[PENHALLOW] A REPORT ON FOSSIL PLANTS 327 
The Miocene age of the Similkameen beds has been adopted by 
Ami (2: iv, 220), who includes them in the Cordilleran Region, basing 
his opinion upon the determinations of plants by Sir William Dawson, 
and of insects by Scudder (1: p. 7). On the other hand, Dr. G. M. 
Dawson, in adopting the view that the Similkameen beds are Oligocene 
or later Eocene (16: pp. 75-76 B), bases his opinion upon the results 
obtained by Scudder, according to which sixteen out of nineteen species 
of Tertiary Hemiptera were from the Similkameen beds — all but one 
being new — and in their general facies of the Oligocene type, although 
the general fauna showed definite relations with the Middle Miocene; 
while Cope recognized the remains of Amyzon in the Similkameen 
beds which were, therefore, regarded by him as equivalent to the Amyzon 
beds of Oregon, and ñence of Oligocene age. Dr. Dawson further ob- 
serves that “It is probable that the Similkameen beds may À 
represent the Coldwater horizon, but for the present this spedlntin 
stands merely as a probable conjecture” (1. c.). According to this 
hypothesis, the Coldwater horizon is within the Oligocene formation, 
and this conclusion is in exact accordance with the results of our pre- 
sent studies. Reference to the accompanying table will show that out 
of thirty species from the Similkameen beds, only ten, or 33 per cent, 
are Lower Eocene, thus leaving two-thirds as distinctly Upper Eocene 
and with Miocene affinities. From these considerations it would seem 
altogether probable that we must hereafter regard the Similkameen 
beds as Oligocene, and to the same category must no doubt be referred 
the various deposits at Midway on the Kettle river, where, out of seven 
identical species, three are distinctly allied to the Similkameen, and 
one to the Green River Group, thus giving 57 per cent of Upper Eocene 
types. With respect to the plants from the Horse-Fly river at Cari- 
boo, it should be pointed out that the number of species is small, and 
that they do not afford a fair opportunity for final judgment, but within 
the limits of twelve species four are definitely Upper Eocene, six are as 
definitely Lower Eocene and two are common to both horizons, while 
four species establish a strong contact with the Cretaceous; but as Taxo- 
dium distichum is a very cosmopolitan species of wide range, it cannot 
be said to have leading weight in a question of this kind, more especially 
as its chief aspect is Eocene. ‘Alnites grandifolium is common to the 
entire Eocene, being found in the Red Deer River Group as well as in 
the Similkameen, so that it affords no conclusive evidence as to the 
relative age of the beds in which it occurs. Whether Alnites and 
Taxodium be excluded or not, the general facies of the Horse-Fly river 
plants inclines much more to the Similkameen Group than to the Fort 
Sec. IV., 1907. 20. 
