1875.] 'iOT [Stevenson. 



evidence of the associated marine fossils makes them Cretaceous, which 

 is the opinion now generally accepted, the species including Ammonites, 

 Baculites, etc."* 



The 1872 collections of Mr. Richardson were submitted to Dr. Dawson 

 for examination. The results as announced are quite positive, somewhat 

 contrasting in this respect with those already given. f Possibly his con- 

 clusions may have been affected by the presence of so great an abundance 

 of animal remains. Be this as it may, his language is open to no charge 

 of obscurity. 



"The fossils from the Queen Charlotte Islands, consisting entirely of 

 Pines and Cycads, while decidedly Mesozoic, would indicate a somewhat 

 older stage than the others, siy the Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous. 



"The fossils from the coal-field of Vancouver, embracing in addition 

 to coniferous trees, both wood and leaves of several species of angio- 

 spermous exogens, coincide with those of the Cretaceous of other parts 

 of America, for example of Nebraska. 



"The fossils from Hornby Island, in shales believed to overlie those of 

 Vancouver Island, are also Cretaceous, and there is nothing to preclude 

 their belonging to the upper part of that system." 



It should be mentioned here that Dr. Dawson refers to the Upper Creta- 

 ceous of Europe, the only portion of that system represented in America, 

 east from the Rocky Mountains. The Lower Cretaceous of Europe is 

 probably represented on the Pacific Coast by the Charlotte Island coals 

 and the Shasta Group of the California geologists. 



The evidence given by the animal remains is indisputable. The coals 

 at Nanaimo are at the horizon of the Niobrara, or Fort Pierre Group, 

 probably not far from the dividing line. The coals of the Comox field 

 ai'e lower in the system ; while the Queen Charlotte coals may belong to the 

 Lower Cretaceous (of Europe), or to the Jurassic, being on about the 

 same horizon as the Shasta Group of California. 



It is certainly very strange, after the publication of facts so convincing 

 as those given years ago by Meek and Newberry, and later by Gabb, 

 Selwyn, Richardson, Dawson, and Billings, that Mr. Lesquei-eux should 

 still maintain his original statement, as he does in the Seventh Annual 

 Report of the Geological Survey of the Territories. It is the more i-e- 

 markable because, in a volume pub]islied simultaneously with that report, 

 he places his Miocene flora of the Dakota Group at the base of the Creta- 

 ceous for no reason except that the Dakota rocks clearly underlie others 

 containing characteristic marine fossils of Cretaceous. This inconsis- 

 tency may be explained, however, by the fact that he has seen the rela- 

 tions of the Dakota Group in Nebraska, while he has never visited Van- 

 couver. 



The Rocky Mountain Region. 



In this region there seems to be two horizons of lignitic rocks ; one at 

 the base of the Cretaceous, extending probably from the far north in 



♦American Journal of Science, 3d series, Vol. 5, page 478. 

 t Report of Geological Survey of Canada, 1872-3. 



