40 Hill — Paleoninlofiji of tJie Trinity Division. 



Tliis prol)leniatic organism has been ])rovisionally referred to 

 Goniolinn in my previous papers. It occurs from the base 

 to the top of the Glen Rose l^eds as small spherical calca- 

 reous casts, and extends into the lower layers of tlie Comanche 

 Peak grouji at JNIount Barker, Travis county. The biologic rela- 

 tions of this organism have been a i)roblem for years, and it has 

 been referred to the Echinodermata, the Foraminifera, and to 

 the vegetable kingdom by various jjcrsons to whom it has been 

 submitted. Its occurrence in the chalky strata of the Colorado 

 section remote from other land del)ris and in association with 

 Foraminifera (Orhitulitcs texana Roomer) seemed to oppose the 

 fact that it was a fruit or a land plant. The recent discovery b}^ 

 Mr. J. W. Harvey of other ])lants of many species in the chalky 

 limestone beds near Glen Rose, which have recently been de- 

 scribed in the proceedings of the United Htates National jMuseum 

 by Professor Fontaine, dispelled the foregoing hypothesis. Im- 

 mediately beneath the stratum containing the jdant Ited is 

 another containing many flattened moulds of what could be mis- 

 taken for fucoid stems, and associated with these are numerous 

 specimens of the fossil here figured. A careful study in tsltii of 

 the surface of a stratum in which these stems were well exposed 

 showed that they branched very much like coniferous plants. 

 At the termination of each ramification was found one of the 

 small spherical casts, as if the liml) of a i)lant laden with cones 

 had been buried in the mud and its cast preserved. Recently, 

 however, the fruit structure has been determined in the speci- 

 mens themselves as figured on })late i. 



The species should be named for Professor Lester F. Ward, 

 who has done so much for American paleo-botany and has ever 

 encouraged the writer in his studies. 



The form occurs from Glen Rose southward to the Colorado in 

 great quantities and ranges throughout the Colorado River section. 



It could be doubtfully referred to the genus Araucarites. which 

 it more closely resem])les than an}' other, although this is for the 

 botanists to determine. This genus is abundantly represented 

 in the \\^ealden (Lower Neoeomian) of Europe and in the Poto- 

 mac formation of this country, as described liy Professors Ward 

 and Fontaine. 



