lO CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



and the other more nearly related to the Eocene. The 

 upper division was designated the Martinez by Merriam. 

 Between the typical Chico and the Martinez, as thus 

 restricted, there is found to be neither a faunal nor a 

 stratigraphic continuity, and the Martinez is provisionally 

 classed with the Eocene. 



A similar series of Cretaceous deposits has been found in 

 British Columbia and the adjacent islands by the geologists 

 of the Canadian Geological Survey (Whiteaves, 1893). 

 On Queen Charlotte Islands and the Island of Vancouver a 

 succession of strata has been shown to range from the 

 Lower Cretaceous or even Jurassic, upward to horizons 

 equivalent to the Chico of California, There is not, how- 

 ever, the apparent continuity in these beds that is claimed 

 for the California series. But the fuller statement of their 

 relations will be continued later. 



In central Mexico, near Catorce (Nikitin, 1890), fos- 

 siliferous beds occur which have been referred to the 

 Jurassic, but which Dr. Stanton thinks are probably to be 

 correlated in part with the Knoxville of California (Stanton, 

 1895, p. 26, etc.). The Aticellce and some of the ammon- 

 ites are said to be very similar if not identical with Califor- 

 nia species. 



Many important contributions to West Coast Cretaceous 

 geology that are not here mentioned will be referred to 

 later. 



III. Purpose of the Paper. 



The objects of the following discussion are primarily 

 threefold. First, it is desirable to place in a more connected 

 account the essential facts in regard to the Cretaceous 

 deposits of the Pacific Coast, and particularly of California, 

 with reference to their distribution, the physical conditions of 

 their deposition, their disturbances, subsequent erosion, and 

 other features of importance; and to add something as to the 

 relations they bear to other formations with which they are 

 territorially connected. Second, it is thought that a more 



