37 
But the most surprising discovery yet made is that of a num- 
ber of quite large helianthoid flowers which I have called Pala- 
anthus. These are three to four inches in diameter, and exhibit a 
scaly involucre enclosing what much resembles a fleshy receptacle 
with achenia. From the border of this radiate a number of ray 
florets, one to two inches in length, which are persistent and must 
have been scarious like those of Heliochrysum. Though these 
flowers so much resemble those of the Composite, we are not yet 
warranted in asserting that such is certainly their character. In 
the Jurassic rocks of Europe and India some flowers not very 
unlike these have been found, which have been named W2dliam- 
sonia and referred to cycads by Carruthers. A similar fossil has 
been found in the Cretaceous rocks of Greenland and named by 
Heer, Williamsonia cretacea, but he questions the reference of the 
genus to the Cycade@ and agrees with Nathorst in considering all 
the species of Wil/iamsonia as parasitic flowers allied to Brugman- 
sia or Rafflesia. The Marquis of Saporta regards them as mono- 
cotyledons similar to Pandanus. More specimens of the flowers 
now exibited will perhaps prove, what we can now only regard as" 
probable, that the Composite like the Leguminose, Magnoliacee, 
Celastracee, and other highly organized plants formed part of the 
Cretaceous flora. No composite flowers have before been found 
in the fossil state, and as these are among the most complex and 
specialized forms of florescence, it has been supposed that they 
belonged only to the recent epoch, where they were the result of 
a long series of formative changes. 
The presence of Hymenea, Bauhinia and Cinnamomum might | 
be considered as proof that the climate in which these plants grew 
was tropical, but the willows, magnolias, aralias and other elements | 
in the flora are rather indicative of a warm temperate climate. 
No palms have yet been found in the lower or middle Creta- 
ceous, though they are abundant in the upper Cretaceous and 
Tertiary beds in localities far north of New York. We may there- 
fore infer that when the Amboy clays were deposited palms had 
not yet appeared in the vegetation of the globe. 
A large number of fruits have been found in the Amboy clays, 
but with the exception of those which belong to the conifers an 
cycads their botanical relations are not yet clearly made out, 
