REPORT OP THE) DIRECTOR 1898 r79 



A FOSSIL PLANT FROM ORANGE COUNTY 



BY J. JS". NEVIDS 



Having been informed by the state geologist of the existence of 

 a large fossil plant at Monroe, Orange co., in the Upper Devonian 

 sandstone, which is thought to belong to the Hamilton group, the 

 director of the museum requested me to investigate the matter ; and 

 Ap. 8, 1898, the specimen was collected and shipped to the museum, 

 where it is now being prepared for exhibition. 



The plant was imbedded in the typical thin-bedded, blue sand- 

 stone of that region, which is extensively used for flagging. It 

 was located in a cut which had been excavated to obtain flagging, 

 on a side hill about a mile and a half northward of the village of 

 Monroe. The strata dip sharply toward the southeast at this locali- 

 ty, and the sandstone, alternately bedded with shale, outcrops in a 

 series of ridges up the side of the hill. The plant was imbedded 

 in one of these sandstone ridges. The plant was in a partially in- 

 verted position, the lower end being several feet above the point at 

 which the limbs diverge ; and the angle of dip of the trunk was 

 greater than that of the strata containing it. 



The cross section of the trunk averages 15 X 11 inches, the 

 shorter diameter being perpendicular to the bedding, and probably 

 caused by the pressure of the superincumbent rocks. Both flat- 

 tened surfaces show prominent transverse ridges and depressions, 

 which were evidently the natural contour of the plant. The 

 rounded surfaces were so badly weathered that it was impossible to 

 save several feet of them, but, where they were in a better condi- 

 tion, they showed the same ridges, which extend entirely around 

 the trunk. The ridges are somewhat irregular in contour, but their 

 general characteristics are the same. They average about 4|- inches 

 apart, with an average altitude, from the depression to the crest of 

 the ridge, of IJ inches. 



About six feet of the base had previously been removed by other 

 persons, a 16 inch section being in the possession of Columbia 

 university. The section obtained for the museum is about 12 feet 

 in length and includes the bases of several limbs. Six limbs were 

 counted, all branching within a distance of 4 feet along the trunk. 



