Contributions to the Mesozoic flora of the Atlantic coastal plain— 
. Alabama* 
Epwarp W. BEerry 
The Tuscaloosa formation as developed in western Alabama 
has been known for over fifty years to contain remains of fossil 
plants, and that it contained a large and varied Cretaceous flora 
has been known since Dr. Eugene A. Smith published a brief list 
of species in 1894. The principal items in the history of the study 
of this formation and its flora may be briefly enumerated as follows: 
The Tuscaloosa formation was named by Smith and Johnson in 
1887 (U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 43: 95) from the city and river 
(now usually known as the Warrior or Black Warrior River) of 
that name in Alabama. Earlier observers had noticed the pres- 
ence of sands and clays below the recognized Cretaceous and 
above the Carboniferous, Professor L. Harper, the state geologist 
of Mississippi, mentioning them in print as early as 1856 (Proc. 
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 8: 126-128) and suggesting that their age 
is perhaps Permian or possibly Triassic. The same year Prof, 
Alex. Winchell mentioned the Tuscaloosa mottled clays, calling 
attention to the contained vegetable remains “appearing like the 
stems and leaves of dicotyledonous plants.” He doubted their 
Triassic age and in his table of formations they appear in the 
Lower Cretaceous (Proc. Am. Asso. Adv. Sci. 10: 92. 1856). 
Meek and Hayden in discussing (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 9: 
117-133. 1857) the Alabama Mesozoic mentioned wood and 
leaves and correlated the lower part with the lowest Cretaceous 
of New Jersey and Nebraska. Their lithologic characterization 
clearly indicates that they are discussing the Tuscaloosa, and they 
say that although the weight of the evidence favors the correlating 
* Published by permission of the Director of the United States Geological 
Survey. The present paper is a brief abstract of the systematic chapter of a Mono- 
graph of the Upper Cretaceous floras of the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain, submitted 
for publication by the U. S. Geological Survey, this study being a part of the Coastal 
Plain Investigations directed by T. Wayland Vaughan. 
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