248 T. W. STANTON SHASTA AND CHICO FAUNAS. 



is correlated with the Upper Chalk or Lower Chalk and, it is thought, 



may prove to be the equivalent of both, is said to include all the known 

 Cretaceous of Oregon and of the extreme northern part of California and 

 the coal-hearing beds of Vancouver island; and the Shasta group, pro- 

 visionally formed to include a series of beds of different ages below the 

 Chico. According to Whitney "it contains fossils, seemingly represent- 

 ing ages from the Gault to the Necomian, inclusive. . . . Few or 

 none of its fossils are known to extend upward into the Chico group." 



Work of the Canadian Geological Survey. — In 1871 the geological survey 

 of Canada began the work in British Columbia which has contributed 

 greatly to our knowledge of the Mesozoic formations of the Pacific coast. 

 It is beyond the scope of this paper to consider the detailed geologic 

 description of the Cretaceous on Vancouver and Queen Charlotte islands 

 and the mainland of British Columbia, as given by Mr James Richard- 

 son* and Dr George M. Dawson. f 



These reports have shown that the Cretaceous attains thicknesses of over 

 5,000 feet on Vancouver island and of about 13,000 feet on Queen Char- 

 lotte islands. The invertebrate fossils from both these areas have been 

 described and fully discussed by Mr J. F. Whiteaves.| The most recently 

 published conclusions of this author are that the larger part (divisions 

 C, D, and E) of the Queen Charlotte islands section is the equivalent of 

 the Shasta formation, and that the same horizon is represented in the 

 northern part of Vancouver island and at several localities on the main- 

 land of British Columbia; that the beds of the Nanaimo and Comox 

 coal fields on the eastern coast of Vancouver island are more recent and 

 referable to the Chico formation, and that none of these beds are older 

 than the Gault. Previously Mr Whiteaves had expressed the opinion 

 that the Shasta formation and its equivalents in British Columbia should 

 be separated into two formations, referring the older beds, which are 

 especially characterized by an abundance of Aucella, to the Necomian 

 and the upper portion to the Gault; but additional collections showed 

 such a blending of the faunas that they could not be separated and this 

 view was abandoned. 



* Report on the coal fields of the east coast of Vancouver Island : Geol. Surv. Canada, Rept. of 

 Prog. 1871-72, pp. 73-loit; Rept. on the coal fields of Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands : Ibid., 

 1872-'73, pp. 32-65. 



f For example— Report on the Queen Charlotte Islands: Ibid., 1878-79, pp. 1-101 B; On a Geologi- 

 cal Examination of the northern Part of Vancouver Island : Ann. Kept. Geo). Survey < 'anada, 1886, 

 pp. 1-107 B ; On the earlier Cretaceous Rocks of the northwestern Portion of the Dominion of 

 Canada : Am. Jour. Sci., vol. xxxviii, 1889, pp. 120-127. 



t Geol. Survey Can. : Mesozoic Fossils, vol. i, pt. 1, Invertebrates from Queen Charlotte Islands, 

 1876; pt. 2, Fossils of the Cretaceous Rocks of Vancouver, 1879; pt. 3, Fossils of the coal-bearing 

 deposits of Queen Charlotte Islands, 1884. See also Trans. Roy, Soc. Canada, vol. i, 1882, sec iv, 

 pp. 81-86, and Cont. to Canadian Paleont., vol. i, pt. 2, 1889. 



