SECTION IV., 1882. ff alee sl 
II.— On the Cretaceous and Tertiary Floras of British Columbia and the North-West 
Territory. By J. W. Dawson, C.M.G., LL.D., FRS. 
(Presented May 23, 1883.) 
I—GENERAL NOTES. 
Collections of the Cretaceous fossil plants of Vancouver Island were made many years 
ago by Prof. Dana, when geologist to the United States Exploring Expedition under Com- 
mander Wilkes, and by Dr. John Evans, geologist of the Territory of Oregon. The collec- 
tions of Prof. Dana were noticed by him in the report of the Expedition, and those by Dr. 
Evans were described by Mr. Lesquereux in the American Journal of Science for 1859. 
Prof. Heer, of Zurich, afterwards examined specimens from British Columbia, and in a 
letter to Lesquereux, and also in his memoir, entitled, “ Flora of Vancouver,” described and 
figured some of them. These botanists had in their hands, however, plants from two dis- 
tinct horizons,—the Cretaceous coal measures of Vancouver Island, and Tertiary formations 
occurring at Bellingham Bay and elsewhere on the southern coast of the mainland of 
British Columbia; and as at that time such plants were not known to occur in the Creta- 
ceous elsewhere, it was natural that they should refer the whole to the Tertiary. 
In 1863 Dr. Newberry examined the collections of fossils made by the Boundary 
Commission in Vancouver Island, and ascertained the fact that the fossil flora of that island 
occurs in a formation characterized by marine Cretaceous animal remains and described 
the plants then in his hands as Cretaceous. 
The labors of the Canadian Geological Survey since 1871 have enabled the ages of 
these beds and those of other parts of British Columbia to be more fully defined, and their 
distribution marked out. The details on these points are given in the reports of Dr. 
Selwyn, Mr. Richardson and Dr. G. M. Dawson for 1872 and following years. The animal 
fossils haye also been reported on by the late Mr. Billings, and have been more fully 
described and figured by his successor, Mr. Whiteaves. 
It is now certain that the beds containing the anthracite of the Queen Charlotte 
Islands with which fossil plants are associated (Series C of the general section),* are Middle 
Cretaceous, probably very near the horizon of the Gault, and equivalent to the upper por- 
tion of the Shasta group of the Californian geologists. The beds of the Nanaimo and 
Comox basins of Vancouver Island are Upper Cretaceous, and equivalent to the Chico and 
Tejon groups of California and to the Upper Nenonien or Danien of the French. In the 
northern part of Vancouver Island beds of upper Neocomian age occur. Thesé have not 
yet been found to hold fossil plants, but it is possible that the plant-bearing formation of 
Beaver Harbor is of this age. 
The Queen Charlotte Island beds contain, so far as known, a strictly Mesozoic flora of 
Cycads and Conifers, while the Vancouver Island beds abound in leaves and wood of exo- 

*See comparative Table, infra. 
