210 The American (reologint. October, 18% 
The collections of fossil plant remains in the possession of 
the National Museum from the neighborhood of the original 
P'ort Union localit}'^ are very full. They have been studied by 
professor Knowlton, who reports that the Fort Union flora 
embraces 169 species. Of this number 130 sjjecies are con- 
fined to this formation. Of the 39 species found in other ter- 
ranes, 21 occur in the Miocene, 14 in the Denver (post-Lara- 
mie), and 9 in tlie Laramie. These figures tell their own story. 
Professor Knowlton states that the flora as a whole is clearly 
Eocene. This confirms the statements of Newberry,* that the 
floras of the Laramie and the Fort Union are totally distinct, 
and that these formations should be referred to ditferent geo- 
logical horizons, the Fort Union to the Tertiar^^ and the Lar- 
amie to the Cretaceous. 
The clearest description of the Fort Union formation, as 
developed in the Great Plains region north of the International 
boundar}^, is given by Tyrrell, f in which the series is described 
under the name of the Paskapoo beds and grouped with the 
underlying series under the term Laramie. He states that 
what he calls Laramie consists of two formations, distinct 
lithologically and paleontologically. The lower, or Laramie 
j)roper, he calls the P^dmonton series. It rests in perfect con- 
formity upon the shales of the Pierre (Montana) group, and 
is covered westward by a higher series which he calls the Pas- 
kapoo series. The latter corresponds in every detail to our 
Fort Union. It is of purely fresh-water origin and is quite 
distinct, lithologically, from the white sands and white sandy 
clays of the Laramie. Contrasted, the Edmonton contains 
abundant vertebrate remains, mainly dinosaurs; the Fort 
Union (Paskapoo), none. The flora of one is Laramie; the 
species of the other are not Laramie types, but are identical 
with those from the Fort Union of Montana. The fossil flora 
of these Fort Union beds of Canada has been studied by Sir 
J. William Dawson, who identified 29 species, all of which, 
according to professor Knowlton, belong to the Fort Union 
Eocene flora. 
*See Ward, Syn. of Flora of Laramie Group. Newberry. Bull. G. 
S. A., vol. I, p. 524. 
tAnn. Rep. Can. Geol. Survey. 1886, p. 136 E. 
