288 



seven species are recorded as identical with European Miocene species. 

 If we count in each case the plants that were supposed to be closely re- 

 lated to the European species, but not identical, we find twenty-five in the 

 Sezanne column and thirty three in the Miocene column. Adding the 

 identical and the related species in each case it is seen that there are in 

 the Sezanne column twenty-eight species, sixty in the Miocene column. 

 Therefore, it becomes difficult to understand how Professor Lesquereux 

 derived his conclusion from his premises. What his table really proved 

 was that the Laramie deposits belong to the Miocene. Had Cope and 

 other paleontologists examined the table itself, instead of accepting the 

 author's statement regarding it. they would either have distrusted the evi- 

 dence from the plants more than they did or would have concluded that 

 the dinosaurs ranged up into the Miocene. 



It is not to be supposed that all paleobotanists accepted Lesquereux's 

 views. These views were strongly opposed, especially by Newberry, as 

 early as 1874 and as late as 1889. The following is quoted from New- 

 berry (Trans. N. T., Acad. Sci.. ix, 1889. p. 28) : 



If Prof. Cope had not accepted Mr. Lesquereux's conclusion in regard 

 to the age of the deposit [at Black Buttes], and had recognized the fast 

 that there are no Tertiary plants in the true Laramie, he would have seen 

 that there is no discrepancy between the testimony of the plant and animal 

 remains. 



It is to be taken into consideration here that Newberry believed that 

 the Laramie was directly overlain by the Fort Union. The latter beds 

 have usually been regarded as belonging to the Eocene. However, the fol- 

 lowing may be quoted from Lester F. Ward, who had studied especially 

 collections of plants from the Fort Union deposits (Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer.. 

 i, 1S90. p. 531) : 



In fact, the material from the Fort Union formation which is still in 

 my hands inclines me to believe that there would really be. as I then stated, 

 no inconsistency in assigning to the Fort Union an age as ancient as the 

 closing period of the Cretaceous. system. 



6. The Completeness or Record of Animal Life as Compared With 

 That of Plant Life. 



There is, in the present state of knowledge, a great contrast between 

 the incompleteness of the plant record above the Fox Hills formation and 

 the fullness of the animal record. Plants are abundant throughout the 



