"Without knowing in. detail, the forms of the primordial fauna which you have collected, the only head of the Conocephalites, of which you have sent me the engraving, suffices to show me, that your appreciation of the ensemble of that fauna is exact. Besides I am convinced, by all that I know of your works up to this time, that your judgment is correct, and that you are not the man to permit yourself to be led away by preconceived ideas. Therefore the distinction which you have established between the three faunas; the black slates, the white and the grey limestones constitute for me facts which merit all my confidence.

"I think then as very rational all that you have said on the order of succession. If the locality at Quebec, does not admit of the determination, in an evident manner, of the relative age of the three faunas, by observation of their superposition, that which is the fundamental proof in paleontology as it is in stratigraphy, I think you will discover some other locality, in which may be more clearly decided that relative age.

"In the meantime we can only judge from the nature of the fossils. As to those of the white limestone, such as you have recognized them, they indicate clearly a stage of the primordial fauna. Whether that

stage is above or below that of the Potsdam, or whether it represents the same horizon as the latter, is a question of secondary and local importance, which probably will be solved in time. There may be several stages distinct from each other in America as in Sweden, while I recognize only one in Bohemia. These are only such diversities as we may expect in countries distant from each other.

"The fauna of the black slates, as you have described it in your letter, consisting almost entirely of Graptolites with two Lingulæ, a Discina and a small trilobite, does not present a decisive character like that of the white limestone. We cannot then, on the first view, declare that it constitutes a stage of the primordial fauna. But if these black slates are the same as those which have furnished the three species of Olenus in Vermont, there can be no hesitation, and it will be necessary to recognize also that fauna, in that schistose mass. In that case, the occurrence of the graptolites, in such great numbers on that horizon, would be a very remarkable phenomenon, of which we have no example in other Silurian regions. It would be necessary to recognize, in that fact, a new proof, of the remarkable privilege of anteriority, which I have signalized for the zone of the North, of which your country forms a part. As to the small trilobite found in these slates, its dimensions calls forth the thought that you may discover the metamorphoses (of trilobites) in that formation.

"The fauna of the grey limestone is well characterized as appertaining to the second fauna, as you have observed, for it presents the ordinary genera of Trilobites, Cephalopods, Gasteropods, &c. The presence of one species of Agnostus, is also very natural, since that Genus is found in other Silurian countries, just up to the superior limit of the second fauna, for example, in Bohemia just in d 5.

"I think you are acting wisely in studying with time and all necessary care, all the elements of the question before asserting in a positive manner, the order of the succession of these three fauna. As there are many savants interested in the debate which will infallably arise, when you publish your discoveries, it is very desirable that your opinion may be so well founded that it may be inattackable.

"At all events, it is certain that the labours of the Geological Survey of Canada, will throw a great light on the Geology of the North of America, and in particular on the Silurian Epoch. Naturally, that light will reflect on the ancient continent, and we will be permitted to fix our ideas on bases more broad and solid, &c., &c.

J. BARRANDE."

This letter proves that the age of the Point Levis fossils was determined by me before I had written to Barrande about them. It now became almost certain, that the trilobites in the Georgia slates did not constitute a colony. This was confirmed by stratigraphical evidence, in 1861, by J. Richardson, who while making some examinations for our Survey at the straits of Belle Isle, found the fossils of the Georgia slates, in the undisturbed rocks lying directly on the Laurentian. He also discovered them in the same position, in Newfoundland, but in this instance with other rocks holding the fossils of the Potsdam and calciferous above them. The above appears to me to be quite sufficient to show, that the error relating to the Taconic rocks, was removed by the investigations and discoveries of the Geological Survey of Canada.

In December 1860, Mr. Marcou, who took a very active interest in the investigation, published Barrande's opinion on the age of the Georgia slates. This I have always considered to be equivalent to the publication of Barrande himself, as no doubt it was authorized by him. According to the laws of priority, therefore, Barrande was the first to determine the horizon of this formation on palæontological grounds, and I have on several occasions given him full credit for it. But by so doing, I am not precluded from showing what my own views were. I had previously recog nized that the fossils were primordial forms, and that either they constituted a colony, or the rocks were older than the HudsonRiver group.

