THE GREAT FALLS FLORA. 323 



railroad cutting 5 miles above the mouth of Sun river; and (2) a ravine 

 exposing the plant-bearing shales on the northern side of the .Missouri 

 opposite the city of Great Fads. At the first locality ferruginous concre- 

 tions were obtained containing well-preserved leaf impressions. The 

 following speeies have been reported from this locality by Professor 

 Newberry : 



Zamites montana, Dawson. Podozamites latepennis, Heer. 



Sequoia smittiana, Heer. S.fastegata (/). Heer. 



Professor Newberry says, "These plants prove beyond question that 

 the Great Falls coal basin is of the same age with those that have been 

 described north ofthe boundary line by Dr. George M. Dawson in what he 

 has designated as the Kootanie series.' 1 " The strata here dip h i the north , 

 the coal passing under the barren sandstones and shales which form the 

 falls of the Missouri, and all the bedded rocks are concealed by drift as 

 far as observation has extended northward of the river." Detailed obser- 

 vations by the writer having confirmed this statement, the plant remains 

 found in the rocks north ofthe Missouri and opposite Great Falls afford 

 evidence of the Kootanie age ofthe coal measures, as well as proof of the 

 age ofthe barren strata. 



A small collection of plant remains obtained for the writer by Mr. II. 

 S. Williams, of Great Falls, the discoverer ofthe first fossils found in the 

 formation, was submitted to Mr. F. H. Knowlton and by him sent to Pro- 

 lessor YV. M. Fontaine, together with a collection made by himself. 

 Professor Fontaine has written an interesting report upon these fossils, 

 which will appear in the proceedings of the United States National 

 Museum. The collections consist mainly of well preserved impressions 

 of ferns, many of them new species, besides a number previously iden- 

 tified from this locality by Professor Newberry. There are in addition a 

 few conifers and an equisetum. 



The most interesting feature of Professor Newberry's latest paper was 

 the correlation of the Great Falls, Kootanie and Potomac formations, the 

 fossil floras of all three having many species in common. This is sus- 

 tained by the later collections mentioned above, though most of the species 

 identified by Professor Fontaine have not been identified in the Greal 

 Falls formation before. 



