276 ME. G. W. LAMPLUGH ON GLACIAL 



22. On Glacial Shell-beds in British Columbia. By G. W. 

 Lamplugh, Esq. (Eead April 7, 1886.) 



(Communicated by Clement Eeid, Esq., F.Gr.S.) 



Part I. Vancoih^er Island. 

 Part II. The Fraser Valley. 



Part I. Vancouver Island. 



Introduction. — Having occasion to remain for nearly a month in the 

 ' city ' of Yictoria, Vancouver Island, in the autumn of 1884, I had 

 an opportunity of examining the glacial jDhenomena so finely developed 

 in the vicinity. Not having foreseen that I should visit this place, 

 I had not acquainted myself with the geology of the neighbourhood, 

 so that it was not until after I had left the island that I became 

 aware of the researches of previous observers ; and, lacking this 

 knowledge, I spent the greater part of my time in working out for 

 myself what I might very quickly have learned from others. While 

 studying the magnificently glaciated rock-surfaces near the city *, 

 I found it necessary to follow the highly indented coast-line of this 

 part of the island, and, in doing so, found in two places marine 

 shells in the Boulder-clay. 



The occurrence of shells in these glacial beds has been previously 

 recorded by Mr. H. Bauerman (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xvi. 

 p. 198) and by Dr. G. M. Dawson (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 

 vol. xxxiv. p. 89). The first-named gentleman merely mentions the 

 presence of " casts of shells {Cardium and Mya) in a yellowish 

 sandy clay " at Esquimault Harbour. Dr. Dawson, in his excellent 

 memoir, has a fuller, though still brief account, which I wiU give in 

 its integrity as I believe that it includes all that is at present 

 known of the subject. I will afterwards add my own observations, 

 which I hope may be found to increase the stock of our knowledge 

 by the addition of many particulars, which though perhaps of no 

 great importance, are yet instructive and, for the purposes of com- 

 parison, even necessary to us. In the second part of my paper I 

 shall be able to prove a considerable submergence of the Fraser 

 Valley during glacial times, by recording the presence of marine 

 shells in drift- beds more than 50 miles above the mouth of the river. 



Br. G. M. Dawson's Description. — Dr. G. M. Dawson in de- 

 scribing the glacial deposits of south-eastern Vancouver, gives the 

 following account of the shells :- — 



"Mr. Bauerman mentions the occurrence of casts of Cardium 

 and Mya in these deposits, an observation which for a long time I 

 was unable to confirm ; but eventually several localities were dis- 

 covered where molluscous remains are tolerably abundant. These 



* For some record of my observations on these glaciated rocks see ' Proceed- 

 ings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society ' for 1885, vol. ix. 

 pt. 1, pp. 57-70. 



