condyles, fourteen inches ; distance between outer sides of condyles, twenty-two inches ; height of symphysial gutter, four inches ; width of same, three inches. The pelvis weighed when exhumed one hundred and thirty-five lbs. The following are some of its measurements : transverse measurement of sacrum within the arch, ten and one-half inches ; distance from symphysis pubis to summit of pubic arch, thirty inches ; distance from sacrum to pubis, twenty inches ; direct diameter of acetabulum, seven and one-half inches. The trans- verse superior diameter of the lumbar vertebra with processes is ten inches ; its vertical diameter, exclusive of spinous processes is nine and one-half inches ; height of spinous process, six and one-half inches ; greatest breadth of same, two and one-quarter inches. The scapula weighed when taken from the earth forty pounds. Its extreme length is forty and one-half inches ; its width twenty- five and a-quarter inches. The extreme width to base of spine of posterior spinous fossa, is nineteen and a-half inches. The horn or tusk weighed when exhumed one hundred and forty-five lbs. Its length on outer curve is one hundred and 54 ' THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [VOi. ix. twenty inches. Depth of conical opening at base, twelve inches ; circumference at base, nineteen and one-hali inches ; circumfer- ence two feet from base, twenty- two inches. This horn curves somewhat obliquely in about two-thirds of a circle, being more oblique near the point, as if worn. A small portion of the base appears to be wanting. Can we refer these remains, or any part of them, to any known species of elephant ? In the ' Canadian Naturalist ' for the year 1863, page 135, there is a description by the late Mr. Billings, of an elephant's lower jaw, found in a cutting on the Great Western Railway near Hamilton. This jaw is referred to Eule- phas Jachsoni of Briggs and Foster. Calling the jaw now under consideration, a. and that described by Mr. Billings, b. we can tabulate the measurements of the jaws as follows : A B Shortest line from posterior extremity of condyle ins. ins. to mandebular extremity 22^ 23 Greatest width of jaw 25 22 Length of symphysis along median line 5 5^ Width of symphysis 3 2^ The similarity of the dimensions of the two jaws thus shown, leads us to regard the two as belongiog to the same species. The study of the molar before us, which is similar to those contained in the jaw just m:ntioned, strengthens this belief. Calling our molar A. and that described by Mr. Billings b. we can tabulate dimensions as follows : A B inches. inches. Greatest length of tooth 12 .18^ " width " 3J 3^ Length of crown 8| 11 Number of plates in tooth 20 26 In A. sixteen plates ^ve brought to view in a surface of seven and one-half inches. In B. nine vjorn plates occupy a length of four inches, thus giving in each case a little less than one-half inch to each plate ; a strong point in favor of the identity of species in the remains represented by the two molars. Among the remains for which the species E. Jachsoni was proposed was a horn or tusk. A comparison of tliis with the horn belonging to the W. Territory collection also favors the view that the latter is referable to E. Jacksoni. Calling the No. 1.] DONALD ELEPHANT REMAINS. 55 tusk belonging to the remains for which the new species was formed, B. and the one from W. Territory, A. we can make the followini( table : « A B Weight of tusk 145 lbs. 180 lbs. Length on outer curve 120 ins. 129 ins. Circumference at base 19i " 20 " '< two feet from base 22 '« 22 « The remains on which the species E. Jacksoni was founded, were discovered in a " deposit accumulated just after the close of the northern drift period, and while the river terraces were in process of formation." Other elephant remains, found at Zanes- ville, Ohio, in 1852, described by Prof. J. Wyman in the pro- ceedings of the American Association for 1857, and referred to E. Jacksoni, were found in what is called "valley drift." This drift is composed " of loam, sand and gravel filling up the original valley of the stream that had been excavated out of the palaeozoic rocks." Tne remains described by Mr. Billings, and now in the museum of the Geological Survey, were taken from strata " ap- parently formed just after the close of the upper drift period, and belonging to the well-known lake ridges and terraces." The remains from Washington Territory were taken from it bog re- presenting, most probably, a drift deposit filling up a former valley and, therefore, in all probability, corresponding in geologi- cal age to the deposits whence the specimens of E. Jachsoni above mentioned were obtained. On comparing, therefore, as we have just done, the elephant remains from Washington Territory with bones referred by three different authors to E. Jacksoni, and taking into consideration the probable identity in geological age of the several deposits yielding these remains, we are led to the belief that the elephant remains represented by the molar before us belonged to an indi- vidual of the species Elej)has Jacksoni of Messrs. Briggs and Foster, and that this individual lived either immediately anterior to the appearance of man, or just after his advent upon this planet. But this question still confronts us : Were the peculiarities upon which E. Jacksoni was proposed of sufficient importance to warrant the formation of a new species, or were they only of varietal value ? 56 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. |Vol. IX. Of this Mr. Billings seems to have been uncertain, for he says,* '' Should it be admitted that E.JacksoJii is distinct frompr«*mi- genins, etc., etc." * Again, Prof. Boyd Dawkins, in a paper read before the Geo- logical Society, f speaking of the mammoth, says : •' The animal ranged over the whole of North America, fr m the frozen cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay as far south as the Isthmus of Darien — the Eleplias americanvs of Leidy and the E. Colnmhi of Falconer (-£'. Texiamis, Owen) being mere varieties of the same sort as those observable in the European mammoths, founded merely on the relative width and coarsness of the plates composing the grinders; while the E. Jacksoni of Billings merely supplies a slight variation in the form of the lower jaw. In the light of all the evidence thus adduced, I think we may finally refer the elephant remains of Washington Territory, represented by this molar, to E. j^rimigcnius, var. Jdcksoni. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL. The first meeting of the Natural History Society for Session 1878-79 was held in the rooms of the Society on the evening of Monday, October 28th. Principal Dawson occupied the chair. A paper was read by Dr. Harrington on apatite and the minerals associated with it in the region north of the Ottawa which has recently attracted so much attention. The general similarity between the apatite-bearing veins of this district and that of Ontario was referred to, and also the striking parallelism between the constituents of the deposits here and in Norway. The minerals occurring- in the Norwesrian veins, as enumerated by Broegger and Reucsh,;}; are apatite, kjerulfin, quartz, ortho- clase, albite, oligoclase (and albite, so-called Tschermakite), esmarkite, aspasiolite, scapolite, pyroxene, enstatite, hornblende, phlogopite, chlorite, talc? tourmaline, titanite, rutile, specular iron ore, titanic iron ore, magnetite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite and calcite. In the Ottawa region the following have * Con. Nat. and Geol., Old Series, Vol. VIII, p. 144. t Quart. Journal Geol. Soc., Vol. XXXV, p. 145. X Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geol. Gesellschaft, XXVII., s. 646. No. 1.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 57 been observed : ap utite, quartz, orthoclase, albite, scapolite, pyroxene, hornblende, phlogopite, chlorite, prehnite, tourmaline, titanite, rutile ? hematite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, calcite, fluorite, epidote, garnet, zircon, wilsonite, chabazite, sphalerite, molybdenite, graphite, galena. Of the minerals in the latter list several have not before been mentioned as constituents of the apatite-bearing veins of Canada. Attention was called to the occurrence of interesting pseudo- morphs of hornblende after pyroxene. The crystals are often of considerable size, and in some cases only partially, in others com- pletely, converted into an aggregation of little hornblende prisms, constituting a sort of uralite. The change, so far as observed, begins at the surface of the pyroxene crystal and extends inwards. Other pyroxene crystals are interesting on account of the inclu- sions which they contain ; scales of mica, for example, being sometimes arranged approximately parallel to the faces of the crystal. Some fine zircons have been obtained ; one crystal from the township of Templeton being no less than 4^ inches long, and the faces of the prism an inch across. The usual combination is CO P.P. 3P. 3P3. The hydrous silicate called chlorite in the above list is a dark green foliated mineral with a specific gravity of 2-61. It contains 12'5 per cent, of water, and is evidently a member of the chlorite group. The supposed albite has not been analysed, but from its physical and blowpipe characters there can be little doubt as to its being that mineral. Principal Dawson then spoke of apatite from a geological point of view. He said the substance was a constant ingredient of the bones of all the higher animals. In answer to this demand we find it very widely distributed in nature, generally however, in small quantities. But in the Laurentian region it appears in large quantities, very irregularly distributed. As to the origin of the Laurentian apatite there are two theories. One is that it has been accumulated by animals which have passed away and left no trace of their structure. The other is that we have in the Laurentian rocks an original deposit of the mineral. He was, however, inclined to hold the former view, and thought there might yet be found some traces of the organisms of which it once formed a part. During the evening specimens of the minerals mentioned by Dr. Harrington were handed round and carefully examined. A vote of thanks being tendered the President and Dr. Harrington, the meeting closed. 58 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. The second meeting was held on the evening of Monday, Nov. 25th. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt addressed the meeting on ''Geological notes of a summer tour in Europe." Among other things he called attention to the fact that European geologists were coming more and more to regard Canada as the land of the typical Eozoic rocks. He also stated that the animal structure of Eozoon was now pretty generally admitted by European scientists. The third meeting was held on the evening of Monday, Jan. 27th. A. R. C. Selwyn, Esq., F.R.S., occupied the chair in the absence of Principal Dawson. Six new members were elected, after which Dr. Edwards announced the subjects and dates of the Sommerville lectures for the present winter. Mr. John B. Goode then read a p?»per on Canadian ferns, to illustrate which he exhibited his fine collection of native ferns. This paper we publish in full elsewhere. Mr. J. W. Tayler presented the Society with an Esquimaux bow and six arrows obtained from a settlement on the west coast of Davis Straits. The donor culled attention to the fact that ancient sculptors represent the classic bow formed in the same manner as this; and that Apollo is represented as bearing an ivory bow constructed on the same principle. The bow is made of three pieces of reindeer horn, bound together with deerskin thongs. It is strung in the reverse way of its curve, an impetus being given the arrow, not from the spring of the horn, but from the elasticity of the thongs which bind the pieces together. The arrows are tipped with iron and winged with feathers of the Ger- F a Icon. Mr. Caulfield then exhibited the insects taken at St. Jerome on 1st June last, the Society's field-day. With one or two ex- ceptions all are found in Montreal and vicinity. The following is a list : COLEOPTERA. Cicimiela sexgutta, Fabr, Aphodcus fimetarins, Linn, « purpurea, Oliv. Dichelonycba elongtula, iSchon. <' vulgaris, Say. Corymbitcs cylindriformis, Herbst Calosoma calidum, Fabr. Fhotinus curruscus, Linn. Plutynus cupripennis, Say. Tetropium cinnamopterum, Kirby. Agonoderus pailipes, Fabr. Ascmum atrum, Esch. No. 1.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 59 Arrisodactylus discoideus, Dej. Acmacop proteus, Kirby. " baltimorensis, Say, Lema triliiieata, Oliv. Laccophilus maculosus, Germ. Labidomtra trimaculata, Fabr. Silphx peltata, Gates. Doryphora decemliiieata, Say. Attagcnus megatoma, Fabr. Galernca sagitturiaj, Gyll. Ips fasciata, Oliv. Disynyca alternata, Herbst. Cytilus varius, Fabr. Melandryoe striata, Say. Onthophagus latrbrosus, Fabr. Hylobius confusus, Lac. Aphodeus fosser, Linn. Tricaloplius alternatus, Say. LEPIDOPIERA. Papilio Turnus, Linn. Chrysoplanus americanus, Harris. '' Asteriap, Fabr. Hesperia vialis, Edw, Pieris rapfp, Linn Sessia diffines, Harris. Colias plilodice, Godart. " Tiiysbe, Fabr. Pyrameus cardui, Linn. Eiuha3tes collaris, Fitch. <' Attulanta, Linn. Eufidonia notataria, Pack. Neouympha Eurytus, Fabr. Lozogramma defluata, Walk. Lycffina Lucia, Kirby. Tetracis lorata, Grote. Mr Whiteaves remarked that of the plants found at St Jerome, four were rare species and had not yet been found on the Ishind of Montreal. The chairman made some remarks in reference to the Paris Exhibition, and the Canadian Exhibit which excited wonder and surprise in the numerous visitors from all countries. Special mention was made of the gold octahedron, the huge mass of plumbago, the pyramid and tunnel of coal, and the representation of Canada's lumber wealth. The latter was a timber frame supporting a section of an immense British Columbian pine, pla- carded " This tree was at least 150 years old when Columbus discovered America." Views of the Canadian Exhibit and pamphlets showing Can- ada's natural productions were passed round during the evening and carefully examined. The fourth meeting was held on the evening of Monday, Feb. 24th. Principal Dawson occupied the chair. There was a large attendance of members and friends. The evening was spent in hearing a paper from A. R. C. Selwyn, Esq., F.R.S., director of the Geological Survey, on "The Stratigraphy of the Quebec Group and the older Crystalline Rocks of Canada." with a dis- cussion on the same. Mr. Selwyn's paper, which we publish in this issue, was illustrated by maps, sections and specimens. A hearty vote of thanks was tendered to him for his able and ex- haustive paper. 60 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. MISCELLANEOUS. THE MOUND BUILDERS OF THE WEST. Dr. Schultz, M.P., sends us the following, originally commu- nicated by him to the Free Press. '* Sir, — Permit me through your columns to correct some of the current absurd rumors as to results obtained from excavations recently made for me in the county of Lisgar. Those of your readers who may have had occasion to travel the river road run- ning through that county, will doubtless have noticed the circular elevation between it and the Red River, which occurs about three miles below St. Andrew's Rapids. From the river face of this mound the earth has, from time to time, fallen, and the bones and ornaments disclosed led to the conjecture that it was used as a place of sepulture for the dead of a race far more ancient than the " Ojibways " and " Crees " who lately, or the Assiniboine branch of the " Dakotahs " who formerly, occupied this country. This mound is one of a group of half a dozen in the vicinity, which are interesting as being farthest north of any of the works of that^curious mound-building race, who. for purposes of defence sepulture, or worship, built the primitive earthworks which are found along the banks of the chief rivers from the Gulf of Mexico to the great lakes. From recent excavations, accidental disclosures, the observations of that careful observer, Hon. Donald Gunn, as well as excavations made by the Commandant at Fort Pembina last year, I am disposed to believe the mounds in this country to be all sepulchral in character, and to have been built by a race who came from, or at least bartered with, people of the far south, who possessd the art of making pottery, but had no acquaintance with the metals, a race of medium stature, with crania superior to that of the average Indian of to day, and possibly to have been a smaller, weaker branch of the race, whose interesting relics of early constructive skill are found in such profusion in Ohio and Wisconsin. The mounds here ha\e been built near the dwellings of the builders, who employed fire to render them durable ; the upper crust of the soil seems to have been removed and on the flattened clay floor an oven-shaped roof of the same material has been No. 1.] MISCELLANEOUS. 61 erected ; inteuse heat being then applied gave consistency to the arched roof, and if sprinkled with sand would cause the vitreous appearance the roof and floor show. The dead, placed in rows, were in a sitting posture with the hands folded, and the face toward some cardinal point of the compass, food in earthen dishes before them, and upon them were hung their ornaments. There is, however, a curious absence of weapons, and the skulls show no sign of violence, though in the neighbouring fields stone hatchets and war clubs as well as flint arrow-heads have been found. The skeletons show no peculiarity of stature, but the crania diff"er widely from the Cree and Ojibway branch of the great Algonquin family now found here. The skull now before me is of average Caucasian size, and the well worn teeth show middle age as well as the nature of the food. The forehead, though somewhat narrow, is neither low nor receding, orbits well rounded, superciliary ridge low, malar bones only moderately developed, zygomatic arches slight, nasal bones prominent, occiput fairly rounded, and in other peculiarities differing from the typical Indian skull of living races. The ornaments consist of neck-laces formed of hollowed tubes of the soft stone used by the present Indians for pipes, and shells variously cut and pier- ced for earrings, some from their size suggesting breast ornaments. These shells are unlike anything found here, and similar ones sent by Hon. Donald Gunn to the Smithsonian Institute were of a kind fouud only on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. The pottery, made apparently with clay of this country, was confined to simple forms, and the remains of food found in them were the bones of the beaver or some other small animal and the shells of the present river mollusks. None of this group of mounds seem to have been connected wrth others, and the surface ap- pearance is the same with the exception, of course, that on some large trees are growing. Our own Indians have no traditions at all in regard to them, implements and ornaments are alike strange to them, and the practice of the present and preceding Indians was to dispose of their dead on elevated stages rather than to inter them. Whence came they then, these quiet sleepers, who with fleshless palms crossed as in mute expectancy, might have slept on till the resurrection morn but for the curiosity which disturbed their rest ? what has become of this mound building race, who, from the shadow of the Andes to this far north have traversed the conti- 62 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. nent ? No one knows, and if in our efforts to find a solution of the problem in their tombs their spirits feel aggrieved at the desecration, they may find some comfort in the reflection that the graves of millionaires are equally unsafe in this, the day of our later and boasted civilization. Prof. Edward S. Morse, we learn from the New York Nation, has written an interesting paper on the " Traces of an Early Race in Japan," which throws light on a subject hitherto ■wholly obscure. A race of men called Ainos are believed to have come down from Kamtchatka and to have taken possession of Japan, which they held until displaced in their turn by the Japanese from the south. Of the two races, the Ainos and the Japanese, authentic records exist ; but nothing has been known concerning the ancient people whose territory was appropriated by the Ainos. The only knowledge obtained of them has been ingeniously acquired by Mr. Morse by a careful -study of " shell- heaps" in all respects similar to those found along the shores of Denmark, New England, and Florida. The deposit discovered by Mr. Morse near Tokio contained pottery and broken bones, many of which were human. It is generally admitted by ethno- logists that a people that has once acquired the art of pottery will always retain it ; but as neither the Esquimaux, the Kara- tchatdales, nor the Ainos are essentially earthen-pot-makers, these remains naturally point to the former existence of a race in Japan who preceded the Ainos. Again, both the human and the deer bones found in this shell-heap were broken in a manner to facilitate the extraction of the marrow, or to enable them to be placed in a cooking-pot, a circumstance which points to the existence of cannibalism among the people by whom the shell- heaps were made. On consulting Japanese scholars and archaeo- logists, Mr. Morse learned that the Ainos were not only not cannibals, but were of an especially gentle disposition. The existence of an ancient race of cannibals in Japan before the occupation of that country by the Ainos is, therefore, made very probable. We hope to see another paper before long containg an account of Prof. Morse's later researches. — Nature. A Gigantic Conularia of the Niahara Group of Hamilton, Ont. — In 1872, two large specimens of Conularia were found at Hamilton, Ontario, and since, a few fragments No. 1.] MISCELLANEOUS. 63 have been obtained. One of these was given to McGill Col- lege, some time since, by Dr. Spencer, of Hamilton, Ont., who has proposed the name Conularla magnijica. The larger of these two specimens measures nine inches in length, and at aper- ture about seven inches in width, gradually tapering to a rounded apex about an inch broad. The shell is flattened, but shows one of the quadrangular pyramidal sides, which is entire, and marked by a medial depression throughout the length ; on either side por- tions of two other sides are shown. The entire side shows a width, at greatest end, of four and three-fourths inches, gradually tapering to a rounded axis, where the converging edges meet at an angle of about 30 degiees. The surface is ornamented with numerous fine transverse costa3 (about 50 in one-tenth of an inch towards the axis, while there are 90 in the same space towards the other end). The furrows between costae are shallow. Nu- merous fine longitudinal furrows cross the costae, leaving a papillose appearance. A complete description is promised shortly. Development of Filaria sanguinis hominis, and the Mosquito considered as a Nurse. — Microscopists have dis- covered in human blood and in the blood of dogs, swarms of thread-like worms : these are the Fllarice. If they could grow and breed in the body in which they first appear, that body would soon die. " If, for example, the brood of embryo Filarim at any one time free in the blood of a dog moderately well charged with them, were to begin growing before they had each attained a hundredth part of the size of the mature Filaria, their aggregate volume would occupy a bulk many times greater than the dog itself. I have calculated," says Mr. Manson, in a paper to the Linnean Society, " that in the blood of certain dogs and men there exist at any given moment more than two millions of embryos." Obviously this minute creature is a formidable para- site. Were it not that large numbers disintegrate and perish, or are voided with the secretions, having even been found in the tears, the natural function of the blood would be impossible. Nature requires that for further development the Filaria, as well as other parasites, should enter some other body. Knowing that mosquitoes suck human blood, Mr. Manson made arrange- ments by which he captured a number of the insects which had gorged themselves on the blood of a filarious Chinaman who had been ' persuaded ' to sleep in a mosquito chamber. On examiniug 64 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. the insects by aid of the microscope, the subsequent development of the Filarla could be well made out : it passes through three stages, in the last of which " it becomes endowed with marvellous power and activity. It rushes about the field (of the microscope), forcing obstacles aside, moving indifi'erently at either end, and appears quite at home."' Referring to the papillae which, ap- pearing at one extremity of the creature, are supposed to be the boring apparatus, Mr. Manson says : *' This formidable-looking animal is undoubtedly the Filarla sanguinis homijiis, equipped for independent life, and ready to quit its nurse the mosquito." And concerning the subsequent history of the creature he remarks that the Filaria, " escaping into the water in which the mos- quito died is, through the medium of this fluid, brought into contact with the tissues of man, and that, either piercing the integuments, or, what is more probable, being swallowed, it works its way, through the alimentary canal, to its final resting place. Arrived there, its development is perfected, fecundation is afiected, and finally the embryo Filarice we meet with in the blood are discharged in successive swarms and in countless num- bers. In this way the genetic cycle is completed." It is in warm climates that the presence of these microscopic worms is most to be feared. In Brazil, Demerara, India, China and other tropical countries, the existence of Filaria has been but too clearly made out, and that its presence is associated with painful and disgusting diseases, and " not improbably with leprosy itself." It is found too in Natal, in company with a noxious parasite of another kind. If, as is thought, there is some rela- tion between the infested blood atid certain epidemics, the question is one well deserving of careful study. — Chambers' s Journal. Published March 22, 1879. THE CANADIAN NATURALIST AND (^imiltrly |ouvnal 0! Science. ON THE ORIGIN OF SOME AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. By John Campbell, M.A. Member of the Canadian Institute, Society of Biblical Archaeology, Institution Ethnographique. Correspondant de la Societe Anierieaine de France, Ddle- gue du Congres International des Americanistes, Hon. Loc. Sec. Victoria Institute, &c., Professor in the Presbyterian College, Montreal. After all the time and talent that have been devoted to the study of aboriginal American languages and antiquities, the materials collected, the societies formed for their investio-a- tion, the books written, it is disappointing to find that no one Indian tribe has been satisfactorily connected with any people of the Old World. This phenomenon is capable of explanation in one of three ways ; either by the fact that the aborigines of this continent are autochthones ; or, that they represent an ancient Btock which has entirely disappeared from the older abodes of humanity ; or, finally, by the imperfect and unscientific methods that have been employed in all attempts hitherto made to unite the populations of the two hemispheres. The first of these ex- planations is virtually contained in Agassiz' doctrine of Fauna] Centres, no fewer than six of which he found in America. It accords with the traditions of some Indian families, for Dr. Oronhyatekha, a Mohawk, holds that all the Iroquois legends '' teach that the red man was created upon this continent." Catlin, the artist and traveller, saw no necessity for showino* that the aborigines of North America ever came here from any other part of the world ; and Mr. Hubert Bancroft appears to Vol. IX. X Mo. 2. 