GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 51 



nizecl among the leaves from Tekamah, Blackbird Hill, and Big Sioux, 

 but it was especially the first locality which furnished the best speci- 

 mens. 



"We are convinced that when observations are exact and determina- 

 tions made from careful examination of specimens, there is never any 

 disagreement between stratigraphical and paleontological laws." 



The remarks of Professor Heer, which preface his descriptions of the 

 fossil plants by Professor Capellini, are so interesting and important that 

 we copy them entire : 



" The collection of Mr. Capellini contains sixteen species ; four are 

 badly preserved, twelve are determinable; nevertheless, of the latter 

 several are but fragments, so that their determination is diflScultand not 

 sufficiently positive. This is especially the case with Fhyllites, which I 

 have referred to the genera Platanus and Andromeda. 



" It is certain that all the leaves found by Mr. Capellini are dicotyled- 

 onous, and with great probability one may be referred to the genus Mens, 

 one to Salix, one to Diospyrns^ two to Populus, and two to Magnolia, 

 although there are no accompanying fruits or other parts to confirm 

 these determinations. These genera are yet living, and they are also 

 found in the Tertiary formations. 



" If we compare these plants of ISTebraska with the Cretaceous plants 

 of Europe, we find no identical species among them. I sent drawings 

 of them to Dr. Debey, of Aix-la-Chapelle, who discovered in that locality 

 a Cretaceous flora. He has written to me that he has not found one 

 species identical. Even the greater part of the genera are different. 

 There is but one Cissite, [G. aceroides, Debey,) which recalls slightly the 

 C. insignis. (Plate 4, Fig. 5.) The Cretaceous plants of Henant, Bel- 

 gium, those of Blankenburg and Quedlinburg, are also very different. 



" Professor Schenck has recently sent to me a collection of plants of 

 Quedlinburg for determination. Besides conifers and ferns characteristic 

 of the Chalk, it contains dicotyledonous leaves, but no forms like those 

 of Nebraska. The Cretaceous flora of Moletein, Moravia, which I have 

 lately studied, exhibits more resemblance. It contains two species of 

 Ficus, which much resemble the Ficus of J^ebraska, two superb species 

 of Magnolia, one with a fruit-cone. 



" There is a relationship between the flora of Nebraska and that of 

 the Upper Chalk of Europe, although identical species are wanting. But 

 to the present time no characteristic genus of the Cretaceous flora of 

 Europe has been found in Nebraska. 



" If we compare the plants of Nebraska with the Tertiary plants we 

 find no identical species, but seven genera {Populus, Salix, Ficus, Plata- 

 nus, Andromeda, Biospyrus, and Magnolia,) are Miocene, and likewise 

 living. 



" It then appears that the Nebraska flora is related more to the Ter- 

 tiary than to the Cretaceous flora of Europe, a fact which struck me when 

 I first saw drawings of the former. But it should be remarked that we 

 know but a very small number of American species, and on the other 

 hand the European Cretaceous flora has more relationship with Tertiary 

 flora than I at first supposed. I have found in the Cretaceous flora of 

 Moletein, Moravia, species of Ficus slqH Magnolia w\x\c,h. resemble. Terti- 

 ary species ; a Myrtacea, which is a near neighbor to the Ucalyptus 

 rhododendroides (Mass.) of Mt. Bolca, a Juglans and a Laurinea, which 

 also have their analogues in the Tertiary flora ; a Pinus and two other 

 conifers which belong to the genus Sequoia, which was extensively dis- 

 tributed in Europe and America in the Miocene epoch, and which is now 

 only found in California. 



