120 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF (SCIENCE 



David "White, now chief geologist of the United States 

 Geological Survey, was invited by the chief of the State 

 Geological Survey of Illinois, Frank DeWolf, to renew 

 in cooperation with the State Survey the study of the 

 fossil plants of the Illinois coal fields. During those 

 years, Dr. White visited the plant deposits of the western 

 and southern coal outcrops, and mining districts of Illi- 

 nois. His observations are given in Bulletins 4, 8, and 

 14 of the Illinois State Survey. Dr. White had a great 

 advantage over Lesquereux. He visited the localities 

 himself, equipped with excellent geological experience, 

 and he had at his headquarters in Washington one of the 

 most complete collections of Paleozoic plants and pale- 

 obotanic literature at his command. Dr. White re- 

 stricted himself in these publications to a preliminary 

 report, and his larger treatment of Illinois coal plants 

 is still to be hoped for. 



The author has found the support of the State Geologi- 

 cal Survey very helpful in making collections and ob- 

 servations throughout the coal seams of the state, in 

 order to assist by the contribution of paleobotanic facts 

 in the determining and revision of the correlation of Illi- 

 nois coal seams. 



During the summer, 1921, a number of localities in the 

 following counties were visited: Jackson, Union, Wil- 

 liamson, Johnson, Pope, Saline, Harding, in southern 

 Illinois ; and Will, Grundy, LaSalle, Bureau, in northern 

 Illinois. In the early spring of 1922 collections were 

 made in McDonough, and outcrops visited in Rock Island, 

 Knox, and Scott. The work is to be continued during 

 the summer of 1922, and arrangements with the Geologi- 

 cal Survey of Kentucky promise to give an opportunity 

 for obtaining valuable information in that state, which 

 may throw light upon certain paleobotanic problems of 

 Illinois. 



