136 TRAN^SACTIONS OF THE [JAK. 25, 



important and interesting contribution made by the Earitan or 

 Amboy clays of New Jersey. 



These chiys have been worked for making fire-brick, pottery, 

 etc., for many years; and have been opened at many points on 

 both sides of the Raritan river. In most of the pits large quan- 

 tities of lignite have been found, and not unfrequently distinctly 

 marked impressions of leaves. These are for the most part 

 coated with a relatively thick sheet of lignite — the carbonaceous 

 matter of the leaf — which cracks in drying to a powder, and 

 can be blown away. Hence the specimens have been so perish- 

 able that they have not been satisfactory objects of study. Within 

 the last two years, however, layers have been found at Wood- 

 bridge and South Amboy, in which the leaf-impressions are 

 simply stained coilee-brown, and are permanent. These have 

 been collected and drawn with care, for the Geological Survey of 

 New Jersey, with a view to publication. About fifty quarto 

 plates have already been made up of these drawings. (Some of 

 these were exhibited to the audience.) 



The botanical character of this flora is of special interest. 

 The specimens already gathered represent about a dozen species 

 of conifers, as many ferns, two or three cycads, fifty to sixty 

 angiosperms, with many fruits, and some flowers. The conifers 

 include species of Pinus, BracliyphylUim, Moriconia, Sequoiay 

 and what have been considered by Prof. Heer as species of 

 Juni'per'ns, Thuja, and Dammara, though these determinations 

 are somewhat doubtful. About half the conifers are apparently 

 identical with those found in thfe Cretaceous beds of Greenland, 

 and the most beautiful and interesting one, Moriconia, occurs 

 both at Aachen and in Greenland. 



The ferns are very similar to those obtained by Ilecr from 

 Greenland, and some of the species are identical. They* have 

 been referred to the genera Gleichenia, DicJcsonia, Aspidiiim, etc. 



The cycads are closely allied to, if not identical with, species of 

 Podozamites obtained by Ileer from the Atane beds of Greenland. 



The angiosperms include species of Liriodendron, Magnolia, 

 Sassafras, Aralia, Celastrus, Celastrophylhim, Salix, and what 

 have been considered by Heer as Hedera, Ficus, Diospy7'OS, 

 Juglans, etc. With these are new and splendid species of Bau- 



