on beds of "hard plaster" or anhydrite, of unknown depth. At the same point considerable masses of a very beautiful snow-white gypsum or alabaster are also met with, associated with the varieties named above, but comparatively little selenite; while at Petitcodiac, where the deposit has a breadth of about forty rods, and a total length of about one mile, the whole is fibrous and highly crystalline, and traversed by a vein of nearly pure selenite, eight feet wide, through its entire extent. The rock on the Tobique River, which rises in bluffs along the stream some thirty miles above its mouth, is mostly soft, granular or fibrous, and of a more decidedly reddish colour than in the localities first described,

With the exception of the Hillsborough rock, the gypsum from the localities above noticed is employed simply for application to the soil, and mostly for local use; from Hillsborough, however, where extensive works have been in operation for a number of years, large quantities are annually exported, both in the raw and calcined condition. The present productive capacity of these works is about 600barrels per diem, giving employment in the quarries and mills to about one hundred and twenty-five hands.

The price of the Hillsborough plaster, crude, ground, is at present seventy-five cents per bbl., duty free, while that of the calcined is $1.10 per bbl., subject in the United States to a duty of twenty per cent. The rock from Petitcodiac, delivered on the Intercolonial R.R. is seventy cents per bbl., or forty cents per bbl. in bulk.-Lower Carboniferous.

d. Gypsum containing nodules of ulexite, howlite and cryptomorphite. In connection with the Lower Carboniferous limestones of Nova Scotia there are enormous deposits of gypsum, alternating or in some cases mixed with anhydrite. The gypsum is known as soft plaster and is classified as white and blue, the

former being best adapted for calcining, while that which is of a blue or grey colour answers as well as the white for agricultural purposes. On account of its greater hardness the anhydrite is known as hard plaster, and is generally regarded as a waste product of the quarries, although occasionally employed for structural purposes. To give an idea of the thickness of the deposits it may be mentioned that there are cliffs of solid snowy white gypsum from 100 to 200 feet high. Considerable quantities have been quarried for many years, the largest proportion being shipped to the United States. In 1875 the shipments to the United States amounted to 95,159 tons, valued at $95,907. The specimens exhibited from Wentworth are from important quarries owned by Mr. Sweet, and only a mile distant from the point of shipment.-Lower Carboniferous.

8. Montague, Hants County, N.S....

a. Gypsum.

Joseph McLennan.

The Montague quarry has only been recently opened. The deposit of gypsum is supposed to be the lowest bed in the series in the Windsor trough. It rests on coarse grits which repose on the black slates overlying the gold-bearing rocks.Lower Carboniferous.

This locality is about a mile and a half south of Salt Springs station on the Intercolonial Railway. Quantities have been dug for local use for the last thirty years.-Lower Carboniferous.

11. Oxford, River Philip, N.S.... .A. J. Hill, C.E., Sydney, Cape Breton..

a. Selenite or foliated gypsum.

b. Massive gypsum.

The selenite occurs in a cliff fifteen to twenty feet high, associated with red clay, soft red and greenish sandstones, and considerable quantities of massive gyp-sum. River Philip flows at the base, and undermines the cliff, so that large quantities are constantly falling. Vast deposits of gypsum occur in this vicinity, and stretch eastward across the country to and beyond the Pugwash River, and westward

towards Springhill. Near it are found the grey and red sandstones of the Millstone grit formation, and coarse conglomerates which also occur six miles below Oxford. Brine lakes and springs also occur near the river, which never freezes.-Lower Carboniferous.

12. Plaster Cove, Wallace Harbor, N.S.....

a. Specimens of massive white gypsum.

C. A. Fulton.

Mr. Fulton's quarry is situated between a quarter and a half a mile from the shipping ground. The gypsum is sold to vessels calling for $1.00 per ton, though contracts would be made to deliver large quantities (1000 tons or over) for eighty cents a ton. The cost of carriage to Quebec is generally about $2.80 per ton, and the mineral sells there for from $3.75 to $4.00 per ton.-Lower Carboniferous.

13. Black River, N.S...

a. Gypsum.

Henry A. Davison, Glenville, N.S.

This locality is a mile and a half east from Salt Springs station on the Intercolonial Railway. Five hundred barrels were calcined here in 1874, and one hundred barrels up to August in 1875. A few hundred barrels were previously sold on the ground at eighty cents per barrel.—Lower Carboniferous.

14. Antigonish, N.S..

a. Gypsum.

b. Plaster of Paris.

c. Ground gypsum ready for calcining.

John A. Converse, Montreal.

Mr. Converse calcines at his works in Montreal six charges of twenty barrels each in twenty-four hours. The plaster sells for $2.60 per barrel in small lots and $2.00 in quantities of fifty or more barrels.-Lower Carboniferous.

15. Bras D'Or Lake, C.B..... .R. N. McDonald, International Mine, C.B.

a. Gypsum.

The gypsum above Big Harbor, four miles from Baddeck, does not, it is stated, usually occur in regular layers. Where the stratification is evident the deposit is thin and of no great importance. In some places it has a face of 200 feet; in others it is nipped out, being surrounded by clay. About 10,000 tons have been shipped this year. All the gypsum raised during the past two years has been sent to New York, where it is used in the finishing of houses, &c. Other quarries have been opened in the neighborhood, from which a large quantity has been exported.-Lower Carboniferous.

16. Cape Breton...

a. Gypsum.

Nova Scotia Advisory Board

Shell Marl.

Rockwood, O..

a. Shell marl.

Geological Survey.

This is from a stratum three feet thick underlying three feet of peat in the neighbourhood of the Eramosa branch of the Green River.-Alluvion.

Belleville, O....

H. Yeomans, Belleville, O.

a. Shell marl.

This deposit does not appear to be extensive. The shells observed are a Valvata, Pisidium Virginicum, and an undetermined Limnæa.—Alluvion.

Hungerford, lot 33, range

a. Shell marl.

Ontario Advisory Board, Toronto.

The deposits of this substance are very common throughout eastern Ontario, forming the beds of many lakes.-Alluvion

V.

MINERAL PIGMENTS AND DETERGENTS.

Iron Ochres, &c.

1. Walsingham, O., lot 12, range 14.....Buchanan Mineral Co., Hamilton, O.

The minerals from which these paints [with the exception of one which is obtained at Conestogo] are manufactured, are from the vicinity of Limehouse. Mr. Newton says he can produce about 450 tons per annum. The works have been in operation two years. The following is a list of colours and prices communicated by Mr. Newton :

A reduction of ten per cent. is made on wholesale orders.-Clinton formation.

The mills of the Leeds Paint Company are situated in the township of Young, and have a capacity of five tons of pigments per day.—Alluvion.

5. Elzevir, O., lots 8 and 9, range 5......... Merrill and Flint, Belleville, O.

An ochre bed, of about 400 acres in extent, is situated on the St Nicholas range of Pointe du Lac Seigniory, on the property of Mr. Pierre Chaillon and his brother.