268 
Psyche 
[December 
been traced along the strike for about 500 feet below a 10 to 15 
foot overburden of glacial deposits. It is believed to be separated 
from an overlying clay unit by a major fault (Blais, 1959, pp. 282- 
285, figs. 2, 3). 
The argillite is a very distinctive, massive, heavy rock containing 
about 60 per cent red hematite (Blais, 1959, p. 285). The 5-foot 
bed is very uniform in composition from top to bottom. It is very 
finely though inconspicuously laminated, but has a tendency to 
fracture conchoidally. Fossil plants occur sporadically along occa- 
sional poorly developed bedding planes. Even less common are the 
associated insect remains here described. The depositional setting of 
the original sediments is believed to have been a shallow lacustrine 
basin. The flora is interpreted as indicating growth in a humid warm- 
temperate climate. 
An early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) age is indicated by the 
plant remains. Closest correlatives in North America are the Raritan 
flora of New Jersey, the Dakota flora of the Great Plains, and the 
Tuscaloosa flora of Alabama. Pollen and spores from underlying 
clay beds have been interpreted as slightly older Cretaceous (Albian) 
age (John Grayson, personal communication, i960). 
The rubble ore itself has also yielded plant remains in the form of 
fragments and a stump of carbonized wood. These occur in the 
breccias and gravels at the Redmond No. 1 deposit and elsewhere 
in the Knob Lake district. They have been identified as coniferous 
wood of Cupressinean affinity and regarded as at least as young as 
mid-Mesozoic (Usher, 1953, p. 100). 
The insects in the argillite bed were sent to Professor F. M. 
Carpenter for his examination and they were subsequently referred 
by him in turn to specialists in the four orders of insects represented : 
Neuroptera, Isoptera, Coleoptera and Blattodea. The neuropteron, 
a snake-fly, is being described below by Professor Carpenter; the 
termite, by Professor Alfred Emerson. The beetles, which include 
several Cupidae, are being studied by Dr. A. G. Ponomarenko 
(Palaeontological Institute of the Academy of Sciences in Moscow), 
who has published several papers on Mesozoic Coleoptera. The 
roaches, which have been given only preliminary study and which 
present taxonomic problems, will presumably be treated along with 
the beetles in still another part. Because of the unusual nature of 
the snake-fly and the termite, descriptions of these are being pub- 
lished at this time without waiting for the completion of the other 
two parts in this series of papers. 
