SEcriONlV.. 1882. p. , S -3^ [ 15 ] ^^^^^^^ 



'J^-^y^uudi \'i%'b\ NEW YORK 



BOTANICAL 

 aARDHN 



II, — On thr Oreiacconn and Trrtutrij Fhnis of British Gohiiiili'tK and llie Xorth- Wat 



Territvrij. B// J. W. Dawson, CM.G., LL.l), F.R.S. 



0*rosonto(l Jfay 2^., 1S83.) 

 I. — GrENERAI. NOTES. 



Collections of tho Crotacooiis fossil plants of Vanconvor Island woro mado many yt^i^i's 

 ago by Prol'. Dana, wln'n gcolouist to the United States Exploring I'kpcdilion under Com- 

 mander Wilkes, and by Dr. John Evans, geologist of the Territory of Oregon. The collee- 

 tions of Prof. Dana were noticed by liiiii in tlic r<'i>()rt of the Expedition, and tho.se by Dr. 

 Evans were described by Mr. Lesqucrenx in the American .Tonrnal of Science for 1859. 

 Prof. Ileer, of Zurich, afterwards examined specimens from British Columbia, and in a 

 letter to Lesquoreux, and also in his memoir, entitled, " Flora of Vancouver," described and 

 figured some of them. These botanists had in tlieir hands, however, plants from two dis- 

 tinct horizons, — the Cretaceous coal measures of Vancouver Island, and Tertiary formations 

 occurring at Bellingham Bay and elsewhere on the southern coast of the mainland of 

 British Columbia ; and as at that time such plants were not known to occur in the Creta- 

 ceous elsewhere, it was natural that they should refer the whole to the Tertiary. 



In 1863 Dr. Newberry examined the collections of fossils made by the Boundary 

 Commission in Vancouver Island, and ascertained the fact that the fossil flora of that island 

 occurs in a formation characterized l)y marine Cretaceous animal remains and descril)ed 

 the plants then in his hands as Cretaceous. 



The labors of the Canadian Geological Survey since 18*71 have enabled the ages of 

 these beds and those of other parts of British Columbia to be more fully defined, and their 

 distribution marked out. The details on these points are given in the reports of Dr. 

 Selw3na, Mr. Richardson and Dr. Gr. M. Dawson for 18*72 and following years. The animal 

 fossils have also been re])orted on by the late Mr. Billings, and have ])een more fully 

 described and figured by his successor, Mr. Whiteaves. 



It is now certain that the beds containing the anthracite of the Queen Charlotte 

 Lslauds with which fossil plants are associated (Series C of the general section),* are Middle 

 Cretaceous, probably A-ery near the horizon of the Gault, and equivalent to the upper por- 

 tion of the Shasta group of the Californian geologists. The beds of the Nauaimo and 

 Comox basins of Vancouver Island are U]>per Cretaceous, and ec|uivalent to the Chico and 

 Tejon groups of California and to the Upper Senonien or Danien of the Frenc-h. In the 

 ^northern part of Vancouver Island beds of upper Neocomian age occvir. These have not 

 '""yet been found to hold fossil plants, l»ut it is possible that tlie plant-bearing formation of 

 30 Beaver Harbor is of this age. 



en The Queen Charlotte Island beds contain, so far as known, a strictly Mesozoic flora of 

 ■y Cycads and Conifers, while the Vancouver Island beds abound in leaves and wood of exo- 



* See comparative Table, infra. 



