152 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
practically over the same formations as when the lower boulder clay 
was deposited. 
Between these three boulder clays there occur a series of inter- 
glacial stratified deposits of sand and clay in which an interesting series 
of fossil organic remains have been discovered. These deposits must 
have been laid down after the retreat of the ice sheet whose deposits 
underlie the materials constituting this formation, to which the desig- 
nation “‘ Toronto formation” has been applied and is now generally ac- 
cepted by Pleistocene geologists in North America. The invasion and 
recession of the ice sheet was accompanied in each period by a deposition 
(probably along the margin of a lake) of stratified sands and gravels as 
well as clays in which the remains of fresh-water shells, insects, and 
drifted land plants were buried, and afford excellent means of ascer- 
taining the character of the flora and fauna which characterized these 
inter-glacial periods. 
Immediately overlying the lower clay (No. 1) there may be seen 
an inter-glacial fossiliferous clay overlaid by fossiliferous sand, whilst 
above boulder clay (No. 2) laminated clays and sand occur which in 
turn are overlaid by the newest till or boulder clay (No. 3). 
Recent formation —To this formation may be assigned the stratified 
sands and silts, loess-like deposits, river sands, gravels and silts as well 
as raised beaches and Æolian deposits (wind deposits) met with along 
the shores and abandoned strands of Lake Ontario. 'These include por- 
tions of the famous Iroquois beach which, with its sands and gravels and 
elevation, forms a conspicuous landmark north of Toronto city, and is 
associated with a number of minor beaches at a lower elevation, which 
have been described by Sir Sandford Fleming, Dr. J. W. Spencer, and 
others, from Toronto and other portions of Ontario. 
As far as the writer is aware no fossil organic remains have 
been detected in the glacial or boulder clays of the Labrador formation 
in and about Toronto. Nor is this to be wondered at as these clays 
were the result of land-ice action, and have practically everywhere else 
in eastern Canada thus far, on examination, proved to be destitute of 
fossils. 
In the inter-glacial deposits, however, large series of the remains of 
land plants which indicate a flora characterizing a warmer climate than 
even the actual climate at present prevalent, must have existed during 
that portion of the Post-Tertiary system. In the inter-glacial beds of 
Scarborough, of the Don, at Taylor’s brickyard, ete., amongst the most 
interesting plants found may be noted:—Maclura Aurentiaca, Platanus 
occidentalis, Quercus obtusiloba, Taxus baccata, Fraxinus quadrangulata, 
Larix Americana, Acer pleistocenicum, Ulmus Americana, Carya alba, — 

