114 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PALEONTOLOG1CAL SOCIETY 



PAPERS OX PALEOBOTANY 



The papers upon paleobotany were then taken up, with Vice-President 

 Ruedemann still presiding. 



On account of the little time still remaining it was necessary to 

 read most of these papers by title. 



PALEOBOTAXICAL STUDY OF THE COAL-BEARIXG ROCKS OF THE RATOX 

 HESA REGIOX OF COLORADO AXD NEW MEXICO 



BY F. H. KXOWLTON 



(Abstract) 



For almost a quarter of a century the coal-bearing rocks of the Raton Mesa 

 region of Colorado and New Mexico have been referred to a single geological 

 formation — the Laramie— largely because of their stratigraphic position and 

 on the mistaken assumption that they were similar in all respects to the 

 Laramie of the Denver Basin of Colorado. However, since it has been demon- 

 strated by Lee that there is a widespread unconformity in the midst of this 

 Raton Mesa section, it became necessary to interrogate anew other lines of 

 evidence, this being the raison d'etre for the present paleobotanieal investiga- 

 tion. This study, which is based on the most extensive collections of fossil 

 plants thus far brought together from any of the Rocky Mountain areas, shows 

 conclusively that the beds below the unconformity are distinctly Cretaceous 

 in aspect, and find their closest affinity with the upper i>ortion of the Montana 

 group, while the beds above the unconformity are distinctly post-Laramie in 

 age and closely related to the Denver formation of the Denver Basin, and to 

 the Wilcox formation of Louisiana and Mississippi. The Wilcox formation, 

 being above marine Eocene, fixes the age of the Raton formation as Eocene. 

 No Laramie is at present known from the Raton Mesa region. 



STATUS OF THE STUDY OF THE FOSSIL FLORAS OF THE ATLAXTIC COASTAL 



PLAIX 



BY EDWAKD W. BEBBY 



(Abstract) 



A brief account of the floras of the Atlantic Coastal plain and the progress 

 that has been made in their description. 



ROOTS IX THE UXDERCLAYS OF COALS 

 BY DAVID WHITE 



(Abstract) 



On close inspection the floor, usually an "under clay" beneath the coal beds 

 in the American coal fields, is. in the great majority of cases, found to contain 

 roots of vascular plants in their place of growth. The prevalent occurrence 

 of such roots of various kinds, which are to be seen under the commercially 

 workable coals in all fields examined, whether of Tertiary. Mesozoic. or Car- 



