CRETACEOUS CONIFERALES 3 
found in a narrow stratum, nowhere more than a foot in thickness, 
near the surface of the bed. The stratum was conspicuous from its 
dark color, due to the mass of lignified vegetable matter which it con- 
tained. Much of this was broken twigs and branches, some pieces 
being quite large and showing the woody texture very beautifully; 
they, however, fell in pieces upon exposure to the air." A list of 
the angiosperm genera, determined from the leaves, is given, and 
the final paragraph on the gymnosperms is to the effect that “ Pine 
needles are distributed plentifully throughout. . . Another con- 
Чег which has left its mark, 15 so close to Sequoia that it has been 
referred to that genus. . . . There are also little masses of a yellow 
substance here and there which I take to be a fossil gum or amber. 
This could, however, only be determined by chemical analysis. 
Fruits and seeds should be sought carefully, as they are generally 
quite satisfactory to determine, being less liable to destruction than 
the leaves." 
The excavation from which these remains were obtained was 
shortly afterwards partly filled in, and for several years no further 
collections were made; but in 1892 new excavations again exposed 
the plant-bearing layers, and specimens a were reported upon 
at the March meeting of that year, уі2. “ Mr. Davis presented 
unusually fine specimens of lignite, apparently coniferous, from the 
clay beds at Kreischerville. “The specimens were of the appearance 
and consistency of Jet and contained considerable amber. . . . Mr. 
Hollick stated that a record should be made of the re-discovery, 
since the last meeting, of plant remains in the clay pit at Kreischer- 
ville, where they were first found and noted six years ago. . . . Аз 
on the former occasion, however, the specimens found were too frag- 
mentary for accurate determination. They occur thickly massed 
together in confusion, in a stratum averaging, in the recent exposure, 
about two feet in thickness. It was ци found possible to so ‚separate 
them as to obtain perfect specimens.” 
These discoveries, meager as they were, nevertheless served to 
definitely correlate the Staten Island clays with those of New Jersey 
and to determine their Cretaceous age beyond further question. 
Occasional fragmentary plant remains were brought to light from 
time to time subsequently, as new excavations were made, and some 
? Proc. Nat. Sci. Assoc. Staten Island 3: 12. 1892. 
