278 MKSOZOIC FLORAS OF IMTKD STAIKS. 



In amiouiiciiisr tlioso I'esults in 1SS7 Docloi' Xe\vl)OiTV s;iys: 



Tlu'sc plants proNC hcyond (lucstioii that tlie Great Falls coal Nasiii is of the 

 same age witii those that ha\c hceii described north of the houiidarv line by Dr. 

 George M. Dawson, in what he has designated as the Kootanie series. Judging 

 from the aixseiice of dicotyledonous leaves, tliis formation, like that of Kome, 

 Cireenlaiid. belongs to the lower half of tlie Cretaceous .system, and is older than 

 the Dakota grouj)." 



Ill a paper by Sir William Dawson j)iiblislie(l in 1S88'' and containing 

 a section designed to show the successive floras and subfloras of the 

 Cretaceous in Canada, he says: 



The Kootanie seritis should probably be placed at the base of the table as a 

 representative of the I'rgonian or Xeocomian, or, at the very least, should be held 

 as not newer than the Shasta grouj) of the United States geologists, and the Lower 

 Sandstones and Shales of the Queen Charlotte Islands. It would seem to corre- 

 spond in the character of its fossil plants with the oldest Cretaceous floras recognized 

 in Europe and Asia, and with that of the Kome formation in Gi'eenland, as described 

 bv Heer. No similar (lora seems yet to have been distinctly recognized in the 

 United States, except, perhaps, that of the beds ui Maryland, holding cycads, 

 which were referred many years ago by Tj'son to the Wealden. 



When the raih'oad then in construction from Helena to Great Falls 

 reached the latter town, some of the cuttings passed tlirough shales con- 

 taining lenticular nodules of iron ore which had formed around vegetalile 

 matter, and these nodules when l)roken open often revealed impressions 

 of plants, some of them very clear. Mr. Williams collected some of these 

 and sent them to Professor Dana, who submitted them to Doctor Xew- 

 berry for determination. The latter gave the results of his examination 

 in a paper published in 1891.' In this paper 8 new species are described 

 and figured, l)ut the collection contained in addition 11 species that 

 Professor Fontaine had described from the Potomac fcn-mation in Virginia. 

 These were identified by Professor Fontaine himself, to whom Doctor 

 Newl)errv had sent the specimens. It also eontainetl a consideral)le 

 numijer of species occurring in the Lower Cretaceous deposits, especially 

 from the Kome l)eds of ( ireenland. Three of the species were among 

 those fotind in the Kootanie of Alberta. 



«Sch(M,l uf .Mini-sQiuiitiMly, Vol. VIII, .Inly, 1887, p. 329. 



''Cretaceous flora-s of the .\ort Invest 'rerritories of Canada, by Sir William Dawson: Am. Katiirallst, Vol. 

 XXII, November, IfvSS, pp. 9.>5-l).i9. 



' Flora of tbeCireat Falls coal field, Montana, by J. S. .Xewberiy; Am..lonrn. Sci.,.3d ser., Vol. XLl, March, 

 18'Jl,pp. 191-201, pi. xiv. 



