FLOKA OF THE WOODBIXE SAXD AT ARTHURS BLUFF, TKX. 



157 



Woodbine may not also roprospnt the Eagle 

 Ford. Such a conckision would be in aerord 

 with the evidence of the fossil plants. 



The flora of the Bingen sand is known only 

 from a small collection made by H. D. Miser 

 in Pike and Ploward counties, Ai'k." It com- 

 prises but 27 named forms, and these are not 

 all from one level; hence comparisons between 

 it and that of the Woodbine are limited. In 

 spite of this the Woodbine contains nine species 

 that are common to the Bingen sand, including 

 the Deu-alquea, which is common in the upper 

 Bingen and is confined to these two formations. 



The upper Bingen was considered by me as 

 the equivalent of the upper part of the Tusca- 

 loosa and the Eutaw formation of the eastern 

 Gulf area, and the lower Bmgen as the ecjuiva- 

 lent of the lower Tuscaloosa and the Raritan 

 formation. 



Unfortunately for ease of correlation and in- 

 telligible discussion all the Upper Cretaceous 

 formations of the Coastal Plam have been based 

 uponlithologic differences instead of upon their 

 contained faunas and floras, and as they over- 

 lap and intergrade laterally the limits of the 

 same formation are not chronologically equiva- 

 leJit from locality to locality, so that precision 

 in correlation must await the discovery and 

 stud}^ of much more extensive paleontologic 

 materials than are available at the present 

 time. 



Although the Bingen has been separated by 

 Miser into upper and lower members, the known 

 flora was found near the top of the lower mem- 

 ber and near tlie base of the upper member 

 and hence could not be expected to be as deci- 

 sive as if it represented both earlier and later 

 Bingen time. The present Wood])uie flora 

 comes from a single horizon and locahty, antl 

 what the other 300 to 500 feet of- the Woodbine 

 would show if the flora were known in its 

 entirety can only be surmised. Hence, inas- 

 much as names must be used in any discussion, 

 it must be borne in mind that when I speak of 

 the Woodbijie flora <)r AVoodbLne sand my data 

 are derived entirely from the single horizon 

 represented at Arthurs Bluff on Red River. I 

 can therefore only state the well-known fact 

 that the Woodbine and Buigen formations are 

 at least partly contemporaneous. I am of the 

 opinion, which is based on tlie range of the 



» Berry, E. W., Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 44, pp. 167-190, pi. 7, 1UI7. 



Woodbine plants in other formations, that 

 Arthurs Bluff is approximately on the bound- 

 ary between the lower and upper members of 

 the Bingen as recognized by Miser in Arkansas 

 m the specific area where he collected the fossil 

 plants. 



Relation to TuftcaJoofta flora. — The flora of 

 the Tuscaloosa formation is extensive, com- 

 prising 151 described species, recently mono- 

 graphed.'" The Tuscaloosa occupies the same 

 stratigraphic position with respect to the Eutaw 

 formation of the eastern Gulf area that the 

 Woodbine does with respect to the Eagle Ford 

 formation of the western Gulf area, and both 

 the Eutaw and the Eagle Fortl contain com- 

 parable marine faunal elements. The Tusca- 

 loosa formation has been shown to be progres- 

 sively younger when traced northward from 

 western central Alabama, and in the report 

 just cited I have shown its delta character and 

 probable clnonologic equivalence with a part of 

 the marine Eutaw formation. 



I suspect that the Woodbine might also be 

 interpreted as made up of continental, delta, 

 and marginal deposits, wdth similar relations to 

 the marine Eagle Ford, \>\\t I have no basis for 

 tliis inference except the %\Titings of others. 

 This would affonl an excellent subject for field 

 study. The Woodliine and Tuscaloosa floras 

 have 22 species in common, so that it seems 

 clear that the Woodbine and Tuscaloosa foi-- 

 mations are equivalent, at least in part. 

 Whether the Tuscaloosa elements that are con- 

 spicuously absent in tlie Woodbine represent 

 real or only apparent differences can not be 

 determined. I incline to the o])inion that these 

 differences are only apparent. 



Relation to florux of other formations of the 

 C 'oastal Plain. — The relation or degree of resem- 

 blance between the Woodbine flora and that of 

 geographically more remote formations of the 

 Atlantic Coastal Plain is well shown in the 

 accompanying table of distribution. The 

 Woodbine contains 20 species common to the 

 Raritan, 18 common to the Magothy of the 

 New Jersey-Maryland region, and 25 common 

 to the two combined, thus emphasizing a well- 

 knowii floral similarity seen throughout the 

 Coastal Plain. This may mean that the Wood- 

 bine is equivalent to the upper Raritan and the 

 Magothy, or simply that it is equivalent to tlie 



' Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112, 191'J. 



