AGE OF THE COALS AT TIPTON, PENNSYLVANIA 475 



From the roof of the coal mined at the time Doctor White obtained nine forms, 

 listed by him as follows: Fecopteris sp., Alethopteris ambigua Lx., Alethopteris sp. 

 allied to A. pennsylvanica Lx., Neuropteris ienuifolia Brongn., N. loschii Bron^n., 

 Calamiies sp. allied to C. Suckowii Brongn., Lepidophyllum lanceolatum Brongn., 

 Stigmaria ficoides Brongn., and Cordaites gracilis Lx. By all paleobotanists these 

 species will be recognized as clearly indicating an Upper Carboniferous stage. 

 Further, Doctor White, whose experienced eye recognized the lithological charac- 

 teristics of the Allegheny series in the Tipton Run terrane, measured up a section 

 125 to 145 feet in extent, which was regarded by him as including a sandstone, 

 probably of the Freeport group, and 10 feet of Pottsville conglomerate. The 

 principal mined coal from which the fossils were obtained was considered by him, 

 largely on account of its structure and position in the local sequence, as probably 

 the Lower Kittanning. 



Another collection of fossil plants was made by Mr Koch, one of the aids of 

 the state survey, at the time, 1889, of the next examination of the Tipton beds 

 by the state geologists. The fossils were sent for determination to the late R. D. 

 Lacoe, of Pittston, Pennsylvania, whose list is printed in the Summary Final 

 Report of the State Survey.* Mr Lacoe promptly reported : "Of the twenty-five 

 species from Tipton, all but four are common in the Coal Measures of North 

 America. This gives a distinctly Coal Measures position to the collection." The 

 state geologists, with equal punctuality and confidence, again referred the beds to the 

 Pocono. 



In 1899, during a brief stop of two hours at the Tipton mine, a search for fossils 

 was made by the writer about the largely disintegrated rock dump at the Tipton 

 Run tunnel. The species collected are : 



Pseudopecopteris squamosa {Jjx.) Sphenophyllum emarginatum'Brongu. 



Pecopteris vestita Lx. var. minor D. W. Lepidophyllum stantoni Lx. 



Pecopteris miltoni Artis. Lepidophyllum Mansfieldi Lx. 



Neuropteris scheuchzeri Hoffm. Lepidophyllum cf. Lepidostrobu? geinitzii Sehimp. 



Neuropteris capitata Lx. Cardiocarpon cf. simplex Lx. 



Neuropteris ovata Hoffm. f Bhabdocarpos mamillatus Lx. 



Aphlebia sp. indet. Estheria sp. 



Asterophyllites equisetiformis (Sehloth.) Brongn. 



The composition of the flora listed above is characteristic of the Allegheny series. 

 Several of the species occur at some localities in beds as old as the uppermost Potts- 

 ville, but the Cardiocarpon is the only form that ordinarily belongs more properly 

 to the Upper Pottsville. Pecopteris miltoni, Lepidophyllum stantoni and Rhahdocarpos 

 mamillatus are seldom to be found below the Kittanning group in the Allegheny 

 series but prevail a little higher, while Pseudopecopteris squamosa, Pecopteris vestita 

 var. minor, and Lepidophyllum manf^fieldi appear to point toward a level hardly so 

 high as the Freeport. On the whole the flora, with the possible exception of the 

 Cardiocarpon, is, on the one hand, distinctly post-Pottsville, while lacking, on the 

 other side, the later elements which appear in the Freeport group of the Allegheny 

 and in the Conemaugh series. It is characteristic in general of the middle or upper 



middle portion of the Allegheny series, and appears to indicate an horizon in the 



s ^ 



* Vol. iii, pt. i, pp. 1691, 1692. I have not been able, after persistent efforts, to locate this collec- 

 tion, which appears to have bC'-n lost. 



t Includes the plant identified by Doctor White as N. loschii Brongn., together perhaps with 

 N. tenuifolia of the former list. 



