246 BULLETIN OF THE 



the Permo-Carboniferous beds of Virginia. OJontopteris ohtusiloha, Cy- 

 clopteris rarinervis, Odontopteris cordata which is scarcely distinguishable 

 from Neuropteris Loschii, Cyatheites Schlotheimii var. latifolia, Sphenopteris 

 Geinitzi, Ilymenophyllltes Leuclcarti, as well as a Schizopteris, are all Per- 

 mian species only. The other named species of Ferns are uncertain on 

 account of the insufficiency of specmiens, but they are referable to types 

 of the Permian or Permo-Carbouiferous. 



In the Conifers, the most abundantly represented in the specimens 

 of Fairplay are the two more distinctly characteristic of the Permian, 

 Ullmannia frumentaria and Walchia piniformis. There are besides nu- 

 merous leaves and branches of Ubnannia Broiinii, and leaves of U. selagi- 

 noides, of Walchia longifolia, and of Ahietites, species all repi-esentatives 

 of the same formation only. 



In the Lycopodiacese, Mr. Lakes has found a branch of L€p)idodendron 

 which I have not seen among the specimens, but two of them have frag- 

 ments of leaves of this genus, and a Lepidophyllum with blade and spo- 

 range. It is well known that the Lycopodiaceoe disappear at the base of 

 the Trias, or rather in the Upper Permian. The same can be said of the 

 Cordaites, of which C. horassifolius is represented upon the largest frag- 

 ment of shale I have seen from Faii'play. 



The age of a flora is indicated, not only by the presence of certain 

 types, but by the absence of others. And in this, the group of vegetable 

 remains in Fairplay is remarkably free of any fragments of plants char- 

 acterizing the Triassic period. There is no trace of Equisetaccse or of 

 Cycadese. The fragments doubtfully referred to Cycas by Mr. Lakes in 

 his letter are all leaves of Ullmannia frumentaria and U. longifolia. 

 The Ferns are of a totally different character also. Prof William Fon- 

 taine has prepared a memoir, descriptions, and figures of a large num- 

 ber of species of plants obtained from the so-called Triassic measures of 

 Virginia, which he considers as the equivalent of the Rhetic of Europe. 

 On these plants. Prof. Fontaine writes me that none of them could be 

 referred to the Permian, or to any of the species which I have recorded 

 from the specimens of Fairplay. 



Possibly these Permian fossil remains will help to determine the geo- 

 logical distribution of the strata of South Park. In Dr. F. V. Hayden's 

 Annual Report of 1873, Dr. A. C. Peale gives a section of the valley 

 from Platte River to Trout Creek, on a distance of six miles. The sec- 

 tion passes about five miles north of Fairplay. Its lower part, or beds 

 No. 18 to 50, represent an open series of 1,250 feet of strata, all hypo- 

 thetically referred by Dr. Peale to the Carboniferous or Permian, for no 



