318 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEREITORIES. 



acquaintance with the Tertiary and Cretaceous species of California is 

 most desirable. The marked differences in the present floras of these 

 slopes may be explained by the fossil species. Are these differences 

 a result of the topography of the country as fixed at or after the Ter- 

 tiary, or do they already originate in geographical distribution at the 

 Tertiary and Cretaceous times ? 



2d. We have no sufficient knowledge as yet with the North American 

 Tertiary plants to positively indicate if any stages are marked in this 

 formation by difference in the vegetation. 



3d. A close study of the plants from the so-called disputed strata, 

 which in superposition to Cretaceous formations appear to have at one 

 l^lace Tertiary types, at another Cretaceous ones, is desirable, in order, 

 if possible, to discover transitional or intermediate forms indicating 

 gradual changes from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary flora. 



4th. In the same way and for the same purpose it is most desirable 

 to have a better acquaintance with the fossil plants of the Upper Tertiary 

 formations, considered as of Pliocene age, as those of Mound City, Co- 

 lumbus, Kentucky, near the mouth of the Ohio Eiver, and also with the 

 still more recent deposits of leaves between the mouth of the Cumber- 

 land and of the Tennessee Eivers. In these, also, we may expect to see 

 transitional forms of vegetation between the Tertiary flora and ours. 



ON THE GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF THE CRETACEOUS 

 STRATA OF KANSAS. 



By Edward D. Cope, A. M. 



PART I.— A GENERAL SKETCH OF THE ANCIENT LIFE. 



That vast level tract of our territory lying between Missouri and the 

 Eocky Mountains represents a condition of the earth's surface which 

 has preceded, in most instances, the mountainous or hilly type so preva- 

 lent elsewhere, and may be called, in so far, incompletely developed. It 

 does not present the variety of conditions, either of surface for the 

 support of a very varied life, or of opportunities for access to its inte- 

 rior treasures, so beneficial to a high civilization. It is, in fact, the old 

 bed of seas and lakes, which has been so gradually elevated as to have 

 suffered little disturbance. Consistently with its level surface, its 

 soils have not been carried away by rain and flood, but rather cover it 

 with a, deep and wide-spread mantle. This is the great source of its 

 wealth in nature's creations of vegetable and animal life, and from it 

 will be drawn the wealth of its future inhabitants. On this account its 

 products have a character of uniformity ; but viewed from the stand- 

 point of the political philosopher, so long as peace and steam bind the 

 natural sections of our country together, so long will the plains be one 

 important element in a varied economy of continental extent. But 

 they are not entirely uninterrupted. The natural drainage has worn 

 channels, and the streams flow below the general level. The ancient 

 sea and lake deposits have neither been pressed into very hard rock 

 beneath piles of later sediment, nor have thej"^ been roasted and crystal- 

 lized by internal heat. Although limestone rock, they easily yield to the 

 action of water, and so the side drainage into the creeks and rivers has 

 removed their high banks from many rods to many miles from their 



