400 , 



Among the species of the Upper Cretaceous, one is apparently closely 

 allied to the Bryox^hyllum of Mr. Holmes's specimens.* Mr. Holmes, 

 who is preparing a report on the geology of the country where the 

 specimens were found, refers the strata to the Cretaceous formation. 



To my regret, I have had here to condense in a few sentences the 

 descriptions of the new species and the remarks suggested by their 

 examination. The light which they throw upon the general character 

 of the Cretaceous flora has been merely noticed ; and striking as may 

 appear the elegance, the size, and the multiplicity of their forms, they 

 had to be passed without records, as written descriptions are inadequate 

 to give even a feeble representation of them. The study of these fossil 

 plants impresses upon the mind the evidence of the richness of a flora 

 which seems to be recent, even to belong to our present time by some 

 of its predominant types, and which, nevertheless, represents the vege- 

 tation of an epoch so old that, at its beginning, the annals of geology 

 have not yet any records of the appearence of dicotyledonous leaves. 

 This flora, therefore, bears in it something of antique and venerable. 

 It speaks to the mind and excites the imagination. In presence of its 

 display, the query stands as an unsolved and alluring problem: — Where 

 from and how have originated these multiple and admirable types of 

 the Cretaceous flora, mostly representatives of dicotyledonous species t 



Columbus, Ohio, November 14, 1875. 



* These specimens "vrere received after my return from Xew Jersey. I have had no 

 opportunity of comparing them as yet, and merely speak from impression and from the 

 desciiption in my notes. 



