HELL CREEK BEDS, CERATOPS BEDS AND EQUIVALENTS 191 



of nearly 20 miles along both sides of the Yellowstone River west of 

 Miles City, and apparently continue uninterruptedly to Forsyth, 

 a distance of about 40 miles. Just south of the town the rocks rise 

 in a steep bluflf about 250 feet in height, and consisting mainly of 

 sandy shales with three layers of indurated sandstones. The beds 

 dip greatly to the northeast. In a sandy clay about 75 feet below 

 the top the following rather fragmentary plants were collected: 



Fern, probably a Dryopteris. 



Quercus sp. 



Querciis viburnifolia? Lesq. 



Lauraceous leaf (same form found in white basal beds at Glendive, 



Montana). 

 Aralia sp. 

 Sapindus affinis Newb. 



In the valley of Porcupine Creek, about 6 miles west of Forsyth, 

 the characteristic dark shales of the marine Cretaceous are exposed, 

 and in the usual concretions and lenses of limestone a considerable 

 number of typical Pierre invertebrates were obtained. About one- 

 half mile to the eastward of the fossiliferous marine Cretaceous are 

 the lowest members of the "somber beds," there forming low bluffs 

 and resting on the dark clay shales. The lowest bed is a soft yel- 

 lowish-white sandstone, above which it becomes massive and brown- 

 ish in color and often weathers into towers and irregular pinnacles. 

 The beds at this point add probably 100 feet or more to the base of 

 the section as exposed just south of Forsyth, while Chimney Butte 

 on the west side of the Yellowstone, about 6 miles east of Forsyth, 

 exposes beds apparently higher than those above mentioned, making 

 a total thickness of the "somber beds" in this vicinity between 400 

 and 500 feet. 



No plants were found in either the lower or higher beds north of 

 the river, though at a point about 5 miles northwest of Forsyth, in 

 the lower beds, vertebrate remains have been found, and it was prob- 

 ably at this locality that the bones of a large dinosaur were collected 

 some fifteen years ago by Prof. I. C. Russell. In association with 

 the bones were numerous specimens of the undescribed Ficus fruit 

 already mentioned as occurring in the "Hell Creek" and "Ceratops 

 beds. " 



