[berry-johnston[ pleistocene INTERGLACIAL DEPOSITS 137 



Cascade uplift, was much the same as it is at the present time can 

 scarcely be doubted, but the fossils collected do not represent a 

 sufficiently varied assemblage to make reliable conclusions possible. 



It will be seen from the ranges given under the species enumerated 

 below that some of these extend southward as far as New Jersey, 

 Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, and California, and that they are 

 properly considered as temperate types. The presence of a willow, 

 identified as Salix Barclayi, is more than offset by the southern 

 ranges just alluded 'to, and by the presence of an Arctostaphylos, 

 which, as near as I can determine, is closest to the Sonoran species 

 Arctostaphylos manzanita Parry. 



The fossil plants are clearly indicative of a bog, moor, or heath 

 environment, but that the region was in general forested and trees 

 were near at hand is shown by the lignified branches and Populus 

 fruits already mentioned, and by Vaccinium ovalifolium which is a 

 shady forest shrub rather than a bog plant. Although it is impossible 

 to arrive at perfectly conclusive results in dealing with so small an 

 assemblage, there is nothing in the plants described that in my judg- 

 ment warrants considering that the climate was especially different 

 from what it is at the present time in this part of British Columbia. 



It is to be expected that fossils of such recent geological times 

 shall be largely, if not exclusively, of still existing species, as are 

 those of the Point Grey deposits. The fact that some differences in 

 range as compared with existing ranges are shown by Salix Barclayi 

 and the Arctostaphylos warrants considering the deposit as of late 

 Pleistocene age, and the character of the plants suggests that they 

 were contemporaneous with the last interglacial period, or, still 

 more probably, that they flourished during one of those climatic 

 oscillations corresponding to those of post Wisconsin or post Wiirm 

 time. The latter have been worked out with great precision for the 

 Alps by Penck, and for the Scandinavian ice-sheet by De Geer 

 and his collaborators. The recent studies by De Geer and his assist- 

 ants in New York and New England have suggested that the major 

 climatic history of late glacial time was a general and not a local 

 affair. I would, therefore, be inclined to think that the fossil plants 

 found at Point Grey represent a warm interval in late glacial time, 

 probably subsequent to the maximum advance of the Wisconsin ice- 

 sheet of the northeastern part of North America. The species identi- 

 fied from the Point Grey deposit are briefly commented upon in the 

 following notes: 



