722 GEOLOGY OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 



perfect. It is exactly 3 cm. in width at the widest portion, which is a little 

 above the middle. There is no indication of the form of the base, as it is 

 destroyed The apex was quite obviously obtuse. The nerves are less 

 distinctly preserved than in the other specimen, but by careful search they 

 can be made out as shown in the figure. Beyond these nothing can be 

 made out. 



It is with some hesitation that these specimens are described as petals 

 of Magnolia, They were at first supposed to be spathe-like growths of 

 some inonocotyledonous plant, and their identification as Magnolia petals 

 was first suggested by Mr. C. L. Pollard, of the United States National 

 Museum, in whose honor I take pleasure in naming the species. The 

 probability of their being petals of a large-flowered Magnolia is greatly 

 strengthened by the fact that undoubted Magnolia leaves in abundance are 

 found in the various beds of the Yellowstone National Park, whereas no 

 inonocotyledonous plant has been found to which these apparently could 

 have belonged. There is a facies to the specimens that is difficult to 

 describe and wholly impossible to show in a figure, which is very sug- 

 gestive of Magnolia, petals. The maimer in which they curve and narrow 

 on the rock, although this appearance may of course be only accidental, 

 is very similar to the petals of certain large-flowered forms — such, for exam- 

 ple, as M. conspicua. In any case they are distinctive forms that may be 

 readily recognized, and, for the purposes of geologic correlation, are of 

 undoubted value. Several botanists to whom the specimens have been 

 submitted agree that their reference to Magnolia is full)' warranted, and 

 for the present at least they may be so considered. 



Habitat: Yellowstone River, one-half mile below the mouth of Elk 

 Creek (fig. 10); collected by F. H. Knowlton, August, 1888. Fossil For- 

 est Ridge, opposite Slough Creek; collected by Lester F. Ward, August, 



1887. 



LAIRACE.K. 



Laurus primigejSia? Ung. 



PI. XGI, figs. 4, 5. 



Laurus primigenia Ung. Of. Ward: Types of the Laramie FL, p. 47, PI. XXIII, fig. 8. 



The much broken specimens are the only ones of this species found. 



Their identification is open to doubt, yet they are obviously the same as 



