.V3l 



16 J. W. DAWSON ON CRl'^TACEOUS AND 'niKTIAkV KLOTIAS 



geuous and endogenous trees akin to those of the Tertiary. On tlie west coast a consi- 

 derable gap appears to exist l)et\veen tiie middle and upper Cretaceous, and on the 

 east side of the liocky Blount ains, where the Cretaceous reappears and occupies a great 

 area, the middle part, the Niol)rara group of the American geologists, is almost everywhere 

 of a strictly marine character and destitute of fossil plants. The recent researches of Dr. 

 Si'lwyn and Dr. G. M. Dawson have, however, shown that toward ihe iiortli. in llie vicinity 

 of Peace River, in the sediment deposited along the shore of the old Niuljrara Sea, there 

 are heds rich in fossil plants belonging to a fauna older than that of Nanaimo and inter- 

 mediate between it and that of tlie Dakota group further .soutli. the fossil plants of wliieh 

 have been so well ligured and described by Lesquereux.* in llie Jiuw and J'.elly K'iver 

 region, l>eds of the Pierre group, or tiial next following the Niobrara in ascending order, 

 have al.so yielded a few fossil plants. 



In our AVestern Territories these umluubted Cretaceous lu'd.s are overlaid by a widely 

 spread formation, holding lignite coal and fossil plants, which has been known in Canada 

 as the Lignite Tertiary series, and in tlie United States as the Laramie and Fort Union 

 STOups. Its fossil plants, as they occur in the Mackenzie River district, have been 

 described by Heer ; as they ociiir at the Souris River, they have been described by the 

 writer in the Reports of the Boundary Survey and the Geological Survey. The flora of 

 these beds is undoubtedly distinct from that of the underlying Cretaceous and of later date ; 

 but the associated animal fossils have induced many geologists to intlude the Laramie in 

 the upper part of the Cretaceous, while the fossil plants are of so modern aspect that they 

 have been held to be Miocene. 



The truth appears to be that they constitute a transition from the upper part of the 

 Cretaceous to the Hocene, and that the analogies whi<h have been sought to be established 

 between them and liluropean Miocene deposits an; altogether fallacious, and based on the 

 similarity of an American llora of early Eocene date with one found in Europe at a later 

 period. This question and the bearing of it on the so-called Miocene of Greenland and 

 other northern regions will be discussed in the sequel. 



Lastlv. on the mainland of British Columbia there are ancient laki^ basins of Tertiary 

 and i>robably Miocene age, which contain a still later ilora, associated with ins(>ct remains 

 Thest! bi-ds lie below extensive volcanic accumulations in many plaies, and are probably 

 contemi)oraneous with the Truckee Miocene of King. 



The whole of the specimens collected by the Geological Survey, and representing a 

 series of consecutive floras extending from tlie I^ower Cretaceous to the Miocene, have been 

 I>la<ed in my hands ])y Dr. Selwyn, and I have been engaged lor some time in a careful 

 study of them, now nearly completed, and some portion of the results of which I propose 

 to state in the ])re.sent i>aper, — referring more particul.irly to the ]>lanls in.juiled under the 

 following geograjihical heads : — 



1. — Cretaceous of the West Coast. 

 In the Middle Cretaceous of the Queen Charlotte Islands, the most characteristic plant 



• CmU'woii Mnrii; nnyilon'D (Juolf>)?ii;iil Survey nf llio Torriti)rio8 nf llio Unil(«l SIaI)«. 



