Laramie: (including Judith River series). Beds of the Porcupine Hills; massive sandstones with shales, &c. Willow Creek beds; reddish and purplish clays with grey and St. Mary River series; sandstone shales and clays of general grey- Yellowish sandstones and shaly beds with a mingling of fresh Upper sandstones & water and brackish or marine molluscs. shales (Wapiti River group). Fox Hills. Yellowish Sandstones with some shales, apparently irregular in Pierre. Blackish and lead-colored shales, with occasional sandstone interca- Upper shales (Smoky lation especially towards the mountains. rca-} River group). The Laramie and Cretaceous rocks are sharply corrugated and folded together for a distance of ten to twenty miles from their junction with the Palæozoic rocks of the mountains, a fact probably in connection with the great fault with downthrow eastward which here occurs. East of the belt of corrugation they form a well-marked broad, shallow synclinal, the centre of which is occupied by the Porcupine Hills, and thence gradually subside to the nearly horizontal attitude which is generally characteristic of the plains. The lignites and coals are in the western region not confined to the beds overlying the Cretaceous proper, but recur at intervals in the Cretaceous itself. Near the base the Laramie is a persistent lignite or coal-bearing formation. A few miles north of the 49th parallel, on the St. Mary River, a coal bed of excellent quality, eighteen inches in thickness, is found, overlain by a bed holding Corbicula occidentalis and Ostrea. It is described in my report on the Geology and Resources of the 49th Parallel, pp. 132-172. Another coal outcrop, possibly on the same seam and about a foot in thickness, is found on the Upper Belly River. The seam at the Indian farm near Pincher Creek, is probably again not far from the same horizon, though perhaps a little higher in the series. Coaly streaks occur in the sandstones at the disturbed locality on the Oldman River, and a lignite at Scabby Butte may occupy the same position. Further north a seam on the Bow at Coal Creek, between Morleyville and Calgarry, and those in the vicinity of the Blackfoot crossing, appear to occupy the same horizon. A thin seam near the mouth of the Highwood River may possibly be higher in the Laramie and, from the character of the St. Mary River sub-division throughout, it is not improbable that other coal or lignite-bearing zones may occur locally. A seam of lignite coal occurs at the summit of the Pierre on the Bow River, at Horse Shoe Bend, while a persistently coal-bearing horizon characterizes its base, and is well exposed on both the Bow and Belly Rivers. Lignite coal also occurs in the beds above described as underlying the Pierre, and it is possible that further exploration may bring to light yet other fuel-producing horizons. A further fact of great economic importance is the improvement in quality of these fuels on their approach to the mountains. Two causes operate in this sense: First, the greater age of the seams in the strictly Cretaceous rocks and the consequent superior degree of pressure by overlying beds to which they have been subjected; second, the greater alteration, accompanied by flexure, to which the rocks in the vicinity of the mountains have been subjected. The second is, however, found to be much more influential than the first. The belts of country characterized by different classes of fuels are indicated on the section. The eastern, over which the word Lignite appears, yields fuels which, though often containing little ash and well adapted for local use, hold generally more than 12 per cent. of hygroscopic water. The next, designated as that of Lignite Coals, frequently yields fuels containing less than 12 per cent. of water, and in some instances not half this amount, and also by their physical character better adapted for transport. The third, a narrow zone, co-extensive with that of great disturbance, affords fuels which contain little water, often give firm cokes on heating, yield abundance of highly luminous hydrocarbons, and are scarcely distinguishable from coals of the Carboniferous period proper. This change is analogous to that found in passing from the bituminous coals of the western shales to the anthracites of the disturbed Appalachian region to the east. V.-Notes on the distribution of Northern, Southern, and Saline Plants in Canada. By JOHN MACOUN, M. A., F. L. S. (Read May 25, 1882.) Having received instructions last January from Dr. Selwyn, Director of the Geological and Natural History Survey, to prepare a catalogue of all the known plants of the Dominion with special reference to their distribution, I proceeded to do so and up to the end of the musci have catalogued 3,220 species. My time having been limited, I have not been able to complete the work, but I have specimens of the remaining order which will raise the list to about 4,000 species. No species is included in the list of which we have not an authentic record and at least 95 per cent. are represented in the Geological Museum. The object of the present paper is to lay a few of the apparent results of this work before the section and ask criticism on the statements and deductions I may make. British Columbia, owing to its peculiar topographical features, has a peculiar flora. In the humid atmosphere of the coast we find many Asiatic and Californian forms and it is no unusual occurrence to find the same form at intervals along a coast line of 1,500 miles. Ranunculus Californicus is just as common around Victoria as it is at San Francisco, and the same species has been detected by Dr. G. M. Dawson on the Queen Charlotte's Islands. Eastward of the Coast Range is the interior plateau of British Columbia, which is a continuation of the arid country that extends from Arizona northward to lat. 53°. Within this area many very interesting species have been found, which are peculiar to dry and arid regions and which are supposed to be peculiar to southern localities. In the south these species live and thrive where frost is unknown and yet I have gathered them where the thermometer often sinks to 20' below zero. I have noticed the same on the southern prairie where many species that find a home in California and Arizona appear in profusion and often in close proximity to species that cross the Arctic Circle. It is evident from the distribution of the various species that certain forms require a dry atmosphere and arid soil during their period of growth and, if they obtain these, it matters little whether during the period of rest they are subjected to intense heat or extreme cold. As an illustration of this fact I may state that Opuntia Missouriensis grows in abundance and ripens its seeds on the north bank of the Peace River in lat. 56° at Dunvegan and at this point the winter temperature is often 55° below zero. I might multiply instances to illustrate this point but refrain, as my desire is to call attention to my previous remark that certain plants require well drained soil and a dry atmosphere. These we name southern forms. Others again we call boreal because they generally find their home in the north; and yet these boreal species are found far to the south of their usual habitats if the conditions in which they are growing are suited to their wants. Empetrum nigrum, Rubus arcticus, and many others are of this character and, when we find southern species so called and |