TFIK LOWKK EOCENE FLORAS OF SOITHEASTEUN 



xXOIITH AMEllKA. 



By Edavakd Wilbkh Heuky. 



INTRODUCTIOX. 



SCOPE OF REPORT. 



This p.ipor ])r(^s{in1s ilm rosulls of s<>Yoral 

 years of liohl aiul dllico stu(li<^-^ of tlio fussil 

 ])lants of th(< Southoru Coastal Plain and 

 treats of tli(i lowtir Eocono, inplnding IxhIs 

 thought to 1)0 basal Eocoik*. TIk! main body 

 of th(i material oxamiuod comos fnuu Ixwis 

 embraced in the stratigra))hi(^ iiuil known as 

 the Wilcox group; tho remainder was ol)taine(l 

 from strata legarded as a part of the Midway 

 fonuation, although they may ])ossibly be of 

 Wilcox age. The Midway is a typically marin(! 

 series of deposits throughout nearly the whole 

 extent of its outcrop and is consequently poor 

 in plant remains, whereas the Wilcox (-.(miprises 

 littoral and (istuarine sediments over wichi areas 

 and contains one of the most al)undant and 

 varied fossil floras known to science. Both 

 tliese floras are of the greatest importance alike 

 to the geologist and tlie biologist. To the geolo- 

 gist they furnisli for the first time a means for 

 direct paleobotanic- comparisons betwe(!n the 

 nmch disputed jdant-lxuiring formations of 

 the Rocky Mountain ])rovince and the ma- 

 rine Tertiary formations of tlus Atlantic and 

 Gidf waters. To the biologist they furnish 

 ocologic, distributional, and jihylogenetic data 

 of vital bearing upon succeeding and existing 

 floras. 



Wlien William Ma(dm'(< mad his "Observa- 

 tions on the geology of tiio United States" 

 before the American Philosophical Society in 

 ISOO, he n!f<M-re(l the whole Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain to tluv "Alluvial fonuation," the fourth 

 of the grand divisions of the geologic colunm 

 according to the Wernerian classification. 



John Finch, fifte<»n years later, was the first 

 to suggest that tlie "Alluvial" was more 



complex and was the (Hpiivalent of Ili<^ " lunver 

 Secondary and 'I't^'tiary formations" of Euro])e 

 and else\vh<5r(\ American students like Say, 

 Morton, Conrad, and Ia'ii, by temjx-.rament 

 more interested in pah^ontology and broad 

 (•orrelations and rt^alizing tlie futility of de- 

 tailed correlations l)ased on litliology, a|)])lied 

 themselves assi(hiously to the study of the 

 organic remains (cliiedy invert! brates) col- 

 lect<'.d from th<^ ricldy fossiliferous horizons 

 from Now Jersey to Mississippi. 



The name lOocene first ai)])ears in American 

 literatm'e in comiection with American de- 

 posits in Idea's "Contributions to geology," 

 published in 183.3, where it is applied to tho 

 classic fossiliferous outcrop at Claiborne Land- 

 ing, Ala. 



My own studies, the residts of which are here 

 presented, arose from tlie necessity of carrying 

 the correlation of the Tertiary fonnations 

 across the .States of Mississippi, Tenn<issee, 

 Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, aiul Louisiana, 

 whore tho earlier Eocene (Midway and Wilcox), 

 because of the conditions of sedimentation, in 

 places lacks the succession of marine faunas 

 developed in the Alabama r<*gion. 



In connection with tho study of the floras of 

 the imderlying Creta<'e.(nis and tJui overlying 

 Tertiary I liave Ixxmi occupied with this work 

 since the Ixiginning of 1009, having s])ent 

 several months in the field during 1909, 1910, 

 1911, and 1913 and iiaving visited every 

 locality througjiout tlie whole area that prom- 

 ised to furnish any facts bearing on the prob- 

 lem in hand. 



The Tertiary floras of the southern Atlantic 

 Coastal Plain an* checked nearly throughout 

 by intercalated niarin<' faunas. More cju'ono- 



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