﻿18(51.] 



HECTOli — KOCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 



410 



cata, Cytlierm Texana, Eocogyra (2 sp.), Trigonia Emori, Area, and 

 Nodosaria, — thus including both fossils found in the neighbourhood 

 of the lignite on Red Deer River, and also some that were found along 

 with that of Vancouver Island. 



On Battle River, in latitude 52° 17', the banded clays were also 

 observed with the same features and with the same fossils. From 

 that river to Red Deer River they appear to form the surface of the 

 country, as every shallow ravine shows slides of the white chalky beds, 

 and the white mud-swamps are very common. At the "elbow" of 

 Battle River, the strata have a slight easterly dip ; and in the upper 

 part of the bank were obtained in a concretionary sandstone Avicula, 

 Cardium, Gytherea, and BacuUtes compressus. 



A little higher up the river, and towards the base of the bank, 

 Ostrea cortex was found, as on Red Deer River. For fifteen miles above 

 this point the valley is cut through these strata ; and then the banded 

 clays are seen to form the higher portion of the banks, still with 

 rolled fragments of Ostrea at their base in some places, and resting 

 on strata containing silicified wood, which form the lower part of the 

 bank, while in the bottom of the valley the true lignite appears. 



Group B. — In my next and lowest group I have (with great 

 hesitation) classed the large deposits of coal or lignite, of the Prairie- 

 country, that are sufficiently compact to be of value as fuel, but 

 which have hitherto been generally classed as of Tertiary age. 



However in all the sections which have been given of the Creta- 

 ceous System in the United States, it will be observed that the lowest 

 beds are always described as sandstones containing fragments of fossil 

 wood. Further, Dr. Hayden has pointed out that, at the base of his 

 Lowest Cretaceous group fresh- water beds occur, in which the shells 

 are more nearly allied to Tertiary forms, and that the vertebrate re- 

 mains, of which only a few bones have been obtained, are considered by 

 Dr. Leidy to belong to an equivalent of the Wealden period in Europe. 

 In the same horizon has also been found angiospermous leaves, such 

 as Quercus, Salix, &c. At the same time he remarks that the fossils 

 from the Judith River beds of the supposed Wealden age cannot be 

 distinguished in many instances from those of the great lignite-basin, 

 which he knows to be Tertiary beyond doubt, mentioning as instances 

 an Ostrea and a Trionyx that were considered common to the two 

 formations. It may therefore be justly concluded that this question 

 is one of great nicety and doubt, which will only be slowly cleared 

 up as those vast territories become explored. Nevertheless, we are 

 by these observations prepared to consider as possible at least the 

 existence of a coal-bearing formation at the base of the Cretaceous 

 System, even though developed to an extent not hitherto recognized*. 

 In his description of the lignite-formation on the Mackenzie River, 



* Since writing the above, I have seen a paper by Dr. Hayden, published in 

 1857, and before the only other memoir of his that I had access to, in which he 

 suggests that his Lowest Cretaceous group may be only an extension of the lig- 

 nite-group which extends from the Arctic Ocean, but which, ike that group at 

 Judith, may be mixed up with Tertiary strata, also containing lignite. — Proc. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. May, 1857, p. 116. 



