ARE BO WLDER CLA YS MA NINE f 261 



writes: "Taking the ev^idence all in all, I do not think there is 

 any serious difficulty in accounting for Cretaceous forms in the 

 drift of this region" (Chicago). After referring to the interest 

 attaching to Mr. Wright's observations, he adds the following 

 interesting suggestion concerning them: "It has occurred to me 

 to raise the question whether a certain number of marine micro- 

 scopic forms are not to be expected in any slow-accumulating 

 deposit like a clay, in the interior of the continent, having been 

 borne there by the wind with other dust picked up from marine 

 flats on the windward side of the continent." 



The purpose of this communication is accomplished in stating 

 as above, briefly, the new facts which appear to bear upon the 

 question asked in its title. It seems to be at least very prob- 

 able that, in addition to derived Cretaceous foraminifera often 

 found in the drift deposits of the Great Plains, we have con- 

 temporaneous forms of the sea of the glacial period, still unfilled 

 with mineral matter, unaltered, hyaline in aspect, and represent- 

 ing the same species elsewhere commonly found in deposits of 

 this period. Should further investigation confirm the contempo- 

 raneous and autochthonous character of this fauna, it will greatly 

 assist in enabling the formation of definite hypotheses respecting 

 events of the glacial period in the western part of the continent. 



Mr. Wright's notes on the specimens of bowlder clay from 

 the Saskatchewan, are as follows : — 



No. I. Bowlder clay, twelve miles below Victoria. Weight 4 lbs. 4.5 

 oz Troy. After washing — Fine i lb. 3.7 oz. Course 0.7 oz. Stones mostly 

 rounded, some angular. 



Gandryifia Sp., very rare. 



Bu/imina piipoides D'Orb., frequent. 



Pulvmulina Karsteni {Kss.),'v&ry rare. 



Nonionina depresstila (W. & J.), very rare. 



Rotalia orbicularis, D'Orb., very rare. 



Radiolria, frequent. 



Sponge spicules, rare. 



No. 2. Bowlder clay, twelve miles below Victoria. Weight 2 lbs. 6.2 

 oz. Troy. After washing — Fine S.goz. Coarse 0.5 oz. Stones mostly rounded, 

 some ancrular. 



