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crop out along tlie slope of the mountain, while reddish and yellowish 

 ripple-marked sandstones compose the upper part of the same. Below 

 the limestone, he saw exposures of a whitish fine sandstone, hand 

 specimens of which closely resemble examples of the Potsdam sandstone 

 brought by Dr. Hayden from the Black Hills and several localities along 

 the Eocky Mountains, where that rock is known to be immediately over- 

 laid by Carboniferous limestones. 



Fossils are apparently rare in this Carboniferous limestone, near the 

 line of the boundary survey, where they are usually so firmly imbedded 

 in the hard brittle matrix that no specimens were procured in a condi- 

 tion to show very clearly their specific characters. Those collected con- 

 sist of a small Zaplirentis^ a Spirifer allied to ;S'. KeolxuJc, a small AtJiyris 

 apparently undistinguishable from A. suhtilita, and a large Productus 

 agreeing nearly with P. latissinms, Sowerby. 



From these fossils, we can safely refer this rock to the Carboniferous 

 system, and even with some degree of confidence, to the lower or Mount- 

 ain Limestone series of the same. It is true, Athyris suhtlUta is gen- 

 erally, in this country, regarded as a Coal-Measure species ; but we have 

 a form in the Lower Carboniferous series of the Mississippi Valley, 

 scarcely distinguishable, which is even by some regarded as a variety 

 of A. suhtilita ; while Mr. Davidson identifies that species in the Lower 

 Carboniferous rocks of England. Sinrifer Keolcuk and Productus latis- 

 simus are both Lower Carboniferous species, while the latter is very 

 unlike any of our known American Coal-Measure species. In its litho- 

 logical characters, the matrix containing these fossils likewise agrees 

 well with beds in the region of the Great Salt Lake containing Lower 

 Carboniferous fossils, and apparently the same Spirifer mentioned above; 

 while it is quite unlike any of the known beds of the Far- West that can 

 be certainly referred to the Coal-Measures. 



The presence here of Carboniferous rocks would seem to lend at least 

 some encouragement to the hope that true coal of Carboniferous age 

 may be found at some place along the Eocky Mountains farther south, 

 near the line of the ^N'orth Pacific Eailroad. 



A few fragments of apparently Carboniferous or possibly Devonian 

 fossils were also found on a small tributary of Fraser Eiver, about 

 fifty miles from the Gulf of Georgia. They occur in a dark, very hard, 

 partly metamorphosed limestone, and consist of criuoid columns, and a 

 portion of a large Zaphrentis. The crinoid columns have been dissolved 

 out, and the cavities subsequently filled with calcareous matter retaining 

 the original form, but not the structure of the fossils. Some of the col- 

 umns measure as much as 0.80 inch in diameter, and show by the constric- 

 tions in the comparatively large central cavity some fourteen or fifteen 

 segments in the space of an inch. The Zaphrentis, when entire, must 

 have measured about 2J inches in diameter at the larger end, being 

 nearly as large as the Devonian Z. gigantea, though proportionally 

 shorter, more abruptly tapering, and apparently more carved. ISTone 

 of these specimens, however, were in a condition to be figured. 



The Cretaceous fossils contained in the collection are from two local- 

 ities on Vancouver's Island, and in part from Sucia Islands in the Gulf 

 of Georgia. Those originally sent to the Smithsonian Institution were 

 all from Vancouver's Island, and at the time they were examined by the 

 writer, were supposed to have been all obtained from one locality, though 

 we now know that they came from two distinct localities. They gave evi- 

 dence, in the nature of the matrix, however, as well as in the species, of 

 having been obtained from two different beds or rocks, one of which 

 was unhesitatingly referred to the Cretaceous epoch. The specimens 



