46 



SHOETEE CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1916. 



the Alum Bluff sea than into the Chattahoochee 

 sea, a change in sedimentary character more 

 probabh' due to an inland rise of the land 

 which accelerated erosion than to the shal- 

 lowing of the sea. 



It seems obvious that the Alum Bluff forma- 

 tion as a whole is a predominantly shallow- 

 water deposit of clays and sands and that the 

 Chipola, Oak Grove, and Shoal River members 

 are faunal zones contained in successive lentic- 

 ular beds in the clays or sands. The faunules 

 of these zones are closely related but show, 

 according to Dall,' certain elements of tran- 

 sition in the Oak Grove sand from the tropical 

 Cliipola fauna to one indicatmg a shght lower- 

 ing of the temperature. 



There is thus no structural (diastrophic) evi- 

 dence for drawing the Ohgocene-Miocene 

 boundary between the Chattahoochee and 

 Alum Bluff formations, nor is there any floral 

 or faunal evidence for such a bomidary. 

 There is such a break between the Vicksburg 

 and Apalachicola groups, and the Alum Bluff 

 is separated by an erosion unconformity from 

 the overlymg Choctawhatchee Miocene. It 

 rests with invertebrate paleontology to deter- 

 mine whether or not the whole of the Apa- 

 lacliicola group shall be considered Miocene. 

 Whatever may be the final verdict, it remains 

 true that the flora preserved at iUum Bluff re- 

 cords the last phase of sedimentation before 

 the area emerged from the sea and that the 

 most profound break in Tertiary sedimentation 

 in the southeastern United States, emphasized 

 equally by epeirogenic, faunal, and floral 

 changes, was at the end of Apalachicola time — 

 that is, it is represented Ijy the unconformity 

 at the top of the Alum Bluff formation. 



SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE FLORA. 



Class FUNGI. 



Order MELANCONIALES. 



Family MELANCONIACE.ffi. 



Genus PESTALOZZITES Berry. 



Pestalozzites sabalana Berry, n. sp. 



Plate VIII, figure 3; Plate IX, figure 9. 



Essential characters unknown. Foimd in- 

 festing the leaves' of Sabalites apalachicolensis 

 Berry in considerable abmidance and causing 



1 Dali, W. H., Contributions to tlie Tertiary fauna of Florida: Wag- 

 ner Free Inst. Sci. Trans., vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 1574-1575, 1903. 



the formation of leaf spots. These spots arc of 

 definite form and regular outline, small and 

 circular at first, becoming larger with age and 

 elongated parallel to the long axis of the ray, 

 thus becoming elliptical or lenticular in outline. 

 Maximum size observed, 1.5 centimeters in 

 length and 0.5 centimeter in width. Average 

 size, about 6 by 2 mnUmeters. The appearance 

 of the infested leaves is well iUustrated in the 

 figures, and they are scarcely to be distuiguished 

 from numerous leaves of the existmg scrub 

 palmettos, as for example, Serenoa serrulata 

 (Michaux) Hooker, infested with the existing 

 leaf-spot fungus Pestalozzia sp. 



Occurrence: Hattiesburg clay, Raglan, For- 

 rest County, Miss.; collected by E. W. Berry. 

 Alum Bluff formation. Alum Bluff, Liberty 

 County, Fla.; collected by E. W. Beny. 



Collections: United States National Museum. 



Class ANGIOSPERM.ffi. 



Subclass MONOCOTYLEDONiE. 



Order AEECALES. 



Family PALMACEjE. 



Genus SABALITES Saporta. 



Sabalites apalachicolensis Berry, n. sp. 



Plate VIII, figures 1-.5; Plate IX, figure 9. 



Leaves of variable size, the maximum diam- 

 eter estimated (from collected material) at 

 about r20 centimeters. Rachis large, Imear, 

 not enlarged at the base of the leaf, lenticular 

 in cross section, with straight unarmed edges, 

 continued for a short distance on the lower side 

 of the leaf as a rapidly narrowed acumen which 

 is only 3.5 centimeters in length in the small 

 specimen figured; abruptly rounded-truncate at 

 the base of the leaf on the upper side, where an 

 inconspicuous ligulc is present. Rays numer- 

 ous, 40 to 60 in number, carinate, linear- 

 lanceolate in form, expanding to their middle, 

 and free for about the uj)per third of their 

 length, more or less curved at the base. Max- 

 imum width observed about 4 centimeters; 

 average about 2 centimeters. Midribs of rays 

 not especially strong or prominent. Second- 

 aries numerous, fine, longitudinal, parallel, 

 largely immersed in the leaf substance, which 

 must have been coriaceous. No transverse 

 veinlets observed. 



Tliis species has a recorded range along the 

 coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to 