American geology is indebted to Barrande for much greater services. It was he that discovered that, as a general rule, rocks holding trilobites of those types which we now call primordial, lie below the Lower Silurian. It was by the application of

this rule, or law of nature as it may be called, that met only the age of the Taconic but also the age of the slates, at St. Johns New Brunswick, and of the great series of rocks investigated by Mr. Murray in Newfoundland were determined. The number of other deposites in the Western States and in the Rocky Mountains has been decided by the same law.

age

of a

ON SOME FOSSILS FROM THE PRIMORDIAL ROCKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

BY E. BILLINGS, F.G.S.

In Mr. Murray's "Report upon the Geological Survey of Newfoundland for the year 1870," the Primordial rocks of the southeasterly portion of the Island, are estimated to have a thickness of about 6000 feet. The upper 476 feet, constituting Bell Island, in Conception Bay, a short distance from the city of St. Johns, hold a peculiar group of fossils, the exact age of which has not yet been determined. The species thus far collected, consist entirely of Lingulæ, Cruziana and fucoids. Among the latter are fine specimens of several species of Eophyton, a genus first discovered on this continent by Mr. Murray. The Lingulæ, on a superficial examination, might be taken for those of the Upper Potsdam of Wisconsin. They are, however, specifically, and two of them are, perhaps, even generically, different. These two are distinguished by the remarkable convexity of the dorsal valve. They have their nearest representatives in some species from the "Budleigh Salterton Pebble-bed" of Devonshire, England. The pebbles of this latter formation, which hold the Lingula, are supposed to have been derived from the "Armoricain sandstone" of Brittany, France, considered to be about the base of the Lower Silurian. In Newfoundland, up to the present time, true primordial trilobites have been collected, only in beds, the highest of which are full 2000 feet below the lowest strata of Bell Island.

I shall therefore describe the fossils of this Island as a distinct division.

VOL. VI.

W

No. 4.

FIG. 1. Eophyton Linnæanum? Torell. Part of a slab of sandstone with several fragments supposed to be of this species.

The only specimen I have access to at present, is a slab of sandstone, about 15 inches in length and 12 inches wide, on the surface of which there are about thirty stems of the fossil. Most of these lie across the stone in a direction nearly parallel to each other. They appear to have been, when perfect, slender, cylindrical, straight, reed-like plants, about three lines in diameter, with the surface longitudinally striated; four striæ upon an average in the width of one line. Some of the stems, which have been partially flattened by pressure, are coarsely grooved or fluted; but when the surface of such is perfect, the fine striæ can always be seen on the large ridges and in the furrows between them. When pressed quite flat some of the stems only exhibit the fine striæ. I cannot see that any of the stems are branched. One of them, which is pressed flat, is bifurcated, but I think this due to the pressure, which has split the stem into two portions.

I refer this species as above, because it is impossible to distinguish it from some of the figures of the Swedish form. As it occurs above the Paradoxides beds, while the Swedish specimens, have as yet, only been found below, it is most probably a distinct species.

EOPHYTON JUKESI, spec. nov.

In this species the stems are nine lines in diameter, cylindrical, straight or slightly flexuous. They are longitudinally striated, but the surface of the specimens examined, are not suffi

ciently well preserved to exhibit the dimensions of the striæ. It is separated from the former principally on account of its much greater size.

ARTHRARIA ANTIQUATA, gen. and spec. nov.

FIG. 2. Part of a slab of sandstone with Arthraria antiquata.

The fossils for which the above generic and specific names are proposed, are small cylindrical bodies, with usually an expansion at each end, giving the form of a dumb bell. Those that I have seen, are from six to nine lines in length, and from the manner in which they are grouped upon the surface of the stone, they appear to me to be segments of a jointed plant. Similar forms occur in the Clinton formation.

5

spissa, a ventral valve; b, dorsal valve; c, side view of both valves.

LINGULA MURRAYI, spec. nov.

Fig. 3.

Shell elongate, sub pentagonal; front margin straight or gently convex for a space equal to about two-thirds the width in the middle; anterior angles rounded; sides somewhat straight or very gently convex and parallel for two-thirds the length, then