G. M. Dawson — Cretaceous of British Columbia. 181 



to him pointing out that the name had, unfortunately, already 

 been Deed by me in the publications of the Geological Survey 

 of Canada, to designate the Triassic rocks of the same coast 

 region, 4 and ventured to suggest that if a local name for the 

 equivalent o\ the Chico group in the Vancouver Island region 

 is considered requisite, it might be termed the Na/naimo 

 group. No general name had, so far as I am aware, 1m 

 given to the strata in question, previous writers (and more par- 

 ticularly Mr. Whiteaves, by whom a larger proportion of the 

 fossils nave been described) thinking it sufficient to refer to 

 them as an extension of the Chico. 



Dr. White promptly and cordially replied to my communi- 

 cation, approving of the proposed change of name, and the 

 present note is written primarily at his suggestion in order to 

 prevent possible confusion in the nomenclature. 



To more clearly define the strata to which the name Nanai- 

 nio group may at present be applied, it is necessary to state 

 that the whole of the large collections examined by Mr, 

 Whiteaves (and doubtless also those of other writers) have been 

 derived from the lower subdivisions of the local section, which, 

 according to the late Mr. James Richardson, is as follows in 

 the Comox and Xanaimo fields respectively: 



Comox. feet. Nanaimo. feet. 



G. Upper conglomerates 320 



F. Upper shales 776 



E. Middle conglomerates 1,100 G. to C. sandstones 



D. Middle shales _ 7*6 Conglomerates and shales 3290 



C. Lower conglomerates 900 



B. Lower shales. 1,000 B. Shales .._ 660 



A. Productive Coal-meas- A. Productive Coal-meas- 

 ures 739 ures 1360 



As stated by Mr. Whiteaves, no characteristic fossils have 

 yet been found in the three higher subdivisions of the Comox 

 section (E., F. and G.) nor in subdivisions C. to G. inclusive 

 of the Xanaimo section, f and while all the subdivisions are 

 conformable, it is thus the lower parts of the sections alone, 

 including about 2,020 feet at Xanaimo and 2,715 feet at Co- 

 mox, which are known to correspond more or less perfectly 

 with the Chico group. These are printed in italics in the 

 above table. In the publication just alluded to, Mr. Whiteaves 

 further states, that there was, at the time he wrote, no positive 

 evidence to show whether the upper portions of these sections 

 were Cretaceous or Tertiary, and this statement still holds 

 good. It is therefore quite possible that some at least of the 

 higher subdivisions may represent the Tejon group of Calif or- 



* See particularly Annual Report Geol. Survey, Can., 1886, p. 10 B. 

 f Mesozoic Fossils, vol. i, pp. 94, 185. 



