20 .1 \V I>.\\VS()\ ON' CI.'K'l'At 'HOI'S AND TKIiTI A l.'V IM.oltAS 



It will 1)0 soon iVom Iho abovo tiiMo that in Ainoii.-a tho Mora of tlio Lower Crotaceous 

 or Neooomiaii retains thi' moagri- < haiarttr of tho Mosozoii' ago. ovon in its iii)j>er part ; hut 

 in tho Cononianian a rich AnuiosiM'rniou.s ilora ^\ as inlrodiuod and rontinuod tliniughonl 

 tho roiuaindor of tho C'retaooons into tho Toitiaiv. 



II. — TllK .MIDDLE AND UPPEI! (•I{ET.\CEOU.S FU)H.\. 



For descriptions and figures olthe plants of tho Middle Cretaceous beds of Iho Queen 

 Charlotte Islands, roloronco niav bo niado to tho Eojiort of tho Goologioal Snrv(\v of Canada 

 for 1872-73. I would moroly remark hero that though regarded on tho ovidoneo of animal 

 fossils as Middle Cretaceous, their fossil plants show that they must be sommvhat older than 

 the Dakota Group of the United States geologists, and therefore approaching to Lower 

 Cretaceous. On tho other hand, the beds on tho Pino and Peace Rivers, explored l)y Dr. 

 Selwyn and Dr. G. M. Dawson, would seem to be somewhat later than the Dakota Group, 

 and near to the horizon of the Niobrara, in which period the greater part of the interior plain 

 of North America was occupied with a warm-water sea, near the North-western margin of 

 which the plants which abound in these ])eds must have flourished, and probably enjoyed 

 as tar north as aO^ to 5o\ a mild and equable climate, which may have l)ocome colder in the 

 Upper Cretaceous period, but was again mild in the Laramie age. Both on account of the 

 probalde difference in age, and the geograpliical separation of the floras of (lie eastern ba.so 

 of the Rocky Mountains and of the Pacific Coast, it will be expedient to notice these 

 separately. Tho first repro.sonts the flora of the interior of North America in tho. Ivower or 

 Middle Senonian of European geologists. The second, that of tho Pacilic Coast in the 

 Upper Seuouian or Ivower Danian of Europe. (See table supra.) 



I. — Eti.t/eni ^kle of Rock)/ Mountains, more expeciiilli/ in flievicinifi/ of the Peace and Pine Rivers. 



1. Aspi.ENU'M Nini5u.\K.\. S. N. (Fig. 1.) 



Erond bii>innato, small and delicate, the jiinnulos elongate, crenulato and with rows of 

 ol)liquo linear prominences, probably roi)rr.seiitiiig tlie iiidusia. I have referred this juotty 

 little fern to Asj/lenium, on the evidence of tho renniins of fructification which it jin'sents. 

 The fiiruro represents a single pinntxlo enlarged about four times. Tho specimiMis <ontain 

 considiTable portions {)f Ironds. l)ut iniporl'octly i)rosorvod. 



Collected ])y Dr. Selwyn on tlio Peace River. 



2. CvcADlTEs Unjuia.* S. N. (Eig.s. 2, 2a.) 



Midrib strong. < liannelod. jiinnai^ linear, onc-iierved, acnte. at angle of almut f)0 to the 

 midrib. Ordinary i)innae al>out ;! c<'ntimotros long; longest, .'> contimotros or more. Near 

 to C. iJiihfoni, Iloor, from tho Upper Cretaceous oj' Greenland, but i)etiole stouter, jiinnao 

 more acute and at more acute angle to petiole. 



Colloctod l)y Dr. Selwyn at Pine K'ivor Forks, also at Table Mountain, in satulstono 

 containing Innreramus alius ; also at Pea< e River, 2."> miles abovi' l)un\eL;;in. 



* Tlio Imlian naiiiP of tlm I'muv Uivur. 



