OV r.KlTlSlI COH-MIUA AND TllK XOltTlMVKST. 29 



outside lowosi voins. iiaiTo\v. with ;i li'w vcinlcts ;it m utr iiiiuli's niiniiiiu- Id tin- tcclli. 

 In tho fiffurc ono side ol' llu' li-al' appears less < (lived tliaii natural, ow iiii:' In a sli^lit I'old 

 in the speeimen." 



This leal" is very puzzlint:' in ils siructure. and up In the time ol wiitiiiL^- out my i)aper 

 tor thi' jtress. I had seen only I'raunients of it. I liave. liowever, l)een ahle at leiiijth to 

 ixneovor a nearly peri'eet s|HH'imon in shale I'rom Nanainio, from which the al)ove descrip- 

 tion is tak(>n. The form and venation reeall feature's of the genera Aluns and I'/ti/aims : hut 

 I have seen no leaf, recejit (n- fossil, which it (>ntirely resemliles. 



33. CvuroMTiiEs, Sp. 



Small, round, smooth fruits or seeds, also ovate seeds, and ovale seeds with a lih on 

 one side, are foiuid at BeaA'er Harbor and Baynes' Sound. Th(>y may be seeds of taxine 

 trees. 



Mhcef/aneouf: aur/ Uiirlelenniiifd. 



In the collections from Vancouver Island, there are many other kinds of leaves, refera- 

 ble to the genera Quern/a, Diosjti/roa, Magnolia, &c., which are too imperfect for description, 

 and there can be no doubt that the species above described, constitute })nt a fraction of a 

 rich and varied flora which might, no doubt, be in great part restored by active and 

 judicious collecting, pursued by observers having more time at command than those who 

 have collected in these beds. 



Til. — The L.vkamie and Tertiary Floras. 



The whole of the plants classed under the last head belong to undoubted Cretaceous 

 beds, characterized as such by animal fossils, and by stratigraphical position. It is true 

 that the Coal-measures of Vancouver Island haA'e been regarded as Miocene by the earlier 

 observers ; but this was solely on account of the supposed Tertiary character of their 

 flora. The more detailed explorations of the Geological Survey of Canada have fully 

 established their relation with the beds holding Lwceramus, BaculUes, and other Cretaceous 

 forms. Some portion of the confusion regarding these beds arose from the mixture of 

 their fossils with those of the Tertiary beds. For example, in Heer's Memoir on the 

 " Flora of Vancouver Island and British Columbia," the greater part of the species 

 described are from the Tertiary deposits of Burrard Inlet and Belliugham Bay, on the 

 mainland. 



Both in British Colunil)ia, however, and cast of the Ilocky Mountains, the Cretaceous 

 proper is overlaid by newer beds. West of the Rocky Mountains these assume the form 

 of old lake basins, filled with fresh-water deposits holding remains of plants and insects, 

 which have been noticed or described in the reports of the Geological Survey of Canada, 

 and are undo\i])tedly Tertiary, probably Miocene.* East of the mountains, on the other 

 hand, the undoubted Cretaceous beds of the Fort Pierre and Fox Hill groups are covered 

 conformably by a widely extended series of clays and sandstones, holding fossil j)lants 

 and lignite, with brackish-water and fresh-water shells. This is known as the Laramie 



*Beporte of Geological Survey, 1875-6, 1876-7, 1877-8. 



