THE CEETACEOIJS AND LAKAMIE OP CANADA. 37 



bare plains of interior America. Further, since the break which, in Western Europe, sepa- 

 rates the flora of the Cretaceous from that of the Eocene, does not exist in America, it will 

 then be possible to trace the succession of plants all the way from the Mesozoic flora of 

 the Queen Charlotte Islands and the Kootanie series, described in previous papers in these 

 Transactions, up to the close of the Eocene, and to determine, for America at least, the 

 manner and conditions under which the angiospermoi;s flora of the later Cretaceous suc- 

 ceeded to the pines and cycads which characterised the beginning of the Cretaceous 

 period. 



Note.— While the above paper -n-as passing through the press, I received the "Synopsis of the Flora of the 

 Laramie Group" and " Types of the Laramie Flora," by Mr. Lester F. Ward, which are very valuable contributions 

 to the literature of this subject. In the former, Mr. Ward establishes, by a careful discussion and tabulation of the 

 species, the fact that the Laramie flora has close relations with that of the Upper Cretaceous on the one hand and 

 that of the Eocene on the other, and that the Fort Union group constitutes its upper member and more northern 

 representative. In this he agrees, on the one hand, with Cope, White and other zoological palseontologists, and on 

 the other with the conclusions long ago stated, in so far as Canada is concerned, by Dr. G. M. Dawson and the 

 writer. 'J'his memoir, in short, may be considered as conclusive on these points, so far as the United States 

 geologists are concerned. Mr. Ward states his final conclusions as follows : — 



" It is wliolly immaterial whether we call the Laramie Cretaceous or Tertiary, so long as we correctly under- 

 stand its relations to the beds below and above it. We know that the strata immediately beneath are recognised 

 as Upper Cretaceous, and we equally know that the strata above are recognised as Lower Tertiary. Whether this 

 great intermediate deposit be known as Cretaceous or Tertiary is therefore merely a question of a name, aud its 

 decision one way or another cannot advance our knowledge in the least." 



Geologists may perhaps take exception to the small value attached to stratigraphical names and classification 

 by the palseobotanist ; but they will hail with pleasure his decided conclusions as to the evidence of the flora with 

 regard to the position of this much disputed formation. I may add here that the facts adduced by ilr. Ward show 

 the existence in the United States of the same distinction between Upper and Lovrer Laramie observed in Canada, 

 and that the lower member seems there to be richer in plants than it has yet proved to be in this country. 



In his later memoir, Mr. Ward discusses some points of interest with reference to the Laramie species. One 

 only of this requires notice here at present. He establishes as a distinct species the auriculate specimens of 

 Platavus nohilis, under the name P. basUobata. I confess I doubt this, as, in the numerous specimens in my collec- 

 tions and tliose of the Geological Survej', some possess and others want the basal lobes without shewing any other 

 diSerence, and the basal lobes are often wanting or concealed in the matrix when traces remain to show that they 

 were present. Mr. Ward's own observations with regard to the occasional presence of such lobes in the modern 

 American Platanus agree with this. 



