ON THE POST-PLIOCENE FORMATION NEAR BATHURST, NEW BRUNSWICK.

BY REV. C. H. PAISLEY, M.A.

In the Post-pliocene formation of the County Gloucester, quite widely distributed at the mouths of its rivers, and at many places on the sea coast, there is usually very little difficulty in observing the presence of the three members of the group, viz.: Boulder Clay, Leda Clay,

Saxicava Sand.

All three, so far as examination extends, are usually, if not invariably, present in well-defined superposition, and that part of the group which corresponds with the upper portion of the Leda clay and the lower portion of the Saxicava sand is generally fossiliferous. At two places in the neighbourhood of Bathurst, on the line of the Intercolonial Railway, there are good exposures of this formation. The one is about 2 miles distant on the left bank of the Tattagouche River (vid. Naturalist, No. 1, Vol. vii. p. 41), and the other about of a mile distant from St. Peter's Village.

With regard to the general characteristics of the Post-pliocene in these localities, it may be said that they are similar in very many respects to those of the same formation on the St. Lawrence, as described by Dr. Dawson, and at St. John, as described by Mr. Matthew.

The boulder clay usually presents a banded appearance of red alternating with a bluish tint, and in some parts can be observed obscure traces of stratification. It is scantily fossiliferous, containing occasional valves of Mya arenaria, Natica &c., so much decomposed that they cannot be removed. The boulders are, in some places, numerous, not however so much so as to give a very marked character to the beds, which are of unequal thickness, but, in a general way, thin out towards the present sea shore. Some of the boulders must have been brought a considerable distance, although all but the softer variety are angular and wedge-shaped, not having undergone much wear in transportation. Most of them are very dissimilar

to the rocks of the neighbouring formations; but some have their representatives in Restigouche, near Dalhousie.

The surface of this formation, which seldom attains a greater elevation than about 150 feet, is marked by a good deal of inequality.

The Leda clay is generally, when wet, of a reddish hue, drying into a darker but less decided tint, and may possibly have been derived, in part, from the red Sub-carboniferous rocks in the neighbourhood. It varies a great deal in thickness, and through it there are distributed thin layers of sand that maintain a uniform thickness, shewing that they must have been deposited in a gently moving current, or in some quiet and protected place. Indeed all through the middle and lower part of this bed the fossils are so well preserved and so little mutilated, that they must have been deposited very gently. Nuculo, which is quite abundant, is extremely well preserved with the valves united, epidermis fresh looking and perfect, and the teeth whole. Mya also is well preserved, retaining quite frequently the epidermis, and, in this respect, contrasts with specimens found in the fossiliferous bed constituting the lower part of the Saxicava sand and the upper part of the Leda clay. I have once or twice found what would seem to be cracks or holes 2-3 feet deep in this bed almost filled with Nucula tenuis and N. expansa, with an occasional Cryptodon, Natica, Macoma, and Balanus. So abundant were the Nucule that a pint might be readily washed out of a shovel full of the clay, which was much blackened by the decomposition of animal matter. What was the origin of these holes and why they should be filled so abundantly with Nuculo to the almost entire exclusion of other shells, I cannot conjecture.

The Saxicava sand is also very irregular as to thickness, and terminates, in most places, abruptly on the uneven surface of the Leda clay. It would seem that before the deposition of the sand, currents or some other agents grooved and hollowed out the underlying clay, and that these irregularities were filled up by the sand, which seems to have been deposited by somewhat violent currents in unquiet waters. More rarely, however, instead of the one formation passing abruptly into the other, they gradually merge, so that it cannot be said where the one ends and the other begins. The surface of the Saxicava sand is even more irregular than that of the Leda clay, either from the in

equalities of its deposition or from denuding agents at work afterwards, or from a combination of both. Viewing the Postpliocene in this locality as a whole in its resemblance to that of the St. Lawrence on the one side and to that of St. John on the other, we may, perhaps, regard it, as suggested by Mr. Matthew, as a connecting link between the two. In I may sum up the fossils thus far obtained in the following list:

RADIATA.

Echinoidea.-Euryechinus Drobachiensis.

MOLLUSCA.

