EDMONTON FOKMATION 367 



zoic marine vertebrates considerably later in time than any heretofore 

 recorded. In the same level, close by, was found a fragmentary skull of a 

 Ceratopsian, number 5259, soon to be described as the paratype of a new 

 genus. 



About 14 miles below Tolman another prominent coal seam comes to 

 view at water level, but does not continue downstream more than a mile. 

 Carbonaceous layers are, however, more numerous and the exposures be- 

 come in conseq[uenoe darker in appearance. Iron-encrusted lenses and 

 pebbles also increase in number, uniform layers frequently extending long 

 distances. There is a greater amount of ironstone and evidently more 

 plant remains in the lower part of the beds from here down to the Pierre 

 and the clays become more and more shaly. Limbs and sections of trees 

 usually encrusted by chalcedony, with brilliant quartz crystals at points of 

 fracture, are abundant, though the mass of vegetal material is poorly 

 preserved. 



Near the home of Mr. Simpson, on the left bank, 20 feet above the river 

 and almost opposite the mouth of Kneehills Creek, there is a bed of leaves 

 from which several well preserved specimens were secured. They are 

 identified as follows : Populus cuneata Newb., Populus acerifolia Newb., 

 Populus nehrascensis Newb., Populus amhlyrhyncha Ward, Pterosper- 

 mites prob. Whitei Ward, Ginkgo laramiensis Ward, Sequoia nordens- 

 Tcioldii Heer, Sequoia langsdorfii (Brgh.) Heer, Glyptostrohus sp. 



After examination of the plants collected in 1911 — that is. Sequoia 

 nordenslcioldii, S. langsdorfii, Glyptostrohus f sp., Pterospermites prob. 

 Whitei, and Populus cuneata — Dr. Knowlton reports that ^^the species 

 indicate beyond all manner of question or doubt that the age is Fort 

 Union.^^ Additional better material was secured from the same spot in 

 1912, and the species enumerated in the complete list above were deter- 

 mined by Doctor Hollick, who says that "the specimens from the Edmon- 

 ton formation (near Simpson^s house, opposite mouth of Kneehills Creek, 

 etcetera) indicate, unquestionably, the Fort Union age of this horizon.^' 



The position of this plant layer in the Edmonton beds is not less than 

 250 feet below the Ostrea layer, in which the Plesiosaur skeleton Leuro- 

 spondylus was collected. The definite location of these horizons is most 

 important, for whereas the age of the land reptiles has been considered 

 debatable, the marine reptiles are clearly of Mesozoic age, and the same 

 species of land reptiles are found above and below the marine forms. 

 From the vertebrate a,nd invertebrate remains it seems very clear that 

 these rocks are not of Fort Union age, but as shown by the plants, the 

 climatic conditions of Fort , Union time were long foreshadowed .toward 

 the close of the Cretaceous. • • . • . 



