648 A. C. PEALE 
not yet been definitely identified in any part of the disturbed belt 
bordering the mountains, where, from the complicated character 
of the sections and absence of fossils, it is difficult to discriminate 
-between it and the lithologically similar beds of the Laramie.” 
By Laramie, Dawson meant the beds which overlie the Fox Hills 
Cretaceous, including his Porcupine Hills and St. Mary’s series, 
or, as the Canadians name them later, ‘‘Paskapoo”’ and ‘‘Edmon- 
ton.”’ As Dawson says,’ it is not intended by its [Laramie] use 
to differentiate the beds so named from those of the Judith River 
and Fort Union series, with which they may be found to’blend as 
the intervening district is more completely explored. That Daw- 
son was not himself satisfied is shown by the fact that in the same 
report, pp. 125, 126, he suggests an alternative explanation which 
involves the existence of an unconformity at the base of the Judith 
River formation. The evident confusion in trying to differentiate 
between these ‘‘Laramie” beds (Dawson) and the Belly River beds 
was not cleared up until more complete stratigraphic examinations 
were made by R. G. McConnell? and J. B. Tyrrell. 
McConnell, when considering the stratigraphical position of the 
Belly River beds, writes as follows :4 
The doubt which existed at one time in regard to the stratigraphical position 
of the Belly River series, on account of the Laramie facies of its invertebrate 
fauna, has been removed by a more complete examination of its eastern margin. 
Its line of contact with the Pierre has now been traced, through a distance of 
over 150 miles, by numerous exposures, all of which afforded the clearest pos- 
sible proof of its subordinate position. The junction is marked in many places 
by low plateaus (see p. 41), which offer exceptional facilities for noting the 
relations of the two formations, as they owe their origin directly to the super- 
position of a protecting covering of the less easily eroded dark shales on the 
light-colored beds below. The western slopes of these plateaus are usually 
bare, and the line of contact between the two dissimilarly colored series dis- 
tinctly drawn. A reference to the general section which accompanies the map 
will also show that at the west end of the Cypress Hills, the Laramie and Belly 
River series, separated by the Pierre shales, occur in what is practically the 
same section, and as the beds have been so little disturbed that their maximum 
dip seldom exceeds ten feet to the mile, and consequently no question of over- 
t Geol. Surv. Canada, Report for t88o~-82, Montreal, 1883, p. 2B. 
1 Geol. Surv. Canada, I, ‘‘ Report for 1885,’ Montreal, pp. 1-85c. 
3 [bid., II, ‘‘ Report for 1886,’’ Montreal, pp. 1-176e. 
4 Tbid., p. 64c. 
