308 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.40. 



sented by foliage, cones, and wood, being almost identical with the 

 modern redwood Sequoia sem.pervirens (Lambert) Endlicher, while 

 others appear to be ancestral to the modern big tree of California 

 Sequoia washingtoniana (Winslow) Sudworth. The climatic changes 

 of the Pleistocene seem to have inaugurated the extinction of this 

 type which had previously become restricted in America by the 

 extensive development of the plains type of country, which was too 

 arid for their continued existence. Both the sempervirens and the 

 washingtoniana type are present in the Pliocene of Europe at a large 

 number of localities, as well as three or four additional species repre- 

 sented by twigs, cones, seeds, and wood. 



In the present flora the redwood is common in the Coast Range 

 from Oregon southward to Monterey County, California, while the 

 "big tree" is confined to the west slopes of the Sierras from southern 

 Placer County to Tulare County, California. 



SEQUOIA REICHENBACHI (Geinitz) Heer.i 



Araucarites reichenbachi Geinitz, Charak. Schichten u. Petref. sach-bohm Kreide, 



pt. 3, 1842, p. 98, pi. 24, fig. 4. 

 Araucaria reichenbachi Debey, Ent. Geogn. Darst. Gegend von Aachen (Nachtrage, 



1849. 

 Sequoia reichenbachi Heer, Flora Foss. Arct., vol. 1, 1868, p. 83, pi. 43, figs. Id, 



2b, 5a.— Fontaine, Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 15, 1890, p. 243, pi. 118, 



figs. 1, 4; pi. 119, figs. 1-5; pi. 120, figs. 7, 8; pi. 122, fig. 2; pi. 167, fig. 5.— 



Nathorst, in Felix and Lenk, Beitr. Geol. u. Pal. Mexico, 1893, p. 52, figs. 



4, 5.— Fontaine, in Ward, 19th Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv., Pt. 2, 1899, 



p. 674, pi. 165, figs. 1, 2; pi. 166, fig. 1.— Fontaine, in Ward, Monogr. U. S. Geol. 



Surv., vol. 48, 1906, pp. 177, 263, 281, 544, pi. 55, figs. 7, 8; pi. 69, figs. 4, 5. 

 Sequoia reichenbachi longifolia Fontaine, Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 15, 1890, 



p. 244, pi. 117, fig. 8. 

 Sequoia densifolia Fontaine, Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 15, 1890, p. 246, pi. 



121, fig. 4. 

 Sequoia (?), species Fontaine, Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 15, 1890, p. 248, pi. 



116, fig. 7; pi. 132, figs. 2, 5, 6. 

 Sequoia, species Fontaine, Monogr. TJ. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 15, 1890, p. 248, pi. 132, 



fig. 10. 

 Sequoia (?) inferna Ward, Fontaine, in Ward, Monogr. U. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 48, 



1906, p. 507. 

 Sequoia couttsix (not Heer) Hollick, Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., vol. 12, 1892, p. 30, 



pi. 1, fig. 5. 



Description. — This is one of the most wide-ranging fossil plants, 

 both geologically and geographically, that is known, and it seems 

 very probable that it is of a composite character, the well-known 

 difliculty of distinguishing between coniferous twigs of this character 

 prohibiting any satisfactory segregation. Described originally as a 

 species of Araucarites, certain of these remains from the Staten Island 

 Cretaceous have shown by their vascular structure that they are 

 allied to the Araucarieas, while, on the other hand, a large number of 



! Only such citations as have some bearing on the Potomac occurrence of this species are mentioned in 

 the synonymy. 



