CORRELATIONS OF THE KANAWHA GROUPS 173 



here express the opinion that the collective flora enumerated in the first 

 list shows so high a degree of identity and so similar a composition to 

 the floras of the Kittanning group of Pennsylvania as to strongly argue 

 for a reference of some portion at least of the beds within 200 feet above 

 the Black Flint to the latter group. Likewise, for reasons which cannot 

 here be discussed, I am inclined to the belief that the small flora from 

 beds between 200 and 300 feet above the Black Flint may be from ter- 

 ranes not later than the Freeport group. The species in the third list, 

 though few in number, do not appear to indicate a stage very far above 

 the horizon of the Upper Freeport coal, the upper limit of the Allegheny 

 series. The evidence on this point is, however, at present too insufficient 

 to justify further consideration. 



Homotaxial Relations of the Kanawha and Allegheny Series 



general correlations indicated by the fossil floras 



From the foregoing brief reviews of the floras of the Kanawha forma- 

 tion and the Allegheny series, it appears : 



1. That the floras of the lower half of the Kanawha formation, in- 

 cluding the lower group of coals, are either of Pottsville derivation or 

 they are identical with or closely allied to species which are character- 

 istic of the Lower Coal Measures of the Old World, but are hitherto un- 

 known in our own American coalfields.* The floras in question exactly 

 correspond to those of the Lower Coal Measures of Europe. 



2. The Lower Kanawha floras are in strong contrast to and are easily 

 distinguished from either the floras of the upper part of the Kanawha 

 series itself or the lower portion of the Allegheny series, which carries 

 a flora slightly younger than that of the Lower Coal Measures of Europe. 



3. The floras of the entire lower half of the Kanawha formation are 

 homotaxially if not actually older than the Clarion and Kittanning floras, 

 which follow them several hundred feet higher in the same section. 



4. In the Virginian region the characteristic plants, everywhere com- 

 mon in the Allegheny series, do not appear until we pass up into the 

 upper half of the Kanawha formation, where they occur in identical 

 forms and in an association constituting a flora typical of the lower por- 

 tion of the Allegheny series. 



* The reader should again be reminded that many of the specific identifications recorded in the 

 foregoing plant lists are either tentative or comparative, and are therefore subject to change in 

 connection with their systematic description in the full report. 



