August 8, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



235 



drift-covered region of Nova Scotia an error 

 has not been committed in correlating them 

 with the beds carrying Carboniferous fossils 

 at Riversdale and Harrington River. 



Spealiing for himself only, the writer does 

 not regard the evidence yet adduced by the 

 stratigraphers as sufficiently complete to show 

 beyond doubt that this remarkable assemblage 

 of plants, consisting largely of types which 

 nowhere else in the world have been found be- 

 low the Waldenbui'g stage or the Pottsville 

 (Millstone Grit) of the Upper Carboniferous, 

 existed in eastern Canada during and from 

 Middle Devonian time. Many of the species 

 and several of the genera are, so far as known, 

 peculiar to and characteristic of the Upper 

 Carboniferous. A small portion of the flora 

 is common to the Lower Carboniferous ; but 

 very little of this element is characteristic of 

 the latter, while a close examination of the ma- 

 terial from St. John tends to bring into doubt 

 the identification of the few forms published 

 as characteristic Devonian species. 



No trace of this extraordinary paleobotan- 

 ical anomaly appears in the thoroughly stud- 

 ied magnificent section of the Devonian near 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, nor have any signs 

 of such a condition yet been found in the De- 

 vonian of eastern Maine, New York, or any 

 other region of the world. It is a remarkable 

 fact if a flora almost exclusively composed of 

 characteristic Carboniferous species, most, by 

 far, of which are typical of the Upper Carbon- 

 iferous, was isolated in the region of the Bay 

 of Fundy both in and after Middle Devonian 

 time ; but it is still more remarkable if this 

 flora were accompanied there by a likewise iso- 

 lated Carboniferous molluscan fatma. Condi- 

 tions producing isolation of a land flora are 

 not generally readily reconcilable with contem- 

 poraneous and continued isolation of the in- 

 vertebrates of the same region. 



As to the precise characters of the faunas 

 of the beds in question and as to the weight 

 of their evidence in the age determination of 

 the formations, we are but partially informed, 

 since the reports and opinions of the several 

 specialists to whom the materials were commu- 

 nicated for examination, or whose paleontolog- 

 ical views were solicited, have not been made 



public. As has already been noted, materials 

 representing vertebrates, Crustacea, polecypods, 

 and ostracods were during several seasons gatii- 

 ered in some quantity and placed in the hands 

 of "experts. These reports and opinions are 

 awaited by paleontologists and geologists 

 alike. We are in a general way informed that 

 all the fossils gathered are more or less dis- 

 tinctly indicative of Carboniferous age, all ef- 

 forts to discover Devonian types in the beds 

 being unsuccessful; and it is perhaps fair to 

 assume that had one or more of the experts, 

 to whom some class of fossils was sent, re- 

 ported in favor of their Devonian (not to say 

 Middle Devonian) age the stratigraphers 

 would not have omitted mention of the fact. 

 The circumstances attending the discussion 

 suggest a trial at which the testimony of the 

 faunal witnesses has not been admitted. 



What is at present most needed is a thorough 

 investigation of the faunas as well as of the 

 floras of the terranes in question, especially in 

 Nova Scotia. If the plants are misleading the 

 paleobotanists to overconfidence and if we are 

 mistaken as to the non-existence of such a re- 

 markable flora, containing so large a propor- 

 tion of Upper Carboniferous -types, in the 

 Middle Devonian and living in isolation until 

 Upper Carboniferous time, there is no one to 

 whom the truth means more or who realizes 

 more fully than the paleobotanist the impor- 

 tance of the fact. If the testimony of the 

 plants is false, the evidence of the faunas will 

 correct it; and if the beds in question are 

 Middle Devonian the fossils themselves will 

 prove it. Let us have a thorough paleon- 

 tological study of the beds, and the paleon- 

 tological question will settle itself. 



Da'^id White. 



preliminary studies on the rusts of the 



asparagus and the carnation : 



parasitism , of darluca. 



During the past two years, the writer has 

 been carrying on a series of experiments at the 

 University of Nebraska, in cooperation with 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 in inoculations with the asparagus rust 

 (Puccinia asparagi DC.) and the carnation rust 

 (Uromyces caryophilUnus (Sch.) Schi-oet). 



