(52) 
total of ten species or over 15 per cent.; or, on excluding 
doubtful species such as those of Banksia, Eucalyptus and 
Sapindus, and such wide ranging forms as Seqguota Frecchen- 
bacht, over g per cent. 
The most striking feature about the Matawan flora is the 
entire absence of ferns, which form 5 ¥% per cent. of the Raritan 
flora, Anemia stricta being commonly found at Woodbridge. 
Ferns form 1% per cent. of the Dakota flora, 11 per cent. of the 
Atane flora, and about 2 per cent. of the existing New Jersey 
flora. In the most recent southern flora with which the Mata- 
wan may be compared, that of Alabama,* sixty-two species 
of Pteridophytes are listed forming about 214 per cent., and 
this percentage would be greatly increased if we excluded 
herbaceous plants, which as a rule do not occur as fossils. 
It is dificult to account for the absence of this order, as the 
balance of the flora is proportionally normal, containing nearly 
11 per cent. of Coniferae against 114 per cent. in the Raritan 
and 10 per cent. in the Atane beds. Presumably the environ- 
ment was unsuited to ferns, although, of course, future dis- 
covery may disclose them. Judging by such forms as Dam- 
mara, Araucariies, Eucalyptus, Sterculia, Aralia, Myrsine, 
Ficus, etc., we may infer that the climate was considerably 
warmer than at the present day in this latitude, and at least suf- 
ficiently humid to make the absence of ferns remarkable. A 
palm (Serenops?s) occurs at Glen Cove, Long Island,{ and 
the Raritan furnishes many additional representatives of 
genera which are exclusively tropical at the present time, as 
for instance Cinnamomum, Bauhinia, ete. 
Plants especially abundant in the Raritan formation and 
for which we have repeatedly searched in the Matawan are 
Thinnfeldia subintegrifolia (Lesq.) Knowlton, Tricarpellites 
striatum Newb., and Trcalycites papyraceus Newb. The 
genera Myrica (7 sp.) and Lirdodendron, (4 sp.) which are 
abundantly developed in the Raritan, and on the islands, have 
* Mohr, Plant Life of Alabama. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. v. 6. : 
t Dr. Hollick writes that material recently collected may result in altering 
his views as to the botanical affinity of these remains. 
