TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 81 



marine forms in some beds; and in others PaluJina is the prevalent fossil. On the 

 very high grounds (such as the Ocheschis or Hand Hills and the Cyprees Hills), these 

 strata pass up into sands, gravel, and beds of coarse shingle, which, at the same level 

 (4000 feet above the sea), skirt the base of the Rocky Mountains, and there rest on 

 the edges of upturned strata of various ages. 



-All the strata which 1 have mentioned are covered with a mantle of drift, which 

 does not rise much above 3000 feet; but near Battle River there seems to be a group 

 of deposits which I have termed Tertiaries of the low grounds. 



The strata composing the Rocky Mountains may be briefly described as follows : 

 — In crossing from the east, thirty or forty miles before entering the range, beds of 

 grits and shales are observed much disturbed, but obviously dipping to the east. 

 From a level of 4000 feet above the sea, the mountains rise as parallel ranges of cliffs 

 from 3000 to 4000 feet in height. The first five or six of these ranges are composed 

 of blue crystalline and earthy limestone in bold plications, including portions of the 

 same grits and clays that are seen along the eastern base. This group of strata must 

 be several thousand feet in thickness, and contain fossils of Carboniferous age. To 

 the west, and forming the range which in general determines the water-shed, is an 

 immense thickness of quartzite and conglomerates, not much altered, and apparently 

 horizontal. A wide longitudinal valley marks the line between this formation and 

 the last mentioned, and is probably the site of a great fault. 



On descending the western slope of the mountains, while in the bottom of the 

 valleys are vertical talcose slates, the higher parts of the mountains are composed of 

 the same strata which form the eastern ranges, until the great valley is reached, 

 which the Columbia and Kootanie rivers traverse, while their course is parallel to the 

 range. 



West of this a belt of slates and semi-metamorphic rocks was crossed, followed by 

 granite with true metamorphic rocks containing serpentine and marble, which brings 

 us to Colville. 



South and west of this plain commence the great superficial floes of basalt with 

 beds of tufa, which have emanated from the flanks of the Cascade range. The Cas- 

 cade range itself consists of syenite and slates, with volcanic rock of recent date. 



The greater mass of Vancouver's Island is composed of the same metamorphic 

 strata as at Colville ; but along both sides of the Gulf of Georgia, which separate it 

 from the mainland, and also forming the islands in that gulf, occur beds of grits and 

 coarse conglomerate, much disturbed and resting on volcanic rocks, and containing 

 the well-known deposits of coal and lignite as at Nanaimo and Bellingham Bay. 

 These coal-bearing grits at Nanaimo, I found to be overlaid by Septarian clays, such 

 as those I have found to the eastward of the Rocky Mountains, and containing the 

 same cretaceous fossils, comprising Bacidites and Inocerami. These clays are ob- 

 served, again, to be covered by grits. Fossils were obtained at some distance below 

 the coal at the base of the whole group, which have not yet arrived in England for 

 examination. They are, however, either lower cretaceous or oolitic forms. 



Remarks on the Geology of New Zealand, illustrated by Geological Maps, 

 Drawings, and Photographs. By Prof. F. von Hochstetter. 



Some Observations upon the Geological Features of the Volcanic Island of 

 St. Paul, in the South Indian Ocean, illustrated by a Model in Relief of 

 the Island, made by Capt. Cybidz, of the Austrian Artillery. By Prof. F. 

 von Hochstetter. 



On the Six-inch Maps of the Geological Survey. 

 By E. Hull, B.A., F.G.S. 



On the Blenheim Iron Ore ; and the Thickness of the Formations below the 

 Great Oolite at Stonesfield, Oxfordshire. By Edward Hull, B.A., 

 F.G.S. 



The author described the position of this iron ore as occurring in the upper part of 

 the Marlstone or Middle Lias, along the valley of the Evenlode, near Charlbury ; its 

 1860. 6 



