154 



SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1!>21. 



Eucalyiitus geinitzi (Heer) Heer. 



Ficus(la])hnogenoides (Heer) Berry. 



Lauroiihyllum minus Newlien-y. 



Laiu'us plutonia Ilecr. 



Liiiodcndron quercifolium Newberry. 



Magnolia s|ieciosa Heer. 



Malapoenna falcifolia ( Lesiiuercux) Kiiowlton? 



ilyrica eniargiuata Heer. 



Oreodaphiieala liamonsis Berry. 



Palaeocassia laurinea Lescjuereux. 



Podozaniite.s lanceolatus (Lindley and llutt.on) 



Braun. 

 Populus harkeriana Lesquercux. 

 Rhanmus tenax Lesquereux. 

 Rhus redditiformis Berry. 

 SapindiLS morrisoni Heer. 

 Stereulia luguliris Lesquereux? 

 Tricalyeites papyraceus Newberry. 

 Viburnum robustum Lesquereux? 

 Zizyphus lamarensis B.erry. 



It was deemed desirable, in conneetion with 

 the problem of the age of the Dakota sandstone 

 and the relation between the Upper Cretaceous 

 formations of the Coastal Plain and those of 

 the Western Interior, that the flora of the 

 Woodbine sand should be critically reviewed. 



Consequently all the material in the Unitetl 

 States National Museum from Ai-thurs Blufi' 

 was sent to me and constitutes the basis of the 

 present report. I have never visited the region, 

 nor have I seen the collections from Cooke and 

 Grayson counties, hence recorded forms from 

 these localities are ignored imless they are 

 present in the collections stutUed. The total 

 number of species in the Arthurs Bluff mate- 

 rial amounts to 43, and it is proba])le that de- 

 tailed explorations would double or treble the 

 number of known forms. Hence the present 

 report must be regarded entirely as a prelim- 

 inary contribution. 



Fortunately the conclusions to be derived 

 from a study of this small flora are so complete 

 and decisive as i-egards the age and relationship 

 of the dei)osits that no subsequent additions 

 to the flora can change the general conclusions, 

 and this fact must be the excuse for calling an 

 account of but 43 species from a single locality 

 the flora of the Woodl>ine formation. 



THE WOODBINE SAND. 



NAME. 



The name Woodbine formation was pro- 

 posed by Ilill'* in 1901 from the town of Wood- 

 bine, in the northeastern part of Cooke Count}', 



»HiU, R. T., oii.cit., p.291.. 



Tex. On account of the predominance of uncon- 

 solidated sand the formation is now called the 

 Woodbine sand. These V)eds have a somewhat 

 complicated nomenclatorial history. Hill some 

 years earlier" called them the "Timber Creek 

 group" or "Lower Cross Timljers foi-mation." 

 In still earlier years they had usually been con- 

 sidered of Tertiary age. They were originally 

 described by Ci. G. Shumard as the "arenaceous 

 and marly clay or Red River group" and re- 

 ferred to the Tertiary. His brother, who was 

 the lirst to record fossil ])lants from these 

 strata, placed them in various positions in the 

 sections of Texas formations which ho pub- 

 lished at difl'erent times. 



Hill clearly recognized their equivalence 

 with the Dakota sandstone but quite rightly 

 objected to the indiscriminate use of that term 

 and fortunately decided to apply the local 

 name. 



CHARACTER OF MATERIALS. 



The Woodbine materials are largely cur- 

 rent-bedded sands, generally white and friable 

 wher(^ nonferruginous, in places brownish and 

 consolidated by iron oxide, containing exten- 

 sive to smaU lenses of more or less carbona- 

 ceous laminated clajs with some interbedded 

 layers of lignite or lignitic clay. They give 

 rise to sandy soils strewn with fragments of 

 ferrusrinous sandstone and siliceous ironstone. 



The limits of the Woodbine are uncertain. 

 It is said to be unconformable with the under- 

 lying Denison formation of the Washita group 

 and to pass without a break into the overlying 

 Eagle Ford formation. Tafl' ' described the 

 formation under the name Dakota sand and 

 divided it into Timber Creek beds, Dexter 

 sand, and basal clay. Hill combined the lower 

 two divisions under the name Dexter sands 

 and renameil the upper division the Lewisville 

 beds because Timber Ci'eek was preoccupied. 

 The fossil plants described in the present report 

 are said to come from Hill's Dexter sand mem- 

 ber, the overlying Lewisville member, which 

 makes up from 50 to 100 feet of the several 

 hundred feet of total thickness of the Wood- 

 bine, being marine and so far as knowni lacking 

 determinable fossil plants. 



The Woodbine sediments from a maxinium 

 thickness of 300 to 500 feet in the Red River 



« Am. Jour. Sci., 3d scr., vol. .33, pp. 291-3!):!, 1SS7. 



' Tafl, J. A., Texas Geol. Survey Fourth Ann. Rept., p. 2Sj, 1.592. 



