knowlton: conifers from pleistocene asphalt 85 



PALEOBOTANY. — Notes on two conifers from the Pleistocene 

 Rancho La Brea asphalt deposits, near Los Angeles, Cali- 

 fornia. 1 F. H. Knowlton, Geological Survey. 



The famous asphalt deposits or so-called "tar-pits" of the 

 Rancho La Brea, near Los Angeles, California, are now well 

 and widely known from the vast numbers of animal remains 

 that have been exhumed from them. From the many hundreds 

 of skulls and tens of thousands of skeletal bones that have been 

 brought to light, it is said that more than fifty species of birds, 

 and nearly or quite as many kinds of mammals, have been 

 identified. Considering the marvelous degree of perfection 

 with which these animal remains have been preserved, it has 

 been — at least to the writer — a matter of speculation as to why 

 it was not equally fitted to preserve such hard parts of plants 

 as seeds, fruits, cones, wood, etc., as must have chanced to fall 

 into it. Be this as it may, plant remains, at least so far as re- 

 corded observations go, appear to be exceedingly rare, and it is, 

 therefore, with especial pleasure that I am able to record the 

 discovery of two perfectly preserved coniferous cones that were 

 recently sent me for identification. 



These cones were received, through Mr. H. W. Henshaw of 

 the Biological Survey, from Mr. Frank S. Daggett, Director of 

 the Museum of History, Science, and Arts of Los Angeles, in 

 which institution they are now deposited. They are said to 

 be the only cones thus far discovered in these deposits, which, 

 if true, seems a very remarkable condition. They are, of course, 

 thoroughly impregnated with the asphaltum and are black in 

 color. They have suffered no distortion and are in practically 

 perfect condition. The species represented are: Pinus attenuata 

 Lemmon, Cupressus macrocarpa Hartweg. 



The knobcone pine, according to Sudworth's "Forest Trees 

 of the Pacific Slope," ranges throughout the Coast Mountains 

 of southern Oregon and of California, and also in the southern 

 Cascades of Oregon and northern California Sierras, while the 

 Monterey cypress is confined to a few miles of the central Cali- 



1 Published with the permission of the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. 



