Tin-: OLDKR MESOZOIC OF AKI/ONA. 29 



'/■///•; MDESCOT'IF. FDRMATIiiS. 



Those beds have jjroved almost eiitiroly barren, no fossil 1)ones 

 haxanji been found in the calcareous marls of the lower part and no 

 fossil wood anywhere in the formation. It is, however, proper to remai-k 

 that in the bed of the Little ( oloiado River about '^ miles bellow Taimers 

 Crossinii", on tlie surfaces of cei'tain fiafjs that underlie the confjlomei'ate 

 mcMnber. and which T had therefore referi-ed to the Moencopie beds, there 

 were found impressions of coniferous twij2;s and short stems, showine, 

 however, very little structure. In some cases the impi-essions showed 

 that the branches sui-rounded the stems in the form of whoris. At first 

 th(\\- recalled impressions of Equisetiun, but fidler investigation showed 

 that they were coniferous stems, with the characteristic whorled bi-ancli- 

 ing of the Araucarian type, to which tlie fossil wood of this region prob- 

 ably also all belongs. As such these \-ague impressions have great value 

 in showing that this type of vegetation continues to l;)e fovmd in the 

 lowest Ijeds in which any plants occur. The qviestion whether these 

 flags actually l)elong to the Moencopie beds is, however, an open one. 

 At the time of our discovery I had no doubt on this point, but after 

 finding the transition beds on Red Butte and in the Little Colorado 

 Valley, it becomes possible to refer some portions of the beds that underlie 

 the true conglomerates in the lower region to the conglomerate meml^er. 

 But it thus becomes scarcely more than a question of names and no 

 longer raises a serious problem. 



There is only one other reported fact that need be considered in 

 this connection. Mr. P. C. Bicknell, who was my guide in the region 

 of Red Butte, and who has spent much time in studying the rocks of 

 that region, informed me that he once found in the light-colored cal- 

 careous shales at the base of the butte some faint impressions of fern 

 leaves, which wei-e for the most part too frail to be transported, but 

 that there was one which he took to the Anita mine and compared 

 with certain figvn-es in the few Ijooks at hand, and it seemed to him 

 nearest to the figui'es of some species of (!allipteris. The specimen, 

 however, ultimately disintegrated and was lost. On the occasion of 

 our visit he took me to the place and we made diligent search for other 

 specimens, but nothing of the kind could lie found. If the species was 

 really a Callipteris it would indicate a Paleozoic age, but as ]\Ir. Bicknell 

 had read in the l)ooks that treat of Red Butte that it was a Permian 



