The Geology of the Coast Ranges. — Lawsov. 353 
forms not older than the Cretaceous. (5) In the radiolarian 
cherts Dr. C. Jennings Hinde has recognized at least ten 
genera similar to rocks of Cretaceous and Jurassic age in 
Europe. The general tendenc}^ of this paleontological evi- 
dence is to place the Franciscan series in the Cretaceous. 
This would harmonize with the suggestion thrown out on a 
former page that the granite upon which the series reposes is 
of post-Jurassic age. It is the opinion of both Whitney and 
Becker that the rocks of this series are of Cretaceous age. 
The writer reserves his opinion on the question till further 
evidence has been gathered, and is content for the present to 
point out that the evidence, such as it is, is confirmatory of 
the opinion of Whitney and Becker. It remains to be said, 
however, that the series as a whole is very probabl}' older than 
the Knoxville Aucella horizon of California. The writer has 
no doubt upon this point, although he has not yet had an op- 
portunity of revising the field evidence which led Becker to a 
contrary opinion ; and if it be finally established that the 
Franciscan series is Cretaceous it must enlarge materially our 
conceptions of the volume of the lower Cretaceous in Cali- 
fornia. 
Attention has been called to the fact that the Fran'ciscan 
series comprises those rocks which Becker placed in the meta- 
morphic or Knoxville division of the Cretaceous. Becker, 
however, grossly exaggerated the metamorphism of the Coast 
ranges. The rocks, which are clearly contemporaneous vol- 
canic rtows or subsequent igneous intrusions, he classed as 
metamorphic sediments under the designations jjseudo-dinbase 
and i^seudo-diorite \ the serpentines, which are unquestionabl}^ 
intrusive peridotites, he also classed as metamorphic sedi- 
ments; the radiolarian cherts he regarded as metamorphosed, 
silicified shales. They are certainly not silicified shales, but 
original siliceous deposits intercalated with perfectly unal- 
tered sandstones. If we cut out these three important groups 
of rocks from his appalling scheme of regional metamorphism 
it shrinks to more reasonable dimensions ; for we have then 
left only the glaucophane schists, and these are but contact 
zones of basic intrusives. A fearful incubus is thus removed 
from Coast range geology. 
Structure of the Franciscan Series. — The tectonic features 
