﻿1861.] 



HECTOR ROCKY MOUMTAIKS, ETC. 



413 



Bituminous shales, resting on lime- 

 stone and covered by friable sand- 

 stone. The shale takes fire and 

 burns spontaneously. 



The limestone contains fossils that are 

 Jurassic (?). 



[From these shales perhaps come the 

 two species of Ammonites described 

 by Hind.] 



Described as occurring on the Mac- 

 kenzie River by Richardson. 



Similar bituminous shales on the 

 North Saskatchewan and on the 

 Athabasca where it cuts through to 

 outer range of the Rocky Mountains. 

 Containing Ostrea and Cardium. 



7Z c 



O r^J 



[For comparison with the foregoing section I give three sections of the Creta- 

 ceous beds and the Tertiaries immediately overlying them, extracted from the 

 Reports of the Mexican Boundary-commission, vol. i. p. 126 et passim, where 

 an able digest of their relations is given — prior, however, to the most recent of the 

 researches of Meek and Hayden. 



First. Section of Eastern States. New Jersey. 

 VIII. Upper greensand beds (3rd). 

 VII. Coarse and fine beachsand. 

 *jd ( VI. Middle greensand beds (2nd). 



V. Quartzose sand, indurated and concretionary, with oxide of iron. 

 Exogyra costafa, Ostrea larva, Belemnitetta, Pecten. 

 IV. Lower greensand beds (1st), marly clays. 

 Exogyra costata, Ostrea larva. 

 Gryphea, Ostrea vesicularis. 

 III. Dark-coloured clays, greensand in patches. 



Ammonites Delawarensis, A. placenta. 

 \ A. Conradi, Baculites ovatus, and casts of Cardium. 



In this position should be Nos. 2 and 3 of Meek & Hayden. 



No. 1. of J" II. Dark clays with fossil wood. 

 M. & H. ]_ I. Fire- and potter's clay, fossil leaves and wood. 



Second. Section of Strata on Mexican Frontier. 

 Tertiaries of west coast. Miocene. 



Tertiaries east of the mountains ; sandstone, sands, and conglomerates 

 like those of the Mauvaises Terres in Nebrasca. 

 Calcareous beds with marine Eocene fossils underlying unconformably the 

 preceding strata. 



Cretaceous. 



1. Ai-gillaceous beds. Exogyra costata. 



2. Calcareous beds, buff- and lead-coloured, with beds of white limestone. 



Gryphea Pitcheri, Cardium multistriatum, Toxaster, Holectypus, 

 Ammonites Texanus, Hippurites, Nerinea, Caprina, &c. 



3. Sandstones of various colours with beds of clay. 



Carboniferous. 



Third. Section from the Missouri westward. 

 Tertiary indurated clays, sandstones, conglomerate, and limestone, 

 with mammalian and chelonian remains, and fresh-water shells. 



f o. Arenaceous clays, argillo-calcareous sandstones. 80 feet. 

 | 4. Plastic clavs, concretionary calcareous sandstone, 

 i 250 to 300 feet. 



Nos. III. IV. & 

 V. of the New 

 Jersey Section. 

 C. & D. of 

 Nicollet. 



j. This is the principal fossil-bearing bed of the Upper Missouri. 



separated by a belt of clays like C, may include deposits of two different ages — 

 the one Upper Cretaceous or Eocene, like the beds at La Roche Percee, and the 

 other Cretaceous, in the jDosition assigned to it in the section. 



TOT,. XVII. PART I. 2 E 



