GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TERRITOEIES. 143 



it belonged." My collection of fossil fishes from this cut is very large, 

 and rny success was mostly due to the kind aid of Mr. A. W. Hilliard, 

 a gentleman of intelligence, who superintended the excavation along the 

 line of the railroad, and preserved from time to time such specimens of 

 value as came in his way. If the example of Mr. Hilliard had been 

 imitated all along the line of this railway thousands of most valuable 

 specimens would have been preserved which are now lost to science. 

 The existence of such vast quantities of animal life, during this period, 

 as those shaly layers would indicate, may account for the oily nature of 

 much of this rock. In a portion of this cut there is an apparent dip 

 northwest about 18°, but I am disposed to regard it as local. At the 

 west end of the cut are some singular, dike-like openings, filled with loose 

 material from the rusty sandstone near the top of the hill. These fis- 

 sures are evidently due to jointage, and appear like regular mineral 

 lodes with well-defined walls. In most cases they extend up through the 

 shaly layers to the rusty-yellow arenaceous marls, and these fissures 

 have been so closely filled with this material that it must have occurred 

 from deposition, that is, the fissures were formed before the deposition 

 of the calcareous sandstone above. 



For a most interesting account of the fossil fishes of this group the 

 reader is referred to the essay of Professor Cope in Part IY of this 

 report. 



About a mile west of the "Petrified Fish Bed" is a cut along the rail- 

 road which passes through a moderate thickness of buff, chalky lime- 

 stones, filled with impressions of leaves of deciduous trees. These rocks 

 hold a position about one hundred feet above the petroleum shales 

 which contain the fish remains, and therefore the date of their exist- 

 ence may be regarded as subsequent, though belonging to the same 

 basin. Professor J. S. Newberry, our best authority on the fossil vege- 

 tation of America, has given these plants a hasty examination, and com- 

 municated the following interesting notes in the form of a letter : 



I have examined the plants from the Green River beds Avith as much care as the 

 limited time at my command would permit, and am surprised in not finding among 

 them a single species contained in any of your other great collections at the far West. 

 They thus far afford no certain criteria for collating the Green River tertiaries with 

 those of other localities where you have studied them. The plants from the rocks 

 inclosing the coal at Marshall's mine are more significant, as they include species (Pla- 

 tanus haydeni, which is certainly different from Platanus aceroides) such as were found 

 by you at Carbon Station and at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Every collection of 

 fossil plants received from the tertiary of the West brings to light many new species, 

 and the great diversity which they exhibit proves either a number of plant-bearing 

 horizons, or great localization of the species in the tertiary flora. 



Among your Green River plants are only some half dozen species so well preserved 

 a3 to be capable of satisfactory identification or comparison, but they form a very 

 interesting group. Among them I find two palms, both quite unlike anything before 

 found on this continent. One is a new Pheniciles, resembling Heer's Alanicariaformosa. 

 The other but an imperfect fragment, yet altogether new and strange to me. The most 

 abundant species contained in the collection is a Magnolia, allied to M. tenuinervis, 

 Lesq., but more elongate and acute •, also an oak resembling Quercus Saffordi of Lesq. 

 There is another oak in the collection, a laurel, (probably,) and fragments of two ferns, 

 too imperfect for determination. On the whole, these plants resemble most those 

 described by Lesqueruex, from Mississippi, and I am inclined to suspect are of the same 

 age. This would make the Green River beds older than you have thought them, and 

 I should want more material before venturing anything more than a suggestion to 

 that effect. I trust you will be able to make other collections from these plant beds 

 during the present season. 



The specimens contained in the buff, marly limestones of the Green River series are 

 generally not well preserved, and yet, I think, careful search at the locality where 

 these plants sent me were obtained would result in the discovery of some fine tilings. 

 I would especially urge a search for fruits. 



The aspect of the small group of plants now before me from Green River is more 

 tropical than any you have brought from the West, and as we have reason to believe 