Lamellibranchiata.—Saxicava rugosa (et var. arctica); Mya truncata (var. Uddevallensis); M. arenaria (et juvenis); Macoma Grænlandica; M. calcarea; Aphrodite Grænlandica (et juvenis); Cryptodon Gouldii; Mytilus edulis; Nucula tenuis; N. expansa; Leda pernula; L. glacialis, L. minuta; L. limatula.*

Gasteropoda.—Bela turricula (Gould); Trophon scalariforme; Natica clausa;† Buccinum undatum; B. cyaneum; B.Groenlandicum; B. tenue; Fusus tornatus.

ARTICULATA.

Annulata.-2 varieties of Spirorbis.

Besides these I have obtained the following plant remains: Zostera marina, rhizomat of Equisetum, and fragments of grasses.

Further examination, by more skilled observers, would doubtless be fruitful of greater results, but what has been done may serve to direct attention to a locality hitherto uninvestigated.

Before closing let me state that I am much indebted to Dr. Dawson and Mr. Matthew for assistance in the determination of the fossils.

* Ostrea was found by a workman on the railway, and afterwards shewn to me. He assured me that he himself picked it out about 16 ́ft. (I think) below the surface. Lest, however, there should be some doubt as to its not having fallen into the cut from the surface, I have not inserted it in the list, although I think it might be inserted with a question after it.

† Natica heros. I have seen a specimen of this shell said to have been obtained here, but I have not inserted it in the list, because I did not find it myself. It has been found in the next county.

TWO NEW FOSSIL COCKROACHES FROM THE
CARBONIFEROUS OF CAPE BRETON.

BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.

Through the kindness of Dr. J. W. Dawson, I have been enabled to study two fossil cockroaches, from the collections made by R. Brown, Esq., F.G.S., in the carboniferous deposits of the Sydney coal-field, Cape Breton, and placed in Dr. Dawson's hands for determination of the fossil plants. When more species and specimens of this ancient group shall have been discovered, I hope to undertake a revision of the whole, meanwhile describing new forms under the generic name Blattina, a somewhat heterogeneous group to which most fossil cockroaches have, for convenience' sake, been referred.

Three fossil cockroaches have already been described from the carboniferous formations of America: Blattina venusta, Lesq., from Arkansas, Archimulacris acadicus, Scudd., from Pictou, N.S., and Mylacris anthracophilus, Scudd., from Illinois. With the exception of the last, where the pronotum is also preserved, each of these fossils is represented by a single upper wing. The two additional species now described are also similarly represented; thus every specimen yet discovered in America is referable to a distinct species.

16.35mm. and its extreme breadth 7.2mm. The form of the wing is an oblong, pretty regular oval, the apical portion a little produced. The anal nervure is deeply impressed, strongly curved, especially just before its middle, where the wing was somewhat convex, and terminates before the middle of the basal two-thirds of the posterior border. The other nervures and their branches are very delicate, and the branches equidistant and rather closely crowded; the spaces between them are wholly unbroken by any cross-nervules, and the surface of the wing appears to have been smooth in life. (Fig. 1.)

Blattina Heeri, nov. sp. This is also represented by a right upper wing, but it is not so perfect as the preceding; the whole of the apex, and the outer half of the posterior border is lost. The length of the fragment is 21mm.; probably the entire wing would have been two or three millimetres longer; the width of the wing, just before the middle, is 11.8 m. The wing is proportionately broader than in the preceding species and less convex, and the apex is probably less extended, but otherwise it has much the same form. The anal nervure is deeply impressed only over its basal half, and is gently curved, terminating doubtless at about the middle of the posterior border; the other nervures and their branches are rather distinctly impressed, somewhat distant and regular; the spaces between are transversely and very faintly wrinkled, rather than provided with cross-nervules; the surface is nevertheless pretty smooth; the costal border is very delicately marginate. (Fig. 2.)

This species is named in honor of Professor Oswald Heer of Zurich, who has laid the foundation of our present knowledge of fossil insects.

Both of the above specimens are on dark gray shale, and are associated with leaves of Sphenophyllum and ferns.

Cambridge, April 24, 1874.