338 OLDER MESOZOIC FLORAS OF UNITED STATES. 
I have been struck with the general resemblance that Newberry’s Cheiropteris Wil- 
liamsii bears to his Cyclopteris moquensis from the Moqui villages. I refer especially 
to the specimen given in fig. 11, pl. xiv, of his recent paper on the Flora of the Great 
Falls coal field, published in the Am. Jour. Sci. (8d series, Vol. XLI, March, 1891). 
The anastomosis of the veins of Cheiropteris Williamsii occurs at such long intervals 
that it might easily have been overlooked in Cyclopteris moquensis. 
From all this ] think it may be safely concluded that the claims of 
any of these plant-bearing beds to a Jurassic age are very slender, 
and it is probable that they are not Jurassic, whatever their real age 
may be. 
The following correspondence will give the history of the only other 
case within my knowledge of fossil plants occurring at a horizon which 
is near the boundary line between the Jurassic and the Cretaceous, and 
the true position of which is not yet settled: 
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, January 21, 1896. 
Prof. Lester F. Warp, ; 
Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir: I have forwarded to your address to-day four specimens of fossil plants 
collected by Mr. H. W. Fairbanks in rocks underlying the Knoxville in California. 
We are very anxious to know what they are and what their probable age is. The 
fauna associated with them is, peculiarly enough, rather of Cretaceous than Jurassic 
aspect. ; 
Would you kindly look at them and send me your opinion as soon as possible? 
Full credit will be given to you in a note to be published. 
Very sincerely yours, Joun C. Merriam. 
Wasuineton, D. C., February 10, 1896. 
Prof. Joun C. Merriam, 
University of California, Berkeley, California. 
My Dear Sir: I am much interested in the specimens you send. I can hardly 
trust myself to determine them for you, and will take the liberty of sending them to 
Professor Fontaine, who is working up all my collections from California. I obtained 
several specimens in the Shasta group that somewhat resemble them, but I also 
found a very few imperfect impressions in the Mariposa slates that look like them. 
I presume it will turn out with the plants as Dr. Stanton says it has with the shells, 
that they are not wholly diagnostic of the age of the beds. It seems to be a conifer, 
perhaps the descendant of the old Voltzia and the somewhat later Palissya, fore- 
shadowing the Lower Cretaceous Geinitzia and the more modern Sequoias. But 
what Professor Fontaine will call it I do not know. Itisa highly transitional form, 
and all your specimens are the same, I think. As soon as I hear from Professor 
Fontaine on the subject I will let you know. 
Very sincerely yours, Lester F. Warp. 
Wasuineton, D. C., February 11, 1896. 
Prof. Wu. M. Fontaine, 
University of Virginia, Virginia. 
My Dear Proressor Fonrarne: I send you a little package containing four speci- 
mens of fossil plants from beds underlying the Knoxville of California. They were 
sent to me by Prof. John C. Merriam, of the University of California, with a letter, 
of which the inclosed is a copy, which you need not return. I am as anxious ag he 
to know what the plants signify. I got some things a little like them in my collec- 
