WARD] THE SOUTHWESTERN AREA. 317 
gives a somewhat glowing account of what he saw in the valley of the 
Rio Secco (which is probably the Rio Puerco), accompanied by a colored 
plate, representing « prostrate trunk broken into sections and a stump 
or short projecting upright portion. Such sights are now known to be 
common throughout that region. Specimens of this petrified wood 
procured by him were conveyed to Europe and placed in the hands of 
Dr. Géppert, who subjected them to microscopic examination, and 
furnished a short report as to their internal structure and probable 
nature, which was published as a note at the end of this volume, on 
page 492." Only one species was distinguished from this material, 
which was identified as belonging to the genus Araucarites, and which 
‘in a footnote he named, after the explorer, Araucarites Mellhausianus. 
He did not, however, furnish the character, and it remains a nomen 
nudum. 
In the geological report made by Dr. J. S. Newberry in what is 
known as the Macomb Report,’ impressions of leaves or plants other 
than fossil wood are first mentioned (p. 69). Of the 14 species of 
fossil plants described in this report,? only 2 were found within the 
territory of the United States, the rest having all come from Sonora, 
in Mexico, collected at a point called Yaki. The American species 
were found in and about the copper mines in the vicinity of Abiquin, 
New Mexico, and there is little doubt that the Sonora specimens rep- 
resent a western extension of the same great formation (see supra, p. 
315, for later development of these beds). 
Dr. Newberry’s geological report of the Macomb expedition forms 
a volume by itself. It was prepared soon after. the close of the expedi- 
tion, but owing to the breaking out of the civil war it was not pub- 
lished until 1876. It consists chiefly of an itinerary. On page 69 he 
refers to the fossil plants from the copper mines near Abiquiu, and 
makes the following remarks: — 
The most interesting incident of.our visit to this copper mine was the discovery in 
the shale roof stone of thousands of impressions of plants, of which abundant speci- 
mens were procured. They are mostly cycadaceous—Otozamites and Pterozamites— 
with a few conifers (Brachyphyllum and Voltzia?). The species are probably new, 
and will not afford the means of determining with precision the age of the stratum 
containing them, but the discovery is of great geological interest, as showing the 
wide distribution of the cycadaceous flora of the Triassic and Jurassic epochs, and 
gives additional confirmation of the generalization of Brongniart, who characterized 
this epoch in the botanical history of the world as the reign of Gymnosperms. 
In a footnote to this remark he says: 
Descriptions of these plants will be found in another chapter, where it is shown 
that the most conspicuous species (Otozamites Macombii) is the same with one found 
1Ueber die von Méllbausen mitgebrachten Fragmente des Holzes aus dem versteinerten Walde, 
von H. R. Goppert. : ; 
2 Report of the Exploring Expedition from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Junction of the Grand 
and Green Rivers of the Great Colorado of the West, in 1859, under the Command of Capt. J. N, 
Macomb; Geological Report by Prof. J. S. Newberry, Geologist of the Expedition, Washington, 1876, 
3 Pp, 141-148, pls. iv-viii. 
