Nov. 12, 1 885 J 



NA TURE 



IZ 



West Territories of Canada, prepared by Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson, and have fully stated the geological position of 

 the plants at that time described. The new facts de- 

 tailed now require us to intercalate in our table three 

 distinct plant-horizons not previously recognised in the 

 western territories of Canada. One of these, the Kootanie 

 series, should probably be placed at the base of the table 

 as a representative of the Urgonian or Neocomian, or, at 

 the very least, should be held as not newer than the 

 Shasta group of the United States Geologists, and the 

 Lower Sandstones and Shales of the Queen Charlotte 

 Islands. It would seem to correspond m the character 

 of its fossil plants with the oldest Cretaceous floras recog- 

 nised in Europe and Asia, and with that of the Komd 

 formation in Greenland, as described by Heer. No 

 similar flora seems yet to have been distinctly recognised 

 in the United States, except, perhaps, that of the beds in 

 Maryland, holding cycads, and which were referred many 

 years ago by Tyson to the Wealden. 



The second of these plant-horizons separated, according 

 to Dr. G. M. Dawson, by a considerable thickness of 

 strata, is that which he has called the Mill Creek series, 

 and which corresponds very closely with that of the 

 Dakota group, as described by Lesquereux, and that of 

 the Atan^ and Patoot formations in Greenland, as 

 described by Heer. This fills a gap, indicated only con- 

 jecturally in the table of 1883. Along with the plants 

 from the Dunvegan group of Peace River, described in 

 1883, it would seem to represent the flora of the Ceno- 

 manian and Turonian divisions of the Cretaceous in 

 Europe. 



Above this we have also to intercalate a third sub-flora, 

 that of the Belly River series at the base of the Fort 

 Pierre group. This, though separated from the Laramie 

 proper by the marine beds of the Pierre and Fox Hill 

 groups, more than 1700 feet in thickness, introduces the 

 Laramie or Danian flora, which continues to the top of 

 the Cretaceous, and probably into the Eocene, and in- 

 cludes several species still surviving on the American 

 continent, or represented by forms so close that they may 

 be varietal merely. 



Lastly, the subdivision of the Laramie group, in the 

 last Report of Dr. G. M. Dawson, into the three members 

 known respectively as the Lower or St. Mary River series, 

 the Middle or Willow Creek series, and the Upper or 

 Porcupine Hill series, in connection with the fact that the 

 fossil plants occur chiefly in the lower and upper mem- 

 bers, enables us now to divide the Laramie flora proper 

 into two sub-floras — an older, closely allied to that of the 

 Belly River series below ; and a newer, identical with that 

 of Souris River, described as Laramie in Dr. G. M. Daw- 

 son's Report on the 49th Parallel, 1876, and in the Report 

 of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1879, 'I'ld which 

 appears to agree with that known in the United States as 

 the Fort Union group, and in part at least with the so- 

 called Miocene of Heer from Greenland. 



From the animal fossils and the character of the flora 

 it would seem probable that the rich flora of the Creta- 

 ceous coal-fields of \'ancouver Island is nearly synchron- 

 ous with that of the coal-bearing Belly River series of the 

 western plains. 



It will thus be seen that the explorations already made 

 in Canadian territory have revealed a very complete series 

 of Cretaceous plants, admitting, no doubt, of large addi- 

 tions to the number of species by future discoveries, and 

 also of the establishment of connecting links between the 

 different members, but giving a satisfactory basis for the 

 knowledge of the succession of plants and for the deter- 

 mination of the ages of formations by their vegetable 

 fossils. 



The successive series may be tabulated as follows, with 

 references for details to the fuller table in my memoir of 



Successive Floras and Sub-Floras of the Cretaceous in 

 Canada {in Descending Order) 



/ 



P( 



Floras and Sub-Floras 



Upper Laramie or Por- 

 cupine Hill Series 



Middle Laramie or Willov 

 Creek Series. 



Lower Laramie or St. 

 Mary River Series 



Fox Hill Series 

 Fort Pierre Series 



Belly River Series. (See 

 note.) 



Coal Measures of Nanaimo, 

 B.C., probably here ... 



Dunvegan Series of Peace 

 River. (See note.) ... 



Mill Creek Series of Rocky 

 Mountains 



Suskwa River and .Queen 

 Charlotte Island Series. 

 Intermediate Series of 

 Rocky Mountains 



Kootanie Series of Rocky 

 Mountains 



Platanus beds of Souris 

 River and Calgary. 

 Report Geol. Survey of 

 Canada for 1S79, and 

 memoir of 1885. 



Lemna and Pistia beds 

 of bad lands of 49th 

 Parallel, Red Deer 

 River, &c., with Lig- 

 nites. Report 49th 

 Parallel and memoir 

 of 1885. 



Marine. 



Marine. 



' Sequoia and Brasenia 

 beds of S. Saskatche- 

 wan, Belly River, &c. , 

 with Lignites. Memoir 



t of 1885. 



Memoir ot 1SS3. Many 

 Dicotyledons, Palms, 

 &c. 



Memoir of 1883. Many 

 Dicotyledons, Cycads, 

 &c. 



Dicotyledonous leaves, 

 similar to Dakota Group 

 of the U.S. Memoir 

 of 1885. 



i Cycads, Pines, a few 



) Dicotyledons. Report 



) Geol. Survey. Memoir 

 ( of 1885. 



( Cycads, Pines, and Ferns. 

 / Memoir of 1885. 



Note. — Though the flora of the Belly River Series very 

 closely resembles that of the Lower Laramie, showing tha 

 similar plants existed throughout the Senonian and Danian 

 periods in North America, yet it is to be anticipated that specific 

 differences will develop themselves in the progress of discovery. 

 In the meantime it scarcely seems possible to distinguish by 

 fossil plants alone the Lower Laramie beds from those of Belly 

 River, and if these are really separated by 1700 feet of marine 

 strata, as is now believed on stratigraphical grounds, the flora 

 must have been remarkably persistent. The Dunvegan series of 

 Peace River probably corresponds in time with the marine 

 Niobrara and Benton groups farther south, and the Mill Creek 

 with the Dakota group 



