828 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



2 GEORGE V., A. 1912 



of leaves of an undefined species from -the Cretaceous (46: p. 27, pi. xxii., f. 5), 

 and Ward, in his Synopsis of the Laramie Flora enumerates four species as 

 belonging to the Laramie proper, with two from the Senonian (56: pi. xxxii.) 

 On the other hand, Lesquereux reports one species from the Tertiary (42 : p. 

 141), and Knowlton (35: p. 779) reports P. latissima from the Fort Union group. 

 Eeference to Heer's well-known works (29, 26, 24, 23, and 31 : p. 161) shows four 

 species confined to the Eocene of Europe and Greenland, of which P. oeningensis, 

 A. Bir., is by far the most frequently represented. This summary shows nine 

 Cretaceous localities against six Tertiary, and as these latter are all Eocene, 

 it is clear that while Phragmites is common to the Upper Cretaceous and Lower 

 Eocene, it is more typical of the former than the latter. 



Reviewing the facts thus dealt with, we can only conclude that the flora 

 cf the Kettle river is certainly not Cretaceous, and that in its general facies 

 it is Eocene rather than Miocene. This conclusion, however, necessarily raises 

 an important question as to the particular age of floras previously determined 

 and provisionally referred to the Miocene (51: iv., 68 and 52: iv., 36, etc.), and 

 especially with reference to a critical comparison with the Similkameen flora as 

 already determined by Sir William Dawson (10: iv., 75). This author appears 

 not to have been able to determine the age of the Similkameen beds to his own 

 satisfaction, since, although he frequently makes comparisons with the Lower 

 Miocene, to which his conclusions most strongly point, he nevertheless refers 

 to some species as having distinct affinity with the Upper Laramie or Eocene, 

 and to the Oligocene in particular, and in his concluding paragraph he says 

 that ' It may be further affirmed that the Similkameen flora is closely allied 

 to those described by Lesquereux as the Green River and Florissant floras, and 

 which he regards as Oligocene or Upper Eocene. It is to be hoped that ere 

 long the discovery of mammalian remains may throw further light on the precise 

 age of the Tertiary lake basins of British Columbia ' (1, c. iv., 90-91). 



In order to clearly bring out the questions at issue, and establish the correla- 

 tion of the various Eocene floras, I have reduced to tabular form all such floras 

 as have been studied by me, and have shown the occurrence of the same species 

 as determined by other observers. While, therefore, this table aims primarily 

 to establish the relations of the Eocene floras, it will also show their contact 

 with the Miocene and extension into the Cretaceous, including, however, only 

 such species as are actual components of the various Eocene floras now under 

 discussion. 



The particular floras, the age of which is at present a matter of discussion, 

 are Coal Gully at Coutlee, B.C., the Horse-Fly river at Cariboo, the Kettle 

 river deposits at Midway, the Quilchena beds which are closely associated with 

 those at Coutlee, and the Similkameen beds in the valley of the same name. 

 As a basis of reference and comparison, the age of certain floras is well known 

 or at least accepted. They are the Red Deer of the Paskapoo Series and essen- 

 tially Fort Union group, the Union group of the Yellowstone National Park 

 and elsewhere in the United States and Canada, and the Lignite Tertiary of the 