66 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. hold similar views in recrard to the outive races of the Pacific States. The President of the Anthropological Society of Paris lately gave it as his dictum " that the Americans are neither Hindoos, nor Phoenicians, nor Chinese, nor Europeans ; they are Americans." The Darwinian theory of the Descent of Man does not necessarily establish relations between the human inhabi- tants of the New World and those of the Old, yet 3Ir. W. H. Dall, in his remarks on the origin of the lunuit or Esquimaux, published in the first volume of Contributions to American Ethnology, writing from a Darwinian standpoint, is compelled to admit these relations. He says : " The fact that the home of the highest anthropoid apes is in Africa and also that of some of the least elevated forms of man ; that we have none of the higher anthropoid animals, recent or fossil, in America, and none are known anywhere outside of the Asiatic and African regions, tells forcibly against any hypothesis of autochthonic people in Amer- ica." The second explanatiou is that of Mr. Clements Markham in regard to northern, and of the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg in renard to southern families. The ibrmer holds that the Hyperborean Americans are the descendants of Siberian tribes, who within the historical period wholly passed over to this con- tinent ; and, according to the latter, the once civilized tribes at least of Central and South America are the remains of the mythic Atlantides, whose continent formerly extended from north-western Africa to the West Indian Islands. Turning now to the third explanation, that, namely, which charges writers who have failed in their attempts to establish any relations between the populations of the Old World, on the one hand, and of America, on the other, with the use of imperfect and unscientific methods of investigation, it will be found thor- oughly in accordance with fact. Careful and full induction is the only true, scientific method to follow in such an investiga- tion ; and this induction should regard, first of all, language in its grammatical processes and simpler verbal forms as well as in its relation to tribal, geographical and mythological nomenclature, then physical features, moral and intellectual character, religion, traditions, antiquities or arts, and manners and customs. It is not too much to say that these conditions of successful investi- gation have not been fulfilled in the case of the vast majority of writers on American origiues. Their aim has generally been to prove the truth of a preconceived theory. Such were the attempts No. 2.] CAMPBELL — AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. 6T of Manasseh Ben Israel, Adair, Lord Kingsborough, and others, to establish the descent of the Indians from the Lost Tribes of Israel, who have lately found, on evidence as valuable, a nobler family of descendants. Such was the Welsh theory, which led Morgan Jones to find the descendants of Madoc's ill fated expe- dition among the Tuscaroras, and Catlin to detect them in the Mandans. Recently Mr, Lopez, in his Aryan Races of Peru, and Mr. Ellis, in his Peruvia Scythica, have devoted much learning and ingenuity to connect the civilization of the lucas with that of the Indo-European stock. Some of the relations which have been established between the American tribes and certain peoples of Africa, high Asia and the Indo-Chinese area, have been arrived at scientifically it is true, but one naturally asks for the missing link by which the Guanches of the Canary Islands, for instance, may be united with the Aymaras of Peru, or the inhabitants of Pegu, with the Aztecs of Mexico. Such hypotheses, on the one hand, and far fetched derivations, on the other, I seek to avoid in endeavouring to account for some of the American tribes as derived populations. It is a common error to regard the Indians as members of one great division of the human family. Such a notion finds no sup- port from a study of their languages, religions, customs, or physical and moral characteristics. It is true that most of the American languages are polysynthetic, not all however, but so varied is this polysyntheti^ni that M. Lucien Adam, whose acquaintance with the LTral- Altaic languages specially qualifies him to express an opinion, finds it to consist essentially " in the afiixing of subordi- nate personal pronouns to the noun, the post-position and the verb, a process which equally characterizes the Semitic langua- ges, the Basque, the Vogul, the Mordwin and even the Magyar," To these he might have added many African, Polynesian, and Northern Asiatic tonirues. As for that ag<>lutiaation in con nee- tion with which polysynthesis takes place, it prevails more or less among all the branches of Turanian speech, and also in the Tagala and other Malay-Polynesian dialects. Very few American tribes justify by their complexion the name of " red-man," while out- side of America may be found red Fulahs, red Kariens, red Koriaks, and many tribes of red Polynesians. In Canada the best known native stocks are the Algonquin and the Wyandot- Iroquois, The external resemblance between these two families arises from similar conditions, necessitating similar appliances 68 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. and modes of life. Before they were subjected to the influences of civilization, in every other respect than that which a commu- nity of condition imposed, they diflfered toto coelo from each other. The Algonquin languages are radically distinct from those of the Iroquois, both in grammatical and in verbal forms. The flatter face, inferior stature, and more delicately formed extremities of the Algonquin are in contrast with the prominent features, the larger proportions and muscular development of the Iroquois. The Iroquois is preeminently a landsman, a warrior and a lover of manly sports, while the Algonquin loves the water, is' unaggressive, and spends his spare time in idleness. Tacitur- nity, with all that it implies, such as the absence of humor, is characteristic of the Algonquin, but not of the Iroquois. The Iroquois was originally a sun-worshipper, but such the Algonquin never was. In fact these two families have nothing in common beyond the mere accidents of condition and certain minor features of life resulting from mutual intercourse. The Algonquin and the Iroquois, who have jointly contributed to the portraiture of the ideal red-man, are the representatives of two families as distinct as any that can be found outside of the Aryan and Semitic areas of the Old World. In seeking the origin of the Iroquois and Algonquin families, lansuao-e must be our chief o;uide, and first in lan^uanje stand grammatical forms. There are three important difi"erences in structure which separate Algonquin from Iroquois grammar. The former frequently makes use of prepositions like the Aryan and Semitic languages ; the latter invariably employs postposi- tions, like the Turanian tongues. Thus in Cree, one of the most widely distributed Algonquin dialects, trliih-ishutek means "near the fire," tcJuk being the preposition ''near"; but in Iroquois the same expression is translated by ontchiclitahta^ in which akta^ *' near," is a postposition. The place of the temporal index in the order of the verb is a second distinguishing feature of the two grammatical systems. In the Iroquois the mark of time is final, although it is sometimes implemented by a prefix to the initial personal-pronoun ; thus in ke-nonwe-s I love, ke- nonice-skice I loved, wake-nomce-hon I have loved, and enke- nonwe-ne I shall love, s, skwe, lion and ne are the indices of present, imperfect, perfect and future time, nonwe being the verbal root and ke the pronoun. But in Algonquin the temporal index is, in the more important tenses at least, prefixed to the J No. 2.J CAMPBELL — AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. 69 verbal root; so that in nin gi-sakiha I have loved, and nin-ga saJciha I shall love, gi and gri are the indices of the perfect and future respectively, saki'ha the verbal root, and 7un the personal pronoun. A third peculiarity of Algonquin grammar is that the accusative or direct regimen follows the verb. It is true that the same order appears frequently in Iroquois, but the principle of the latter group of languages, as exemplified in the case of pronominal accusativ^es, is, like that of neighbouring and allied American tongues, to place the verb after its regimen. As re- gards phonology, the difference between the Algonquin dialects and those of the Iroquois is well marked. The soft vocalic forms of the Ojibbeway, the Nipissing. the Cree, the Delaware, present a remarkable contrast to the more manly but harsh and guttural utterances of all the members of the Iroquois family. The first clause of the o5th verse, chap. 5. St. Matthew's Gospel, reads in Ojibbeway : " Kagoohweeu kiya ewh ahkeh ; mesah ween ewh ootahkookahjegun " ; but in Mohawk it is: '^ Nokhare ne ogh- whentsyate, ne wahoene raouhha naah ne thoraghsidageaseragh- kouh." It is true that within the Aryan area similar contrasts appear, as in a comparison of the Italian with the German, but in such cases the influence of climate is recognized, a factor which cannot enter into any comparison of the Algonquin with the Iroquois. Moreover the Algonquin dialects are in this re- spect, large as is the area they cover, completely isolated ; for all the surrounding languages, as well as those which interrupt their continuity, bear a closer resemblance phonetically to the Iroquois than to them. Such are the Tinneh or Athabascan tongues that border upon the Algonquins in the north-west, the Dacotah or Sioux west of the Mississippi, and the Choctaw- Cherokee which originally formed their southern boundary. This isolation of language extends beyond the region of phon- ology into that of grammatical construction, for the three distin- guishing peculiarities of Algonquin grammar, the use of prepo- sitions, the preposition of the temporal index in the verb, and the postposition of the accusative, are neither Tinneh, Dacotah nor Choctaw. That these peculiarities are found west of the Rocky Mountains I know, but the extent of my knowledge does not at present justify me in dealing with the languages in which they appear. In Central America there is an important family of languages known as the Ma)a-Quiche. It embraces the Maya of Yucatan, 70 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. the Quiche and Poconchi of Guatimala, and the Huastec and Totonac of Vera Cruz. Of the Maya, Dr. Daniel Wilson, in his address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, says, " It strikingly contrasts in its soft vocalic forms with the languages of the nations immediately to the north of its native area." Here then is the same phenomenon that is pre- sented by the Algonquin languages. I do not propose to make the Mayas Algonquin, or the Algonquins Maya-Quiche, but simply to indicate their common relation to a parent stock. All the Maya-Quiche dialects use prepositions, and prepositions ex- clusively, while the surrounding languages, Aztec, Mixtec, Pima, Tarahumara, &c., employ postpositions. Tue Quiche verb again is the precise analogue of the Algonquin, the only difference being that the pronoun, instead of occupying an initial position, intervenes between the temporal index aud the root. Thus in ca-im-logoh I love, xi-nu-logoh I have loved, and ch-ln-logoh I shall love, ca, xi and ch are the indices of present, past, and future time, xi and ch being the equivalents of the Algonquin gi and ga, or better still of the Cree ki and ka. In Maya also the accusative seems to follow the governing verb as in Algon- quin. There is, however, in these languages an important syn- tactical peculiarity which does not appear in Algonquin so far as is known to me ; it is the postposition of the genitive. Thus in Maya, iipoc Pedro " the hat of Peter " reverses the order of the Iroquois, Dacotah and Choctaw, which is that of the English "Peter's hat." The Algonquin dialects follow the latter order, and it may fairly be asked whether this be not a result of sur- rounding influences rather than one of the original forms of Algonquin speech. Apart from this, however, there are, in the use of prepositions, the preposition of the temporal index and the postposition of the accusative, together with phonetic coin- cidence, links sufficient to ally the x\lgon(|uin with the Maya- Quiche languages. The next great family of languages which employs prepositions is found in La Plata and Paraguay on the Gran Chaco, and is known as the Mbaya-Abipone, including the Mocobi, Toba, Leniiua and other dialects. Here again we meet with "soft vocalic forms," contrasting more or less with the manlier utter- ances of the Peruvian and Chileno tribes, who almost invariably employ postpositions. The verb again is essentially the same as that of the Quiche, the pronoun intervening between the tempo- No. 2.] CAMPBELL — AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. 71 ral index .md the root; thus in ae-yhbourinL^ Peruvian and Chilcno lauL^uiges the tempo ral index follows the verbal root as in Iroquois, Dacotah, &c. Of the positions of the accusative and genitive in this family I am not able to speak. It is worthy of note, however, that in Mbaya the adjective follows the noun it qualifies, while in the Maya Quiche and Algonquin languages it precedes, as in the majority of American tongues. The identity in form of the Mbaya and the Quiche verb, a form in itself so peculiar and diflfering so widely from those of nearly all other American lan- guages, is the main link uniting the earlier fortunes of the Mbaya-Abipone family with the Maya-Quiche and the Algonquin. Turning now from America, where can the philologist discover a language or group of languages that will satisfy the grammati- cal conditions of the prepositional American family in comparison? Such language or languages must be soft, abounding in vowel sounds, must employ prepositions, must set the temporal index before the verbal root, and, if we take the Quich4 and Mbaya as typical, must also make it precede the pronoun before the root, must postpone the accusative to the verb, and probably the geni- tive to its governing word and the adjective to its noun. These conditions are numerous enough to satisfy the most exacting critic. I do not profess an exhaustive acquaintance with the grammatical systems of the Old World ; but, after a survey of the most important of these, I find one that does fulfil all the conditions, and only one. It is that of the Malay-Polyne- sian languages, which cover the vast area from Malacca to New Zealand, and from Madagascar to the Sandwich and Easter Islands. Every one who has ever heard of these languages knows that they carry the palm for soft, liquid sounds over all other tongues. They use prepositions, and prepositions exclusively. Their verb is identical in structure with that of the Quiche and Mbaya. Take, for instance the verb " to make " in the language of the Tonga or Friendly Islands, which is yndht, and compare it with the corresponding Mbaya verb i/oeni : the Tongan ne-oo- gnahi, I made, and te-oo-gii:B ■• ^[i*; ■■^SL-'.' ^";>"~ '•■•'•.i'-^i-'- ■*w*^ « ♦ .'\,'- --s^V •-*-/.' . /v. .-^w .•-&-_•: Canals of Ca'tiostema — Upper Silurian — (original). 110 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. 3. To the canal system, Professor Mobius does more justice, and admits its great resemblance to the forms of this structure in modern Foraminifera. This indeed appears from his own figures, as will be seen from the fac-simile tracings reproduced here, figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, which well show how wonderfully this structure has been preserved, and how nearly it resembles the similar parts of modern Foraminifera. He thinks, however, that these round and regularly branching forms are rather ex- ceptional, which is a mistake ; though it is true that the sections of the larger canals are often somewhat flattened, and that they become flat where they branch. They are also sometimes altered by a vicinity of veinlets or fractures, or by minute mineral seg- refj-ations in the surroundinircalcite, accidents to which all similar structures in fossils are liable. Another objection, not original with him, is derived from their unequal dimensions. It is true that they are very unequal in size, but there is some definiteness about this. They are larger in the thicker and earlier formed "layers, smaller or even wanting in the thinner and more super- ficial. In some slices the thicker trunks only are preserved, the slender branches having been filled with dolomite or calcite. It is difficult, also, to obtain, in any slice or any surface, the whole of a group of canals.* Farther, as I have shown, the thick canals sometimes give off groups of very minute tubes from their sides, so that the coarser and finer canals appear intermixed. These appearances are by no means at variance with what we know in other organic structures. Another objection is taken to the direction of the canals, as not being transverse to the laminae but oblique. This, however, may be dismissed, since Mobius has of course to admit that it is not unusual in modern Foram- inifera. It may be added that some of the appearances which puzzled Mobius, and which are represented in his figures, evi- dently arise from fractures displacing parts of groups of canals, and from the apparently sudden truncation of these at points where the serpentine filling gives place to calcite. It would also have been well if he had studied the canal systems of those Stroma toj)orce which have a secondary or supplemental skeleton, as Ccenostroma and Caunopora. In illustration of this I give in fig. 5 a group of these canals from a recent paper of my own.f * I have succt'edt-'d best in this by ctcliing the surface of broken ispecimens. I Journal of Lcuidou G-eolugieal Society, January, 1878. No. 2.] DAWSON — EOZOON CANADENSE. Ill 4. A fatal defect in the mode of treatment pursued by Mobius is that he regards each of the structures separately, and does not sufficiently consider their cumulative force when taken together. In this aspect, the case of Eozoon may be presented thus: (1.) It occurs in certain layers of widely distributed limestones, evi- dently of aqueous origin, and on other grounds presumably organic. (2.) Its general form, lamination and chambers, resemble those of the Silurian Stromatopora and its allies, and of such modern sessile foraminifera as Carpenterla and Poly- trema. (3.) It shows under the microscope a tubulated proper wall similar to that of the Nummulites, though of even finer texture. (4.) It shows also in the thicker layers a secondary or supplemental skeleton with canals. (5.) These forms appear more or less perfectly in specimens mineralized with very different substances. (6.) The structures of Eozoon are of such general- ized character as might be expected in a very early Protozoan. (7.) It has been found in various parts of the world under very similar forms, and in beds approximately of the same geological horizon. (8.) It may be added, though perhaps not as an argument, that the discovery of Eozoon affords a rational mode of explaining the immense development of limestones in the Laurentian age ; and on the other hand that the various attempts which have been made to account for the structures of Eozoon on other hypotheses than that of organic origin have not been satisfactory to chemists or mineralogists, as Dr. Hunt has very well shown. Professor Mobius, in summing up the evidence, hints that Dr. Carpenter and myself have leaned to subjective treatment of Eozoon, representing its structure in a somewhat idealized manner. In answer to this it is necessary only to say that we have given photographs, nature-prints, and camera tracings of specimens actually in our possession. We have not thought it desirable to figure the most imperfect or badly preserved speci- mens, though we have taken pains to explain the nature and causes of such defects. Of course, when attempts at restoration have been made, these must be taken as to some extent conjec- tural ; but so far as these have been attempted, they have con- sisted merely in the effort to eliminate the accidental conditions of fossilized bodies, and to present the organism in its original perfections. Such restorations are not to be taken as evidence, but only as illustrations to enable the fads to be more easily 112 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix^ understood. It is to be observed, however, that in the study of such fossils as Eozoon, tlie observer must expect that only a small proportion of his specimens will show the structures with any approach to perfection, and that comparison of many speci- mens prepared in different ways may be necessary in order to understand any particular feature. A single figure or a short description may thus represent the results of days spent in the field in collecting, of careful examination and selection of the specimens, of the cutting of many slices in different directions, and of much study of these with different powers and modes of illumination. My own collection contains hundreds of prepara- tions of Eozoon, each of which represents perhaps hours of labor and study, and each of which throws some light more or less important on some feature of structure. The results of labor of this kind are unfortunately very liable to be regarded as sub- jective rather than objective by those who arrive at conclusions in easier ways. Taken with the above cautions and explanations, the memoir of Professor Mobius may be regarded as an interesting and use- ful illustration of the structures of Eozoon, though from a point of view somewhat too limited to be wholly satisfactory. — Amer, Journal of Science and Ai'ts, March^ 1879. The following notice of the Memoir on Eozoon hy Prof. 31dhii(s, referred to in the above paper, is from the ^^ Annals and Magazine of Natural History Society^' for April, 1879. The author first enumerates the published memoirs on Eoozon, and states how he was led to look specially into the matter, having met with his Carpenteria rhaphidodendron, of Mauritius, which at first sight he thought would present some striking analogy to the presumed Laurentian fossil. The sources whence he obtained Eozoonal preparations and the methods of examination are also mentioned. The form and size of Eozoon, as recognized by Dawson and Carpenter, and their comparison of its structure with that of certain Foraminifera. are given in some detail ; also the shape, size, and arrangement of the serpentina! bodies ("chamber-casts," ".concretions," &c.), their connexion, and the No. 2.] EOZOON CANADENSE. 113 fibrous layer (" acicular crust," " nuramuline layer," &c.) between these bodies and the limestone (calcite) are treated of as fiuured in the accompanying plates. The little Eoozonal stalk-like bodies traversing the associated limestone (calcite), and regarded by Eoozonistsas "casts of canals," are next dealt with (p. 185). The structure, as a whole, is compared with that of Foraminifera at pages 186-189. The absence of any primary or central chamber^ the apparently capricious distribution of both the " tubuliue layer" and the "canals," the impossibility of representing the Eozoon as a whole by any drawing of one natunil specimen, and the consequent necessity of using diagrammatic figures to illus- trate the reconstructed body, are points dwelt upon in this chapter, leadiuii: to Prof. Mobius's conclusion that he does not believe Eozoon to be a Foraminifer or organic at all. At pages 189-191 the authors refers to the brief published observations on Eozoon emanating from the lamented Max Schultze, who stated that he could not agree in the opinion that the so-called " nummuline layer " was really of Foraminiferal origin ; and expressed his intention of giving further study to the other peculiar structure, which had been referred by Dawson and Carpenter to the "canal-system," and with specimens of which his friends were supplying him. The reason for referring the structure of the Eozoonal marble to a Rhizopodal organism have been given in detail, with illus- trations, in many papers and notes by Carpenter and Dawson in this and other periodicals. The objections now again raised by our author have been already dealt with in those papers. Of the structures treated of by Prof. Mobius the branching and lobular infiUings of the "canal-system" are particularly valued by Eo- zoonists as good evidence, on account of their peculiar arrange- ment, so agreable to the disposition of canals in certain Forami- niferal shells. Such appearances in Calcarina, &c. were figured and published without reference to and before the discovery of Eozoon. That ancient organisms, though belonging to the same groups as represented in nature to-day, should differ widely in details of structure, is a truism illustrated by many newly dis- covered fossil (and eVen recent) forms of life, whose structure is found to be wonderfully different from, and yet wonderfully con- sonant with, the make-up of the already known types of organic structures ; and this invalidates our author's objection to a reli- ance on the possibilities of Nature. What zoologist or botanist Vol. IX. H No. 2. 