NORTH AMERICAN GEOLOGY, 



217 



in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society.* The coal-beds 

 lie in an overturned synclinal in the Subcarboniferons, on the Devo- 

 nian limestone. The coal contains about 81 per cent of fixed carbon, 

 and there are several workable beds. 



83. Sir J. William Dawson, in a memoir on the Mesozoic floras of the 

 Rocky Mountain district of Canada, discusses the occurrence of plant 

 remains in general, and describes the three new horizons recognized. 

 First, the Kootanie series, supposed to be the representative of the 

 Keocomian, or at least not newer than the Shasta group of the United 

 States, and the lower sandstone shales of the Queen Charlotte Islands, 

 which is regarded as similar to the cycad beds of Maryland. Second, 

 the Mill Creek beds, corresponding closely with the Dakota group, and 

 separated from the Kootanie by a considerable thickness of strata. 

 Above this is a third sub-flora, that of the Belly Eiver series at the 

 base of the Fort Pierre group. This series, though separated from the 

 Laramie proper by the marine beds of the Pierre and Fox Hill groups, 

 an interval of 1,700 feet, introduces the Laramie or Darien flora. The 

 Laramie flora is found to be divisible into two sub-floras, an older, 

 allied to that of the Belly River series, and a newer, identical with that 

 of tlie Souris River, which appears to agree with the Fort Union group 

 of the United States. The following table is given, showing the equiva- 

 lency of these series : t 



Successive Floras and Sub-Floras of the Cretaceous of Canada, in descending order. 



Periods. 



Floras and sub-floras. 



References. 



Transition Eocene to Cre- 

 taceous. 



Upper Cretaceous (Danian 

 and Senonian). 



Middle Cretaceous (Turo- 

 niau and Cenomanian). 



Lower Cretaceous (Neo- 

 eomian, etc.). 



Upper Laramie or Porcupine Hill . 



(■ Middle Laramie or Willow Creek 

 beds. 

 Lower Laramie or St. Mary 

 River. 



^ Fox Hill Series 



Fort Pierre Series 

 Belly River 



Coal measures of Nanaimo, Brit- 

 l ish Columbia, probably here. 

 fDnnnegan Series of Pease 

 I River. 



Mill Creek beds of Rocky 

 Mountains. 



f Suakwa River beds and Queen 

 Charlotte Island Coal Series. 



i luteimediate beds of Rocky 

 Mountains. 

 Kootanie Series of Rocky 

 Mountains. 



Platanus beds of Souris River and Cal- 

 gary. Report Geological Survey of 

 Canada for 1879 and Memoir of 1885. 



Lemnaand Pistia beds of bad lands of 

 49th Parallel, Red Deer River, etc., 

 with lignites. Report 49th Parallel 

 and Memoir of 1885. 



Marine. 



Mariue. 



Sequoia and Brasenia beds of South 

 Saskatchewan, Belly River, etc., 

 with lignites. Memoir of 1885. 



Many dicotyledons, 



Many dicotyledons, 



Memoir of 1883. 

 palms, etc. 



Memoir of 1883. 

 cycads, etc. 



Dicotyledonous leaves, similar to Da- 

 kota group of the United States. 

 Memoir of "1885. 



C.vcads, palms, a few dicotyledons. 

 Report Geological Survey ; Memoir 

 of 1885. 



Cycads, pines, and ferns. 

 1885. 



Memoir of 



»2. Jour. Geoloj?. Soc, Vol. 42, pp. 560-564. 



t Canada Royal Society Trans., vol. 3, Part IV, pp. 1-22, and Canadian Record of 

 Science, vol. 2, pj). 1-9. 



