WARD.] JURASSIC CYCADS FROM WYOMING. 383 
Freezeout Hills of Carbon County, 25 miles nearly due north of Medi- 
cine Bow. 
The history of the discovery of these fossil trunks dates back only 
to 1898. The first intimation that I had of it was contained in a tele- 
gram from Prof. O. C. Marsh, dated July 15, 1898, as follows: ‘‘ Have 
two small cycads, apparently new, from the new Wyoming locality; 
will send them by express if you can use them in your report.” The 
‘‘report” alluded to is the description of the Black Hills cycads in the 
Nineteenth Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey (Pt. II, pp. 
594-641, pls. Ixi-clvii), which had gone to the printer before the tele- 
gram was received. As the new locality is not in the Black Hills, it 
would not have been appropriate to include the Wyoming cycads in 
that paper, and I so informed Professor Marsh. 
Professor Marsh promptly made public all the information he had 
on this subject in the ‘‘Postscript” to his paper on ‘The Jurassic 
Formation on the Atlantic Coast—Supplement,” which he had read 
before the National Academy of Sciences on November 18,1897. This 
“Supplement” with the ‘‘ Postscript” appeared in the American Jour- 
nal of Science for August, 1898 (4th ser., Vol. VI, pp. 105-115), and 
also in Science of August 5, 1898 (N. S., Vol. VIII, pp. 145-154). 
The next reminder I had of the existence of these vegetable fossils 
was through Dr. F. H. Knowlton, who had received a letter from 
Prof. Wilbur C. Knight, State geologist of Wyoming, dated Septem- 
ber 3, 1898, in which he said: ‘‘Recently my assistant made a very 
rich find of Jurassic cycads. Would you care to describe the species, 
or possibly several species? I have some fine ones. One on my desk 
is 8 by 6 by 12 inches or larger.” 
Dr. Knowlton showed me this letter, and, knowing that it referred 
to the same locality as that from which Professor Marsh had obtained 
his specimens, I immediately wrote to Professor Knight and offered 
to describe the specimens if he could find a way of placing them in my 
hands. As aresult a negotiation was entered into with the authorities 
of the United States National Museum as to conditions on which the 
material would be received, and it was not until the 16th of March, 
1899, that the collection finally arrived, 
In a letter from Professor Knight, dated October 18, 1898, in answer 
to questions I had asked him relative to the age of the beds, he says: 
There is no question as to the horizon of the find; it is in the Jurassic fresh-water 
beds, and near the bottom. In the locality where this bed has been opened there is 
a typical Jurassic exposure, and the fresh-water and marine beds can be sectioned to 
a foot. I have not visited the cycad beds yet, but I am well acquainted with the 
locality and have made rough sections many times. In my opinion it isa very excel- 
lent find and is well worth acareful study. I am at the present time making a special 
study of the Jurassic of Wyoming, contemplating a monograph on the subject as soon 
as it is possible to complete the work. If you wish, I can go to the field and give you 
an absolute section of the bed. 
