FLORA OF THE KOOTANIE FORMATION. 279 



Other collections were made not only by Mr. Williams but also by 

 Mr. 0. C. Mortson, Dr. A. C. Peale, Dr. F. H. Knowlton, and Mr. W. H. 

 Weed.' Several of these collections found their way to Washington and 

 were sent to Professor Fontaine for determination. His report upon them 

 was published in 1892." In this paper 15 species and varieties are 

 enumerated, 6 of which were new. Of the others 1, Pecopteris Browniana 

 Dunk, (now referred to Cladophlebis), had been previous^ reported from 

 the Great Falls coal field, 5 were Potomac plants, and 3 were Lower 

 Cretaceous or Wealden plants of Ai-ctic or European beds. The new 

 species, Zamites montanensis, is a iDeautiful frond with a decidedly Jurassic 

 aspect. It is not to be confounded with the Zamites montana of Dawson 

 from the Kootanie of Alberta, a much smaller plant. 



In 1891 Mr. H. M. Ami and Dr. Hayden made collections of fossil 

 plants from the Kootanie in the Cascade coal basin of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, which were worked up by Sir William Dawson and reported upon 

 the following year.'' The material must have been poor, as many oi the 

 forms were not specifically determined, but the new species Angiopteridium 

 canmorense, which has now been found in the Shasta formation of Cali- 

 fornia, was among them. Beyond this these collections added little to 

 what had previously been obtained. At the close of the paper all the 

 species known from the Kootanie are enumerated, and the Queen Charlotte 

 Islands beds are correlated with these, although there are no species com- 

 mon to both regions. As to the probable age of the Kootanie he saj^s 

 (p. 93): 



With reference to the age of the above flora, it is to be observed that the species 

 are almost entirely different from those of the Middle and Upper Creteceous, that 

 they include some forms usually regarded as Jurassic, but that the greater number 

 have the facies of the Lower Cretaceous. It is also observable that no angiosper- 

 mous exogens are included, though had these been present at least in any consid- 

 erable numbers they could scarcely have escaped detection. In the next succeed- 

 ing or Mill Creek Group plants of this type occur, though not in large numbers. 

 In the Potomac Formation of Fontaine there are, however, considerable numbers 

 of true exogens. 



These facts seem to indicate that the Kootanie flora belongs to the lowest 

 portion of the Cretpaceous, and may be a little older than that of the main part of 



" Description of some fossil plants from the Great Falls coal field of Montana, by William M. Fontaine: Pioc. 

 U. 8. Nat. Mus., Vol. XV, Washington, 1892, pp. 487-495, pi. Ixxxii-lxxxiv. 



'' Correlation of early Cretaceous floras in Canada and the United States, by Sir William Dawson: Trans. 

 Roy. Soc. Canada, Vol. X, Sect. IV, 1892, pp. 79-93. 



