Palæontological Papers

Abstract

FOSSIL floras figure largely in the recent publications of the United States Geological Survey. In Professional Paper g8-H, F. H. Knowlton describes thirteen species of plants from the Fox Hills Sandstone of S. Dakota, only four of which were previously known. Remains are scanty, since the beds are marine; but their interest lies in their position between series, the Montana and Laramie formations, that contain abundant plants. The affinities are distinctly with the Upper Cretaceous, and the flora seems to have been well supplied with moisture along a shore-line. E. Wilber Berry (Prof. Paper 91) furnishes a detailed report, accompanied by 117 plates, en “The Lower Eocene floras of South-Eastern North America.” The material is derived from the widely spread Wilcox series, Which is typically developed in Wilcox County, Alabama, and is known through Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Except for a small fauna (a “faunule”) recently discovered in Mississippi, the almost entire absence of animal remains in this vast area is remarkable. Insects, which must have been abundant, are represented merely by the traces of their activities among the plant-remains. The flora is of Ypresian age (p. 152), and contains thirty-nine genera in common with that of Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight. Identical climatic conditions on both sides of the Atlantic are implied.