210 The Upper Cretaceous Floras of the Would 



The marine sediments of the Matawan formation which overlie those 

 of the Magothy are frequently lignitic with associated amber, but identi- 

 fiable plants are very rare. Ficus matawancnsis Berry has been described 

 from the Woodbury clays of New Jersey, 1 and Dammara cliff woodensis 

 Hollick has been found in Matawan beds in Maryland. 1 



The only plants recorded from the still younger Monmouth formation 

 are the petrified remains of a palm described by Stevens 2 from Atlantic 

 Highlands, New Jersey, as Palmoxylon. 



Throughout the state of Virginia the Upper Cretaceous deposits are 

 deeply buried by the widespread transgression of the Eocene, and no 

 fossil plants have ever been collected, although traces of Upper Cretaceous 

 invertebrates and lignite have been encountered in deep borings. South 

 of Virginia the Upper Cretaceous again reaches the surface in the North 

 Carolina area. 



NORTH CAROLINA 



The presence of Upper Cretaceous deposits in North Carolina has long 

 been known, although as was usually the case, the earlier students con- 

 fined their attention chiefly to the strictly marine beds containing inverte- 

 brate fossils. Although petrified wood and lignite were mentioned as 

 early as 1827 (Olmsted) no identifiable remains of plants were dis- 

 covered until the inauguration in 1906 of the co-operative investigation 

 of the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, in which the writer collaborated. 

 In this and subsequent years fossil plants were discovered at numerous 

 localities and were the basis of publication of several minor papers 3 which 

 contain all that has been printed regarding the Upper Cretaceous flora. 

 This flora comes from the Black Creek formation, which is fully described 



1 Berry, E. W., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, vol. xxxviii, 1911, pp. 399-400. 



2 Stevens, N. E., A Palm from the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey. Amer. 

 Jour. Sci. (iv),vol. xxxiv, 1912, pp. 421-436, tf. 1-24. 



'Berry, E. W., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, vol. xxxiv, 1907, pp. 185-206, pis. xi- 

 xvi; Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ, n. s., 1907, No. 7, pp. 79-91; Bull. Torrey Bot. 

 Club, vol. xxxv, 1908, pp. 249-260, pis. xi-xvi; Amer. Jour. Sci. (iv), vol. xxv, 

 1908, pp. 382-386; Bull. Torrey Bot. Club. vol. xxxvii, 1910. pp. 181-200, pis. 

 xix-xxiv. 



