PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



1S88. 



NEW SPECIES OF FOSSIL WOOD (ARAUCARIOXYLON ARIZONICUM) 

 FROM ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO. 



BY F. H. KNOWLTON, ASS'T CURATOR, FOSSIL PLANTS. 



(With Plate I.) 



The material which furnished the basis of the following observations 

 was selected from the large fossil trunks that have been on exhibition 

 for several years past at the main entrance of the U. S. National Mu- 

 seum. These trees came originally from Arizona and New Mexico, in 

 tbe vicinity of Fort Wingate. Their presence here is due to a suggestion 

 made by General W. T. Sherman, while on a tour across the continent 

 in the fall of 1878, to Lieut.-Col. P. T. Swaine, Fifteenth U. S. Infantry, 

 then in command of the post of Fort Wingate, K Mex. Acting upon 

 this suggestion, an expedition was organized by Colonel Swaine early 

 in the spring of 1879 for the purpose of procuring suitable specimens 

 for the Smithsonian Institution. The outfit, in command of Second 

 Lieut, J. T. C. Hegewald, consisted of a sergeant and twelve soldiers of 

 the Fifteenth IT. S. Infantry, with heavy wagons, suitable for hauling 



stone. 

 Following is an account of the expedition, as given by Lieutenant 



Hegewald :* 



We made the usual drives, stopping at a forage agency each night, until we arrived 

 at Navajo Springs, Ariz. 



AtNavajoe Springs we left the road, cutting diagonally across the country about 

 20 miles, arriving at Boar Spring, near the head of Lithodendrou in the evening. W e 

 had to cross several arroyos, but, being in the dry season, we had nothing to tear troni 

 water or marshy soil. The country traversed was desolate and barren, sage-brush 

 and piTion trees abounding, good gra zing and wa tering very sca rce. Here and 

 *Proc. U. S. Nat, Mus., v, 1882, pp. 1, 2. 

 Proc r K M. 88 1 ^^rv. % , l tffc ■ * 



