204 GEOLOGY. 



his list of Flowerless plants (Crypto garni ce)^ there are a few fungi, 

 one lichen, eight algae, one moss, four lycopods, twenty ferns, four 

 colamites, etc. 



The Flowering Plants (P keen o garni ce), were most fully developed. 

 Among the naked seeded were one zamiae and sixteen cone-bearing 

 trees. These latter first appeared in the Devonian, and apparently 

 culminated in the Tertiary, from which at least 200 species have 

 been described. Among these in the Laramie Group were eight 

 sequoias, the genus to which the giant trees of California belong. 

 Five species of grasses have also been described. The Palms, 

 *■* those noble children of the sun," were represented by at least 

 three genera and fifteen species. One beech (Fagus), flourished at 

 that time. No family, however, surpassed in the number of indi- 

 viduals the Oaks (Quercus), of which eighteen species have been 

 described from this group. At the present time there are only 

 thirty species known to the entire United States. Even the Chest- 

 nut (Costaned), was then already present. Four species of Willow 

 (Salix) must have been, judging from their remains, abundant. 

 Curious enough, the Cottonwood (Populus) was then represented 

 by at least twelve species. The Sycamores (Platinus) have left 

 the remains of five species in this group. Most wonderful of all is 

 it that already twenty-three species of Fig tree (Ficus) have been 

 described. Whether their food was equal to the fig of the present 

 time, is uncertain, but if so, the monkeys that appeared in the Green 

 River Eocene had fine living. Ash (Fraximus), Dogwoods (Cor- 

 nus), and the Grape-vine (Vitis), were all at home in this group. 

 That noble, majestic and beautiful named tree, the Magnolia, which 

 is the pride of the south, flourished during these times, as the re- 

 mains of four species attest. Eight species of the Maple family 

 {Acerinece), and nineteen of the Buckthorn (Rhamnece), also abounded. 

 That noble tree, the Black Walnut (Juglans), which had appeared 

 first in the Dakota Group Cretaceous, had now increased to six 

 species. Five species of Sumach (Rhus) were in company with the 

 last. Even an Eucalyptus flourished at this time. Many other 

 forms, to which my limits will not permit me even to allude, illus- 

 trate the wonderfully rich and divergent type of the Flora at that 

 time — a Flora that combines many semi-tropical and high temper- 

 ate characters. 



Animal Life. — The Animal life of the Laramie Group has been 

 regarded as unique and exceptional. Its marine forms are al- 



