208 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
pose, nor oil nor gas. If they were within the boundaries of a coveted Indian 
reservation they would contain all these, also abundance of gold and other de- 
sirable things, in the imagination of boomers and squatters. 
There is a thin vein of coal of little value underlying these hills. On Coal 
creek, a tributary of Jacobs creek, ten miles southwest of Emporia, it was mined 
for neighborhood use thirty-five years ago. The same vein of coal is found in 
some of the streams or ravines coming out of the Flint hills on the west, tribu- 
tary to Fall river, in Greenwood county. It is possible pockets of this coal may 
be found of value. 
The soil of these hills is rich in lime and organic matter; affords abundant 
nutritious grasses; bleak in winter; and in summer affords the finest pasture for 
herds of cattle and sheep. Thus these hills contribute their share to the food 
supply of the nation. 
FOSSIL PLANTS IN THE PERMIAN OF KANSAS. 
BY E. H. SELLARDS, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, LAWRENCE. 
Read before the Academy December 29, 1900, 
The discussion of the age of the Upper Paleozoic of Kansas has rested here- 
tofore on the evidence of animal! fossils alone; but a little more than a year ago 
Mr. Charles Sterling, of the University of Kansas, found near his former home, 
in southwest Dickinson county, some well-preserved fossil plants, and brought a 
small box with him on his return to the university.. They proved of much inter- 
est, and in the following October the author, under direction of the University 
Geological Survey, spent a week collecting at the locality; and again, during the 
past summer, was permitted to spend three weeks in the region, thus making a 
more complete collection. In August, 1900, I learned through Professor Jones, 
of Salina, that Mr. Charles Polleys had found some plants in the shales along 
the Smoky Hill river just east of Salina, and that Professor Jones had also ob- 
tained a few plants from the same shales. Later, I had opportunity of visiting 
this locality in company with Professor Jones. 
The plants of both localities are very near the top of the highest Permian 
found in that region. The plant horizon of Dickinson county is separated by 
only about twenty feet of alternating thin layers of impure limestone and shales 
from the overlying Cretaceous sandstone. Below the plant stratum thin lime- 
stones and shales occur for a thickness of ten to fifteen feet, with a dark-blue 
shale below, apparently of considerable depth, the lower part of which is streaked 
with layers of gypsum and dolomite. 
The first plants collected, those by Mr. Sterling, were obtained at the head 
of one of the west tributaries of Turkey creek, three and one-half miles south of 
Banner City. From this place I was able to trace the plant stratum a mile north, 
finding plants at various places. To the south I found many exposures for about 
two miles, and traces of plants again in Marion county, six miles south. The 
same stratum would probably be found along the hills near the top of the Per- 
mian through the northwestern part of Marion county. To the west the plant- 
bearing stratum dips under the Cretaceous, but is exposed wherever the streams 
cut deeply. On Holland creek, three miles south of Carlton, some good plants 
were obtained. The plant-bearing stratum is to be looked for in the deeper 
creeks as far west as Salina, and doubtless search throughout this region would 
discover some good localities for collecting. 
Whether the shales at Salina are the same as the blue shales underlying the 
