185 



of these shales have been recognized also on Gabriola, Valdez and Gali- 

 ano Islands. 



No remains of any characteristic vertebrata or invertebrata have yet 

 been found in the three upper Divisions. E, F and G, of the Comox Coal 

 Field, or in Divisions C to G, inclusive, of the Nanaimo district.* Yet, as 

 the whole of these Divisions, from A to G, inclusive, lie conformably 

 the one on the other, in regular succession, it is at least highly probable 

 that they all belong to the same formation. 



Turning next to the columns on the right hand side of the table it will 

 be seen that at least one species of Cei^halopoda, ten of Gasteropoda and 

 nineteen of Lamellibranchiata, collected by Mr. Eichardson, occur also 

 in the Chico Group of California, and that about nine per cent, of the 

 fossils in the list are common to the Coal-bearing rocks of Yancouver 

 and to the Martinez and Tejon Groups. 



In the second volume of the Paleontology of California, Prof. Whitney 

 and Mr. Gabb maintain that the coal-bearing formation of Yancouver 

 Island is of the same age as the Chico Group, and this is no doubt true 

 as regards Divisions A and B of the Comox and Nanaimo districts, 

 which were the only parts of the formation that had been examined at 

 that time. Mr. Kichardson's collections show that the Productive Coal 

 Measures of the Cowitchen area and Divisions C and D of the Comox 

 Coal field also form part of the same north-westerly continuation and 

 modification of the Chico Group. 



The Martinez is now generally regarded as only a local sub-division of 

 the Chico Group, of which it forms the uppermost member. It will be 

 noticed that seven out of nine Martinez species collected by Mr. Eich- 

 ardson in the Yancouver Cretaceous occur also in the Chico Group. 



Mr. Conrad has claimed that the Tejon Group is of Eocene age, but in 

 the Nanaimo and Comox districts nine well known Tejon species occur 

 in rocks which hold unquestionable Cretaceous fossils, such as Ammon- 

 ites and Baculites. 



In California, the Chico Group, (with the Martinez,) probably repre- 

 sents the Lower and Upper Chalk of Europe, while, according to Mr. 

 Gabb, the Tejon Group corresponds very nearly to the Maestricht beds. 

 On joalajontological and stratigraphical grounds, it also seems most likely 

 that the coal formation of theNanaimo, Cowitchin and Comox districts is 



* Some obscure organisms from the Upper Conglomerates (G.) of Hornby Island on the 

 north side of Tribune Bay, which Mr. Eichardson thought were fragments of a guard of a 

 Belemnlte (G. S. C, Rep. Prog., 1ST2-T3, p. 51), appear to the writer to be pieces of the shelly 

 tube of a Ter^o, possibly of T, Suciensis. 



