"250 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vil. 



prob;ibly Rnbns and Iledera are among the genera represented ; 

 and it is not the least romarkable of the facts indicated by 

 these deposits that they thus prove tliat in a conip ir;«tively 

 modern period tlie region now so entirely destitute of trees was 

 covered by a dense growth of foi 3St. 



Though it must not bo supposed that the lignites of this re- 

 gion are comparable with true coal as fuel, they are still of con- 

 siderable value, and will play a very important {)art in the 

 settlement of a country so destitute of wood, not only as fuel for 

 ordinary use, but in the manufacture of bricks for constructive 

 purposes from the abundant clays. Most of the samples obtained 

 •were necessarily merely outcrop ones, and these fuels deteriorate 

 xapidly under the action of the weather ; still the average of 

 fixed carbon in 13 samples from widely separated localities was 

 over 40 per cent, and the ash in nearly every case very small in 

 amount and light in colour, indicating the absencL^ of iron pyrites. 



As examples of the composition, two analyses of lignites from 

 good compact seams, where the b mk had recently fallen away 

 and exposed a fresh surface, are here given. The first is from a 

 l)ed 7 feet 3 inches thick on the Souris ; the second from the 

 lower part of the 18 foot bed included in the last section, and at 

 a distance from the other of considerably over 100 miles. 



*Souris R. Valleif, 1ft. 3 jh. seam. J'orcupine Creek, l%ft. seam. 



Water 15.1 1 Water 12.0.5 



Fi.xi'd Ciirbun 45.57 Carbon 46.18 



Volatile niattL-r, . . , H'J 7(3 Volatile matter. . . .3"). 12 

 Ash 4.50 Ash 6.65 



These lignites, therefore, while superior to many which are 

 nised in other parts of the world, are somewhat inferior to the 

 best class of lignite coals found on the line of the Union Pacific 

 llailway, some of which contain from 45 to 53 per cent, of fixed 

 carbon. These occur in detached basins of this formation, but 

 probably in lower beds than those now described, and have also 

 been improved by metamorphism connected with the elevatioa 

 of the mountains with which they are in proximity, and with 

 the contortion of the strata containing them, the lignites being 

 in some cases actually on edge, and frequently inclined at high 

 angles. Similar flexures will probably be found to affect the 

 formation north of the 41)th parallel, when ti'aced towards the 

 Biountains, and the lignites may improve in quality in the same 

 -waj. The deposits here described, however, gain much by their 



