The work of the older geologists, which was summarized by Haughton and later by Dawson, took no account of the Devonian in their divisions of the PalÆozoic rocks of the islands north of Lancaster sound. All the lower limestones were classed as Silurian, while the overlying sandstones were placed in the Carboniferous. Fossils of Devonian age were collected, by the expedition of 1876, from the northern part of Ellesmere, but their occurrence and relations were only finally settled by Schei as given above. From his observations it is plain that the upper part of the limestones and the lower 1,000 feet of the overlying sandstones are of Devonian age. The early explorers were not trained geologists, and it could hardly be expected that they would discover the thin bands containing fossils in these great thicknesses of barren beds. Owing to this supposed lack of fossils the rocks were separated into Silurian and Carboniferous almost wholly on lithological differences, the limestones being classed as Silurian and the sandstones as Carboniferous.

There is no doubt that Devonian rocks are included in the Carboniferous of the western Parry islands, but as they occur only in the cliffs underlying the Carboniferous beds that cover the surface of the islands, it would be impossible to map them on the scale used in illustrating this report, and in consequence the old colouring is followed here.