REPORT OF TEE CHIEF ASTRONOMER 801 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 25a 



it is marked as of Miocene age. ' It is cut by basaltic and andesitic dikes, and 

 is overlain by flows and tuffs of the same eruptive material. The general dip 

 is 35 degrees to the southeast, but in the lower part of the gulch it rises to 75 

 degrees in the same direction. The whole group of sandstones and lavas has 

 been faulted and folded.' 



The specimens from the first collection embraced various fragments of leaves 

 in a very imperfect state of preservation, from which no very definite conclusions 

 could be drawn. There were also two specimens of calcified wood which were 

 found to be new. In 1905, the collections were found to include fragments of 

 fruit, leaves and stems of limited value; but they were chiefly remarkable for 

 the large number of calcified fragments of wood, most of which showed a fine 

 state of preservation. Two of these proved to be identical with previously 

 recognized species, while two were entirely new. 



• Numbers 1001 and 1007 of the 1905 collection are reported by Dr. Daly 

 as having been collected on the Kettle river, a few miles north of the Inter- 

 national Boundary, and from a locality near to No. 250. In all three of these 

 cases the general formation and the character of the specimens show clearly 

 that they are of the same age. 



Number 271 of the 1903 collection represents the north side of the canon 

 wall of Rock Creek, an affluent of the Kettle river, about six miles west of 

 No. 250, and, therefore, within an area usually designated as Miocene; and 

 according to Dr. Daly, the rocks are undoubtedly of the same age as those of 

 No. 250. They consist of gray sandstones, freestones and light and dark gray, 

 papery shales. The dip is 20 degrees due north. These beds overlie a coarse 

 conglomerate which is associated with coarse arkose overlying its parent rock, 

 a coarse granite. They are cut by basic dikes and by a laccolith-like mass of 

 porphyry. The very few specimens obtained from this locality are all undoubt- 

 edly of rather recent age, and in their general character they tend to confirm 

 the relations otherwise indicated as existing between them and Nos. 250, 1001 

 and 1007. The state of preservation is nevertheless very poor, and they give 

 very little reliable information as to the precise nature of the species. 



Previous collections from British Columbia have shown the existence there 

 of Tertiary plants, and in particular, Sir William Dawson described a number 

 of specimens from the Similkameen valley which he assigned to the Upper 

 Eocene (10). As the locality is in somewhat close proximity (about sixty miles 

 west) to the one under discussion, it is possible that they are of the same horizon, 

 and they must therefore be considered together in future discussions. 



Number 1433 of the 1905 collections embraces a number of fragments of 

 leaves and stems of an undeterminable character, and while they fall within the 

 same general region as 1430-1436, and are presumably of the same age, they 

 offer no reliable evidence to this effect. 



Number 1430 of the 1905 collection is by far the most important numerically, 

 as well as with respect to the number of recognizable species. These specimens 

 not only include previously described species, but they also present several new 



