[DAWSON ] VANCOUVER TERTIARY PLANTS 151 
Miocene. How completely it may fill this gap we do not know at pre- 
sent, since this would require large collections from all the beds of the 
group, and we can scarcely hope for these unless mining operations shall 
be carried on in the lignite beds. Workable beds of this kind have not 
as yet been found north of the United States boundary, but I do not 
despair of their discovery, though the superiority of the Cretaceous coal 
of the Nanaimo district may for some time prevent their development. 
Should such opportunities be afforded for collecting these fossil 
plants, it is very desirable that accurate notes should be taken of the 
order of the beds containing the fossils, and also of their mode of occur- 
rence, as it is to be expected that in a formation of so considerable thick- 
ness a succession of sub-floras may occur, and as the beds were probably 
deposited in the estuary of a river draining a large and elevated terri- 
tory, differences of age may be complicated with the intermixture or 
alternation of species indigenous to the low country with others drifted 
from higher or colder districts in the interior. 
It would be rash to attempt to decide definitely on the climatal con- 
ditions of the west coast of America in the Eocene period, from the plants 
yet known. But. so far as they can give information, we may infer that 
the Cretaceous climate was somewhat warmer than that of the Eocene, 
but that both attained a higher temperature than that of the present 
day in the same latitudes, while in the Miocene age the climatal condi- 
tions were not very different from those now prevailing in the region. 
A collection of specimens made by Mr. Hill-Tout, of Vancouver, 
was received by the Geological Survey while this paper was in press. 
Notes on a few of the more important species have been introduced above, 
but there was not time to examine the whole of the specimens. Ona 
hasty inspection they appear to include séveral forms noticed above, as 
Salix varians, S. integra, Populus balsaminoides, etc. There are also frag- 
ments referable to Ficus Condoni, Newby., F. asiminifolia, Lesq., Quercus 
Evansii, Lesq., and Sequoia spinosa, Newby. Other fragments indicate 
species of Quercus, Juglans, ete. 
I have to thank Mr. L. M. Lambe, F.G.S., of the Geological Survey 
for the greater number of the figures. 
