12 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



mcconxell's table of western strata 



Tertiary : 



Cretaceous : 



Pliocene(?) Saskatchewan gravels 

 Miocene 



Fox Hill 

 Pierre 

 Belly River 

 ^ Lower Dark shales 



McConnell's report records the first discovery of fossil vertebrates 

 in western Canada. 



During the years 1884-86 Mr. J. B. Tyrrell carried on extensive 

 exploration in northern Alberta and added the terms "Paskapoo" 

 and "Edmonton" to the stratigraphie column, as subdivisions of the 

 Laramie. The Paskapoo was made to embrace Dawson's Porcupine 

 Hill and Willow Creek series and most of his St. Mary River beds. 

 Later Tyrrell worked out the stratigraphy of the Duck and Riding 

 mountains and did extensive and important work in Northwest Mani- 

 toba. He divided the Pierre into two series — the Millwood and 

 Odanah — ^recognized the Niagara age of the Silurian and subdivided 

 the Devonian into Upper Devonian or Manitoban, Middle Devonian 

 or Winnipegosan, and Lower Devonian. Tyrrell made very extensive 

 collections of fossils, which subsequently proved of great value in the 

 hands of Dr. Whiteaves. 



Tyrrell together with Dowling carried the classification into the 

 region of the Athabaska and Churchill rivers. They recognized 

 Devonian rocks in this area and the occurrence of the Athabaska 

 sandstone which they ascribed to the Cambrian (Keweenawan). 

 The Cretaceous strata were classified as follows : — 



TYRRELL AND DOWLING's CLASSIFICATION OF NORTHERN CRETACEOUS 



Dark shales — Pierre 



Calcareous shales — -Niobrara-Benton 



Incoherent sandstones — Dakota 



The next development of importance was the classification of the 

 Palaeozoic rocks of Manitoba by Dowling. His report gives great 

 credit to Professor Panton and Mr. A. McCharles for previous work 

 and for the collecting of fossils. Dowling draws a close comparison 

 with the Minnesota section and gives the following table of classifi- 

 cation :— 



