WARD] HISTORICAL REVIEW OF OPINION. 413 



age of the coal deposits of the Roeky ^Mountain region has of late been 

 much discussed, a careful exainiiiation was made of the series of strata 

 containing the present bed and their Cretaceous age established beyond 

 a doubt. In a stratum of yellow calcareous shale which overlies the 

 coal series conformably, a thin layer was found full of Ostrea congesta, 

 Conrad, a typical Cretaceous fossil ; and just above, a new and interest- 

 ing crinoid, allied apparently to the Marsiqntes of the English Chalk. 

 In the shales directly- below the coal bed, cycloidal flsh scales and 

 coprolites were abundant; and lower down, remains of turtles of Cre- 

 taceous types, and teeth of a Dinosaurian reptile, resembling those of 

 Megalosanrtis, were also discovered." 



The gradual acceptance of the Cretaceous character of the coal-bear 

 ing series of the central and southern districts did not thus far shake 

 the opinion of geologists as to the Tertiary age of the Fort Union group. 

 This is reaffirmed in a very positive manner in the Fourth Annual Re- 

 port of the Geological Survey of the Territories, 1870 (published in 

 1871), by Dr. J. S. Newberry, who had been long and carefully studying 

 the vegetable remains collected near Fort Union and along the lower 

 Yellowstone, and had already published descriptions of the species.' 

 At the time this paper was presented there was no difference of opinion // 

 and the evidence of the plants was regarded as simply confirmatory of ; 

 Meek's conclusions as to the Miocene age of these beds. 



Further on in this report (pp. 104, 165) Dr. Hayden discusses the age 

 of the Wyoming coal strata, and says : " So far as we can determine, the 

 coal beds of the Laramie plains are of Eocene age, although the plants 

 are more closely allied to those of the Miocene period of the Old World;" 

 and again : " That there is a connection between all the coal beds of 

 the West I firmly believe, and I am convinced that in due time that 

 relation will be worked out and the links in the chain of evidence joined 

 together. That some of the older beds may be of upper Cretaceous 

 age I am prepared to believe, yet until much clearer light is thrown 

 upon their origin than any we have yet secured I shall regard them as 

 belonging to my transition series, or beds of passage, between the true 

 Cretaceous and the Tertiary." 



In the same report Mr. Lesquereux discusses the fossil plants from 

 Raton Pass, collected by Dr. LeConte, whose views have already been 

 stated, as well as those brought in from points along the line of the 

 Union Pacific Railroad and from other parts of the West. He considers 

 them all Tertiary and ranging from the Eoceue to the Miocene. 



In the corresponding report for 1871, published in 1872, Mr. Les- 

 quereux describes a mass of new material, and from all the data at 

 hand essays a number of important generalizations. As he still regards 

 all the localities in the great coal bearing series of the West as belong- 



'NotesoutheLater Extinct Floras of North America, with Descriptions of some New 

 Species of Fcssil Plants from the Cretaceous and Tertiary Strata. Annals of the 

 Lyceum of Natural History, New York (April), lH6a. (Read April 22, 1867.) 



