THE FLOEA OF THE ESMERALDA FORMATION IN 

 WESTERN NEVADA 



By Edward W. Berry 



Of the Johns Hopkins Vmpersity, Baltimore, Md. 



INTRODUCTION 



The beds to which the name Esmeralda formation was given com- 

 prise sandstones, shales, lacustral marls, with local f anglomerates and 

 conglomerates on a large scale. These outcrop at intervals over a 

 large area in the Great Basin of western Nevada. They were de- 

 scribed by H. W. Turner in 1900, and their thickness was estimated 

 as exceeding 14,000 feet. It was suggested that deposition may have 

 covered parts of Miocene and Pliocene time, since the fossils, namely : 

 Fresh-water mollusks, a fish, and fossil plants, were all from near the 

 base of the formation.^ The fossil plants were described by Knowl- 

 ton ^ in the same report. 



Fourteen species were recognized, and all but one of these were 

 regarded as new. An additional small collection was made from 

 these beds by S. H. Cathcart in 1924, and this forms the basis of the 

 present paper. The Esmeralda flora as now revised comprises the 

 following species: 



BKVISED FLORA OB* THE ESMERALDA FORMATION 



Pteridophyta. 



Hydropterales. 

 Salviniaceae. 



Azolla tertiaria Berry. 

 Polyiwdiales. 



Polypodiaceae. 



Dryopteris ohscura Knowlton. 

 Spermatophyta. 



Monocotyledonae. 

 Pandanales. 

 Typhaceae, 



Typha lesquereuxi Cockerell. 



» Turner, H. W., U. S. Geol. Surv. 21st Ann. Rept., pt. 2, pp. 191-208. 1900. A pre- 

 liminary account appeared in vol. 25 of the American Geologist in tlie same year. 

 2 Knowlton, F. H., Idem., pp. 209-220, pi. 30. , 



No. 2719.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 72, Art. 23. 



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