114 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. can predicate the structural details of the next discovered plant or animal, however narrow the limits we may suppose to define its alliance to any previous known form ? Although many mineralogists regard the eozoonal rock as hav- ino- been as inorganic in its origin as it now is in its material, yet Dr. Sterry Hunt, for one, who has long studied it, thinks that its peculiarities are not due to a mineral genesis alone. We know also that not only Foraminiferal shells, but other calcareous tests and skeletons, both recent and fossil, have their tubes and cavities filled by various minerals, with results very similar to what is regarded as having taken place and as being visible in Eozoon . It is not that here and there, and, indeed, in very many parts of a true Eozoonal rock there are lines and patches, fibrous and concretionary, of purely mineral origin, as well as their mineral matrix, — the point to be kept in view is that the structure of certain portions is best explained by reference to mineral infiltra- tion of tubular and cavernous shells, which grow and spread alter the manner of Foraminifera, though not identical with any known form in particular. Also it has to be remembered that not only has the enclosing rock been itself subjected to mineral chanoes, but has been crushed, broken and twisted, and that the scarcity of large areas of perfect and undisturbed structure, in such a relatively large Rhizojpod, has to be supplemented, in the study of its whole, by such diagrammatic constructions of what the experienced observer recognizes and wishes to explain, as our author condemns at p. 188, because, he thinks, the Eozoonists in their diagrams have overstepped the line of probability. Without such illustrations, showing (like models) both the elevation and perspective of internal arrangements, we may remark, external appearance and microscopic sections would very imperfectly eluci- date the descriptions of large Foraminifera. The correlation of the mineral representatives of, at least, the " canal-tubes " and " chambers " in Eozoon, both of which are cut at many different angles in sections, and can rarely be seen in elevation, and then only to a small extent, are best shown by this method — especially, too, as the student has, in this case, to make a mental translation of threads into tubes, and nodules into chambers. At page 198 Prof. Mobius consoles the Eozoonists with his opinion that the doctrine of evolution need not be despaired of because he removes the primordial Eozoon from the category of No. 2.] EOZOON CANADENSE. 115 Beioes. AYe do not see the value of this commonplace and wordy little chapter, except to illustrate what (at pp. 178, 179) he warns Eozoonal and other naturalists to avoid, namely, time-wasting and immature talk, in which words take the place of ideto^,*- Plates xxiii. to xxxiv. inclusive contain carefully drawu figures (coloured) of preparations of the Eozoonal ophitic marble, as thin slices, as etched surfaces, and as separated particles, coni- municated by Drs. Carpenter and Dawson. Plates XXXV. to xl. inclusive (excepting one figure) contain enlarged sections of the shell-structure of Polytrema miniaceum^ Cyclodypeus, Nummulina, Colcarina Spengleri, Tinoporus bacu- latus, Orhitoides papyyracea^ Poly stomeU a, and Carpenteria rha- phidodendron. All (except one) of these drawings have been made by the Author himself. In none of the preparations of known recent and fossil Fora- minifera here figured does Prof. Mobius see any thino- more than a distant resemblance to Eozoonal structure, which latter, as before said, he regards as inorganic. This memoir is a handy resiime of the objections made by anti-eozoonists to the presumed organic origin of the object under notice ; and the plates brought together by Prof. Mobius, with no little labour and skill, are useful as a compendious set of sec- tional figures of Eozoon and many of its more modern relations ; and, though he fails to see their alliance, close as the analogies M'^y be, yet his work is highly useful and praiseworthy ; it is disinterested, straightforward, and conscienciously oflfered for the advancement of knowledge. — Annals Nat. Hist., April, 1879. 116 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [A^ol. ix. ON THE WATER SUPPLY OF lAIONTREAL AND ITS SUBURBS. By J. Baker Edwards, Ph.D., D.C.L., F.C.S., Professor of Chemistry, University of Bishop's Collegre, and Public Analyst. (Read before the Natural History Society of Montreal, April 28th, 1879.) In order to render this review as complete as pos.sible, I will commence by quoting the analyses of Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, in his report to the Water Committee of this city in 1854. The samples were collected io the mouths of March and April, and gave the following amount of mineral matter per imperial gallon after destruction of the organic matter by heating to redness. These results are interesting for comparison with more recent analyses : R. Ottawa St. Lawrence Lachine. Old City Ste. Anne's. Cascades. Water Works. Mineral matter I 3-3 ^^.^ g ^^ g_g2 per gallon. j Dr. Hunt, in his report, states that the amount of chlorides found in the city water taken from the old works on Commis- sioners street always contained an excess of chlorides over the water of the St. Lawrence, showing local sources of impurity, probably due to the drainage of the city. The nature of the organic matter does not appear to have been very closely investigated ; but it is suggested that it was of a veo-etable and harmless character. In the very valuable and elaborate reports of the G-eological Survey, published in 1863, Dr. Hunt furnishes us with fuller analyses, and makes the following "comparison" of the waters of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence : " The comparison of the waters of the two rivers shows the following differences: the water of the Ottawa, containing but little more than one-third of the solid matter of the St. Lawrence, is impregnated with a much larger quantity of organic matters, and contains a large proportion of alkalies uncombined with sulphuric acid or chloi-ine." The organic matter determined by loss after ignition was esti- mated as follows : Ottawa R. St. Lawrence. Lachine. River front of City. Grains of organic | ^^^^ gg j^^g ^ 39 matter per gallon, j No. 2. J EDWARDS MONTREAL WATER SUPPLY. 117 We have, therefore, on the best authority, the condition of the old water supply and of the river waters in question before the present works were completed. My own analyses date from 1870 ; but the first series of results which I now submit were made in 1872, from samples of water which I collected myself during a trip from Niagara, in the month of June of that year. The quantity of water at my disposal was too small to deter- mine the oro'anic nitroo;en ; but as a record of the solid contents of the waters of the St. Lawrence it may possess some interest. Organic Carbon. Mineral Salts. Total. Hardness, by Clark. River Niagara, 1.10 6.60 7.70 3.5° Lake Ontario, 1.01 6.50 7.51 3.3° Toronto Bav, * 2.50 8.50 11.00 4.5° St. Lawrence, Long 8ault, 1.20 6.60 7.80 3.3° Do eointe Cascades, 1.20 6.60 7.80 3.5° Do IS. Shore Aqueduct, 1.20 7.60 8.90 3.5° * Containing nitrogen. With the exception of the water of Toronto Bay, these waters are all clear and pellucid, and run sufficiently near in mineral contents to justify us in accepting the mean as a fair estimate of the quality of the St. Lawrence water. This gives us an average of about 1 grain per gallon of organic carbon, and 7 grains of mineral matter for St. Lawrence water above Lake St. Louis, in the month of June, 1872. In water taken from near the south shore, in May, 1873, I found : Oro:anic Matter 1.1 Mineral Salts 7.8 Hardness, 3.5^ 8.9 In December, 1879, water from the inlet of the Longueuil water works srave me : ft" Organic Matter 1.5 'ft Mineral Salts 10.0 Hardness, 6^^ 11.5 In May, 1879, water from the same point, as supplied from the Longueuil water works, contains : Oriianic Matter 2.03 Mineral Salts 9.72 Grs. per imperial gallon, 11.75 Hardness, 6.25*^, Clarke. (At this time the river was pretty full and brimming the wharves at Montreal.) 118 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix . From the above it will be seen that the water gains 3 degrees in hardness on the south shore between the Lachine rapids and Longueuil, while there is no great increase in mineral lime solids. The alkaline silicates disappear in the dried residue, and saline chlorides and sulphates are increased in quantity. These are indications, therefore, that the water at Longueuil is somewhat affected by passing the city, but not to such an extent as to render the water unwholesome, although it would be much safer if sand filtered. On the other hand, the water at Hochelaga gives considerable indications of nitrogenized impurity, the result of animal decay, and it is doubtful whether simple filtration would render it fit for human consumption. It is evidently affected by the sewage of the city both near the shore and in mid-stream. Any attempt to utilize it for a water supply would be attended with great ex- pense, and still involve some risk of typhoid impurities. WATERS OF THE NORTH DISTRICT. — 1872 and 1873. In contrast to the table of the waters of the St. Lawrence and the south shore, the following analyses of the waters of the north district will be found of interest, showing that, whilst the lake waters are of remarkable purity being taken at a great elevation and above the ordinary sources of impurity, the river waters of the north district which drain from the Laurentides, all contain alkaline silicates, and are slightly coloured with organic spores giving a yellow marsh-like tinge, to the waters. These waters, when conveyed for some distance in iron pipes, become of an ochreous tinge, from the precipitation of the vegetable matter in solution, which is unpleasing to the eye and somewhat difficult of filtration. A water of similar character has been introduced into Liverpool, England, and was for some time disliked on account of its peculiar color ; but it has proved a wholesome and useful water, and the color is no longer deepened by the iron pipes which convey it from Rivington, a distance of twenty-five miles. The waters of the north district gave the following results per imperial gallon : Organic Carbon. Mineral Salts. Total. Hardnes.'', by Clark. Lake Kilkenny, 1.10 2.15 3.25 0.5 Lake Masson, 1.05 2.05 3.10 0.5 Riviere du Nord, 1.80 2.70 4.50 1.2 River Ouareau, 2.05 3.95 6.15 1.1 River Ottawa, 1.90 2.30 4.20 1.3 Do at Ste. Anne, 1.80 4.40 6.20 2.5 No. 2.] EDWARDS — MONTREAL WATER SUPPLY. ll^ The Lake waters were perfectly colourless, while the River waters were more or less tinged. The waters which supply the city of Montreal and the munici- pality of St. Cunegonde are taken from the aqueduct on the north shore of the river, just below Lachine, aod are the mingled waters of the St. Lawrence and of the Ottawa Rivers in varying proportions at different periods of the year. During the winter months the waters of the St. Lawrence are hiijher and more uniformly fed than those of the Ottawa : beino- confined under the ice, they therefore displace the Ottawa water, and, pressing over the rapids at Ste. Anne, they drive the northern waters chiefly over the •' Back River" to the north of fhe Island of Montreal. The extent of this diversion depends partly upon the grounding of the ice about the western shore of the Isle. Perrot and the ice block at Lachine rapids, circumstances which differ in extent and duration at every season, and contribute to the frequent variation of the character of the water supply at Montreal. This difference is more apparent in the color, flavor and comparative clearness of the water than in the results which appear by analysis of the salts which they contain, — the chief difference being in the organic constituents and in the aeration by carbonic acid, and in the presence of alkaline silicates or their neutralization bv calcium salts. The present system of supply on the rising main exaggerates the evil of a mixture of incompatible waters by carrying into all the houses below the level of St. Catherine street the suspended matter or dirt, with its accompanying disgusting lower organism, which fill the pipes and accumulate in the closet cisterns, especially in the spring, when the ice breaks up and renders the water muddy, and again during the heavy rains of the fall. Of this suspended matter, my friend Dr. G. P. Girdwood has published a record in the Canada Medical Journal, Vol. vii, page 102, showing that in three months' ordinary summer supply the average daily deposit of insoluble mud varies from 2 grains to 4.8 grains per gallon, while under the exceptional circumstances of disturbance, the amount rises as high as 14 grains per gallon- As inhabitants of this mud, he enumerates fifteen forms of animal life, which he found in addition to those wiiich I had previously described in the Canadian Illustrated News (Dec. 7, 1870). The following table gives the result of analyses of the Montreal water supply in recent years, and during different seasons of the year : 120 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. IX. CG 03 < 1-5 H O o 1^ OQ >^ < . a: c; iJD • o 3 C a; K< - « • ^^ . "-> cc -^>-, ^IjZ^r-^i^Z^Zir-^ ^ — >-< ^ i« "y *". ^ ^ ..; ^.' ^ -«• ^~ *^ M 3 •'- :t; c "^ ^ r-iQ5r^>o5H5o5EH ^:z; C ^ Z ci p: z c K £ H " J . ■ ■ • . • !2; c ^ '^- r— 1 ^^1— lOOl— IC^C^'^O— 'OO ^ X >-^ o^ s ^ >-^ i^ ^ -v.* ^ -^ o o • oSooSc?^?^o?^?^.:^5 • • 1— « HH ^^ rH no i> DQ S S5 O J:- cocc:ocooooir:ooic;oor- C. o >> .L^ o O 2 ;- > !- -s ^ (-^ ^ i~i "^ ^ i-. c3 50 ^0 &J3 a^ It c^ c a 7i = 3^^^ ^c;3i^-CS&. ^ xp^r:;a2;^QQHi^^--;zi^'< <^S ISiO. 2.] EDWARDS — MONTREAL WATER SUPPLY. 121 It will seen from this table of analyses that the Montreal water suppl}^ is a most valuable product, and that it often con- tains excess of mineral matter in suspension, and sometimes organic debris from local or temporary causes. A far more wholesome water supply would be secured from the same source by the addition of settling beds of masonry and filter beds of gravel and sand after the Liverpool model, which I am informed should not cost more than 10 cts. per 1000 gallons, and would certainly contribute hirgely to the health of the inhabitants and to the hygienic reputation of the city. Moreover, upon other economic grounds, this is a wise and prudent improvement, which h:is been too long denied to the well-taxed public of Montreal . This I have urged to the successive Mayors, Chairmen of Boards of Health, and of the Water Committees, and I wish once more to urge these considerations on the municipal and sanitary autho- rities. The waters of the Ottawa and of the north district generally which flow past Montreal island are remarkable for the sandy or flinty character of their minute animal and vegetable organisms, and for the presence of alkaline silicates, which when co-mingled with the waters of the St. Lawrence become precipitated into gelatinous hydrate of silica. xVs the result of frequent micros- copic examinations of the deposits formed by subsidence of the water supplied to my laboratory, and also the deposits separated by the process of filtration in my house filter, I find that the deposits consist of 1. Angular fragments of sand and jiint. 2. Gdatinous silicious magma. 3. Organic sUicious filaments of Diatoms^ also sjjicides and gemmides of fxsh-water Sponges iind skeletons of Algce. This deposit resembles in general character the well-known '• Tripoli powder " used for the burnishing of metals, the keenness and polishing power of which, is due to the presence of similar veg- etable sandy fragments, which are scarcely less hard than " Emery powder " and will cut fine scores in the brass work of taps and valves, which, followed by hard particles of sand, give rise to continual leakage. Therefore, I submit that the filtration of the water, before it is pumjyed into the mains of the city, would, by removal of this gritty fiinty matter accomplish a saving o/* u-cfs^e alike in water, taps, valves and working machinery, which would more than repay 122 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. IX. the cost of filtration, and prove at the same time a great sani- ary benefit. With regard to the cost of filtration I ascertained when last in Liverpool, that the cost of filtering 11 millions of gallons per diem, including cleansing and change of filters and interest of Capital, involved a comparatively small outlay and was maintained at a rate of £1250 sterling per annum, say $575 per annum for each million gallons per diem. The balance of the Liverpool supply is drawn from well water naturally filtered throuo:h the red sandstone rock. Under the intermittent system the consumption in Liverpool was on the whole average 33^ gallons per head, per day ; in cer- tain districts 58 to 69 gallons per head per day. Under the constant service system this fell to 19^ gallons per head per day. Under the system of district meters and inspection this is now reduced to 12 gallons per head per day, with a constant, more uniform and ample supply. Now a consumption of 33|^ gallons per head per day indicates a waste of 21 gallons per head per day and this saving is effected at a cost of one farthing per 1000 gallons, whilst an additional supply must be reckoned to cost from 5d to 6d per 1000 gallons. I venture to think that the adoption of the Liverpool district plan in Montreal, of which filtration is the first element, would Istly. Douhle the available suj)ply. 2ndly. Afford also, a spare head of water for flushing sewers and cleansing streets. 3rdly. Improve the sanitary condition of the city by the supply 0^ filtered water and thus guard against prevailing endemic and threatened epidemic disease, reduce the rate of infant mor- tality, and promote the general health and sobriety of the citizens at laro'e. Next to a really satisfactory supply of water to the city, the- important and increasing necessities of the suburban districts demand consideration and timely relief. Either by extension of the city limits or by developments of the water supply to the suburbs, it is obvious that some better provisions for water supply ought to be made for those who very wisely forsake the crowded streets and lanes of the city and resort to the beautifuL and healthful suburbs of Montreal Mountain. Why should not a head of purified water be here maintained sufficient to supply the whole island of Montreal ? A liberal and enlightened munir cipal policy would not rest content with the present area of dis— No. 2.] EDWARDS — MONTREAL WATER SUPPLY. 123 tribution, but would seek powers by which this water should be accessible in every direction, in which entcrprize may seize upon a good locality, in which to plant real estate. In the district of Hochelaga. the future Leith of our city, we have, as shown in an earlier portion of this paper, cut off the inhabitants from a reasonable enjoyment of our common river, by impregnating the same with sewage at the new outlet of Col- borne avenue. We also stand in great danger of permanently contaminating the water of Longueuil, and therefore the extension of the city southward ; and the projection of the sewage at a more northern point much beyond the present will be an absolute necessity in the near future. For the provision of an ample supply of good water the municipality of Hochelaga have made diligent search, but no available source has been discovered nearer than the Back river. Hochelaga must therefore depend on Montreal for a water supply. The district of St. Cunegonde at the west also requires water, and a large water supply. The farm of Prof. Macgregor at Brae- side furnishes a remarkable spring, which would afford a whole- some and large supply of water from the Laurentian hills on the north. My analysis of this spring, made in April last, gave the follow- ing result : Total solid contents per imperial gallon - 31.30 Hardness by Clark, 19^ Albumenoid nitrogen - . . no trace. Carbonate of lime and magnesia - 22.00 Organic carbon .... I.75 Silicious carbon . . . . 2.30 Silica wh. iron and alumina - - .10 Chlorine (combined) ... 1,72 Sulphuric acid do. ... .73 Alkaline bases . _ . _ 2.70 31.30 This is a very excellent water, but rather hard for domestic and industrial purposes. I am informed that the flow of the spring is equal to about 4000 gals, per diem. At Cote St. Antoine, outside the city limits, the residents are supplied by water carts, which are sometimes replenished from 124 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. the flufhets of melting snows in neighbouring fields, sometimes from the canal direct. These carted waters are usually very impure. The water flowing from Montreal mountain is however of good quality. At the Mile End also, water carters purvey water from the quarry ponds, full of animalculge and vegetable matter, which is unfit for domestic use. At Mount Ro3"al Yale surface water is collected which is well mingled with clay, and when clear this water appears to be of good quality but rather hard. An analysis of this water in April last, o'ave the followino; result : Organic carbon - - 4.20 Carbonate of lime - - 14.40 Silica and alkaline salts - 2.40 Hardness by Clark 14*^ 21.00 At Lachine also, better waters, although somewhat harder, are obtained from local wells than from the river water. I found that in the month of March, 1878, the river water eave Organic carbon - - 3.1 Mineral salts - - - 9.6 12.7 grains, and that it also contained excess of albuminoid nitrogen. It would therefore appear highly desirable for the hygienic welfare of our suburban residents and our summer visitors, that the Montreal water works should be considerably extended, and the filtered water distributed from our mountain reservoirs to the whole outlying districts. This great improvement^ which I have consistently and persistently advocated for some years, I hope to live to see an accomjjlished fact. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL. The fifth meeting of this Society for the present session was held on the evening of Monday, April 7th. Principal Dawson occupied the chair. The minutes of last ordinary meeting and also of last meeting of Council were read and approved. Five new members were elected, and two proposed. No. 2.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 125 A fiae specimen of fresh -water black-bass, Ceiifno-chus/asciatus, was presented to the Museum by 31 r. Alex. Fowler. Mr. J. T. Donald then read a paper on " Elephant remains from Washington Territory." This paper was a statement of the result of an effort to deter- mine the species to which Elephant remains, represented by a molar forwarded to the Society, belonged. The remains were referred to E/ejjJias j)i'iniigenius, var. Jacksoni. The chairman next addressed the meetin<>; " On the origin and history of successive floras of America." He showed that these floras had all originated in the north and then moved southward. The various theories as to the causes by which these polar regions had been rendered fit habitations for plants of our tem- perate climes were presented and discussed, after which the meet- ing adjourned. O) The sixth regular meeting took place on Monday Evening April 28th. The President occupied the chair. After routine business, Kenneth Campbell, Esq., presented the Society with a specimen of coca, Erytliroxylon coca, from Mexico. Mr. Thomas Macfarlane, of Acton, Que., read a paper entitled " Remarks on Canadian Stratigraphy." This was a reply to, and criticism of Mr. Selwyn's paper " On the Stratigraphy of the Quebec Group and the older crystalline rocks of Canada," read before the Society in February last. Mr. Macfarlane's paper appears in the present number of the JVaturalisf. Mr. Selwyn replied to Mr. Macfarlane, explaining some of the statements he had made in the article referred to, and maintain- ing the correctness of the position assumed by him in these state- ments. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt also spoke in reference to Mr. Selwyn's late paper. He contended that the Norian rocks are not erup- tive, and objected to Mr. Selwyn calling his " systems " of rocks such as Norian and Montalban theoretical, when thirty years labor had been spent upon them. Dr. J, Baker Edwards then presented the meeting with " Notes on the Water Supply of Montreal and its Suburbs," which we publish in full. 126 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. Vol. ix.] MISCELLANEOUS. Some remarks on Inter-Glacial Epochs, in reference TO Fauna and Flora existing at the present day in the Northern Hemisphere, between the parallels of 81^ and 83^ N., BY H. W. Feilden, F.G.S.— In the brief paper that I have the honour of submitting to your notice, it is my desire to draw your attention to the theory of intercalation of series of warmer climates during what is called the Glacial Epoch. In accordance with the opinions of Professor Oswald Heer and the late Sir Charles Lyell, the existence of Inter-Glacial Periods has been indisputably evidenced by the Diirnten beds of Switzerland, and the Forest bed of our Norfolk coast ; and while Professor Heer considers that the Diirnten lignite beds represent the existence of a climate similar to that now existing in Switzer- land, Lyell remarks that the Forest bed of Cromer presents a singular analogy to that of Diirnten, and that " both of them alike demonstrate that there were oscillations of temperature in the course of that long period of cold."^ Mr. James Geikie in his valuable work " The Great Ice Age," has likewise adopted the theory of the intercalation of warmer climates to account for the inter-glacial beds of Scotland. In fact, so many of our greatest modern authorities have given their adhesion to this theory, that it may almost be regarded as an accepted fact amongst modern geologists. That the so-called inter-glacial beds of Scotland and England were deposited between the commencement of the Glacial Epoch and its final withdrawal from Great Britain, is a well-established fact ; but the question I am desirous of presenting to your consideration is, whether the so-called inter-glacial beds represent what Lyell terms "oscil- lations of temperature," or merely modifications of temperature due to alteration in the levels of land-masses, and the consequent chan<>-e in their character as condensers of moisture, with probably a change also in the direction of the oceanic currents. My suggestion, that it may not be necessary to connect the so- called inter-glacial beds with sudden changes or oscillations of temperature, is based upon the results of observations in Grinnell Land during 1875-76. * Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i. p. 196, eleventh edition. No. 1.] MISCELLANEOUS. 