68 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



fossils were found is not stated, the thickness of the strata from the 

 fossil horizon to the unconformity between the Beltian and the 

 Shuswap can not be given. The thickness of the strata from the base 

 of the Laurie formation to the above unconformity is 4,100 feet. This 

 thickness is not nearly sufficient to include the lower Palaeozoic, and 

 the whole of the Beltian since the Cambrian^ alone is 12,000 feet 

 thick while the Beltian^ is at least 15,000 feet thick. The above facts 

 strongly support the contention that the great unconformity between 

 the Beltian and the Shuswap (Archaean) does not exist in the Selkirk 

 Mountains at least in the position given to it by Daly. Hence the 

 Shuswap of Daly, east of Revelstoke may be Beltian, and possibly, in 

 part, lower Palaeozoic. According to McConnelP, the Shuswap series of 

 Archaean age which consists of schists of various types, and crystal- 

 line limestones is overlain on the Omineca River by a band of slates, 

 quartzites, and conglomerates similar in lithological character and in 

 geological position to the Bow River series of the Bow River section 

 and like it, probably referable to the Lower and Middle Cambrian. 

 From the above discussion it can be readily seen that the present 

 status of the Shuswap series as Archaean is very much in doubt, and 

 the general tendency is to place the greater part of the Shuswap in the 

 Beltian, with some in the lower Palaeozoic in certain localities. It 

 does not preclude the possibility that part of the Shuswap may be 

 Archaean in age, although there is no undisputed evidence for this 

 supposition. It is evident that the rocks mapped as Shuswap in the 

 dififerent areas are in some cases of different geological ages, with a 

 strong possibility that there are no Archaean rocks exposed in southern 

 British Columbia. In order to solve the problem of the Shuswap 

 terrane, much careful and arduous field work must be undertaken. 



The Beltia-N 



In interpreting any description or discussion by Dawson of the 

 Cambrian (Beltian of later writers) rocks in Canada, it must be 

 remembered that Dawson^ included in the Cambrian all the stratified 

 rocks which occur conformably below the Olenellus Zone and above 

 the Archaean (Shuswap series). Walcott* includes in the Pre-Cam- 

 brian (Algonkian or Beltian) those strata which occur below the 

 general unconformity marking the base of the Cambrian whether 



1 Walcott, C. D., Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 57, No. 12, 1913, p. 342. 



2 Schofield, S. J., Geol. Surv., Can., Mem. 76, 1915, p. 25. 



3 McConnell, R. G., Geol. Surv., Can., Ann. Rept., vol. VII, 1894, p. 33C. 

 * Dawson, G. M., Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 2, 1891, p. 11. 



5 Walcott, C. D., Smith. Misc. Coll., vol. 57, 1910, p. 11. 



