235 



sequoia, Sequoia Langsdorfii, has twigs which greatly resemble 

 those of the cypress. Then there were the seeds of the gum 

 {Nyssd) showing that the tupelos were associated with the taxo- 

 diums even as far back as the Miocene. Along with the foregoing 

 there was a species of willow {Salix) and one of water elm 

 {Plaiierd), another of water beech i^Carpinus), an oak [Querciis) 

 and an ash {Fraxiutis), a fig {Ficiis), and a button-ball [Plataiius). 



A large number of leaf fragments were unidentifiable as were 

 also six or eight different varieties of seeds, but leaves of Celastrus 

 were recognized as well as two kinds of leaflets of some members 

 of the Leguminoseae. Another genus which was recognized was 

 Salvinia.'^ 



It has always been a matter for wonderment that these great 

 beds of diatoms could have been laid down and remain so free 

 from land-derived sediments unless they were deposited in deep 

 water far from any shore, which seemed improbable. The fossil 

 plants just mentioned help us to a probable solution of this prob- 

 lem for they point unmistakably to the existence of cypress 

 swamps and these in turn indicate that the land was low with 

 sluggish and meandering streams so that the amount of sedi- 

 ment carried was reduced to a minimum or what was carried 

 was entirely strained off, only the impalpably fine sediment which 

 to-day makes the diatomaceous earth so argillaceous in places, 

 succeeding in reaching the areas where the diatom skeletons 

 were being deposited, 



Johns Hopkins University. 



* A complete account of this flora is in course of publication. 



