"»* x). n 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



The Vertebrata of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Rocks of the North West 



Territory. 



By E. D. Cope. 



1. The Species from the Oligocene or Lower Miocene beds of the Cypress Hills. 



The collection on which the present report is based was made by Messrs. R. Gr. 

 McConnell and T. C. "Weston, in 1883-84, in the Cypress Hills, North- West Territory, 

 about long. 109°, lat. 49° 40'. The Cypress Hills, in the District of Assiniboia, were 

 examined geologically by Mr. R. Gr. McCoanell, of the Dominion Geological Survey in 

 1885. He found them to constitute a plateau of considerable extent, consisting largely of 

 beds of conglomerate (see p. 31 C. Report G-eol. Survey of Canada, 1885), chiefly quartzi- 

 tic, and evidently derived from the harder and older rocks of the Rocky Mountains. 

 The conglomeritic character of the beds accounts for the generally broken condition of 

 the fossils. 



Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn, Director of the Survey, having sent the fossils to me for identi- 

 fication, I gave a preliminary list of the species in the American Naturalist for February, 

 1885. It was then pointed out that the genera and species obtained by Messrs. McConnell 

 and "Weston proved the beds in question to belong to the White Rfver Oligocene series. 

 The presence of a genus of well-marked Creodonta (Hemipsalodon, Cope) was regarded 

 as an indication that the Cypress Hills, Swift Current Creek beds are probably somewhat 

 older than those of the typical locality ou the White River of Dakota and Nebraska. But 

 the presence of this genus may be yet ascertained in the latter locality. Explorations set 

 on foot during the year 1888 resulted in the obtaining by Mr. T. C. Weston, of the Cana- 

 dian Survey of a number of additional species, some of whieh are of considerable inter- 

 est. These were described in the American Naturalist of 1889. Most of these specimens 

 were also in a fragmentary condition, owing to the conglomeritic nature of the deposit. 

 The total number of species is twenty-five. 



PISOES. 



HALECOMORPHI. 



AMIA L. 



The Amiidae appear in the Laramie formation, and are represented in the Puerco and in 

 the Wasatch Eocene. They occur abundantly in the Bridger Eocene, but were not known 

 from any later formation, until discovered by Mr. Weston in the Cypress Hills Oligocene 

 beds, as here recorded. As Amia is a well known genus of the present period, it is to be 

 looked for in all the beds between the Bridger Eocene and the Pleistocene, inclusive. 



