of Northwestern Canada. 123 



nell's report,* and the identity stated, on the authority of Mr. 

 Whiteaves, of three forms with species of the Queen Char- 

 lotte Islands formation. Mr. Whiteaves' subsequent detailed 

 study of these fossils fully confirms and further carries out the 

 correspondence between the two faunas, as explained by him 

 in a report now in process of publication. f Thus the very 

 important fact is established of the existence of an identical 

 earlier Cretaceous horizon on the West Coast, and in, and even 

 to the east of, the eastern range of the Cordillera System. 



Turning now to the portion of the Cordillera region which 

 intervenes between the above-mentioned widely separated 

 localities, including that part of British Columbia to the south 

 of the 56th parallel of latitude, we find there further evidence 

 of the same great earlier Cretaceous formation. — The Iltasyouco 

 beds (probably 10,000 feet in thickness) holding a fauna which 

 was originally regarded as Jurassic, are now definitely referred 

 to the Queen Charlotte Islands formation.;}: Further, the 

 association of Aucella Mosquensis, var. concentrica, with the 

 fossils of the last-mentioned formation in its typical locality, 

 with the recent discovery by the writer of the same form, in 

 great abundance, in beds of identical age in the northern part of 

 Vancouver Island, leads Mr. Whiteaves to the belief that this 

 species may be regarded as a characteristic one of the same 

 general horizon. § This view of the taxonomic value of the 

 Aucella involves the conclusion that certain rocks in which it 

 is the only abundant fossil, and for which provisional local 

 names have been used in different parts of British Columbia, 

 should likewise be regarded as representing inland extensions 

 of the Queen Charlotte Islands formation, a conclusion in 

 complete harmony with the stratigraphical and lithological 

 evidence. The rocks referred to include the Tatlayoco Lake 

 beds (7000 feet), Jackass Mountain beds (5000) and Skagit 

 River beds (4400 or more) to which may be added (though as 

 yet on little evidence other than lithological) the Nechacco 

 series and the Cretaceous rocks known to hold coal on the 

 upper part of the Skeena River, jj To the south, in the vicin- 

 ity of the West Coast, this earlier Cretaceous formation is 

 doubtless represented by certain members at least of the Shasta 

 group of California and Oregon. 



In connection with the Yukon Expedition, in 1887 and 1888, 

 important new observations bearing on the extent of the earlier 



* Annual Report, Geol. Surv. Can., 1886, p. 17 D. 



f Forming, part 2, Contributions to Can. Paleontology. 



% Mesozoic Fossils, vol. i, p. 258. 



§ A conclusion explained at length in the forthcoming publication by Mr. 

 Whiteaves already referred to. 



|| These rocks may be found described in the reports of the Geological Survey 

 of Canada as follows: 1875-76, p. 253, 1876-77, p. 90, 1877-78, p. 105 B., 1879- 

 80, p. 102 B. 



