IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
163 
THE FIRST REPORTED PETRIFIED AMERICAN LEPIDOSTROBUS IS 
PROM WARREN COUNTY, IOWA. 
By John L. Tilton. 
One day in the summer of 1904 a broken Lepidostrobus petrified nicely by 
iron pyrites was sent to me by Mr. Samuel Spear, then residing four miles 
south of Indianola. Each year the specimen was exhibited to the class in 
Geology when Carboniferous plants were illustrated and the explanation given 
that it was a remarkably rare and choice specimen of a cone, the like of which 
I had never seen in any museum; but the real value of the specimen was not 
fully appreciated till I handed the specimen to Professor Stuart Weller at The 
University of Chicago in December, 1910. I had taken it with me that day, in- 
tending to carry it over to Professor Coulter for further information with 
reference to it. On seeing it, Professor Weller exclaimed that it was the very 
kind of a specimen that Professor Coulter had been seeking for years, no petri- 
fied Lepidostrobus having ever been reported in the United States. On 
Professor Coulter’s request to section the specimen and describe it he . was 
given full permission to do whatever was necessary to secure from it all the 
information possible. As the result of that work upon it we now have the 
splendid description and illustrations published by Professor Coulter and Dr. 
Land in the Botanical Gazette, Vol. 51, June, 1911. 
The polished remainder of the specimen and two of the mounted sections are 
now the property of Simpson College. Other sections are in the possession 
of Professors Coulter and Weller of The University of Chicago. The polished 
remainder of the Lepidostrobus and the two mounted sections named, together 
with lantern slides loaned us by Professor Coulter, are here for exhibition. 
For a time it was impossible to determine the location from which the speci- 
men came, Mr. Spear himself having died. Later the location of the mine 
from which he was accustomed to haul his coal was ascertained, and the man 
found who remembered selling him coal at about the time the specimen was 
found. A search of the dump brought to light four or five more fragments of 
Lepidostrobus, two of which were very promising in appearance; also several 
fragments of twigs that were considered worth saving. As The University of 
Chicago, through Professor Coulter, was defraying the expense connected with 
working over the dump in search for these specimens, all of them were of course 
sent there. A recent letter states that as yet nothing has been found in addi- 
tion to what was ascertained from the first specimen, but that the work of 
sectioning is not yet completed. 
The mine from which the specimens came was a small drift formerly worked 
in the Ne. qr. of Sec. 33, Tp. 75 N., R. 22 W., on a farm now owned by Mr. 
