Section IV, 1888. [ 71 ] Trans. Eoy. Soc. Canada. 



VI. — On Cretaceous Plants from Port McNeill, Vancouver Island. 

 By Sir W. Dawson, F.R.S aud Dr. G. M. Dawson, F.G.S. 



(Read May 25, 1888.) 



I. — Note on the G-eology. {G. M. Dawson.) 



The fossil plants referred to iu the following note were obtained at Port McNeill, on 

 the north-east coast of Vancouver Island, in 1885. The precise locality is situated on the 

 north shore of Port McNeill, bearing N. 65° E. (Mag.) from the Eel Reef. The beds here 

 lie at an angle of about ten degrees, or not far from horizontal ; and the plants are found 

 iu shales or shaly sandstones about five feet above a small seam of coal from one to two 

 inches thick. 



The Cretaceous rocks of the northern part of Vancoiiver Island appear to belong to a 

 basin or deposition-area distinct from that of the Comox aud Nanaimo districts to the 

 south, and more closely connected with that of the Queen Charlotte Islands to the north. 

 The best general section of the rocks in question, so far observed, is that in Quatsino 

 Sound, where there seem to be represented the three higher members of the Cretaceous 

 section of the Queen Charlotte Islands, as it exists in the vicinity of Skidegate Inlet. 

 The cretaceous rocks which extend along the north-east coast of Vancouver Island, from 

 Port McNeill to Beaver Harbour, may in part represent the lowest or coal-bearing portion 

 of the Quatsino section. A few fossil plants obtained at Beaver Harbour are Middle Cre- 

 taceous, and possibly referable to a horizon near that of the lowest beds at Quatsino. The 

 Port McNeill beds are, so far as stratigraphical evidence exists, probably much later 

 than these ; but their stratigraphical position has not been fully determined, and as no 

 fossils but plants have been found in them, these constitute the best evidence as to their 

 precise age at present available. (See Part B, Annual Eeport Geological Survey of 

 Canada, 1886.) 



II. — Notice of the Plants. {Sir Wm. Daivson.) 



The plants from Port McNeill are almost entirely dicotyledonous leaves, with a few 

 fruits. Large slabs have been procured, some with very perfect specimens of these leaves. 

 There are no ferns or cycads in the collection, and conifers are rare. The latter are lim- 

 ited to fragments of a Sequoia of the type of S. Langsdorffii, branchlets of Torreia, appar- 

 ently the species T. demifolia of a former paper,' and two species of Salisburia, or Gingko. 

 One of these Gingkos is a beautiful little form, with leaves resembling those of the modern 



" Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., 1883, Sect. iv. p. 25. 



