60 



THE WHITE RIVER BADLANDS 



considerably. The height of the corkscrew portion often 

 exceeds the height of a man while the rhizome portion is 

 ordinarily about the size of one's body. 



They are known to occur especially between the head 

 waters of White and Niobrara rivers chiefly in Sioux 

 county, Nebraska, but extend westward to Lusk, Wyoming, 

 and eastward to Eagle Nest Butte, South Dakota. The 

 vertical range of strata carrying them is approximately 

 200 feet. In certain localities they are found in the greatest 

 profusion, sometimes stretching like a forest over many 

 acres and sometimes so closely placed that they are inex- 

 tricably entangled and fused together. (Plate 47). 



Daemonelix regular. 

 40 to 45 meters. 



Daemonelix irregular, 

 6 to 8 meters. 



Daemonelix cigars or fingers, 6 to 8 

 meters and upward. 



Daemonelix 



Figure 14 — Diagramatic section showing the relative positions of the 

 several forms in the Daemonelix series according to Barbour, 

 1896. 



Prof. Barbour who has given these interesting forms 

 most study considers them as representing some kind of 

 plant life and has apparently found much to corroborate 

 this view. Some have considered that they represent low 

 plant organisms such as algae, others that they may be 

 remains of higher plants, in which all has decayed away ex- 

 cept the cortical layer. Still others and these with much 

 reason have considered them as casts of well preserved 

 burrows of animals. Among the earliest to suggest the latter 

 idea were Dr. Theodore Fuchs of Germany and Prof. Cope. 

 More recently Mr. O. A. Peterson emphasized the latter 

 view as a result of the finding of numerous fossils of bur- 



