102 CANADIAN i\II(!RO PAL^ONTOLCx; V. 



In the Benton formation, which innnediately and conformably over- 

 lies the Dakotah sandstone, these shales consist largely of soft dark 

 highly bituminous clays, without much admixtui-e of calcareous 

 material, and also, in Manitoba, vv^ith few distinguishable traces of 

 fossils. 



The Benton is overlain by a varying thickness of calcareous shales 

 and chalk-marls with phosphatic bands, known as the Niobrara for- 

 mation. The shales of this ten-ane are chai'acterized by the presence 

 of a large number of foraminifera, among which Glohiyerina cretacea^ 

 d'Orb., and Textularia globit/osa, Ehr., ai'e particularly abundant, but 

 the following have also been identified for us by C. Davies Shei-- 

 born, Esq., F.G.S., of London, England, viz. : — Globigerina hnUoides, 

 iilobuieriiia JiniKvarm^ Crwtellaria rotulata^ Playiorbulina anunonoideit, 

 Anoma/ina rofii/a, Bnlimina variabiHs, Ver'nenilina triquetra^ Mar- 

 (/iuit/ina vai'iabilis and Dentalina pauperata. With these have also 

 been found the succeeding species of invertebrate and vertebrate fossils, 

 \'iz. '.—Sei'pulaseniicoalita, Osfrea congesta, Anoinia obHqua, Inocer am/its 

 problematicus fragments of this shell in great abundance, Bel emnitell a 

 Manitobensis, Loricula Canadensis, Pfychodus ])arvulns, Lamna Mani- 

 fobensis, jEnchodiis Shuniardi and CladocycJns occidentaHs. 



Overlying these calcareous deposits of Niobrara age is a thickness of 

 800 to 1,000 feet of non-calcareous dark or light grey clay shales belong- 

 ing to the Pierre formation, which contain in their more southei'n 

 antl westei-n extension a large number of beautifully pieser\ ed mollus- 

 can and othei- remains, but in the more northern portions of Manitoba, 

 wherever they have been lecognized, no large fossils ccudd be found in 

 them, and till the discovery of Radiolaria near the base of the for- 

 mation, and therefoi'e stratigraphically not far above the zone of the 

 fossils just enumerated from the Niol>rara i*ocks, it was supposed to be 

 locally unfossilifei'ous. 



The locality from which the species herein described were obtained, 

 was examined by Mr. D. B. Dowling in the summer of 1889, while 

 acting as the writer's assistant on the Geological .Survey of North- 

 western Manitoba. It is situated on the south side of the gorge of 

 Bell River, in the eastern face of Porcupine Mountain, and is neai- 

 the extreme noi'th-western corner of Manitoba, in noi'th latitude 52"^ 

 35', west longitude lOT 8'. 



The trail followed by Mr. Dow ling in exploring Bell River led from 

 Swan Lake to the summit of Porcupine Mountain, and on this course 

 none of the lower di\ isions of the Cretaceous series were exposed. At 



