FOSSIL FLORA OF THE LOWER COAL MEASURES 

 OF MISSOURL 



By David White. 



II^TRODtTCTION. 



Since the publication of the Coal Flora ^ the material collected in 

 Hem-y County, Missouri, and transinitted to Professor Lesquereux by Dr. 

 J. H. Britts, has been so extensively increased through the continued and 

 most fruitful efforts of the latter gentleman and of the geologists of the 

 United States Geological Survey and of the Greological Survey of Missouri, 

 that it appears highly desirable that the fossils new to science should be 

 published, and that a comparative analysis should be made of the floras 

 with a view to ascertaining both the age of these coals and their relative 

 positions with reference to the typical sections of the Eastern coal fields. It 

 is thought also that such a correlation will have an important bearing on 

 questions concerning the deposition and stratigraphy of the basal portion of 

 the Lower Coal Measures, a subject which has received some attention in 

 the recent publications of the State. 



Although by far the greater part of the materials here considered come 

 from a restricted area, Henry County, the collections are so extensive and 

 their accumulation covers so long a period of coal exploitation that they 

 may be safely regarded as a relatively comprehensive representation of the 

 plant life of the zone in the entire basin. 



' Second Geological Survey, Pennsylvania. Report of Progress P. Description of the Coal Flora 

 of the Carboniferous Formations in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States. Vols, i-iii, with 

 .atlas. Harrishurg, 1880-1884. 



MON XXXVII 1 1 



