﻿242 Scientific Intelligence. 



150 feet in longest diameter at top; and the depth is 90 to 100 

 feet. The other two are of like size in the same line parallel 

 with the Hudson, and only a few yards apart. The clay is in 

 regular concentric layers, being deeply concave downward, and 

 is of excellent quality. The sand and gravel beds outside are 

 bent downward at the wall of the cavity; and the wall, or shell, 

 was quite distinct and rather firm. There are a few bowlders 

 in the clay. Professor Dwight supposes that the sand and 

 gravel beds (stratified drift of the Hudson river valley) were exca- 

 vated by whirlpools, and the conoidal basins thus made; and 

 that these cavities, when the chief current of the stream had 

 become diverted from the place, became gradually filled with 

 clay. Still another peculiar feature is described and figured in 

 this paper, which is not so easily explained. 



10. On the Fossil Flora of the Laramie Series of Western 

 Canada ; by Sir William Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S. — The Lara- 

 mie series, formerly known as the Lignite Tertiary or Lignitic 

 group, occurs in Canada principally in two large areas west of 

 the 100th meridian and east of the Rocky Mountains, and stretch- 

 ing northward from the United States boundary. These areas 

 are separated from each other by a low anticlinal of Cretaceous 

 beds, over which the Laramie may have extended previously to 

 the later denudation of the region. 



These areas may be designated — (1) The Eastern or Souris 

 River and Wood Mountain area ; (2) the Western area, extending 

 along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, and across the 

 upper waters of the Bow, Red Deer, Battle and North Saskatch- 

 ewan Rivers. 



In the southern part of the District of Alberta it has been 

 found possible to divide the Laramie into three parts, which have 

 been named respectively, in the Reports of the Geological Sur- 

 vey of Canada, (1) the lower or St. Mary River division, (2) the 

 middle or Willow Creek division, and (3) the upper or Porcupine 

 Hill division. Of these the lower and upper contain fossil plants, 

 more especially the latter, and corresponding horizons can be re- 

 cognized by these in both of the great areas above referred to. 

 The flora of the lower division has a close alliance with that of 

 the Belly River group of the underlying Cretaceous, while that of 

 the upper division is in the main identical with that of the Fort 

 Union group of the United States geologists, as described by 

 Newberry and Lesquereux. 



In the eastern area, the lower beds of the 'Laramie rest on the 

 Fox Hill group of the Cretaceous, and are in turn unconforma- 

 bly overlaid in the Cypress Hills by beds referred by Professor 

 Cope, on the evidence of mammalian remains, to the White River 

 division of the Miocene Tertiary. Thus the geological horizon of 

 the Laramie is fixed by stratigraphical relations as between the 

 upper Cretaceous and lower Miocene formations. The evidence of 

 fossil remains accords with this position. The lower Laramie 

 has afforded reptilian remains of Mesozoic aspect, associated with 