127 Havins; been fortunate enough to pass twelve months in the most northern portion of the earth that civilized man has yet visited, a region subjected to as rigorous extremes of cold as any yet recorded, where the sun remains below the horizon at mid- day for five months, where the mean annual temperature is — 3°'473, where a minimum of — 73"-75 was registered during the month of March, and where for only three months of the year the mean temperature rises up to and above the freezing point of fresh water, viz. +32'^-455 in June; h 38^-356 in July; + 31°-913 in August. I was impressed with the fact that this region is undergoing less glaciation than Greenland, lying twenty degrees of latitude to the southward in the parallel of Shetland, and diliering remarkably from the northern part of Greenland, lying between the same parallels, and separated by a narrow water-way not twenty miles across. In Grinnell Land, from lat. 81'^-40' N. to lat. 83°-6' N., no glaciers descend to the sea, no ice-cap buries the land ; valleys from which the snow is in a great measure thawed during July and part of August stretch inland for many miles, and the peaked mountains, snow-clad during the greater portion of the year, in July and August have great portions of their flanks which rise to an altitude of 2,000 feet bared of snow. The opposite coast of Greenland presents a very different as- pect, a mer-de-glace stretches over nearly its entire surface, its fiords are the outlets by which its great glaciers protrude into the sea. In Petermann Fiord the ice cap with its blue jagged edge lying flush with the face of the lofty cliffs was estimated to be forty feet thick. When we turn to the Flora and Fauna of Grinell Land the difference is equally astonishing ; some fifty or sixty flowering plants are found in its valleys, and between latitudes 82° and 83*^ N., I have seen tracts of land so profusely decked with the blos- soms of Saxifraga oppositifolia that the purple glow of our heath clad moors was brought to my recollection. Musk oxen in considerable numbers frequent its shores ; the Arctic fox, the wolf, and ermine, with thousands of lemmings live and die there. The bones of these mammals, alonc>- with those of the ringed seal {Phoca hispida), are now beiug deposited in considerable quantities in the fluvio-marine beds now forming in the bays and at the outlets of all the streams, or rather sum- mer torrents of Grinnell Land. With these bones will be 128 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol, IX. associated those of birds, such as geese and sea-oulis. Numerous mollusca and Crustacea, many species of rhizopods, with the re- mains of hind and sea phants, will there find a resting;; place. Supposing- that these beds were examined at some future period under conditioQS, when the glacial epoch had disappeared from the sourrouuding area, it would be difficult to realise that they were contemporaneous with the beds formed under the Green- land ice cape in the same parallel of latitude and on the opposite shore of a channel not twenty miles across. In the one case, enormous thicknesses of till with ice-scratched stones have in all probability been deposited ; in the other, fluvio- marine beds containing a comparatively rich assemblage of marine and land forms, with river rolled pebbles, would be brought to light. In the face of these facts is it incredible to suppose that the inter- glacial periods of Great Britain are due not so much to ''oscillations of temperature" as to alterations in the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, and the position of the land-mass re- garded as a condenser ? It is evident that the glaciatiou of Greenland and the w^est shore of Baffin's Bay and Ellesmere Land is not a result al- together of degrees of heat and cold, or in other words, temperature,, but equally the result of geographical position which causes these regions to act as mighty condensers, throwing down in the form of snow the heated vapour of the south, and so effectually eliminating the moisture from the air that a tract of country like Grinuell Land lying still further to the north and subjected to an equally rigorous climate, is comparatively exempt from glaciation. — From tht Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society. The Rocky Mountain Locust. — At its last session Congress appropriated §10,000 for the completion of the investigation of the Rocky Mountain locust by the United States Entomological Commission. The work during the coming season will be carried on in Colorado and the Western Territories, particularly Utah and Eastern Idaho, where the locust abounds each summer, doing more or less damage. Parties will also be sent into Montana, the main breeding place of the destructive swarms periodically visiting the Western Mississippi States. — American Naturalisty May, 1879. (Published June 23, 1879.) THE CANADIAN NATURALIST AND ^uavtcrly f ouvnat of Science. SKETCHES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE INDIANS OF CANADA. By GeorCxE M. Dawson, D.S., Assoc. R.S.M., F.G.S. It is computed that the Indian population of the Dominion at the present day numbers nearly 100,000, distributed as follows — the figures being those of the last report of the Department of the Interior: — Ontario, 15,66(3; Quebec, 10,917; Nova Scotia, 2,H6 ; New Brunswick, 1,425; Manitoba and N. W. Territories, 27,308; Athabasca District, 2,398; Rupert's Land, 4,370; British Columbia, 35,154; Prince Edward Island, 296. Constituting thus nearly a fortieth part of the entire popula- tion of Canada, the Indians would even numerically be a not unimportant factor in questions of interior policy. As the original possessors of the land, however, though possessing it in a manner incompatible with the requirements of modern civiliza- tion, and as having been at times ready to assert that ownership, even in a forcible manner, they acquire quite a special interest ; even without that afterglow of romance which follows the memory of the red man in those regions from which he has already passed away. Though in the ante-Columbian period of American history nearly all the Indian tribes and nations appear to have been either drifting or gradually extending, by force of arms, in one direction or another, as indicated by their history or traditions, their movements were neither so rapid nor erratic as those which have occurred since the old organization and balance of power began to crumble before the advance of irresistible force from Vol. IX. I No. 3- 130 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. without. We may therefore trace, with some degree of definite- ness, the extension of the greater Indian families as they existed when first discovered, grouping together, for this purpose, many tribes which, though speaking the same or cognate languages, and with a general similarity in habits and modes of life, were not unfrequently at bitter enmity among themselves, and in some cases had almost forgotten their original organic connection. In North-eastern America, the great Algonkin family was numerically the most important, occupying a vast extent of coun- try, from beyond the western end of Lake Superior, along its northern shores, to the region of the Ottawa — wliich appears to have been the original focus of this group of Indians — filling the great wilderness between the St. Lawrence River and Gulf and the southern part of Hudson's Bay, occupying New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the present New England States, and stretching even further southward, to the confines of Florida. There appear to have been seven main tribal divisions, which are said to have numbered each from 3,000 to 6,000 warriors, and are those referred to collectively by the Jesuits, who had comparatively little knowledge of the tribal intricacies of this part of the continent, as ces grands hourgs des Naragenses. Many of the names of these tribes and of their smaller subdivisions are still perpetuated in a more or less travestied form in the names of places ; and in the history of the early days of the English colonies some of them appear continually. In addition to these, inhabiting Maine and New Hampshire, was the great Abenakis tribe, afterwards of some importance in Canadian history, when pressed northward by the disturbances incident to the establish- ment of the English Colonies. Closely allied to these, were the Malecetes and Micmacs of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. To the north of the Gulf and lower part of the River St. Lawrence were a number of roving tribes, afterwards known collectively as the Montagnards ; in the Ottawa region, the Algonkins proper, -and further to the north-west the Chippewas or Ojibways centred, when first discovered, near the Sault Ste. Marie, whence the name Sauteux applied to them by the French. These last were pressing westward, waging incessant warfare with the Sioux, and gradually dispossessing them of their hunting grounds about the sources of the Mississippi. South of the Algonkin territory was the great Iroquois nation, extending from the southern part of Lake Champlain to No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 131 Lake Erie, and including the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks, a fierce, intelligent, unscrupulous con- federacy or league of tribes, estimated afterwards by La Hontan at 70,000 in number, warring with neighbours and extending their boundaries in every direction, their very name a terror over half the northern part of the American coiitinent. Allied to these by blood and language, although at the dawn of history at bitter enmity with them, were the Hurons, estimated at 30,000 to 40,000 in number, inhabiting the eastern border of the great lake which now bears their name. The Neutral Nation also inhabiting the peninsula of Upper Canada, and of the Iro- quois stock, were, with the Eries, destroyed by the confederated Iroquois almost before their contact with the whites, and scarcely figure in history. Following the more fertile country of the valley of the St. Law- rence, there appears to have been an outlying member of the great Iroquois-Huron family, holding the banks of the River and present sites of Montreal and Quebec, while the Algonkins, as we have already seen, peopled all the neighbouring regions. Such were the main features in the distribution of the Indian nations of the north-east portion of the Continent at the time when they were about to be brought into contact with a stronger external power. In regard te their internal condition and progress in the arts, notwithstanding the gloss with which time may to some extent cover these aborigines, we cannot disguise from ourselves that they were for the most part the veriest savages. The northern Algonkins were found rarely, if ever, cultivating the soil, even on the most limited scale ; hunters, fishermen adding to their dietary such wild roots and berries as the country happened to afford ; living from hand to mouth, with little providence even for the annually recurring season of cold ; probably then, as now among the more remote tribes, not infrequently forced even to cannibalism during seasons of scarcity; wanderers, not as some of them afterwards became in the service of the great fur companies, over immense areas of the Continent, but each little tribe migrating, with the seasons, in its accus- tomed district, from the lake abounding in trout or white fish, to the region frequented by deer, or the rocky hills and islands where berries ripened most abundantly ; battling, with scanty means, against the heat of summer and the winter's cold, and not usually living with any sense either of security in life or in 132 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. the possession of their meagre belongings ; often at war, even among themselves, and their very slumbers hnunted with im ever present shadow of dread ; yet, withal, knowing no better state to envy, dimly looking forward to some distant future perfection, rudely imagined, in the " Happy hunting grounds " ; regarding their own exploits in defence or retaliation — which had not yet paled before the greater '' medicine " of the whites — as the highest expression of good. The Iroquois, the Hurons and their congeners had raised themselves a little higher in the scale, adding to the uncertain pursuit of the chase the surer product of the field : they sometimes cultivated the ground, it would appear, on a pretty extensive scale, preserved their corn in granaries, and lived in permanent walled villages, situated with reference to the fertility of the soil. The Hurons alone, inhabiting, in this w.iy the shores of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, were, as we have already seen, estimated by Father Sagard at between 30,000 and 40,000 souls. Pictures of the same mode of life are found in the account of the Canadian expedition of the winter of 1666 against the Mohawks, to the south of Lake Champlain, and in Cartier's quaint and simple narrative of his first visit to Hoche- laga (now the city of Montreal), which he says was surround* d with "goodly and large cultivated fields, full of such corn as tne country yieldeth. It is even as the millet of Brazil, us great and somewhat bigger than small peason, wherewith they live even as we do with our wheat." The Iroquois, though thus more advanced, were in customs and modes of thought e.-seuti liy one with the other Indians, and u.sed their greater re^ourcrs as a means of waging more s.iVage and efi"ectual war. They were a scourge to the surrounding nations, and more especially hostile to their relatives the Hurons, the Iroqucts — as the indi .ns found by Cartier inhabiting tlie binks of the St. liwwrence were afterwards called — and the whole race of the Algonkins. These peoples found themselves, at the time of the arrival of the Euro- peans, cruelly oppressed by the wars of the Iroquois, scircciy able to hold their own, and would, in the natural course of events, have been absorbed or destroyed by them, or gradually forced to retreat into the hyperborean region. The French, with whom we have more particularly to deal, like the Spaniards, constantly used the christianization and civilization of the natives as a powerful argument in favour of their exploring enterprises, and No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON INDIANS OF CANADA. 133 really attempted to carry out their professions. In the early history of Canada we continually find the priest in advance of the explorer and the trader ; and, though it is hinted that in some cases the traffic in peltries occupied part of the attention of the missionary, we seldom find them lending the Divine sanction to unprovoked violence or robbery. The intercourse of the Europeans and Indians of the north- eastern portion of America can scarcely be said to have been begun by Cabot in his voyages of 1497-98-99, when he first discovered this part of the coast. With Cartier, in 1534 and 1535, in his memorable voyages up the St. Lawrence, the first real contact occurred. The natives appear to have received him often timidly, but were found ready enough to trade when friend- ship had been cautiously established. At the villages of Stada- cona (Quebec) and Hochelaga he was received even with rejoicing, the natives bringing gifts of fish, corn and " great gourds," which they threw into his boat in token of welcome. It is evident, however, that they well understood and wished to maintain their territorial rights, for we find that when Cartier, in his first voyage, set up in the vicinity of the Bale des Chaleurs his '^ cross thirty feet high," the aged chief of the region objected to the proceeding, telling the French — as well as his language could be understood — that the country all belonged to him, and that only with his permission could they rightly erect the cross there. It was too, when, in 1541, Cartier attempted his abortive colony at Quebec, that the natives first manifested jealousy and a hostile spirit. Much later, in 1607, when the permanent occupation of the country was begun by Champlain at Quebec, the erection of a fort sufficiently strong first received the attention of the colonists : showing that they did not place a too implicit confidence in the continued friendliness of the Indians toward their enterprise. The French would indeed have found the foundation of their colony a difficult matter, but for the state of the Indian tribes at the time of their arrival. The Iroquets of the St. Lawrence valley had, since the date of Cartier's second voyage, been exter- minated, probably by the Hurons, and the Algonkin nations were in a state of chronic war with the too powerful Iroquois. Champlain, adopting the only policy open to him, the traditional one of intruders, allied himself, offensively and defensively, with his neighbours the Algonkins, thereby perpetuating the warfare 134 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. between these peoples, and initiating the long series of conflicts detailed in the early history of the colony, which were only stopped for a time by the peace of Montreal, in 1701, when representatives of tribes, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, to the number of 1,300 chiefs and deputies are said to have been present. Time will not permit us, however, to trace the fortunes of the aborigines through the long period of colonial history, during which the Iroquois, allied to the English, and the Algonkins, supported and encouraged in war by the French, occupied together a position, as it were, between the blades of the scissors, in which their number and importance were continually diminish- ing. The history of the Indians in this period, is besides., so much that of Canada and New England that, though capable of treatment from our standpoint, it is too well known to need recapitulation here. It has at times been affirmed that the English government did not extinguish the Indian title in Canada proper, when it took possession of the country. This is not however, strictly speaking, the case ; for in the proclamation of George III, in 1763, conse- quent on the treaty of that date, by which Canada became finally British, the following passage, relating to the Indians, occurs: " And we do further declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, for the present, as aforesaid, to reserve under our sovereignty, protection and dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the lands and territories not included within the limits granted to the Hudson's Bay Company ; as also the lands and territories lying westward ot the sources of the rivers which f\)ll into the sea, from the west and north-west, as afore said. And we do hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects from making any purchases or settlements whatever, or taking possession of the lands above reserved, without our special leave and licence, for that purpose." Difi"erent commissions of enquiry into the condition of the Canadian Indians have since been issued from time to time, and of which those of 1847 and 1856 were probably the most im- portant. In reference to the Indian title, the commissioners of 1847 thus state their views : ^ " Although the Crown claims the territorial estate and eminent dominion in Canada, as in other of the older colonies, it has. ever since its possession of the * Quoted by Hind, Canadian Exploring Expedition. No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON INDIANS OP CANADA. 135 Province, conceded to the Indians the right of occupying their old hunting grounds, and their chiim to compensation for its sur- render, reserving to itself the exclusive privilege of treating with them for the surrender or purchase of any portions of the land. This is distinctly laid down in the proclamation of 1763, and the principle has since been generally acknowledged, and rarely in- fringed upon by the Government." These statements are interest- ing in connection with the difficulty — referred to further on — as to Indian title in British Columbia. In carrying out this policy, we find the Government paying sums of money to certain tribes, and providing them with annuities as their lands become desirable for settlement. The payments thus made, though often apparently large, were always small in proportion to the extent of territory ceded. The country, for instance, north of Lakes Superior and Huron remained in possession of the Ojibways till 1850, when the whole of this vast region, at least equal in extent to England, and inhabited by between 2,000 and 3,000 Indians was surrendered to the Canadian Government for $16,640 paid down, and $4,400 in perpetual annuity. On this, the Commis- sioners remark : " If we considered that it came properly within our province, we should not hesitate to express our decided regret that a treaty, shackled by such stipulations, whereby a vast extent of country has been wrung from the Indians for a comparatively nominal sum, should have received the sanction of the Government." In a table prepared under the same com- mission is the following summary of areas of land given up, at different times, by the Indians of Canada, with the price paid to them per acre : Ojibways, 2Jd per acre 7,373,000 ^d. " 6,737,750 Ottawas, Pottawatamies, Chippewas and Hurons, y^g^c?. per acre 2,001,078 Delawares, 2s. Saugeen Indians, 3^6?. per acre 1,500,000 Ojibways of Lake Superior, as already given. Acreage not known. Average rate per acre about \\d.' In view of such facts, we may well ask upon what principle they have been remunerated for their lands ; certainly not by any standard either of their absolute or relative value, rather 136 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. i'x. by that of the relative ignorance of the various tribes at the time they were treated with, and the urgeocy of their then present wants. Looked at from this point of view, the transaction loses altogether the aspect of an equitable purchase. It must be evident that the Government, in such arrangements, does not fully acknowledge the Indian title, the " territorial estate and eminent dominion " being vested in the crown, and the claim of the Indians restricted practically — though not patently in the transactions as effected with the Indians — to right of compensa- tion for the occupancy of their hunting grounds. It is very difficult to arrive at any certain conclusion regarding the original number of the Indian population of this part of the Continent. The New England tribes are, as we have seen, said by some authorities to have each possessed several thousand war- riors. The Iroquois were estimated by La Hontan at 70,000, and the Hurons, at an earlier date, at from 30 to 40,000. Gar. neau, on the contrary, gives, as the result of careful calculation, numbers very much smaller, and supports them by remarks on the exaggerated estimates of the notions formed by some travellers. He allows, for instance, to the whole Algonquin race 90,000 only, and to the Hurons and Iroquois together 17,000. Though the first estimates may be too great, these almost certainly err on the other side. In the four eastern provinces of the Dominion, Ontario, Que- bec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, there are at the present day about 30,000 Indians, the remnant of the former numerous population. A considerable number of Indians in Quebec, and north of the settled districts, in the northern and north-western part of Ontario, still remain in a con- dition little, if at all, superior to that of their ante-Columbian ancestors. Their lands, unsuited for agriculture, are not coveted by the whites. They have only the advantage of a certain immu- nity from pillage and war, and of being able to procure from the Hudson Bay Company and other traders such articles of Euro- pean manufacture as they may be able to afford. After describ- ing the condition of these wild western tribes, Dr. Wilson, in the last edition of his " Prehistoric Man," writes of them : " It is not a little strange to find such pagan rites perpetuated among nomads still wandering around the outskirts of settlements occu- pied by descendants of colonists, who, upwards of three centuries ago, transplanted to the shores of the St. Lawrence the arts and No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 137 laws of the raost civilized nation of Europe. The regions thus occupied by savage tribes are annually coasted by richly laden merchant fleets of Britain ; and the ocean steamers have now brought within a few day's sail of Europe the outcast descen- dants of the aboriginal owners of the soil. But they experience no benefit from the change. The Mistassins and Naskapecs exhibit all the characteristics and some of the most forbidding: traits of the Indian savage. They are clothed in furs and deer- skins ; their only weapons are the bow and arrow, and they depend wholly on the bow and drill for procuring fire." With by far the greater part of the Indian population, however, this state has long been of the past. In all the provinces, save Prince Edward Island, the Indians hold reserves from the Crown. On the Island, the lands they inhabit were obtained for them by the Aborigines Protection Society and the liberality of private individuals. The Indians are considered wards of the Crown, and are in a state of pupilage, not possessing the right to dispose of or in any way alienate their lands, which are administered for them by a department of the Government. The funds available for Indian purposes, schools, missions, annuities, etc., are partly tribal, being derived from the sale or lease of Indian lands, partly general, by direct grant, or interest on the Indian fund held in trust by the Government. This fund, in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, in 1877, amounted to over $2,900,000; tbo total revenue available for distribution being over $240,000. The sources of tribal funds are more fully specified as follows: Collections on account of lands sold, timber dues, stone dues ; bonuses paid for the privilege of working timber limits on Indian reserves ; rents collected from occupiers of Indian lands under lease ; and smaller sums from licence fees, trespass dues, and a moiety of fines collected from persons convicted of having sold liquor to Indians. In these older provinces, most of the Indians have made con- siderable material progress, and in some cases show a satisfactory desire to accumulate property and cultivate the land. By the last report of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, we learn that the total number of Indians settled on reserves is 22,809. The total number of acres under cultivation is 60,501 ; houses owned, 4,347, besides barns and stables ; horses, 2,741 ; cows, 2,360, besides other animals, ploughs, harrows, waggons, fanning mills and many other agricultural implements. It is, however, un- 138 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix» pleasant to note the complaints of the superintendent that the schools are very generally poorly appreciated, but a small pro- portion of the children attending with any regularity. The remnants of some of the Indian tribes of this part of the Dominion have now drifted far from their original localities. Of the Iroquois, a portion converted by the French — who estab- lished missions among them in 1657 — separated themselves from their native cantons to the south of Lake Ontario, and settled on lands provided for them on the banks of the St. Lawrence, at Caughnawaga, St. R^gis, and the Lake of Two Mountains. Their number at the present time (including some Algonkins living with the Iroquois at the last named place) is 2,961:. The greater part of the Iroquois nation — allies, as we have seen, of the English against the French in early colonial days — were loyal to the Crown during the revolutionary war, and on the establishment of the United States many of them migrated to Ontario, under their great chief Joseph Brandt, 1785. They were accorded a reserve of about 1200 square miles, of which they now possess only a small part. These refugees number, at the present day 4,495, and are living on the Grand River, Bay of Quints, and River Thames. Another considerable band of the Iroquois, chiefly composed of Indians of the Seneca tribe, still inhabit a portion of their original territory in the State of New York, possess a reserve of 66,000 acres, and are good and prosperous farmers. Another party, early in this century settled in Ohio, but were afterward removed to the Indian Territory to the south, and are now stated to number 210. One more small detachment, travelling westward in the service of the fur com- panies, now frequent, or lately did so, the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, near the head-waters of the Saskatchewan. The once powerful nation of Hurons or Wyandots, are now reduced to a mere handful. In 1648, the Iroquois recommenced their war against these people with unwonted fury, and during 1649 and 50, they were finally beaten and as a nation destroyed. After the attack of 1648 the remnants of the tribes found refuge for a time among the neighbouring nations, but were shortly afterwards again gathered together, to perish, for the most part, some by renewed attacks of their enemies, othci-s by famine, during the winter of 1649-50. The survivors, about 300 in number, under the guidance of the missionaries who had been labouring among them, migrated eastward, but were apparently No. 3.] G. 31. