212 
beds of Greenland. They appear to be iden- 
tical with specimens from the Atane beds of 
Greenland which Heer* described as Pinus 
vaginalis. I have not, however, included the 
latter in the foregoing synonymy, as it is an 
earlier name and would involve changing the 
well-known and highly characteristic name 
longifolius. 
, These remains are very common in the 
Cheyenne sandstone. Similar forms under 
different specific names are common and wide- 
ranging at Lower and Upper Cretaceous hori- 
zons in North America, Europe, and Asia. 
The Cheyenne sandstone localities are black 
hills near Belvidere (773); 14 miles northwest 
of Belvidere (2218); Thompson Creek near the 
flume, 2 miles northwest of Belvidere (2221); 
Champion (Wildcat) Draw, three-fourths mile 
south of Belvidere (2222); 1 mile southwest of 
Belvidere (2225); left bank of middle branch 
of Champion Draw, half a mile south of Belvi- 
dere (2229); and right bank of same branch 
(2231). : 
Abietites ernestinae Lesquereux. 
Abietites ernestinae Lesquereux, U. 8. Geol. Survey Terr. 
Rept., vol. 6, p. 49, pl. 1, fig. 7, 1874. 
Pterophyllum haydenii Lesquereux (pari), Am. Jour. Sci., 
2d ser., vol. 46, p. 91, 1868. 
Lesquereux characterized this species as 
follows: . 
Cone oblong, abruptly narrowed to a short pedicel, 
scales broad, truncate, appressed, and imbricated in spiral. 
This diagnosis obviously has nothing that 
would serve to set it apart from what might 
be written of dozens of fossil cone fragments of 
diverse relationships. The species was de- 
scribed from fragments collected near Decatur, 
Nebr., and similar cone fragments are present 
in the Cheyenne sandstone. They are not to 
be distinguished from other so-called species 
which I have referred to the genus Abietites of 
Hisinger.”* 
This genus is a convenient and useful reposi- 
tory for fossils, both strobilar or foliar, whose 
real or fancied affinities are with the modern 
Abietinaceae. These range in age from the 
Keuper to the Pliocene, though the bulk came 
from the Cretaceous, and they comprise obscure 
impressions of foliage and cones, none of which 
have any real biologic value’ or present any 
24 Heer, Oswald, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 3, Abt. 2, p. 103, pl. 27, 
fig. 15b, 1874. 
% Hisinger, W., Lethaea suecica, p. 110, 1837. 
, 
SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1921, 
definite clue to their true relationship. Fon- 
taine has included in this genus fossils from the 
Triassic of North Carolina and various indefi- 
nite remains from the Trinity group of Texas, 
the Shasta series of California, the Lakota 
sandstone of the Black Hills, and the Potomac 
group of Maryland and Virginia. The Potomac 
fossils he segregated into four species, all of 
which were based on obscure cone impressions 
and none of which possess much specific value. 
When it is remembered what diverse appear- 
ances may be assumed by a single species of 
cone, irrespective of individual variation, as a 
result of different stages of maceration before 
preservation, of differences in the matrix, and 
of differences in the direction and force of com- 
pression, it seems very probable that such forms 
can never be discussed satisfactorily. 
Similar forms from the English Wealden 
and later Cretaceous are described by Carru- 
thers, Gardner, Seward, and others and referred 
to the comprehensive genus Pinites of Endlicher 
(1847). “They are in all probability con- 
generic if not specifically identical with Ameri- 
can forms referred to Abietites, and that name 
is preferable, as Pinites Endlicher is antedated 
by Pinites Witham, which was proposed for 
very different objects. 
Abietites cones are also common in the French 
and Belgian Cretaceous and have usually been 
referred to the genus Pinus, although there is 
slight warrant for such a procedure. 
Abietites cones are rare in the Cheyenne sand- 
stone, being known only from Osage Rock, at 
Belvidere, in the “Stokes sandstone” below 
the so-called Champion shell bed at the base 
of the Kiowa shale (2232). 
Genus CUPRESSINOXYLON Goeppert. 
Cupressinoxylon cheyennense Penhallow. 
Cupressinoxylon cheyennense Penhallow, Roy. Soc. Canada 
Trans., 2d ser., vol. 6, sec. 4, p. 76, 1900 [1901]; 
Manual of North American gymnosperms, p. 238, 
1907. 
This species was described as coming from 
the Cheyenne sandstone east of Stokes Hill, on 
the Kiowa-Baker County line, and was col- 
lected by Prosser. 
There is nothing to be added to the original 
description of this species, which was unil- 
lustrated. Nor is it worth while to quote that 
description, for it is very doubtful if the form 
could be recognized again, even by the author, 
