37 



But the most surprising discovery yet made is that of a num- 

 ber of quite large helianthoid flowers which I have called Palos-' 

 anthus. These are three to four inches in diameter, and exhibit a 

 scaly involucre enclosing what much resembles a fleshy receptacle 

 .with achenia. From the border of this radiate a number of ray 

 florets, one to two inches in length, which are persistent and must 

 have been scarious like those of Heliochrysiim. Though these 

 flowers so much resemble those of the Composites, we are not yet 

 warranted in asserting that such is certainly their character. In 

 the Jurassic rocks of Europe and India some flowers not very 

 unlike these have been found, which have been named Williain- 

 sonia and referred to cycads by Carruthers. A similar fossil has 

 been found in the Cretaceous rocks of Greenland and named by 

 Hear, Williamsonia cretacea, but he questions the reference of the 

 genus to the Cycadew and agrees with Nathorst in considering all 

 the species of Willianisonia as parasitic flowers allied to Brugman- 

 sia or Rafflesia. The Marquis of Saporta regards them as mono- 

 cotyledons similar to Pandaniis. More specimens of the flowers 

 now exibited will perhaps prove, what we can now only regard as 

 probable, that the CompositcB like the LegnininoscE, Magnoliacecs, 

 Celastracece, and other highly organized plants formed part of the 

 Cretaceous flora. No composite flowers have before been found 

 in the fossil state, and as these are among the most complex and 

 specialized forms of florescence, it has been supposed that they 

 belonged only to the recent epoch, where they were the result of 

 a long series of formative changes. 



The presence of Hymencea, Bauhinia and Cinnamoniuin might 

 be considered as proof that the climate in which these plants grew 

 was tropical, but the willows, magnolias, aralias and other elements 

 in the flora are rather indicative of a warm temperate climate. 



No palms have yet been found in the lower or middle Creta- 

 ceous, though they are abundant in the upper Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary beds in localities far north of New York. We may there- 

 fore infer that when the Amboy clays wer'* deposited palms had 

 not yet appeared in the vegetation of the globe. 



A large number of fruits have been found in the Amboy clays, 

 but with the exception of those which belong to the conifers and 

 cycads their botanical relations are not yet clearly made out, 



