390 MESOZOIC FLORAS OF UNITED STATES. 



the Reynolds pit doubtless occupies the same position, only in the steel ore, and 

 this ought to be followed up, its exact horizon found, and further collections made. 

 Everything seems to confirm my suspicion that there is no great difference 

 between the brown ore and the white ore from a geological point of view. I am 

 satisfied now that there is really no such thing as an ' 'iron-ore series," stratigraphic- 

 ally distinct from the basal Potomac of Virginia, and I am glad I spoke with so 

 much reservation on this point in my paper. 



This was the first light that had been shed on the true age of the 

 iron-ore beds. It showed that they must be correlated with the Older 

 Potomac of Virginia and with the Rappahannock series. 



The work was interrupted in midsummer by my absence of two 

 months in Europe, the object of which was twofold: First, to study the 

 Wealden of England and Lower Cretaceous of Europe generally, and 

 especially of Italy and Portugal; and second, to see all the cycad trunks 

 possible in European museums for comparison with those of America. 

 In both of these objects I was measurably successful, and returned on 

 the first of October better prepared to resume the study of the Potomac 

 formation. The results of mj^ European studies were published in a 

 paper, to which further reference will presently be made (see p. 393). 



Early in the spring of 1895 I made a reconnaissance in the South, 

 most of which was devoted to a study of the Tuscaloosa formation and 

 will be considered in a later paper, but on my return I stopped at Fay- 

 etteville, N. C, and descended the Cape Fear River from that place to 

 the mouth of Harrisons Creek, 32 miles below, devoting two days to 

 the region and studying the banks at numerous points. These furnish 

 a section through a great thickness of the Lower Cretaceous, but it is 

 difficult to correlate the beds with those farther north. The higher beds 

 farthest down the river yield imperfect specimens of dicotyledonous 

 leaves having affinities with those of the Newer Potomac and are doubtless 

 of that age, but those at Lafayette, and for 10 or perhaps 20 miles below, 

 though apparently barren, closely resemble Older Potomac strata, but 

 are transgressed by marine deposits which occupy the top of the bluffs 

 nearly the whole distance. At Fayetteville the Potomac beds rise about 

 40 feet above the river. At the water's edge there was seen a bed of 

 greenish clays weathering red, in close imitation of those of the Potomac 

 at Cockpit Point. These had a thickness of 4 feet. The next 4 feet 

 consisted of coarse sand holding small vein-quartz pebbles and a few clay 



