THE MARYLAND CYCADS. 40.") 



graphical position of the cycad-bearing; l)ed.s. On l->l)niai-y (> I visitcil 

 the Woman's College, had a confei-eiicc^ with Doctor (louchcr and .Mr. 

 Biyj))ins, examined the newly discovered trunks, and arranged to have 

 the whole collection lent to the National Museum, where 1 could study 

 il ad\antage()usl\-. It was also decided that I should accompany Mr. 

 Bil)l)iiis to the localities where the specimens were obtained for the 

 purpose of determining as nearly as possible their stratigraphical position 

 in the l)eds. A provisional agreement was arrived at as to the iypes to 

 l)e deposited in the National Museum in case the collection was elaborated 

 there. 



In Mai'cli a thorough survey of the cycad field as known to Mr. 

 Bibbins was made under his guidance. We visited all the localities at 

 which the trunks known at that time had been collected. The.\- had all 

 been obtained from th? inhal)itants, who had picked them up on their 

 land, but many of these persons could not give very precise information 

 with regard to the original localities. In two cases the stratum in which 

 the trunk was embedded when found was known, and in one of these it 

 had been seen projecting from a cliff for man>- years before it finally 

 weathered out and rolled down to the bottom of the gulch, which was 

 only a short time before Mr. Bibbins obtained it, and Mr. Frederick Link, 

 who picked it up and took it to his house, was able to put his hand on the 

 depression, still visible in the cliff, where the specimen had lain. In May, 

 189.5, I visited this place in company with Mr. Bibbins and Mr. Link, 

 who had watched it so long and after it dropped out of the cliff rescued 

 it from the gulch and took it to his house. It is therefore known as the 

 Link cycad, and is figured on PI. XC. The specimen, which we had 

 brought with us, was restored to its original position and two photographic 

 views were taken of the gulch and cliff, showing the cycad (see PI. 

 LXXXVIII. 



This was the only absolutely conclusive evidence that had yet been 

 obtained of the stratigraphic position of one of the trunks, Init the very 

 large number of trunks, more than one hundred now known, that have 

 been found in the region leaves no room for reasonable doubt as to the 

 true position of the cycad horizon. This will be considered later. It 

 need only be stated now, as I had fully expected from a consideration of 

 the conditions of silicification in general, that they did not come out of 