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 139 pursued by misfortune. Many perished in attempting to cross from their place of refuge on Tsle Joseph to the mainland, others were cut oif by prowling Iroquois. The miserable remnant crept through the wilderness of the upper Ottawa to Montreal, and then to Quebec, where for years they inhabited the Isle of Or- leans ; but still, from time to time harassed by their enemies, moved into the city of Quebec itself, and on the conclusion of peace, removed to Ste. Foye, and afterwards to Lorette. where they now are, to the number of 295. A second small fraction of the Hurons, centering for a time about Detroit, were accorded a reserve at Anderdon in Ontario, but during the present century, have declined from 200 to 76 in number. Still another colony became possessed of lands in Ohio, ceded these lands to the United States, in 1832, and were removed to Kansas, where, in 1855, many became citizens, and the land being divided among these, the remainder were again removed to the Indian Territory, where they now number 258 souls. Such has been the fate of these cultivators of corn and tobacco, the natives, of all others of the northern part of the Continent, most nearly attaining a civi- lized state. The vicissitudes to which the Algonkins have been subjected are not so great. Those who have come within the influence of civilisation occupy a great number of small reserves and villages Bcattered through Ontario and Quebec. The Abenakis, the con- stant allies of the French, leaving the northern part of New England, now reside at St. Francis and Becancour, and have de- creased from 1000, the number remaining in 1760, to 335. If we had any satisfactory means of estimating the real amount of Indian blood represented by the peoples classed as Indians, we would find the recognized remnant of the native race a much smaller fraction than it appears in the census. In many of the bands scarcely a pure-blooded Indian can be found, and in all great admixture has occurred. Of the Abenaquis Father Mar- quette writes : " Our Indians are, with but very few exceptions, m^tis,, or half-breeds. Here I do not know one Abenaquis of pure blood : they are nearly all Canadian, German, English, or Scotch half-breeds. The greater portion of them are as white as Canadians, and the dark complexions we see with many are owing in most cases to long voyages." The Hurons of Lorette can scarcely be distinguished as Indians. They have almost en- tirely exchanged their native tongue for the French patois, and 140 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. would probably long since have ceased to be known as such, but for their claim to share in the distribution of certain tribal funds administered by the Government, which have now ceased to be of real benefit, and act instead as a deterrent to the complete independence and self-reliance of the members of the community. Similar statements might be made with regard to other tribes, and many of the more advanced Indians begin to show a wish to emancipate themselves from their state of pupilage. This they are now enabled to do on easy terms by the Act of 1876. The discovery of the great North-west and contact of its Indian tribes with the whites did not occur till long after that of the older provinces of Canada ; and our knowledge of the west coast and British Columbia is almost an event of yesterday. The famous journey of Joliet and Marquette to the Mississppi was made in 1672, followed, ten years later, by that of La Salle. In 1727, a Canadian fur company had advanced trading posts to Lake Pepin on the Mississippi ; but we find Charlevoix writing from Montreal, in 1721, with nothing more definite than the vague rumours of the existence of the " Lac des Assiniboils " and surrounding region now forming part of Manitoba. Not till 1731 was this country and the valley of the Red River of the north, discovered by Varennes de la Verandrye, accompanied in his expedition by his sons, and a missionary Jesuit. By 1748, the French, with the wonderful energy in discovery characteristic of them at this time, -had pushed their explorations far up the valley of the Saskatchewan ; and they had already crossed the water-shed separating this valley from the Arctic basin, when Sir Alexander Mackenzie, an officer of the North-west Fur Company of Canada, in 1789, began his voyages of discovery in that region. This intrepid traveller, in that year, traversed the en- tire length of the river now bearing his name, reaching the Frozen ocean, and, in 1793, only 85 years ago, was the first Eu- ropean to set foot in the great interior of British Columbia. The wide-stretching Algonkin family of Indians already des- cribed as filling so large a part of North America, extended far into the western country. The Sioux, touching, in the early his- torical years, the west end of Lake Superior, were then being dispossessed of these regions, and their hunting grounds about the sources of the Mississippi by the Algonkin Chippeways, who before settlement began in the Red River valley appear to have usurped a part of that region, and the Lake of the Woods coun- No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF QUEBEC. 141 try, and made of them their we>tern stronghold. With fish and berries in abundance, and lake strung to lake, forming an amaz- ingly complicated water communication through all the forest country, the woodland Indian may here be seen to the greatest advantage ; and, as in the summer he lazily paddles his bark canoe from island to island, sets his nets in the narrows, or joins in the harvesting of wild rice in the creeks and swamps of the lake margin, one may still almost imagine that his tenure is un- disputed, and his life a realization of Hiawatha. But winter is at hand, and many too are the legends still associated with the landscape of fierce conflicts, and massacres by the dreaded Sioux. West of the Chippeways, but inosculating with them, and spreading far up the valley of the Saskatchewan, were the Criste- neaux or Crees, who speak a language only dialectically different from that of the Chippeways, but exhibit some dilterent traits, being in great part Flain Indians. South of the Crees, and in- habitins: the river of the same name, where the Assineboines, a tribe which separated from the Dakotas or Sioux, almost within the limit of authentic history, and, like the parent stock, differed much in physical characteristics, and altogether in language from the Crees. Though thus the offspring of the Dakotas, they were bitterly hostile to them, much as occurred further east with the Iroquois. South and west of these, but scarcely stretching far north of the forty-ninth parallel in early times, were the various bands of the Sioux, or Nadouessioux of the early travellers, the first name, by which they are now most commonly known, being an abbreviation of the second, wliich is a Chippewa word, meaning enemies, and was sometimes also applied by these people to the Iroquois; the Sioux calling themselves D.ikotas. Still farther west were the different tribes of the Blackfoot confederacy, roaming between the head-waters of the Missouri, the Rocky Mountains and upper Saskatchewan. The Indians thus classified according to race, were, however, naturally divided, from the earliest times, by the character of th'^ir environment, into two great groups, — those of the plains and those of the forests. The former, typically exhibited in the Sioux. Assineboines, and Blackfeet, were and are physically and mentally better developed than the latter. Their lives were more active, and, with abundance of food in the innumerable herds of buffalo which then covered the plains from the Red River to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, while fierce, treacherous and 142 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. turbulent, they had leisure to develop some of the better quali- ties often attributed to the American savage, and to invent those curious mystic ceremonies appropriate to the seasons, which among; the Mandans of the upper Missouri, according; to Catlin, had assumed great complexity and an elaborate symbolism. The 'plain Crees, or those inhabiting the northern margin of the prai- ries, were not so warlike nor physically so well formed as their southern neighbours, though, coming first in contact with the whites, and supplying themselves with fire-arms, then utiknowa to the wilder tribes, they were for a time able completely to turn the tables on their ancient enemies, and carried their conquests far and wide. At the present day matters are again reversed, for the Crees, still supplied by the Hudson Bay Company with the venerable flint lock musket, meet the southern tribes who trade on the Missouri, and are frequently able to afford to aim themselves with the best breech-loaders. In this region, one may see in a single tribe every stage in perfection of arms exemplified, from the bow with arrows tipped with hoop iron to the Win- chester-Henry repeating rifle. It is worthy of note, in tiiis con- nection, that while the Indians may be much more formidable with improved rifles, I have heard them complain that they are really more at the mercy of the whites, for, on the outbreak of hostilities, measures are taken to prevent them from obt.iining suitable cartridges, which they are, of course, utterly unable to make for themselves. The woodland or thick-wood Crees much resemble in habits and appearance the other western tribes of the Algonkins. North of all these, is still another entirely distinct family of Indians, the Tinneh, Athabascans, or Chipewyans. These in- habitants of the true "Wild North Land," are divided into many tribes and sets, speaking dialects more or less diverse. From Churchill and the western shores of Hudson Bay they stretch northward to the Esquimaux of the Arctic coast, people the valley oi' the Mackenzie, the great almost unknown interior of Alaska, and southward in the interior region of British Columbia as far as the Chilcotin River. Remnants of the same people are found scattered among other tribes far to the south, giving rise to interesting questions as to their pre-historic distribution ; but the region still entirely occupied by them in the north is truly vast, being not less than 4,000 miles in extent from south-east to nortVi-west. Within their domain are the Barren Grounds, No. 3.] G. 31. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 143 traversed nnd described by Sir John Richardson, Franklin and Back, a picture of bleak desolation, yet in their grassy savannahs supporting cariboo and other game enough to maintain the wandering bands of natives. They are as yet the undisputed possessors of the great Peace River valley, in Mackenzie's time abounding in bufifalo and elk, and destined, at no very distant date, to form a wealthy province of the Dominion. North of this, in the Athabasca-Mackenzie region they roam over a whole continent of barrens, scrubby forests, wide muskegs, and inoscu- lating systems of lakes ; while in the northern interior of British Columbia and Southern Alaska they own a veritable sea of moun- tains. Resembling the forest inhabiting tribes of the Algonkins in many respects, they yet diflPer from them in some important points. The name Tinneh or Dinne means simply the people, and in combination with some peculiar afl&x forms the distinctive name of almost every tribal subdivision of the race. In thus speaking of themselves as pre-eminently the people, they are not peculiar, but follow the custom of many of the American tribes of different family relationships. When discovered, the Tinneh were constantly at war with all the surrounding; nations, includino- the Esquimaux, to the north, the Crees and southern Indians of British Columbia, to the south, and were, besides, engaged in intertribal wars within their own territory. They do not appear, however, to be in general distinguished for bravery or success in their warlike expeditions. Though scattered over so great an area of country, they show a close general resemblance in customs and disposition. They do not cultivate oratory to the same ex- tent as the southern Indians, nor have they any regard for the truth, though, curiously enough, remarkably honest, both among themselves and towards strangers. They are, however, accom- plished and persistent beggars. They already begin to cultivate the ground to a small extent around some of the forts and mis- sions in the southern part of their country, and though generally lazy, when once embarked in a voyage or other enterprise, as a rule, work well. They seldom indulge in a plurality of wives. Omitting mention for the present of the remaining Indians of British Columbia, such are the great divisions by race of the nations of the North-west. The Esquimaux, living along the whole Arctic sea-board, are never likely to come in conflict with the whites, and, from the inhospitable nature of their country, 144 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix.. will always remain secure in the possession of their lands. Of more practical import;ince, however, than this family grouping is the division into Indians of the plains and those of the forests and northern country, as already pointed out. The tide of settle- ment has already begun to flow, which in a few short years will cover the portion of the Great Lone Land inhabited by the prairie tribes, with farmers and stock-raisers ; and it is in dis- posing equitably and amicably of the claims of the plain Indians, and in providing for their honest and peaceful support when the bufiTalo, their present means of livelihood, shall have passed away, that Canada will find her greatest Indian problem. In contrast- ing the Indian policy of the United States and Canada, it is unquestionable that the latter has generally shown consideration and friendliness toward these people ; while the former, with few exceptions, has practical/ 1/ pursued a method harsh and aggres- sive ; but it is often forgotten that the circumstances of the two countries for many years past have been very different. In the Western States the uncompromising edge of the advancing populace of Europe has been creeping across the plains — con- stant broils, outrages and reprisals characterizing its spread. In Canada we are only about to enter on this phase, and in no way but by great forbearance and tact can similar — though probably not so great — trouble be averted. In 1812 Lord Selkirk founded his colony on the Red River, having acquired from the Hudson Bay Company in the previous year a grant of land for colonization ; but, like the government of the Dominion at a later date, findin"' that he had afterward to arrange with the Indians for their right of ownership. In 1817, several chiefs agreed to give to the King, for the use of the Earl of Selkirk, a tract of land borderina the Red and Assineboine Rivers, as far back on each side as a horse could be seen under (i. €. easily distinguished) ; but we find that it was afterwards made a subject of complaiiit by the Indians, that they never received for the land more than a first payment, which they con- sidered as preliminary to a final bargain. The quit-rent was understood to be 100 pounds of tobacco, paid annually to the chiefs. Selkirk's colonists, entering the country by way of Hudson Bay and the Nelson River, were chiefly men from the northern islands of Scotland, and there minolinu with French-Canadians — old voyageurs of the fur Companies — soon, like these people, No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 145 took to themselves Indian wives, usually from among the Crees. Thus arose the Metis or half-breed population of the Red River, for a long time hunters rather than farmers, and as yet — especially the French half-breeds — in too many cases making but a half- hearted attempt at the cultivation of the soil. Yearly expeditions on a great scale — of which we have all read — were made by these people against the buifalo, in early days abounding in the Red River valley itself. Gradually, however, under the attacks of the people, the increasing demand for robes in all quarters, and the quantity of pemmican required by the Hudson Bay Com- pany for the supply of their posts, the great northern herds of buffalo were thinned, and year by year the Red River hunters had to travel farther in search of their game. At last the con- nection between the Peace River herds and those to the south was broken alons: the line of the Saskatchewan, and the former all but annihilated ; and at the present day a wide belt of coun- try near and south of the Missouri, separates the buffalo still remaining in the South-Western States from those of the north, which are con2;refrated in a limited area near the foot of the Rocky Mountains in the British possessions, and surrounded by a cordon of hungry savages. With this change, a great altera- tion in the position of the various Indian tribes has occurred. The Assineboines and plain Crees have followed the retreating herds to the south and west, while the thick-wood Indians, for- merly confined to their forests by the pressure of these tribes,, have issued on the plains ; and natives from the vicinity of the Red River and great lakes of Manitoba may now be found even to the Coteau of the Missouri. The remaining buffalo at the present time inhabit a portion of the territory of the Blackfeet ; but those Indians do not, now, in the absence of valuable game, try to maintain their former extensive boundaries, and are hemmed in by their hereditary enemies the Sioux and Assine- boines to the east, and Crees to the north. In 1874 I met a large camp of Cree Indians on the Milk River at the 49th parallel, a point farther south than I know them to have attained before. In this year, basing my estimate on the information obtainable in the country itself, I ventured to state that the northern herd of bufi"alo could scarcely maintain its existence as such for longer than twelve or fourteen years, and that at or before that date the trade in pemmican and robes would cease to be of importance. Unless the regulations adopted by the North- VoL. IX. K No. 3. 146 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. Vol. IX.] west Council are very strictly enforced, and possibly even in spite of this check, the buffalo must become pratically extinct within a very few years. In view of these facts, measures cannot too soon be taken to render the plain tribes self supporting, on some other basis than that afforded by the chase of the buffalo. Their wandering habits unsuit them for agricultural pursuits ; but some of them already possess considerable numbers of horses, and, by encouraging them in stock-raising, and especially in the introduction among them of cattle, from which, under proper regulations, they might derive a great part of their food, a solution of the problem might be found. This, at least, is the only easy transition from their present condition as hunters to a more civilized state ; and if this can not be made to succeed, they will for the most part, and at no distant date, be thrown as paupers on the State. The Indians of Manitoba and the North-west Territory, in the Report of the Minister of the Interior for 1877, are stated to number about 27,308 ; to which must be added about 1,500 Sioux, refugees from the south, implicated in the Minnesota mas- sacre of 1862 ; also, for the Athabasca District and Rupert's Land, 6,768 (probably an under-estimate) ; and now, it would appear Sitting Bull and his compatriots, who, though Sioux, do not represent any particular tribe of that nation, but the dis- affected and outlawed members from many bands. Since the acquisition of this territory by the Dominion, seven treaties have been concluded with the Indians, by which, collectively, nearly all the land likely to be given for permanent settlement has been ceded. The last of these was that with the Blackfeet, covering an area of some 35,000 square miles in the south-western corner of the territory, inhabited now by about 5,000 Indians ; this nation having been reduced by about one-half during the last twelve or fifteen years by bad whisky, murders, and small-pox. The general principles on which these treaties have been framed are : — The entire surrender of the territory, a reserve being provided for the Indians, and it being understood that they may continue to hunt and fish as before, without restriction as long as the lands are unoccupied ; the establishment and maintenance of schools ; the payment of an annuity of a few dollars to members of the tribe, a census being taken in the first instance; the yearly distribution of ammunition, twine for nets, etc., to a stated amount; and the presentation of agricultural No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 147 implements, cattle, etc., once for all, to bands settling down to farm ; also the payment of a salary to the chiefs and their head- men ; and the presentation of medals, flags, and a bonus in money on the conclusion of the treaty. No one who has not had some experience in dealing with Indians can realize how great the difficulty in concluding such arrangements with them is : how much talking and iteration is required, and how long they take to deliberate and discuss among themselves the propositions as they understand them ; the most trivial point occasionally ap- pearing, for some incomprehensible reason, to assume the greatest importance. The half-breeds of the Red River have already been alluded to, and nowhere on the North American Continent is the result of the mingling of the European and native races so clearly seen as in our North-West Territory. In what is now the province of Manitoba, a separate race of Metis has grown up since the date of Lord Selkirk's colonization, and these people, holding themselves to some extent aloof from the whites and Indians, are recognized in the terms of confederation of that province, and granted large tracts of land as reserves for themselves and their children. At the erection of the province, the half-breeds num- bered, according to the census, 9,770 ; but this, according to Prof Wilson, was afterwards found to be an underestimate. While some of these people are scarcely distinguishable from Europeans, others are to all intents and purposes Indians, and it is curious to find in the report of the payment to Indians under Treaty No. 4, that great difficulty was experienced from the number of half-breeds ordinarily recognized as such, who desired to be included with the Indians and draw annuities. In this connection, Mr. Gr. W. Dickenson remarks : " The question as to who is, and who is not Indian, is a difficult one to decide : many whose forefathers were whites, follow the customs and habits of the Indians, and have always been recognized as such. The chiefs Cote, George Gordon, and others, and likewise a large proportion of their bands, belong to this class. A second class has little to distinguish it from the former, but has not alto- gether followed the ways of the Indians. A third class, again, has followed the ways of the whites, and has never been recog- nized or accounted among themselves as anything but half-breed." When the buffalo retreated so far in the west that it became inconvenient to carry on the hunt from the Red River, a portion 148 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. of the half-breeds to a great extent relinquished this mode of subsistence ; while others, among whom those speaking French are in the majority, continued to follow these animals, — selecting wintering places far out on the plains, and returning to the settlements only occasionally, with the products of the chase. These hunting half breeds form — or formed a very short time ago — a body partaking of the character of a tribe among the Indians. They are generally accompanied by a priest, who, in concert with some of the older men, frames rules for the guidance of the camp, administers those which have already become fixed by use in the community, and decides the camping places and dates of movement of the camp, in conformity with public opinion. In the far west these people seem generally to have allied themselves with the Sioux against the Blackfeet, but gave to their allies only so much material assistance as to ensure the continuance of their useful friendship. In July, 1874, I came upon the "Big Camp" of half-breeds near the Milk River. It consisted of over two hundred tents of dressed skins, or canvas. Every family possessed Red River carts at least in equal number to that of its members. These, with the tents, are arranged in a circular form, on camping, to make a correl or enclosed space for the protection of the horses. It was stated that about 2,000 of these animals were owned by the half-breeds of the Camp. The Indians, as a whole, are jealous of the half-breed hunters^ understanding well that their business-like manner of pursuing the bufi"alo for robes, not only drives these animals from their feediog grounds, but aids largely in their extermination. The late ordinance of the North-West Council, above referred to, will probably, by the restrictions it imposes, break up this half breed tribe and drive its members to other pursuits. It is certain that the Metis, as a whole, will continue to approximate more com- pletely to the whites both in appearance and manners. Physically they are robust, and possess great power of endurance; though not infrequently liable to pulmonary complaints. In British Columbia, where, in the absence of a trustworthy census, the native races are roughly estimated at 30,000, Canada has her latest, and, what appeared, for a time, likely to be her most vexatious "Indian Problem." Races of the Tiune stock inhabit, as we have already seen, the whole northern interior of that country, extending, southward, to the Chilcotin River in latitude 52^. Bordering these on the south, and occupying No. 3.] G. M. DAWSOX — INDIANS OF CANADA. 