LESQUEREux.] PALEONTOLOGY LIGNITIC FLORA, ETC. • 379 



of a section of 1,000 feet of measures of the productive lignitic * In going 

 west toward Point of Eocks, in a contrary direction to the dip of the 

 strata, the Hallwell coal, a workable bed, and other Lignitic beds of unim- 

 portant thickness, are passed until reaching the abrupt terminus of the 

 ridge near Saltwell. 'So remains of fossil plan ts were found in connection 

 with any of these coal-strata. From Hallwell to Rock Springs, the dip 

 of the measures is to the west until the upper strata of Lignitic are 

 reached. Near this last place, a *bed of coal 4 feet thick is passed, 

 two miles before reaching the station, and here the main coal, 100 

 feet higher, is worked 6 to 9 feet thick. I was not able to discover any 

 fossil plants in the whole thickness of the measures, and at Rock Springs 

 the coal, which is evidently one of the highest of this group, has 

 not any other plants but the fucoidal HaUmenifes. Its shale, however, 

 is mixed with a profusion of shells. Considering this, it would ap- 

 pear that the upper beds of the Eocene Lignitic are, in Wyoming, the re- 

 positories of fossil plants. At Golden we have perhaps the best 

 evidence concerning the distribution of the fossil plants in relation to 

 Lignitic strata. The lowest strata of coal, in close proximity to the Cre- 

 taceous, and tilted up to the perpendicular, are interlaid by beds of white 

 hard sandstone, which all, three of them at least in succession, have 

 identifiable remains of fossil plants. The lowest sandstone has espe- 

 cially some species of Fucoids, among which the fine Belesseria fulva, to- 

 gether with a quantity of Sdbal, Bliamnus Goldianus, Flatanus Ilaydenii, 

 Quercus angustiloha, &g. Under the basaltic deposits, which cover the 

 Lignitic on the eastern side of the valley, half a mile distant from the Lig- 

 nitic beds, the fossil strata bearing plants are horizontal 5 at some places 

 composed of soft white clay, as east of Golden, on the slopes of North 

 Table Mountains ; at others, of shaly sandstone, as northeast of the 

 School of Mines, on South Table Mountains. These deposits are all 

 about at the same altitude of 300 feet above Clear Creek, 60 to 100 feet 

 lower than the base of the lava-beds. They all contain not only the same 

 types but mostly the same species of fossil plants as the sandstone, inter- 

 lying the Lignitic beds in proximity to the Cretaceous. It therefore 

 appears from this that the flora of the Lower Lignitic has the same char- 

 acters in the whole thickness of the measures. There may be, of course, 

 some difference in the species, or a predominance of some kinds at a 

 higher or lower station, but the difference has not been yet remarked. 



LIST OF THE SPECIES OF THE FIRST GEOUP. 



[Abbreviations for names of localities, &c.: R., Raton Mountains; P., Placii^re ; G., 

 Golden ; M., Marshall's ; S. Cr., Sand Creek ; B. B., Black Batte ; Y. St., Yellow Stone ; 

 Miss., Mississippi ; ¥., Vancouver ; Mo., Miocene; Gr., Group.] 



Spheria lapidea, Lesqx. — E. 

 S. myric83, Lesqx. — B. B. 

 Sclerotium rubellum, Lesqx. — G. 

 Opegrapha antiqua, Lesqx. — B. B. 

 Chondrites subsimplex, Lesqx. — E. 



C. bulbosus, Lesqx. — E. 

 Delesseria fulva, Lesqx. — G. 



D. incrassata, Lesqx. — E. 

 D. lingulata, Lesqx. — E. 

 Halymenites striatus, Lesqx. — G., E. 



H. major, Lesqx.— G., E., B. B., (Gr. 2, 3.) 



* Professor Meek estimates it to at least double this thickness, and considers the lower 

 unproductive strata of this formation as Cretaceous. No evidence is afforded on thia 

 subject by vegetable remains. 



