212 MESOZOIC FLORAS OF UNITED STATES. 



many of the ferns of that age, first regarded as belonging to Pecopteris, 

 have recently been referred. 



In the spring of 1887 Dr. C. A. White showed me a specimen from 

 the Shasta formation of California that had come into his possession 

 without any more definite indication of its exact source. I sent tlie 

 specimen, on April 4, to Professor Fontaine, who replied: "The specimen 

 * * * is a Sagenopteris. I can not distinguish it from Sagenopteris 

 elliptica sp. nov., the most abundant species found in the Lower Potomac 

 group of Virginia." 



This species, as will be seen, occurred in later collections, but is not 

 very common. 



The next earliest record we have of the discovery of fossil plants in 

 the Shasta formation is that of a few specimens turned over to the 

 division of paleobotanj^ of the United States Geological Survey by Dr. 

 T. W. Stanton on March 17, 1890. They appear to have been collected 

 the previous season by Mr. Will Q. Brown, and were found in the Horse- 

 town beds, in the vicinity of Riddles, Oreg. Two other specimens were 

 received in February, 1892, from Mr. J. S. Diller, collected also by Mr. 

 Brown, in 1891, from the same locality, viz, "on Cow Creek, close to the 

 town of Riddles." Mr. Diller sent two other specimens direct from the 

 field in June, 1892, also from near Riddles. 



In 1893 Doctor Stanton and Mr. Diller, assisted by Mr. James 

 Storrs, made extensive collections from the Knoxville and Horsetown 

 beds of California on the eastern slopes of the Coast Range, drainage of 

 the Sacramento River, below the latitude of Mount Shasta. They found 

 an abundant fauna, but the flora was meager. StiU, their collections of 

 fossil plants were rather large and came into my hands before the end of 

 that 3'ear. I made a preliminary report upon them, but was obliged, for 

 want of time, to send them to Prof. Wm. M. Fontaine for more thorough 

 examination. He reported upon them somewhat fully under date of 

 February 23, 1894, and his identifications were published by Diller and 

 Stanton in their paper read before the Geological Society of America, 

 which, though read on December 27, 1893, or before the report was com- 

 pleted, was not published until April 12, 1894." 



" The Shasta-Chico series, by J. S. Diller and T.W. Stanton: Bull. Geol. Soc. America, Vol. V, Rochester, 

 April, 1894, pp. 435-464. See pp. 450, 451. 