149 part of the province, are Indians belonging to the Shuswap or Sclish connection, divided into many tribes, bearing different names, but all allied in lano;uao:e, the differences between the dialects being generally not so great as to prevent intercommuni- cation. In a region physically isolated, in the extreme south- east, are the Kooteney Indians, who appear to differ from all the rest, and are perhaps more closely allied to the Indians of the interior plains, whither they resort, at certain seasons, for the purpose of hunting the buffalo. Along the coast, and on the outlying islands, are scattered a great number of tribes dittering more or less, and in former years frequently hostile one to another. Into the race divisions of these it is not proposed to enter, nor indeed is it possible as yet to speak very certainly on this question. In customs, modes of life and thought, there is complete diversity between the coast Indians and those of the interior, which practically transcends the race divisions, being like to in kind, but even greater in degree, than that existing between the plain Indians and those of the woods, in the interior of the continent. In the northern interior of British Columbia, the Indians, in- habiting a country for the most part thickly wooded, still remain, as they have always been, hunters and fishers ; but in many places they now also cultivate small garden patches, producing potatoes, turnips and such other vegetables as require little attention. For their winter supply of food they generally depend chiefly on fish, which is dried and cured during the summer. On all the tributaries of the Fraser, salmon is taken, in some years abundantly. Those tribes nearer the coast, have generally succeeded in maintaining against the coast Indians, the control of some part of the various shorter rivers on which salmon can be caught. Thither they make an annual migration, which they look upon as a sort of holiday-making, revelling during the season in abundance of fresh fish, and on their return carrying back with them supplies for the cold months. They still trade with the coast tribes to some extent, obtaining fish oil and Euro- pean goods for furs ; and this interchange, continuing since time immemorial, has resulted in the formation of well-beaten trails, of which the Bella Coola trail, and the so-called Grease Trail (over which, in the far north, oolican oil is packed up from the sea. board) are best known. In the last century, when direct Euro- pean trade was carried on only along the coast, these interior 150 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. Indians were obliged to satisfy all their needs for manufactured articles through the intermediation of the coast tribes. This intercourse led to the general diffusion of the remarkable Chinook jargon, which can only be referred to here. In the more remote parts of this northern country, the natives have changed very little since its first discovery. In 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie accompanied a party of them, as they travelled toward their fishery on the Dean or Salmon River. In June, 1876, I jour- neyed for a couple of days with a similar party going to the same traditional locality for the same purpose, and, with scarcely a word of alteration, Mackenzie's description might have been ap- plied. Every man, woman and child carried a " pack " of size in proportion to their strength, many of the women being, in addition, encumbered with infants, and even the dogs having strapped to their backs a proportion of the common burden of camp equipage or traps. The larger articles and provisions were usually packed in square boxes made of light wood, skil- fully bent round, and pegged together so neatly that, with the addition of grease and dirt rubbed into the corners, they are water-tight, and can be used for boiling fish, hot stones from the fire beins thrown in till the water is heated. Smaller loads are carried in net-work bags made of raw hide, and slung, together with a blanket, over the shoulders. All were in good humour, and it was with the greatest difficulty I could persuade one to leave his companions to guide me to the southward, where I wished to go. They travelled at leisure, frequently resting for an hour or so, the women attending to their children, the men sleeping in the shade, or gambling with marked sticks, as Mac- kenzie describes. In the southern part of the interior, the Indians have come much more freely in contact with the whites, and though many never saw a white face till the gold excitement of 1859 occurred, they have already advanced very materially. In the early days of gold mining, labour was scarce and in great demand, and, consequently, every Indian who could and would work was em- ployed at high wages. From this, many of them became stock- raisers to a small extent, river boatmen, and packers ; while others cultivated the soil, sometimes producing more than they required for their own support. Such is their state at present, and on them most of the white settlers rely for aid in tilling, harvesting, and stock herding. While, however, the younger No. 3.] G. M, DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 151 men take readily to these pursuits, many of the older still prefer to live as they did formerly, chiefly on the products of the fishery and chase ; and in districts where settlement has not yet penetrated, whole bands still trust almost entirely to these, their primitive means of support. Along the coast, the natives are, and always have been, almost exclusively fishermen. They hollow from the great cedar trees graceful and sea-worthy canoes, in which they frequently make long voyages, and formerly, in some cases, ventured far from land in pursuit of the whale. Their villages are along the mar- gin of the sea, on a coast generally rocky and rugged, with little arable land. They engage in the chase to a very limited extent, and seldom even venture far into the dense forests, of which they appear often to entertain a superstitious dread, peopling them in imagination with monstrous and fearful inhabitants. Along many of the estuaries and harbours are long lines of shell- heaps, evidencing the indefinite antiquity of their feasting and camping. At the present day, many of the coast Indians are moderately iudustrious, working on farms, in the coal mines at Nanaimo, or as sailors in small coasting schooners. In Mr. Dun- can's charge, at Metlakatla, in the north, is an example of a self- supporting and comfortable community, the result of genuine missionary labour. Of all the coast tribes, the Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands are probably the most intelligent and competent. When the earlier navigators visited this region, they were the sea-dogs of the coast, and carried their piratical expeditious far and wide, often engaging in fierce conflicts with the Ucultas, and other tribes who attempted to bar their passage of the narrows at the north end of Vancouver Island. Though, like most of the sea- board tribes, in features remarkably coarse, they are lighter in complexion than the others, often so much so that a rosy colour is discernible in their cheeks. Their superior attractions in this respect have been unfortunate for them, as many of their women resort to Victoria and other towns for the worst purposes, and, owing to disease, they are rapidly diminishing. Their tribal name is Haida, and they are remarkable above all the other Indians of the Coast for the size and excellence of their wooden houses, which are ornamented with huge sculptured posts, rising like obelisks or minarets ; and also for their great skill and taste in carving in grotesque and complicated patterns all their imple- 152 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. ments and utensils. The style of this carving, on the one hand, resembles that of China and Japan, and, on the other, that of Mexico and Central America. The Haidas are dexterous and successful fishermen. Such is a brief sketch of the Indians of British Columbia ; from which, however, it will be evident that, owing to the phy- sically diversified character of the country, and correspondingly diverse habits of the natives, they required at the hands of the whites a quite special treatment. It was probably owing to want of information that the Dominion government at first pro- posed to apply, unmodified, to the whole area of the new province, the traditional Canadian policy of granting extensive reserves to the natives. This led to a lono- and in some instances acrimo- nious correspondence between the general and local governments; and also to accusations by philanthropic societies, imputing in- justice and indifi"erence toward the natives to the old colonial government. It may be interesting to go over, briefly, the chief points raised in this controversy, which will also in some degree serve to explain the anomalou*^ condition of the British Columbia Indians in respect to material progress. Many interesting facts bearing on the first contact of whites and natives on the West Coast are to be found in the volumes of Meares, Portlock and Dixon, Cook, Vancouver and other early explorers ; and various arrangements and treaties were made in these early times, which have long since, however, lost all force, and must be omitted here. Among the official documents relating to more recent times, we first find fourteen treaties concluded with the natives by Mr,, afterwards Sir James, Douglas, acting for the Hudson Bay Company. These apply to Vancouver Island, chiefly to its southern and south-eastern part, and are dated in 1850 and 1852, several years before the gold excitement of 1858-59. A lump sum was paid on the conclusion of each treaty, which was looked upon as a sale, under the following conditions, to quote from one of them, viz :— " That our village sites and en- closed fields are to be kept for our own use, for the use of our children, and for those who may follow after us ; and the land shall be properly surveyed hereafter. It is understood, however, that the land itself, with these small exceptions, becomes the en- tire property of the white people for ever ; it is also understood that we are at liberty to hunt over the unoccupied lands, and to carry on our fisheries as formerly." No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 153 In 1858 attention was prominently called to British Columbia, owing to the discovery of gold, and the rush of miners from all quarters, and, accordingly, we find next among the papers (dated in July of that year) an extract from a despatch of Lord Lytton, as Secretary of State for the Colonies, to Douglas, then appointed Governor of the region, recommending kind treatment of the natives, and ordering that in all cases of cession of land, subsis- tence, in some form, should be granted to them. In September of the same year, there is a second despatch from Lytton, enclos- ing a memorial from the Aborigines Protection Society, which gives reasons for fearing that, the miners then flocking to the country, the Indians would be harshly treated, and advising, justly, that the native right to the soil should be recognized. In venturing to point out means of satisfying the natives, however, the Society makes various suggestions, some of which, to any one acquainted with the circumstances of the country, look sufficiently absurd. It is said, for instance : — " To accomplish the difficult but necessary task of civilizing the Indians, and of making them our trusty friends and allies, it would seem to be indispensable to employ in the various departments of government a large pro- portion of well selected men more or less of Indian blood (many of whom could be found at the Red River) ! who might not only exert a greater moral influence over their race than we could possibly do, but whose recognized position among the whites should be some guarantee that the promised equality of races should be realized." Red River being in actual distance and in manners as remote from Victoria as is St. Petersburg from Lon- don, this part of the scheme is, to say the least of it, visionary. Next follows some additional corresp ndence between Governor Douglas and the Colonial Office in 1858-59, of a similar tenor, in which both parties agree in the advisability of endeavouring to locate the Indians in their villages, and render them self-sup- porting. Douglas, however, instanced as specially to be avoided, the method originally pursued by the Spanish Catholic mission- aries to California, where the Indians, though fed, clothed, and taught to labour, were kept in a state of dependence, not allowed to think, act, or acquire property for themselves, and when freed from control were without self reliance, more helpless and degra- ded than at first. Also, that since pursued toward the same Indians by the x\merican Congress, of supporting them at great cost by the State, the natives nevertheless rapidly degenerating. 154 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. In March 1861, the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island prepared a memorial, recapitulating the means adopted by the Hudson Bay Company to extinguish the Indian title, stating that the Indians of the Island have a strong sense of property in land, and that regions then being settled still belonged to the natives. It was feared that bad feeling would arise between the races ; but the Colony, being unable to raise £3,000, which would be necessary to purchase the rights of the Indians, asked the Home Government to advance this sum, which was afterwards to be repaid by the sale of public lands. The Secretary of State for the Colonies, however, though ready enough to oflfer good advice, as we have seen, promptly answers this communication in a curt note, stating that the affair being purely a colonial matter, Her Majesty's Government could not undertake to supply any money. In a voluminous correspondence, from different sources, ex- tending from 1861 up to the date of the Confederation, it would seem that the idea of recoornizins; the Indian title to the whole mainland country never appears to have occurred to the authori- ties ; but that the method adopted was to ask the Indians of any particular locality what plot of land they wished to possess, and to make this reserve for them. It generally appears that all the land asked for was given, and sometimes even more than requested, the Governor indeed expressly directing that when a larger area was requisite to the support of the Indians, it should at once be allotted to them. In most cases the natives seem to have been satisfied with this arrangement, thousrh we discover that certain priests, missionaries among them, were already advising the In- dians to make larger claims for land. It is evident, in fact, that at this time — to quote from a report by T. W. Trutch, as Chief Commissionner of Lands and Works in 1867, which, though referring specially to the lower part of the Fraser, may be taken as representing the state of affairs over the whole interior : — '' The subject of reserving land for the Indians does not appear to have been dealt with on any established system during Sir James Doudas's administration. The rights of the Indians to hold lands were totally undefined, and the whole matter seems to have been kept in abeyance, although the land proclamations specially withheld from pre-emption all Indian reserves or settlements. No reserves of lands specially for Indian purposes were made by official notice in the Gazette^ and those Indian reserves which No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 155 were informally made, seem to have been so reserved in further- ance of verbal instructions only from the Governor," or even in some cases were made over to the Indians on the ground by him personally. About this time, it was found that many reserves made in this loose way, were seriously impeding settlement by blocking access to valuable lands, and otherwise ; and, moreover, that the land locked up in reserves was frequently far in excess of the requirements of the aborigines. The authority by which many of these reserves were made, was then disavowed by the govern- ment, and, in a letter from the Colonial Secretary (Nov. 1867), the original intention of the Government is defined as having been in all cases to grant the Indians lands cultivated by them, and so much in addition as to bring the reserves up to about ten acres per adult male: it being further stated "that reserves that have been laid out of excessive extent should be reduced as soon as practicable. The Indians have no right to any land beyond what may be necessary for their actual requirements, and all beyond this should be excluded from the boundaries of their reserves. They can have no claim whatever to any of the land thus excluded, for they really never have possessed it, — although, perhaps, they may have been led to view such land as a portion of their reserve. "The Indians appear in almost all cases to have acquiesced quietly in the reduction, feeling compensated to some extent by the greater definiteness given to their claims by actual survey. They are reported in most instances to have been "well satisfied," "satisfied," or "submissively satisfied." The whole matter of Indian lands was thus in a very unsatisfac- tory state to be handed over to the Dominion authorities at the date of the admission of this province (1871), for even where substantial justice had been done to the Indians, the records were indefinite, or altogether wanting. On the appointment by the Dominion of a Superintendent of Indian aifairs, the misun- derstanding which of late attracted special attention began, and soon resulted in the accumulation of a great number of letters, if to no more substantial issue. In the terms of union it was provided that the General Government should assume control of the In- dians, and, to quote, that " a policy as liberal as that hitherto pursued by the British Columbia Government shall be continued by the Dominion Government after the Union ; " further, that tracts of lands, " such as it has hitherto been the practice of the 156 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. British Columbia Government to appropriate for that purpose," shall be handed over to the Dominion in trust for reserves, etc. These provisions, while apparently guaranteeing justice to the Indians, really proved a bar to the well meant policy of the Dominion. The land grants in British Columbia were by no means on so liberal a scale as usual in the other provinces, and were, further, very unequal, being in some cases only about five acres to a family, while over the whole province the average was not more than 6 to 10 acres. The Dominion Government wished the size of reserves to be fixed at 80 acres per family. The local government proposed 20 acres, which was accepted by the Dominion for the coast, but for the interior — where white settlers are allowed to pre-empt a double quantity of land — it was wished to increase this to 40 acres. The local government would not accede to this, and it eventually appeared that they intended the 20 acre basis to apply only to new reservations, and not to lead to the enlargement of those formerly made. Dissatisfaction and agitation meanwhile arose among the Indians, who soon became aware, to a more or less complete extent, of the state of afi'airs. Certain missionaries get the credit of partly fomenting and rather exaggerating the difficulty, with a view of bringing about an arrangement suited to their own interests ; but to what degree this may be true I do not know. In the end, after several propositions and counter-propositions, an agreement was arrived at between the two governments, of which the following is the substance : — A commission of three is appointed, one member by each of the governments, the third jointly. This body shall enquire into all matters connected with each band of Indians, and fix reserva- tions, for which no standard size is given, each nation being dealt with separately, on an equitable and liberal basis. It is also provided that, in accordance with the increase or decrease of the number of Indians, the reserves may from time to time be enlarged or diminished in size. This body has since been reduced to a single commissioner, who is superintending the allotment of permanent reserves on an equitable basis to the Indians of the province. While, on comparing the Indian policy of the British Columbia Government with the Canadian, where 80 acres may be taken as the minimum size of reserve, the provision made for the Western Indians appears slender, it will be seen from the sketch already No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON INDIANS OF CANADA. 157 given of the habits of life of the Indians, and nature of the country, that it was by no means without reason that the British Columbia Government objected to the crude application of the rule found to work well in the East, to the very different and variously situated n:itives of the West Coast; that, while reserves even on the 80 acre basis would be barely sufficient in some parts of the interior, where large areas are required for stock ranges, it would be useless and foolish to reserve great tracts of arable laod for the coist tribes, who are by nature fishermen, and could under no circumstances be induced to cul- tivate the soil on any but a very limited scale. The policy obviously best for the natives of British Columbia, is to aid them in following those paths which they have taken already ; to assist the tribes of the interior to become successful stock-raisers and farmeri?, by granting them suitable reserves and grazing privi- leges ; to encourage those of the coast in fishing and becoming seamen, instructing them in improved modes of preserving their fish, and of preparing it for sale to others. If the sites of their villages and fishing stations are secure to them, they will require little more in the way of reserves. To grant to each family 80 acres of good land, it would be necessary to move many tribes far from their traditional haunts, and to this they would only submit under compulsion. In reviewing the state of the natives of the West Coast, it would appear that, though in many instances the British Columbia government seems to have transgressed the limits of strict justice toward them, and has departed from the precedent elsewhere established, in refusing to acknowledge the right of the Indian to the soil ; that he, thrown more on his own resources, mins-lino- amons: the whites with an equality of rights before the law, and exempt from the inter- ference which has elsewhere distinctly retarded the progress of the savage towards civilization and independence, has worked out in a measure his own temporal salvation, has passed the cri- tical stage of first contact with the whites, and in many cases bids fair, at no distant date, to form an important constituent of the civilized population of the country, and this even before the native has been largely mingled with foreign blood. It is often said that the ultimate fate of the Red Man of North America is absorption and extinction : just as European animals introduced into Australia and other regions, frequently drive those native of the country from their haunts, and may even 158 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. exterminate them, and as European wild plants accidentally im- ported, have become the most sturdy and strong in our North American pastures ; so the Indian races seem to diminish and melt away in contact with the civilization of Europe, developed during centuries of conflict in which they have had no part, but during which their history has moved in a smaller circle, ever returning into itself. Even the diseases engendered in the pro- cess of civilization, and looked upon in the Eastern hemisphere with comparative indifference, become, when imparted to these primitive peoples, the most deadly plagues. Dr. J. C. Nott (as quoted by Prof. Wilson), writes : " Sixteen millions of aborigines in North America have dwindled down to two millions since the Mayflower discharged on Plymouth Rock ; and their congeners the Caribs have long been extinct in the West Indian Islands. The mortal destiny of the whole x\merican group is already per- ceived to be running out, like the sand in Time's hour-glass." Dr. Wilson has, however, himself shown that though the Indian as such can not very much longer survive, Indian blood in quan- tity quite inappreciated by casual observers now courses through the veins of white persons of the continent. The ultimate object of all Indian legislation must be, while af- fording all necessary protection and encouragement during the dangerous period of first contact with the whites, to raise the native eventually to the position of a citizen, requiring neither special laws of restraint or favour. When it is found that the paternal care of the State begins to act as a drag on the progress of the Indian, and that after reaching a certain stage all further advance ceases, the state of dependence must be done away with. To render this change possible, and to effect it in cases where it would already be advisable, the Dominion Act of 1876 was framed. That this measure has not been adopted too soon appears from the concurrent testimony of many interested in the welfare of the Indian, and acquainted with the working of the present system. In concluding, a few of the opinions expressed on this subject may appropriately be given. The Rev. J. Ma- rault (as quoted by Dr. Wilson), writes : — " Many suppose that our Indians are intellectually weak and disqualified for business. This is a great mistake. Certainly as far as the Abenakis are concerned, they are all keen, subtle, and very intelligent. Let them obtain complete freedom, and this impression will soon disappear. Intercourse with the whites will develop their talent No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OP CANADA. 