No. 7. J G. M. DAWSON — SURFACE GEOLOGY. 389 



I crust that Scottish workers in this interesting though diffi- 

 cult branch of investigation, will be encouraged by the success 

 they have already attained to still more diligent search. In col- 

 lecting, the smallest and most obscure fragments should not be 

 neglected. Such specimens, when placed in due relation to 

 others previously obtained, may reveal the most important truths ; 

 or if by themselves unintelligible, may be rendered valuable 

 by subsequent discoveries. The greatest care should be taken 

 to rescue every portion of the specimens found, and to keep 

 together those that belong to the same plant ; and every fragment 

 likely to show microscopic structure should be carefully preserved. 

 Painstaking work of this kind will be sure to be rewarded by 

 important discoveries ; and I know by long experience that none 

 other is likely to be successful. 



TRAVELLING NOTES ON THE SURFACE GEOLOGY 

 OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



By George M. Dawson, D.S., Assoc. R. S. M., F. G. S. 



When on my way to resume my geological duties in British 

 Columbia, in May last, I availed myself of the opportunity to 

 obtain a passing glimpse of Northern California, Oregon, and 

 Washington Territory ; leaving the Central Pacific Railway, for 

 that purpose, at Roseville Junction, near Sacramento, and travel- 

 ling northward, by train and stage coach, to the extremity of 

 Puget Sound, whence a steamer runs to Victoria, Vancouver 

 Island. The region was a very interesting one to me, constitu- 

 ting the southern extension of that which I have been engacred 

 in studying in British Columbia, and characterized .in the main 

 by the same great physical features. It is proposed now to give 

 the substance of a few notes taken by the way, on the superficial 

 deposits and general aspect of the country, connecting these with 

 facts already observed in British Columbia, some of which are 

 published in the reports of the Geological Survey, but treated of 

 at greater length in a memoir read before the Geological Society 

 of London, in June last. Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., of the United 

 States Entomological Commission, passed through the same 



