Dicranum Scottianum, Turn. (Fert.) Sixteen Island Lake, Montcalm. Leucobryum glaucum, Hampe. In large clumps on gneiss rocks amongst pines. Sixteen Island Lakes.

Polytrichum commune, Linn, (Fert.)

on moist rocks.

Abundant in wet places and

formosum, Hedw. Near Chain Lake, Montcalm.

juniperinum, Hedw. (Fert.) Near Chain Lake, Montcalm, and on gneiss hills on the Rouge.

Bryum roseum, Schreb. Abundant everywhere in woods.

Wahlenbergii, Schreb. (Fert.) Wet clayey places in woods and clayey banks of the Rouge, Arundel, 30 Tune. Mnium affine, Bland. On decayed logs near Chain and Sugar-bush Lakes, Montcalm.

hornum, Hedw. Chain Lake, Montcalm and Huckleberry Rapids, De Salaberry.

orthorhynchum, Brid. (Fert.) Huckleberry Rapids, De Salaberry, July.

punctatum, Hedw. Abundant in streams and wet places. Drummondii, Br. and Sch. (Fert.) On limestone between Gut and Gate Lakes, Wentworth.

spinulosum, Bry. Europ. Near chain Lake, Montcalm.

Bartramia pomiformis, Hedw. (Fert.) Abundant on both gneiss and crystalline limestone rocks, near Lake of Three Mountains.

fontana, Brid. On limestone rocks near water, Huckleberry Rapids.

Funaria hygrometrica, Hedw. (Fert.) On rocky places which have been burnt over; in great abundance.

Fontinalis Frostii, Sulliv. Abundant in a stream running into Sixteen Island Lake.

Dichelyma capillaceum, Bry. Europ. On dead sticks in water Sugar-bush Lake.

Anomodon obtusifolius, Br. and Sch. Abundant everywhere on trunks of trees.

Platygyrium repens, Bry. Europ. On tree trunks, decayed logs, &c. Sugar-bush Lake.

Neckera pennata, Hedw. (Fert.) Abundant on trunks of growing

cedars.

Climacium Americanum, Brid. Abundant in wet places in woods. dendroides, Web. and Mohr. By the sides of streams in woods, Montcalm.

Hypnum triquetrum, Linn. (Fert.) Everywhere in woods on the ground and fallen trees.

"1 splendens, Hedw. Very abundant with the last species.

Schreberi, Willd. Abundant in woods on gneiss hills.
fluitans, Linn. Bevin's Lake, Montcalm.

ཝ

Crista-Castrensis, Linn. Very abundant in damp woods.

Hypnum reptile, Michx. (Fert.) Mixed with Platygyrium repens on decayed logs, &c., Sugar-bush Lake.

curvifolium, Hedw. (Fert.) Sugar-bush Lake, &c., Montcalm. Haldanianum, Grev. On boulders, near Bevin's Lake, Mont

calm.

rutabulum, Linn. Chain Lake, Montcalm.

Hepatica (Liverworts.)

Marchantia polymorpha, Linn. (Fert.)

clearings on the ground.

Everywhere round burnt

Fegatella conica, Corda. In damp woods on mosses, Sugar-bush Lake, and on limestone rocks in woods near Huckleberry Rapids.

Jungermannia

-? Abundant on tree trunks.

Trichocolea Tomentella, Nees. Hamilton's Farm.

Lichenes (Lichens.)

Usnea barbata, Fr. var. pendula. Everywhere hanging from the branches of the conifers.

Petigera aphthosa, Hoffm, (Infert and Fert.) Pine woods near Thompson's clearing.

polydactyla, Hoffm, (Fert.) Common in woods on mosses Sticta pulmonaria, Ach. (Tripe-de-Roche.) Pine woods, near Thompson's clearing.

Parmelia caperata, Ach. Abundant on trunks of pine and stones. Cladonia pyxidata, Fr. (Fert.) (Cup-lichen.) Abundant on stumps and decaying trees.

gracilis, Fr. (Fert.) (Red cup-lichen.) Everywhere on decaying logs and stumps.

furcata, Floerk. (Fert.) Pine woods near Thompson's clear

Umbilicaria hirsuta, Ach. On a gneiss hill near Silver Mountain. Agaric.

Clavaria (probably C. fragilis. Destroyed in drying.) Very abundant, covering the ground for many yards, September 18th, woods near Lake of Three Mountains.

NOTE.-This Catalogue was completed in the summer of 1859, and a copy containing much more elaborate notes than those above, which I transmitted for publication at the beginning of February last by the Steamer "Hungarian," was lost on board that unfortunate vessel.

LONDON, May 16, 1860.

ARTICLE IX.-Notes on the Geology of Murray Bay-Lower
St. Lawrence. By J. W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.G.S.

(Read before the Natural History Society.)

