[PENHALLOW] A REPORT ON FOSSIL PLANTS 319 
by Sir William Dawson (10: iv, 75). This author appears not to have 
been able to determine the age of the Similkameen beds to his own 
satisfaction, since, although he frequently makes comparisons with the 
Lower Miocene, to which his conclusions most strongly point, he never- 
theless refers to some species as having distinct affinity with the Upper 
Laramie or Hocene, and to the Oligocene in particular, and in his con- 
cluding paragraph he says that “It may be further affirmed that the 
Similkameen flora is closely allied to those described by Lesquereux as 
the Green River and Florissant floras, and which he regards as Oligo- 
cene or Upper Eocene. It is to be hoped that ere long the discovery 
of mammalian remains may throw further light on the precise age of 
the Tertiary lake basins of British Columbia” (1, c, iv, 90-91). 
In order to clearly bring out the questions at issue, and establish 
the correlation of the various Eocene floras, I have reduced to tabular 
form all such floras as have been studied by me, and have shown the 
occurrence of the same species as determined by other observers. While, 
therefore, this table aims primarily, to establish the relations of the 
Eocene floras, it will also show their contact with the Miocene and 
extension into the Cretaceous, including, however, only such species as 
are actual components of the various Eocene floras now under discussion. 
The particular floras, the age of which is at present a matter of 
discussion, are Coal Gully at Coutlee, B.C., the Horse-Fly river at 
Cariboo, the Kettle river deposits at Midway, the Quilchena beds which 
are closely associated with those at Coutlee, and the Similkameen beds in 
the valley of the same name. As a basis of reference and comparison, the 
age of certain floras is well known or at least accepted. They are the 
Red Deer of the Paskapoo Series and essentially Fort Union Group, the 
Union Group of the Yellowstone National Park and elsewhere in the 
United States and Canada, and the Lignite Tertiary of the Porcupine 
Creek and Great Valley, all of which are Lower Eocene. To this we 
may add the Eocene of the North Polar regions, the floras of which 
are Fort Union, as already shown. On the other hand, the Green 
River Group furnishes a correct index of the Upper Eocene or Oligocene 
floras. From these fixed data it may be possible to establish the proper 
correlation of the unknown horizons. 
à! 
