102 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



had been peninsulas corresponding in position to Florida, and 

 that this is simply the most southern, and latest of a succes- 

 sion from north to south. Pr. Boston S. Nat. Hist., February. 



FOSSIL FOREST IN CALIFORNIA. 



Professor Marsh, in the Journal of Science, referred to a 

 locality in California abounding in fossil trees to such an ex- 

 tent as to constitute a veritable forest. The region in ques- 

 tion is sitting on a high, rocky ridge in Napa County, Cali- 

 fornia, near Calistoga Hot Springs, and about ten miles from 

 the summit of Mount St. Helena. The ridge itself belongs to 

 the Coast Range series, and forms the divide between the 

 Napa and Santa Rosa valleys. It is about two thousand feet 

 in height, and is composed of metamorphic rock of the creta- 

 ceous period, overlaid unconformably by later tertiary strata, 

 consisting of light - colored, coarse sandstone, and beds of 

 stratified volcanic ashes. A careful examination showed that 

 the trees on the surface of the ground had been weathered 

 out of the volcanic tufa and sandstone, and consequently 

 were of the tertiary age ; and also that there remained still 

 imbedded in the volcanic tufa, etc., an extensive forest of 

 very large trees, stretching over a great area. Some of the 

 trees were of great size, a portion of one having been traced 

 for a length of sixty-three feet, with a diameter of seven feet 

 nearer its smaller end. Another tree indicated an original 

 diameter of not less than twelve feet. All were prostrate, and 

 had apparently been thrown down by the volcanic current 

 which covered them. Many were much decayed internally 

 and worm-eaten before they were buried. All of the wood 

 was silicified, probably by means of hot alkaline waters con- 

 taining silica in solution a frequent result of volcanic action. 



A careful examination of the wood obtained at this locali- 

 ty showed no essential difference in structure from that of 

 the modern red-woods of California (of the genus Sequoia). 

 No other fossils were met with, which rendered it somewhat 

 difficult to fix the precise epoch; but it is considered proba- 

 ble by the professor that the trees belonged to the, pliocene 

 period. The origin of the volcanic material which covered 

 the forest could not be ascertained, although it was supposed 

 to have been derived from Mount St. Helena, which is the 

 nearest volcanic peak. 4Z>, April, 1871. 