Murray or Mal Bay on the north side of the River St. Lawrence, and about 90 miles below Quebec, is well known as a place of resort to summer tourists and sea bathers, and has not been unvisited by geologists. In 1822, Dr. Bigsby, one of the earliest explorers of Canadian geology, and still in his green old age a prominent member of the Geological Society of London, spent a few days at this place, and published a most interesting and graphic account of its topography and geology, in Silliman's American Journal. In 1831, Capt. Baddely published in the Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, an account of the neighbouring Bay of St. Paul, with a notice of the earthquakes which appear to visit this district more frequently than any other part of Canada. In 1849 the steps of our Provincial geologist were directed thither, in consequence of a fabulous report of the discovery of coal at Bay St. Paul; and a short but clear and accurate account of the structure of this part of Canada appeared in the Report of the Survey for that year. Learning from these previous observers, that the locality is of much geological interest, I determined in visiting it for a few days in the past summer, to pick up such gleanings as my prede

• Vol. 5, 1822.

† Quebec Transactions, vol. II. See also paper by the author on the earthquake of 1860. Can. Nat., vol. 5.

cessors might have left, and in this I was greatly aided by one of my students, Mr. R. Ramsay of Montreal, who happened to be spending his vacation there.

The features of the place have been admirably described by Dr. Bigsby and Sir W. E. Logan, so that a very few remarks on this subject may suffice here. In approaching the bay from the west, the voyager passes along the base of lofty cliffs crowned by forests and broken by a few wooded ravines, down which little brooks dash to the shore. Near the termination of this wall of cliffs, and at the base of a steep ascent leading to a gap separat ing the last outlier of rock from the main mass, stands the steamboat pier. Ascending the rising ground above the pier, and passing to its northern side, one sees in the foreground a row of cottages extending along the western side of the bay, whose waters at high tide rise close to the low bank, and when they recede leave an immense flat of sand and boulders, across which stretch the long brush weirs of the fishermen. Beyond are seen the sides of the bay rising into terraced hills and converging toward the mouth of the Murray Bay River, where concealed by trees are the church and village of Mal Bay; and still farther the eye can trace the deep valley of the river winding among high wooded hills, that rise one over another in the blue distance. It is a beautiful spot, well worthy of taking a leading place among the summer resting places of our worn and wearied citizens.

The general geology of Murray Bay may be thus sketched. The higher hills consist of rocks of the Laurentian System, the oldest strata known to geologists; and in some places as at the high cliffs before mentioned, and at Cape Heu on the opposite side of the bay, these come boldly down to the shore. In other places the coast cliffs and reefs are Lower Silurian, and abound in marine fossils, and these beds in some places mantle the hills to a considerable height, and run a long way up the valley of the river. The terraces of sand and gravel along the sides of the bay, and the deep clay of the river valley, are of Post Pliocene date, and contain shells identical in species with those now living in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I shall notice these formatione in their order.

1. Laurentian System.

These venerable rocks, ancient above all others, are admirably exposed in the coast cliffs above mentioned, and in several other

places in the vicinity of the bay, but they present a strange and puzzling aspect to the observer. Proved by the investigations of Logan and Hunt, to have once been sedimentary rocks, they have been so changed by heat and chemical action, that they retain no resemblance to the sands, clays, and limestones, of which they were originally composed. They now appear as beautifully crystalline layers, which have when in a yielding and flexible condition, been bent and crumpled as if for long ages they had been kneaded by the hands of Titans, so that it is difficult to form any conception either of their original nature or arrangement. The greater number of rocks are eloquent to the geologist of the history of life in past periods of the earth, but these Laurentian beds preserve an obstinate silence, only hinting in their flakes of graphite and their crystalline limestones, that they have a story which they cannot be persuaded to tell. Still they afford very instructive examples of the changes which may be effected by metamorphism in aqueous sediments, and they abound in interesting and curious crystallized minerals. In the high cliff commencing immediately west of the pier, they are well exposed; and at this place the or der of succession is as follows, apparently in ascending order, though these beds are here so often inverted that little reliance can be placed on apparent superposition.

1. Gneiss of various colours and qualities, with both lime and potash felspars, and containing beds of mica slate, with large nodules of garnet, around which the beds bend as if the garnets had originally been foreign masses or pebbles. In some places these beds hold bands or dykes of a coarse-grained red felspar. These gneissose beds are of great thickness and occupy the greater part of this long range of cliffs. They reappear on the opposite side, at and beyond Cape Heu.

2. White quartz rock, perfectly compact, with thin bands of hornblendic and micaceous schist, and in the upper part with some crystals of flesh-coloured felspar. This bed or a similar one appears on the opposite side of the bay on both sides of Cape Heu, where in one place it immediately underlies the Silurian beds, as has been observed by Sir W. E. Logan, but it is clearly a member of the Laurentian series.

3. Impure crystalline dolomite, and light-coloured laminated serpentine. These are only a few feet in thickness, and in some places seem reduced to a few inches. Being the softest part of these rocks, they form a depression in the cliff or reef, and are often hidden by gravel or rubbish.