V 
PREFACE 
By F. H. McLearn , Geological Survey , Canada 
In the study of the Mesozoic stratigraphic palaeontology of south- 
western Alberta, undertaken by the writer in the summers of 1914 and 
1915, particular attention was given to the country around Blairmore, 
Alberta. By reason of its accessibility, its central location, the presence 
of good exposures, and the amount of study already devoted to it by earlier 
workers, it served well as a type or standard area in which the faunal and 
floral succession could be established, in large part, for southwestern 
Alberta. This work formed part of an extended examination by the 
Geological Survey of the Mesozoic strata and coal deposits of the foot- 
hills of southern Alberta in which particular attention was given to the 
Blairmore area. The detailed study of this area was begun by W. W. Leach 
and was continued by B. Rose. The final report on the geology has not 
yet been published, but a map 1 on a scale of one mile to the inch, with 
structure sections, has been issued. 
The town of Blairmore is in the eastern part of the foothills, in the 
valley of Crowsnest river. To the west the foothills extend to the eastern 
flanks of the Rocky mountains, near Crowsnest lake. To the east lies 
the outer or Livingstone range and to the south an area drained by Castle 
(or South Fork) river and its tributaries. 
In the field, collections of fossil invertebrates and plants were made 
and all sections from which they were taken were measured so that the 
faunal and floral succession could be recorded. The Cretaceous inverte- 
brates and vertebrates have been examined at Ottawa. Other material 
has been sent to authorities on special groups: S. S. Buckman, F.G.S., has 
studied the Jurassic Ammonoidea, and Professor Edward W. Berry the 
Cretaceous fossil plants. 
Acknowledgment is made to J. A. McLennan who gave able assistance 
for one month in 1915; to A. O. Hayes who found the Inoceramus Lund- 
breckensis locality near Lundbreek; to Dr. W, F. Ferrier for a valuable 
collection of Jurassic fossils from Blairmore, the first collection made 
of the C. munda fauna; to Dr. T. W. Stanton for aid in the study 
of the Jurassic pelecypods; to Dr. T. W. Stanton and Dr. J. B. 
Reeside, jun., of the United States Geological Survey, for important advice 
on the study of the Cretaceous invertebrates; to C. M. Sternberg for 
examining the fossil vertebrates,* and to B, Rose for much helpful advice 
in the field; Rose in particular measured the York Creek section and found 
the U. natosini locality on Lyon creek. 
The first of the following papers is on systematic palaeontogy. The 
paper by S. S. Buckman describes some species and genera of the Jurassic 
1 Geol. Surv., Canada, Map No. 1584 (1920). 