159 for commerce. No doubt some of them would make an improper use of their liberty, but they would be few in number. Every- where, and in all countries men may be found weak, purposeless, and unwilling to understand their own interests ; but I can cer- tify that the Abenakis generally are superior in intelligence to the Canadians. I have remarked that nearly all those who have left their native village, to go to live elsewhere free, have profited by the change." Dr. Wilson himself remarks (in another place) : — " The system of protection and pupilage under which, from the most generous motives, the Indian has hitherto been placed in the older provinces, has unquestionably been protracted until, in some cases at least, it has become prejudicial in its in- fluence. It has precluded him from acquiring property, marry- ing on equal terms with the intruding race, and so transferring his offspring to the common ranks." The Honorable Mr. Laird, when Minister of the Interior, as the result of his enquiries in connection with the Indian bill above referred to, speaks in the following terms: — "Our Indian legislation generally rests on the principle that the aborigines are to be kept in a condition of tutelage, and treated as wards or children of the State. The soundness of the principle I cannot admit. On the contrary, I am firmly persuaded that the true interests of the aborigines and of the State alike require that every effort should be made to aid the red man in liftins; himself out of his condition of tutelag-e and dependence, and that it is clearly our wisdom and our duty, through education and every other means, to prepare him for a higher civilization by encouraging him to assume the duties and responsibilities of full citizenship." It is to be hoped that these enlightened views will be practi- ticaliy carried out in the case of all the tribes throughout the Dominion ; and that the Indian, freed from tutelage and raised from dependence, may be induced to enter into such of the call- ings of civilized life as may be most congenial to him, and may thus become an element of strength and progress in the body politic. He undoubtedly possesses qualities which fit him not unequally to bear his part with the other races which enter into the composition of our people, in building up the future great- ness of the Dominion. 160 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE MENOBRANCHUS MACULATUS. By Henry Montgomery, M.A. Science Master in the Collegiate Institute. Toronto, and Lecturer on Botany and Zoology in Toronto School of Medicine. The Menohranclius maculatus is an aquatic animal belonging to the vertebrated class known as Amphibia, is of the order Urodel'i, and the family Proteidce. It occurs in Lakes Cham- plain, George, and Seneca ; also in Onion River and other waters of the northern and eastern United States, as well as in various Canadian lakes and rivers. All the specimens before me are from the Don River, Humber River, and Toronto Bay. It is said occasionally to reach the length of two feet ; but the majority of adults seem to be little more than half that length. This tailed amphibian is provided with two pairs of locomotive appendages, each of which is nearly two inches long, and has four toes, destitute of claws. The head is very much depressed or flattened from above downwards, is somewhat semicircular in outline, and is furnished with a wide mouth, fleshy lips, two minute nostrils opening close to the oral cavity, and a pair of small but well developed eyes ; eyelids are absent. The teeth, which consist of one row in the lower and two rows in the upper jaw, are numerous, of medium size, conical, and separated by short intervals. In each side of the lower lip is a deep, horizon- tal groove or furrow, commencing about one-sixth of an inch from the median line, and passing outwards and backwards to the limit of the gape, and into which groove passes the attenu- ated margin of the upper overlapping lip. The constriction forming the neck, between the head and trunk, is not very strongly marked, but a tolerably large, horizontal fold of skin, extends backwards under the throat. On the sides of the neck are situated the branchiae or breathing-organs ; they are func- tional throughout life, and are composed on each side of three bunches of reddish bushy lamellae, or rather three clusters of filamentous processes springing from three main stems, and in these filaments the blood is submitted to the action of the oxygen gas dissolved in the water supplied them. There are two slits, No. 3.] MONTGOMERY — 3IEN0BRANCHUS MACULATUS. 161 forming- tlie branchial apertures, placed obliquely ou eacli side of the neck, the anterior aperture being almost double as lari;e as the posterior, the former permitting the current of water to flow out between the first and second gills, and tlie latter between the second and third gills. During sleep, the gills, so active and red in the waking condition, become sluggish in movement and ])ale in colour ; indeed so marked is the difference in the action and colour of these external respiratory organs when awake and asleep, tluit one would, at first sight of a sleeping Jlenobranchus. suppose it to be dead. The trunk is cylindrical and thick, being usually five or six inches in circumference. The tail does not become absorbed and disapi^ear in the full-grown animal as it does in frogs and toads, but remains during its whole life ; it is compressed o flattened from side to side, forming a strong, vertical, aucipita swimming organ, similar to the tail of a fish, from which, how ever, it difters in being destitute of spines, and in tapering con siderably so as to become lanceolate. Neither dermal nor epidermic plates, scales, or warty excres- cences are ever developed in this creature ; on the contrary, the surface ot" the body is quite smooth, soft, and more or less moist and slippery, owing to a thick greyish gelatinous secretion of the skin, which probably assists its movements over stones, tfcc, on the bed of the stream. On removing this coating of light-grey slimy matter, the upper surface and sides of the whole animal are seen to be of a dark brownish-grey colour, beautifully speckled or mottled with distinct large dark purple spots for the most part circular in shape. The inferior surface of the body is much lighter in colour than the superior surface, being of a greyish- white tinged with yellow, and also sometimes dotted with little purplish spots. On dissection of a Menohraiiclius^ the flesh is found to be very white and inviting to the palate. Notwithstanding the intense disgust with which most fishermen and many other persons look upon it, there is no reason for supposing its flesh less savoury than that of its near relative, the Axolotl. which forms such a delicacy on the table of the Mexican. As regards its internal anatomy, it may be observed that the alimentary tract consists principally of a mouth, gullet, stomach, and intestine terminating in a cloaca through which pass the generative products, urinary and fivcal matters. The mouth is Vol. IX. I, Xo. ;.. 1()2 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. furnished with three series of simihir teeth, as before stated. A large tongue is present, and is free at its anterior extremity. The suUet is thick and muscular, the stomach clouiiated, and the intestine comparatively short, as in all carnivorous animals. It has been said that its food consists of crustaceans, molluscs, and fishes : but from my observations of the jMcnohirtnchiis in an aquarium plentifully stocked with Molluscs, such as the Phy- sadae, Limnaeans, PaludinEe, Planorbes, Anodonts, &c., as well as Crustaceans, I am not warranted in asserting that it feeds on anything other than true fishes. The liver is disproportionately large ; a well-developed gall-bladder is present, as are also a pancreas and spleen. The kidneys form two greatly elongated organs, each like a cylinder rounded at both ends, and having a w'ell- defined longitudinal depression — the hilum — throughout the whole length of one side. The heart occupies but a limited portion of the thoracic cavity, consisting of tw^o small auricles and a sliohtly laroer ventricle which latter possesses, as it were, several minute secondary cavi- ties, thus presenting the appearance more of a sponge-skeleton than of one single chamber. The blood-corpuscles are oval, nucleated, and of very great size, their long diameter being about 62 micro-millimetres. In connection with this it may be men- tioned that the blood-corpuscles of man measure 7.5 micro-milli- metres, or less than 3-^0^ of an inch in diameter ; in the frog they are 22 mmm. in length ; and in amphiuma they are largest of all, attaiuins: the extraordinary lenath of 77 micro-millimetres. True air-breathing lungs are present in the form of a pair of much-elongated narrow sacs stretching back from the cavity of the mouth, one on each side, and having the heart and oesophagus lying between them. Each pulmonary sac is from two to three inches long, and has a diameter nearly as great as that of an ordinary goose-quill. The nostrils are in communication with the pharynx. The nervous supply is by no means feeble, as is evidenced by the great sensitiveness of the animal. An examination of the skeleton shows the inferior maxilla to be formed of only two pieces or rami, which are directly articu- lated with the skull, and the latter in its turn is jointed to the first vertebra of the spine by two distinct and separate surfaces. The vertebrae number thirty-three, are amphicoelous, and have short, slender ribs attached to their transverse processes in the dorsal and lumbar regions. The pectoral arch is in connection No. 3.] MONTGOMERY — MENOBRANCHUS MACULATUS. 1G3 with the third, and the pelvic arch with the nineteenth vertebra. The fore-legs are always longer than the hind-legs, but the latter have the advantage in thickness. The radius and ulna of the fore-arm. likewise the tibia and fibula of the shank, remain as separate bones ; the carpus and tarsus both consist of small car- tilages that never ossify ; and all the feet are tetradaetyle. Here may be observed striking differences from the condition which obtains in the frog, where coalescence takes place both between the bones of the forearm and between the bones of the shank, so that there comes to be but a single bone in each ; the carpus and tarsus are ossified, two of the tarsal bones are greatly lengthened to assist in leaping, and each of the hind feet is five- toed. Some measurements of a specimen in my possession, recently captured in the Don. may be mentioned here. These measure- ments m;iy fairly be regarded as those of an average Menohrayt- clius : Entire lenatli 13# inches. Head - 2 inche s long. li - 14 li broad. a - 4| Cl in circumference. Neck - 7 inch long. Trunk - ei inches long:. a - 5f u in circumference. Tail - ^ il long. Fore-leg - If u lono\ u - 1* u in circumference. Hind-leg - H u long. a - li u in circumference. Gill - 3. ii long. Anterior Gill-slit - 7 lines in length. Posterior a 4 ( :< Another specimen lately taken from the same stream, and dis- sected by me, was of less size, being twelve inches long, but possessed similar proportions throughout. The o-eneric name Menohranchus is derived from two Greek words signifying that the external branchiae are permanent, and do not disappear during the life of the animal, as in the case of the salamander, newt and frog. The specific name raaculatus (Latin for spotted) refers to the deep purple spots with which the skin is studded. 16i THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. The uame Necturns lateralis is also given to it by some natur- alists. In many localities it is known to those unacquainted with scientific classification and nomenclature as the " big water lizard," the "mud-puppy," " water dog," or "dog-fish." Of course the study of its anatomy proves it to be lower in organiza- tion than either the reptiles or mammals, and higher than the fishes. The principal characters distinguishing it from the fishes are : 1st. the possession of jointed limbs instead of fins ; and 2nd, the absence of a median spiny fin. The less important distinguishing characters are : 1st, the nasal sacs, which are closed posteriorly in fishes (except Myxinida? and Lepidosiren) here open into the pharynx; 2nd, the heart has two auricles, but in fishes (except Dipnoi) there is only ou*« auricle in the heart ; 3rd, the presence of lungs, which organs are wanting in fishes (except Dipnoi, where the swim-bladder performs the func- tions of lungs.) On the other hand it is separated from lizards and other true reptiles by : 1st, the articulation of the skull with the vertebral column by two condyles or articulating prominences on the occi pital bone, the reptiles having but one such condyle ; 2nd, the absence of a quadrate bone between the jaw and skull; 3rd, the formation of each ramus of the lower . jaw of only one piece ; whereas in reptiles it consists of several pieces ; -ith, the presence of gills, which never appear in reptiles at any period of their existence ; and 5th, the complete absence of an external covering of scales or scutes. NATURAL HISTOKY SOCIETY. ANNUAL MEETING. The Annual Meeting of the Natural History Society took place on the 19th May 1879. The chair was occupied by the President, Principal Dawson. The minutes of the last annual meeting and those of the previous meeting of Council were read and approved. The President then delivered the following address : No. 3.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 165 ADDRESS BY PRINCIPAL DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S. The scientific business of the Society in the past winter lias included the reading at our monthly meetings of ten papers, comprising a considerable range of subjects. In Geology we have had papers by Dr. Harrington and myself on the mineral- ogy and mode of occurrence of Apatite ; by Dr. Hunt on the various new points which engaged his attention in Europe in the summer of 1878 ; by Mr, Selwyu and Mr. Macfarlane oq the disputed Stratigraphy of Eastern Canada ; by Mr. Donald on the remains of a Fossil Elephant; by ^myself on the Extinct Floras of America. In other departments were Notes on Ca- nadian Ferns by Mr. Goode ; on an Esquimaux Bow and Arrow by Mr. Taylor ; on the results of an Excursion to St. Jerome by Mr. Marler and Mr. Caulfield ; on the Water supply of Mont- real by Dr. Baker Edwards. Of all these subjects that which has perhaps excited the greatest amount of attention, and which best deserves notice here, is the much disputed Geology of the Quebec Group and the associated rocks in the Province of Quebec. This is a subject which has long been in controversy, and which is mixed up with some of the most difficult questions in general geology and in the local structure of the eastern slope of the American continent, both in Canada and the United States. It is a subject on which I have up to the present time avoided any public expression of opinion : — not that I have been indijffereut to it — no geologist could be so — nor that I have had no opinions of my own. Having travelled over and examined large portions of the*territory occupied by these rocks, it was impossible to avoid arriving at some interpre- tation of them. But the subject was too intricate to be lightly treated, and others were working at it in detail, and with advan- tages of public aid which I did not possess. Now, however, it comes up before this Society, introduced in the elaborate and able paper of Mr. Selwyn, followed by the criticisms of Mr. Macfarlane ; and these supplemented by Dr. Sterry Hunt's ex- position of his own well-known views, in the discussion of Mr. Maofarlane's paper. Farther, in connection with all these various and somewhat discordant opinions, the conclusions arrived at by our late lamented colleague. Sir W. E. Logan, have been can- vassed and to some extent set aside. In these circumstances duty requires that some extended 166 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. aotice of this subject should be taken iu this address ; and that if no absolutely certain conclusions on all the points in dispute can be affirmed, the state of the controversy should be clearly- explained to the bystanders, and the ground cleared for further wrestling on the part of the combatants, should this prove to be necessary. In attempting to perform this somewhat difficult task, it will be proper that I should refrain from entering into details, and that T should confine myself to the question as it relates to Canada, without discussing those features of it which belong to the regions farther south. I would first say a few words as to the position of the late Sir William E. Logan in relation to the older rocks of Eastern Ca- nada. When Sir William commenced the Geological Survey of Canada in 18i2, these rocks, in so far as his field was concerned,, were almost a terra incognita, and very scanty means existed for unravelling their complexities. The "• Silurian System " of Murchison had been completed in 1838, and in the same year Sedgwick had published his classification of the Cambrian rocks. The earlier final reports of the New York Survey were being issued about the time when Logan commenced his work. The irreat works of Hall on the Palgeontolooy of New York had not appeared, and scarcel}'^ anything was known as to the comparative palaeontology and geology of Europe and America. Those who can look back on the crude and chaotic condition of our know- ledge at that time, can alone appreciate the magnitude and difficulty of the task that lay before Sir William Logan. To make the matter worse, the most discordant views as to the relative aoes of some of the formations in New York and New Ensrland which are continuous with those of Eastern Canada, had been maintained by the officers of the New York Survey. Sir William made early acquaintance with some of these difficult formations. His first summer was spent on the coast of Gaspe and the Baie de Chaleur, where he saw four great forma- tions, the Quebec group, the Upper Silurian, the Devonian, and the Lower Carboniferous, succeeding each other, obviously in ascending order, and each characterized by some fossils, most of which, however, were at that time of very uncertain age. I re- member his showing me in the autumn of ^that year the note- books in which he had carefully sketched the stratigraphical arransements he had observed, and also the forms of character- istic fossils. But both wanted an interpreter. The plants No. 3.] NATURAl HISTORY SOCIETY. 167 of the Gaspe Devonian were undescribed ; many of them of forms till then unheard of. The shells and corals and graptolites of the older formations could be only roughly correlated with some of those in the New York reports. The rock formations were very unlike those of the New York «eries. Still this work of 1842 and '43 was plain and easy compared with that which arose in the tracing of these formations to the south-west. I may add here that I have since studied some of these Gaspe sections with Sir William's manuscript note-books in my hand, and have been amazed by the extraordinary care and exactitude with which every feature of the rocks had been observed and noted down. Much of the detail in these early note-books of Sir William, still remains unpublished. Those who would de- tract from the work of Sir William Logan, if there are any such, should remember these early beginnings, and compare them with the massive foundations which have been laid for us to build upon. And now, after the labour of more than thirty years on the part of Sir William and those he had gathered around him, how do these subjects stand ? (1) We have all the comparatively flat and undisturbed formations of the great plains of Upper and Lower Canada, our share of the interior continental plateau of America, worked out and mapped, and their fossils characterized so that a child may read them. (2) The complex hilly districts with their contorted, disturbed and altered beds, which extend from New England to Gasp(^, have been traversed in every direc- tion, --^ the limits of their difierent formations marked, and a tlieory as to their age and structure put forth, which, whether we accept it or not, has in it important features of the truth, and rests on tacts on which every disputant must take his stand. (3) We have the still older formations of the Lauren tide hills traced in their sinuous windings, and arranged in an order of succession which, must stand whether the names given by Sir William, and now accepted throughout the world, be objected to or not. After the work of Sir William Logan, no cavilling as to names can ever deprive Canada of the glory of being the home of the scientific exploration of the Laurentian ; and mucli examination of the * The extent of measured and paced sections in these districts by Sir William and Mr. Kichardison is almost incredible ; and these have been made the basis not only of the geology but of the excellent topographical maps prepared b}'" Mr. Barlow. 168 THE CATADIAN NATURALIST. |Yol. ix. ground which he explored enables nie to Jiffinii that no one will ever be able permanently to overset the general le.iding sub- divisions which he established in the Laurentian and Huronian systems. Let us turn now to the particular points brought before us in the papers to which reference has been made. It may be well however first to notice some general geological facts which must be present to our minds if we would enter intelligently into these discussions. The formations with which we have to deal in the more ancient geological periods all belong to the bed of the sea. Now in the sea bottom there have been in process of depo- sition, side by side and contemporaneous!}', four diiferent kinds of material, differinii- extremelv in their mineral character and in the changes of which they are susceptible. Tlie first of these consists of earthy and fragmental matter washed by water from the surface or sea margins of the land and deposited in belts along coast-lines, or on broader areas where ocean currents have been drifting the detritus sround from the land by ice or washed down by great rivers. The second consists of organic remains of shells, corals and foraminifera. accumulated in coral reefs and the debris washed from them, in shell beds and in the chalky ooze of the deep ocean. Some beds of this kind are very widely distributed. The third is composed of material ejected by igne- ous action from the interior of the earth and either spread in the manner of lava-flows or of beds of fragments and fine volcanic ash. Such rocks naturally occur in the vicinity of volcanic orifices, which are often disposed in long lines along coasts or crossing ocean basins, but fragmental volcanic matter is often very widely spread b}^ ocean currents and is interstratified with other kinds of aqueous deposit. The fourth and last description of bedded matter is that which is deposited in a crystalline form from solution in water. In later geological times at least, such deposits take place in exceptional circumstances, not of fre. quent occurrence. Such beds are dolomite, greensand, gypsum, and rock salt. Now it may be afiirmed that at each and every period of the earth's geological history, all or most of these kinds of deposit were in progress locally. But it may also be afB.rmed that in certain geological periods there w^as a predominance of one or more over very great areas; and that in any particular area, even of considerable size, there may be definite alternations of these different kinds of material characteristic of particular periods. No. 3.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 169 Affaiu, alotiu' certuiu lines of the eartlis crust, the beds deposited by water have been folded and crushed together, prob- ably by the contraction of the earth's shell in cooling, and along these lines they have b?en changed, in the way of hardening and becoming crystalline or in being chemically recompounded — alterations which are usually known as metamorphic. But still further, some kinds of deposit are much more liable to such metamorphic changes than others. More especially the beds of igneous origin, from their containing abundance of basic matter, as well as of silica, very readily change under the influence either of heat or water, becoming it may be highly crystalline, or having new mineral substances formed in them by new combinations, or on the other hand, when acted on by water, combining with it and forming hydrous silicates. One other curious coincidence it is necessary to mention. — It is where the greatest deposits of sediments are going on along coasts or in the course of currents, that crumpling and bending of the crust are most likely to occur, and igneous ejections to be thrown out ; and conversely, where igneous ejections are piled up, coasts may be forming or currents deflected, so as to cause at these points the greatest deposit of sediment. These considerations are sufficient to shew the true value of mineral character, first as a means of distinguishing rocks of different nature and origin, and secondly of separating rocks of different ages within limited localities ; with its entire worthless- ness when applied to distinguish the ages of beds in widely sepa- rated localities. There are in America rocks as widely apart in time as the Huronian of the East and the Carboniferous of the West, which are scarcely distinguishable in mineral character : there are rocks of identical ase. as for instance the Lower Silurian of New York and Western Canada and that of Nova Scotia and of Cumberland, which are as unlike in mineral character as it is possible for rocks of the most diverse ages to be. But can we trust implicitly to stratigraphy ? Certainly, when we find one rock directly superimposed on another we know that it is tlie newer of the two. But when we find old rocks slid over new ones by reversed faults, when we find sharp folds over- turning great masses of beds, and when we find portions of beds hardened, altered, and become more resisting, standing up as hills in the midst of the softer materials, perhaps of the same age, which have been swept away from around them, then we have the real difficulties of stratigraphy. 170 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. I Vol. IX. We may have difficulties in fossils as well. Nothing is more common than to find in the modern ocean areas traversed by cold currents which have very different animals living in them from those in the same latitude where the water is warmer. The same thino; occurs in older formations. The abundant corals and larii'e shell- fishes in our Montreal limestone of the Trenton aoe, show a condition of thiuo's in which the ureat area of Central North America was covered with warm waters from the south, teeming with life, and was sheltered from the northern currents of cold and muddy water. But in the Utica shale which suc- ceeds, we have the effect of these cold currents flow^ing over the same area, loading it with mud, over which lived Graptolites and old fashioned northern Trilobites like Triarthru.s Bcckii, instead of the rich life of the Trenton. This is a mere chansjje to a cold or glacial age. Now when I inform you that all these causes of error em- barrass the study of the Quebec group of Sir William Jjogan, you will be able to appreciate the difficulties of the case. Crossing the narrow line, a mere crack of the earths crust, the great reversed fault of Eastern Canada and Lake Champiain, we pass at once from the flat uniform deposits of the great conti- nental plateau of America to entirely different beds, formed at the same time alon<2- its Atlantic margin. These beds were affected by volcanic ejections mixing them with ash rocks and causing huge earthquake waves, which tore up the rocks of the sea- bottoms and coasts, and formed great irregular beds of conglome- rate, sometimes with boulders many feet in length. In the intervals of these eruptions the area was overflowed by cold Arctic currents carrying sand a)id mud, sometimes altogether barren of fossils, or again loaded w^ith cold-water creatures like the Graptolites, which occur in vast quantities in some of the beds. Alternating with all this were a few rare lucid intervals, when fossiliferous limestones, just sufficiently like those of the great interior plateau to enable us to guess their similar age, were being produced here and there. Farther, this heap of most irregular and peculiar deposits was that along which subsequent flexures and igneous eruptions and alterations of beds both by heat and heated waters were most rife, all the way down to the Devonian period. At first the real conditions of this problem were hidden from Sir William Logan, by the error of supposing, with most of the No. 3.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 171 treoloaists of the United States, that the iireat reversed fault was a true stratigraphical superposition, and consequently that these strange deposits were newer tlian those to the west of them. But so soon as the actual nature of the case was made manifest, and this was first due to a right apprehension of the fossils, for which Mr. Billiu£rs deserves much of the credit, Sir William at once and for ever apprehended the real conditions of the problem, and set himself to work it out on the true line of investioation. In evidence ol' this, and as presenting as clear a view of the wliole matter as any we can give, up to the present time, I quote from a note by Sir William appended to Mr. Murray's report on Newfoundland for 18G5. and which is less known than his utter- ances on this subject published in the Canadian reports: '• The sediments which in the first part of the Silurian period were deposited in the ocean surrounding the Laurentian and Huronian nucleus of the present American continent, appear to have diff"ered considerably in different areas. Oscillations in this ancient land permitted to be spread over its surface, when at times submerged, that series of apparently conformable deposits which constitute the New York system, ranging from the Pots- dam to the Hudson River formation. But between the Potsdam and Chazy periods, a sudden continental elevation, and subsequent jiTadual subsidence, allowed the accumulation of a 2:reat series of intermediate deposits, which are displayed in the Green Moun- tains, on one side of the ancient nucleus, and in the metalliferous rocks of Lake Superior, on the other, but which are necessarily absent in the intermediate region of New York and central Canada. '' At an early date in the Silurian period, a great dislocation commenced aloni>- the south-eastern line of the ancient irneissic continent, which i>ave rise to the division that now forms the western and eastern basins. The western basin includes those strata which extended over the surface of the submerged conti- nent, together with the Pre-chazy rocks of Lake Superior, while the Lower Silurian rocks of the eastern basin present only the Pre-chazy formations, unconformably overlaid, in parts, by Upper Silurian and Devonian rocks. The group between the Potsdam and Chazy, io the eastern basin, has been separated into three divisions, but these subdivisions have not yet been defined in the western basin. In the western basin the measures are compara- tively flat and undisturbed ; while in the eastern they are thrown 172 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. ix. into innumerable undulations, a vast majority of which present anticlinal forms overturned on the north-western side. The general sinuous north-east and south-west axis of these undula- tions is parallel with the great dislocation of the St. Lawrence, and the undulations themselves are a part of those belonging to the Appalachian chain of mountains. It is in the western basin that we must look for the more regular succession of the Silurian rocks, from the time of the Chazy, and in the eastern, including Newfoundland, for that of those anterior to it." In studvino- these rocks, as Sir William well knew that the great line of disturbance and igneous action lay to the east, as he further knew that in this belt of country rocks all the way up even to the Carboniferous had been profoundly altered, he was not surprised to find that in tracing the Quebec rocks to the south and east, the clay slates, still holdinsr the same fossils, became micaceous or nacreous slates, the bituminous shales graphitic slates, the limestones crystalline marble ; and that even serpentine, chloritic slate and hard felspathic rocks appeared to take the place of ordinary aqueous sediments. Consequently he arrived at the large generalizations on the subject embodied in his map of Canada, and to which I believe he adhered to the last. Was he right in these generalizations ? In part, at least, it is certain that he was. I have myself, following in his track, seen distinct Lower Silurian fossils in the nacreous slates and graph- itic slates of the Townships, and T have seen these slates alternat- ing with hard quartzites, and felspathic and brecciated rocks, and so far as could be made out by stratigraphy, with chloritic rocks, crystalline dolomite, soapstones and serpentine, these rocks seemingly representing the shales of Point Levis if not still newer members of the series. Dana has recently shown that rocks in Connecticut, usually referred to the Quebec group, or even to the Lower Taconic series of Emmons, and often in a highly crystalline state, actually contain fossils newer than those of the Quebec group, or of Hudson River age. ^-^ Murray in Newfoundland has found the most unequivocal superposition of serpentine and chloritic slate on fossiliferous rocks of the Quebec group, and intervening in age between them and the Hudson ♦ Ameiican Joiuiial of .Science, May, 1879, One of the fossils recog- nized by Dana seems to be the Stromatopora covijmcta of Billings really a Stenopora, known in Canada both below and above the Levis, No. 3.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 173 River group, a point to which we must refer subsequently; and there is nothing incredible or even very unlikely in this. On the other hand, knowing the complexities of all the parts of this troubled sea of eastern paheozoic rocks which I liave studied, I cannot deny that there may exist crests of beds older than the Quebec group projecting locally and perhaps largely through these rocks. I am the more inclined to believe this, since there is the best reason to hold that the unaltered members of the Quebec group, as mapped by the .Survey on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, include beds ranging all the way from the Lower Cambrian up to the Chazy. Similar, perhaps older, beds, no doubt exist largely, mixed with igneous outflows and breccias, in the hills of the interior. But if any man thinks proper to put down a hard and fast line on the map of Eastern Canada, and to maintain that all the crystalline rocks which apparently project through and rise above the Quebec group, are of greater age, I must decline to go with him in this assertion, since I feel certain that such an extreme view cannot be in accordance with facts. No one, however, I feel persuaded, will now go so far as this ; but I believe the pen- dulum has abeady swung farther than it should in this direction, and must go back again nearer to Sir William Logan's position. Facts in support of this conclusion rise before my mind as I write, and may be brought forward on some future occasion, but they would involve a series of papers for their full elucidation. We have had presented to us ably and well by Mr. Selwyn, Mr. Maclarlane, and Dr. Hunt, conclusions differing more or less widely from those of Sir William, and from each other. There are no doubt important elements of truth in them all, but when these are fully and fairly sil'ted, the unprejudiced geologist will conclude that while they may modify the results of Sir William's work, they by no means overthrow them ; and that we are still a long way from the solution in all their details of the problems which occupied Sir William to the last, and which he left only jtartially solved. We may now sum this matter up, in so far as Sir William Logan's work is concerned, and that of Richardson as his assist- ant, and of Hall and Billings in the department of Pal;\3ontology. Their researches have established : — (1) The general diversity of mineral character in the Palieozoic sediments on the Atlantic slope as compared with the internal plateau of Canada. In those 174 THE CANADIAN NANURALIST. [Vol. ix. results Bailey, Matthew, and Hartt in New Brunswick, and the writer in Nova Scotia, have also borne some part. (2) The establishment of the Quebec group of rocks as a series equivalent in aoe to the Calciierous of America, and to the Arenis; and Skiddaw of England, and the elucidation of its peculiar fauna. (3) The tracing out and definition of the peculiar faulted junc- tion of the coastal series with that of the interior plateau, ex- tending from Quebec to Lake Champlain. (4y The definition in connection with the rocks of the Quebec group, by fossils and stratigraphy, of formations extending in age from the Potsdam sandstone to the Upper Silurian, as in contact with this group, in various relations, along its rano;e from the American frontier to Gaspe ; but the complexities in connection with these various points of contact and the doubts attending the ages of the several formations have never yet been fully solved in their details. (5) The identification of the members of the Quebec group and associated formations with their geological equivalents in districts where these had assumed different mineral conditions, either from the association of contemporaneous igneous beds and masses, or from subsequent alteration or both. It is with reference to the results under this head, the most difficult of all, that the greater part of the objections to Sir William's views have arisen. Let us now shortly examine Mr. Selwyn's new results, with reference to these conclusions, especially to the last. The first point deserving of notice here is the inability of Mr. Selwyn to recognize in the extension of the Quebec group east- ward and westward of Quebec, those subdivisions which have been named the Levis, Lauzon, and Sillcry. Originally Sir William recognized two divisions only, the Levis and Sillery. Subse- quently he introduced, on the ground merely of convenience, the intermediate Lauzon : though apparently not regarding the three- fold division as at all important, but merely as provisional^ Of those subdivisions the most important is the Levis, which forms the fossilifeious and most readil}' recognized horizon of the Quebec group. About the precise base of this division, held to be the lowest of the group, there is some uncertainty, Sir William has referred to it as resting on Potsdam rocks in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, and farther east on older shales and limestones; and Mr. Richardson has endeavoured to separate * Report of 1866, p. 4. No. >>.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 175 from it certain sandstones and associated beds on the Lower St. Lawrence. More especially I ma}" refer to the sandstones and shales near Metis, holding Astrojwlithon, Scolifhus, and Arcnico- lites spiralis, and to beds near Matane holding species of Conoce- phalites of very primitive type. In Newfoundland also, where the sequence of these beds is better seen than elsewhere, there are, according to Richardson and Billings, 2000 feet of beds under the typical Levis and over the Lower Calciferous, holding fossils unquestionably of the second fauna of Barrande, or Lower Silurian, and below them there is a great thickness of Calciferous and Potsdam. All these beds must exist in the Quebec group districts of Canada, folded up along with the Levis, and as yet very imperfectly separated from it. Dor is it at all unlikely that in some localities they may have been confounded with the Lauzon and Sillery. With regard to the distinction of these last-named formations as npper members of the Quebec group, we must agree with Mr. Selwyn that in the present state of our knowledge they cannot be clearly separated from the Levis or from one another. Nevertheless it is true that on the typical Levis there rest sandstones and shales of considerable thickness, not holdino- its characteristic fossils, and forming an upper member of the Quebec group, as yet not well defined, but representing in nature the Lauzon and Sillery of Logan. In the next place, Mr. Selwyn is disposed to separate from the Quebec group the greater part of those altered and crystalline rocks associated with it, and which appeared to Sir William Logan to be metamorphosed equivalents of this group, and largely of its upper or Sillery division. Of these rocks he forms two series, which however he regards as closely associated, and probably not unconformable with each other. The first and nearest in age to the Quebec group is defined as including '' felspathic, chloritic, epidotic and quartzose sand- stones, red, gray and greenish siliceous slates and argillites," with " breccias and agglomerates, diorites, dolerites, and amygdaloids,-' as well as serpentine, dolomite, and calcite. In short this forma- tion is one of mixed igneous and aqueous origin, non-fossiliferous, except in the case of a few microscopic fragments, and mostly crystalline. As regarded by Sir W. E. Logan, these rocks, in consequence of their apparent conformity with the Levis series, and their apparent superposition in some sections, were held to 176 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. IX. be an upper member of the Quebec group, and were mapped as Sillery. They were thus placed in the same position with the serpentine and chloritic formation of Newfoundland, as described by Murray, with the Cobequid series as I have described it in Nova Scotia, ^^ and with the Borrowdale igneous rocks resting on the English e(juivalcnts of the Levis beds as defined by Ward iu Cumberland. Mr. Selwyn, on tlie other hand, thinks that the main mass oT these peculiar rocks either comes out unconformably from beneath the Levis series or is separated from it by a fault, and is in all probability older, though the obscure traces of fossils found in some of the beds would indicate that they are not older iu any case than Lower Silurian or Upper Cambrian. It is obvious that with reference to a formation so greatly dis- turbed, either of these theoretical views may be correct, or that there may be two crystalline series, one below and another above the Levis beds. Where I have had opportunity to observe the formation, at Melbourne, and in a few other places, I have seen no reason to dissent from Sir W. E. Logan's view ; but at that time Mr, Selwyn's explanation was not before my mind, nor have I examined the sections on which he chiefly relies. Had Sir W. E. Logan lived, it was his intention to have, at liis own cost, bored through the crystalline rocks at some selected site, in order to obtain positive proof of the subterposition of the Levis beds. This expense is not now likely to be incurred, but the whole question will in course of time be settled by the careful re-examination and mapping, which now that these new viewg have been suggested by the head of the Geological Survey, tlie district is likely to receive. Mr. Selwyn's third division, supposed to be still older, possibly Lower Cambrian, in some respects resembles the second, but is predominently slaty and quartzose, though still with dolomites and other magnesian rocks. These would naturally fall into the place assigned to them, if the age attributed to the second series be admitted, otherwise they come into the period of the Sillery, or some newer formation, in an altered condition. I do not know that fossils have been found in these rocks, within the limits of Canada at least, but if they are really of Cambrian age, the richness of this fauna elsewhere in N, E. America would warrant * Acadian Geoloarv. t)iirreat assistance to him. In the beginning of 1805 he set out for the mountains and western territories of the Southern States, beginning at Maryland and extending to the Carolinas (in which tract the interesting and high mountains of Virginia and Carolina took his particular attention), and returning late in autumn through the lower No. 3.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 187 countries along the sea-coast to Philadelphia. In 1806 he went in a like manner over the Northern States, beginning with the mountains of Pennsylvania and extending to those of New Hampshire (in which tract he traversed the extensive country of the lesser and great lakes) and returned as before by the sea coast. Both these tours he made on foot, travelling over an extent of more than three thousand miles each season, with no other companions than his dog and gun, frequently taking up his lodgings in the midst of wild mountains and impenetrable forests, far remote from the habitations of man. After his re- turn, while making arrangements for the publication of his materials, he was called upon to take the management of the Botanic Garden of New York, and in 1807 took charge of that establishment. In 1810 he took a voyage to the West Indies, visiting the Islands of Barbadoes, Martinique, Dominique, Guad- aloupe and St. Bartholomew's, from which he returned in the autumn of 1811 He next went to London, Eng., where he very soon became acquainted with those who were very much attached to the science of botany, amongst whom were Sir Joseph Banks and A. B. Lambert, Esq., who greatly assisted him in the publication of his work. On its completion he c:ime to Canada, where he died. Pursh was interred in the old cemetery in Papineau road. There his remains lay neglected till 1857, when the facts becom- ing known to the late Dr. Barnston and other "-entlemen con nected with the Botanical Society of Montreal, the bones were removed to the Mount Royal Cemetery, and an effort was made to secure means to erect a suitable monument. The untimely death of Dr. Barnston arrested this monument; and with his death the Botanical Society itself became extinct. Attention was again directed to the subject in 1877, principally at the instance of the late Dr. John Bell, and a Committee of the Natural History Society, consisting of the President, Treasurer, and members of the Council, were enabled to carry this tribute to a too lon^z; nesjlected man of science to a successful issue. It should be added that, on the request of the Committee, the Trustees of the Mount Royal Cemetery liberally contributed to the object by the grant of a lot in a retired and beautiful portion of the cemetery, such as a lover of nature like Pursh might have himself selected as his last earthly resting place. 188 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. .l~ O O O O O O >-H C500i-000t- OS a: o CO s si o S <■*«. H o o H I— ( D O W P3 O CO I— I M eS P p^ a C o 'K ^ w' 3B nioa50x>- i^COO 1— !C5CjC-i>-COCDOiCO it M a; o o c e h- b - ^ O) c3 c3 !U '^ '=^ "i ■§ r— 1— T Ol ci o o -^J I— I 3^ _ O do" o -gOP^P PH^g Sc)OowP5hi:;pc«p4 -t-=> p; a^ ^3 O S 5 oj '^^ 00 CO o o o ^ "Ka "« s ^ H ^ ^ 03 H ARLE RISSE Spq c h4W 6% t+-l x; r^ C3 T3 . O Oi -M 00 Oi c8 o a I P=: 00 cc JC- cS 00 O o a; o C eS pq l-H I— ( I— I m <1 c3 ■^ a • r-t I o i>- T— 4 -1-3 02 P? O QQ i)P ^H 0) in 1:- ^ No. 3.] MISCELLANEOUS. 189 miscp:llaneous. At the meeting of the London Geological Society, held March 12th, the following papers among others w^re read : — The gold- leads of Nova Scotia, by Henry S. Poole, F.G.S., Governmeot Inspector of Mines. Tlie author remarked upon the peculiarity that the gold-leads of Nova Scotia are generally conformable with the beds in which they occur, whence Dr. Sterry Hunt and others have come to the conclusion that these auriferous quartz veins are interstratified with the argillaceous rocks of the district. With this view he does not agree. He classified the leads in these groups according to their relations to the containing rocks, and detailed the results of mining experience in the district, ai showing the leads to be true veins by the following characters : ri) Irregularity of planes of contact between slate and quartz; (2) The crushed state of the slate on some foot-walls; (3) Irre- gularity of mineral contents; (4) The termination of the leads; (5) The efi'ects of contemporary dislocations; (6) The influence of strings and offshoots on the richness of leads. The author further treated of the relative age of the leads and granite, and combated the view that the granites are of metamorphic origin, which he stated to be disproved by a study of the lines of contact. He also noticed the eifects of glaciation on the leads, and the occurrence of srold in carboniferous con' excellence the sun worshippers of America. The sun, Inti among the Quichuas or Incas, is the same god as the Japanese Nitji, the Loo-Choo Nitchi, the Iroquois Onteka, the Cherokee Anantoge, the Choctaw Neetak, the Catawba Noteeh, the Adahi Nestach, the Coco-Maricopa Nyatz, and the Araucanian Autu, Antaigh. This name seems to have been the peculiar property of the Tu- ranian worshippers of the solar orb. Another Peruvian god, like Pesca or Bochica of the Muyscas the hero of a deluge, was Apachic or Pachacamac, and in him we recognize the Muskogulge Eefeekesa and the Japanese Jebisu. Eruchi was the Sapibocono, and Huiracocha the Quichua war-god, and these again recall the Iroquois Areskoui and the Koriak Arioski. The Peruvian Chin- chas practised the artificial compression of the skull like the Choctaws, Catawbas, Natchez and Koriaks. The Quichuas and other Peruvian tribes embalmed their dead like the Ainos. The umbrella was a mark of dignity in ancient Peru as in Japan. The astronomical system of the Incas was virtually that of the No. 4. CAMPBELL — AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. 209 Muyscas, concerning which Dr. Hawks, in his Narrative of Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan, says, alluding to the Japanese system : " We cannot leave it without the remark that on a comparison of it with that of the Muiscas, an ancient, semi- civilized and now extinct race that once inhabited the plains of Bogota in New Granada, the resemblances were so striking that they produced on our mind a conviction that the astronomical systems of the two peoples were substantially the same." There can be no doubt that the ancient civilization of Peru was that of Japan, and that the connecting links between the two countries are to be found in the mysterious mounds that mark the line of Peninsular migration in America. In confirmation of this I may state that Mr. Donald of this Society has recently called my attention to the fact that similar mounds have lately been dis- covered in Japan. Physically, so far as we have the means of judging, there seems to have been little in common between the Peruvians and the North American Turanians, and the skull of the former has been shown by Dr. Daniel Wilson of Toronto and other crauiologists to be almost without parallel for smallness of capacity, a peculiarity that links it in some degree with that of the Kentucky mound-builders. But language in such a case must be our main test of relationship. In regard to grammatical forms, we find that the Peruvian languages employ post-positions, and that they place the possessive before its governing noun and the accusative before the verb, thus ao-reeino; with all the Ian- guages that have so far occupied our attention. The Quichua has been said to differ from other American tongues in the pos- session of a full declension of the noun, but the same may be found in the Japanese and all its related languages, if we regard the postposition as inseparable from its regimen. The Quichua case terminations are simply cohering post-positions. The Aymara genitive answers perfectly to that of the Loo Choo, as in " the man's head," which is chacha-na-ppehei in the former, and ickeega-noo-hosi in the latter. In the Peruvian dialects, how- ever, the place of the pronoun is terminal instead of initial as in the Japanese, so that the Quichua verb, as the Rev. Richard Garnett has shewn, corresponds with the Dravidian and thus with the Finnic and Turkic in its order of verbal root, temporal index and pronominal suffix. The Peruvians, therefore, must have separated from the Peninsular stem when the verb in the Japanese and its allied languages was still in the Ural-Altaic YoL. IX. o No. 4. 210 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. stage of development. The Peruvian vocabulary confirms the theory of a Peninsular origin. Peruvian. Peninsular. all kuna, Quiclma. ignea, Loo Choo. bread canco, " gamga, Kamtchatka. dark tutayasca " dochsae, " brother hauquey " wiki Loo Choo, aki Tchuktchi. child huahua " q\\a, Loo Choo. clothes acsu Atacama. chouksa Corea. die, death . .huanhu Quichua. ' gang Loo Choo, sinu Japanese. day chine Sapihocono. gaunak TcJmktchi. ear aike Atacama. qui Corea. earth idsbtu Cayubaba. ttati '' dust turo Quichua. dure Loo Choo. eye naira Aymara. netra Japanese. nahui Quichua. ni Loo Choo. father tayta " teti .Japanese. itica Atacama. attaka Tchuktchi. fire , .mna Quichua, &c. annak " fish challua " ikahlik " kanu Aymara. sakkana Japanese. forehead mati Quichua, emata Sapibocono. omote " goat paca Aymara. fija Loo Choo. hair naccuta " nujet Tchuktchi. hand tachlli " tatlichka " head ppekei " hosi Loo Choo. heart .^ soneco Quichua. sing Jaimnese. knife calhua " khul Corea. man kkari " &c. guru Kurile. kosa " quaskoo Kamtchatka. chacha Aymara. ickkeega Loo Choo. hake " okkai Aino. moon quilla Quichua. geiligen Koriak. mother mamay " umma Loo Choo. mouth khaipe Atacama. jeep Corea. nose cenca Quichua. chynga Tchuktchi. sun inti " &C. nitji Japanese. yjqXqx unu " nouna Tchuktchi. ■^hite yurac " sheeroosa Xoo C/ioo. year huata " hiout Tchuktchi. honey nuski " &c. m\is .Japanese. learn yachachi " kicku " sister nana " ane " raise haka ^j/wiara. aghe " month quiz Quichxm. gwautsee Loo Choo. strike takay " taksu Kamtchatka. copper anta " sintju Japanese. sea mamacocha " mok, imagh Tchuktchi. tiger uturunca " tora .Japanese. shoes usuta " kwutsu " breast nunu " mune Loo Choo. huntux Atacama. ingatah Kamtchatka. flesh aycha Quichua. shishi Loo Choo. yellow carhua " cheeroo '' leg chanca " shanna " ice casa " cigu Koriak. grass cachu " coossu Loo Choo. lip.......-.i.sirpi " seeba " No. 4.] CAMPBELL — AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. 211 In the vocabularies published in the Canadian Journal, to which I have had so often to refer, will be found, together with a fuller illustration of the agreements between the Peruvian and Peninsular languages, others as complete with the Transi- tional Aleutan, &c., the Dacotah, Iroquois, and Choctaw-Cher- okee. They are all members of one family. Finally the Chileno languages, embracing the Araucanian of Chili, the Puelche of the Pampas, the Patagonian and Fuegian, have all their gram- matical and verbal relations with the Peruvian, and thus connect with the Peninsijlar stock of Asia. These dialects, like the Peruvian, exhibit evidence of great antiquity, although mere geographical position cannot determine that they are spoken by earlier immigrants than the civilized Quichuas, across whose lines they may possibly have passed on their way to a more southern home. They also were w