722 (iEOLOdV OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PAEK. 



perfect. It is exactly o cm. in Avidtli at tlie widest portion, wliicli is a little 

 above the midille. There is no indication of the form of the base, as it is 

 destroA'eil The apex was (juite obviously obtuse. The nerves are less 

 distinctly preserved than in the other specimen, l)ut l)v careful search they 

 can 1)(' made out as sliown in the tig'ure. Beyond these nothing can be 

 made out. 



It is with some hesitation that these specimens are described as petals 

 of Magnoliii. They were at hrst supposed to be si)athe-like growths of 

 some monocotvledonous plant, and their identification as Magnolia 2:)etals 

 was first suggested by Mr. C. L. Pollard, of the United States National 

 Museum, in whose honor I take pleasure in naming the sj)ecies. The 

 probabilit)' of their being petals of a large-flowered i\Iagnolia is greatly 

 strengthened by the fact that undoubted Magnolia leaves in abundance are 

 found in the various beds of the Yellowstone National Park, whereas no 

 inonocotjdedonous plant has been found to which these apparently could 

 have belonge«l. There is a facies to the specimens that is difficult to 

 describe and wholly impossible to show in a figure, which is very sug- 

 gestive of Magnolia petals. The manner in which they curve and narrow 

 on the rock, although this appearance may of course be only accidental, 

 is very similar to the ])etals of certain large-flowered forms — such, for exam- 

 ple, as 31. coiivjiiciKi. In any case they are distinctive forms tliat may be 

 readily recognized, and, for the purposes of geologic correlation, are of 

 undoubted value. Several Ijotanists to whom the specimens have been 

 submitted agi-ee that their reference to Magnolia is fully warranted, and 

 for the present at least they may be so considered. 



Habitat: Yellowstone River, one-half mile below the mouth of Elk 

 Creek (fig. ID): collected Ijy F. H. Knowlton, August, 1888. Fossil For- 

 est Ridge, opposite Slough Creek; collected by Lester F. Ward, August, 



1887. 



LAI KACE.E. 



Laurus i'RIMIGENia? Ung. 



PL XCI, figs. 4, 5. 



Luuru.1 priiniijrnia Xing. Cf. Ward: Types of the Laramie FL, p. 47, PI. XXIII, fig. 8. 



The nuu-li broken specimens are the onlj" ones of this species found. 



Their identification is open to doubt, yet they are obviously the same as 



