40 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



Caviptonectes sp. a, Yoldia sp. a, Callista tenuis ?, Panopcea sp. a, 

 Dentaliuvi sp. a, Lunatia sp. , Hoplites like H. McConnelli, but 

 with much stronger ribs. 



At Boiler Rapids, where the " Tar Sands " first crop out 

 from beneath the Clearwater shales, many masses of rotten fer- 

 ruginous limestone were lying on the beach, apparently derived 

 from the top of the " Tar Sands." From these were collected 

 Pecten sp. a, " large, four inches high, and higher than broad, 

 nearly smooth, one valve convex, the other flat " (Whiteaves). 

 A small gasteropod, and a small ammonite, perhaps a form of 

 Hoplites McConnclli. 



At middle rapid a large number of fragments uf ferruginous 

 limestone were lying on the beach, derived from bands in the 

 "Tar Sands." From these were collected specimens of fossil wood- 

 Pecten sp. a, Camptonectes sp. a, Inoceraniiis sp., Modiola sp. a, 

 Cytherea or Cyprina sp., Panopoia sp. a, Dentaliuvi sp., Hoplites 

 McConnelli, and fragments of large dinosaurian bones. 



At the head of the bend above Crooked Rapids, a thin band 

 of ferruginous limestone outcrops at the very base of the Tar 

 Sands and from it were obtained a numb2r <>{ specimens of 

 Pecten sp. a, and fragments of a minute gasteropod. 



From the list of fossils above enumerated it will be seen 

 that the fauna of the arenaceous Clearwater shales continues 

 downwards into the conformably underlying " Tar Sands," and 

 as far as could be determined from the few traces of fossils seen 

 in the Grand Rapids Sandstone, it also contains essentially the 

 same fauna. 



It is to be noted, that the fauna is marine, and not fresh 

 water, as in the original Dakota of the States to the south. 



In lithological character, also, as well as in stratigraphical 

 position, all these beds are very similar to the Dakota Sand- 

 stones of Western Manitoba. 



The palseontological evidence thus appears to show that it 

 is necessary to modify Mr. McConnell's correlation of the Cret- 

 aceous of the Athabasca river to the extent of taking all the beds 

 below the base of the Pelican Shales out of the Colorado Group, 

 and of grouping together the Grand Rapid Sandstone, the Clear- 



