20 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
which the underlying shell marl was formed. The upper beds (No. 
3) mark successive seasonal layers of valley filling in the narrow 
valley of a small stream. This stream was apparently always 
small, and the marvelous abundance of fossils at this one point 
sterns to be due to a bar or sinkhole or similar cache formed near 
the junction of the two lateral branches which united near this 
point to form the main stream. The determinable plants are repre¬ 
sented almost exclusively by fruits or seeds, as the leaves, with the 
exception of the coriaceous oaks, which are abundant, were too 
thoroughly decayed before they were buried to retain their identity. 
The study of such remains is beset with many difficulties. The 
material has to be sorted without allowing it to dry. It then has to 
be impregnated with paraffin simultaneously with drying. Finally 
identification is hampered by the lack of recent material for compar¬ 
ison, and when identified the determination of the exact range of 
the still existing species on which so much hinges is a matter of 
great uncertainty in the present state of our knowledge of plant 
geography. I am under obligations to Mr. W. L. McAtee, of the 
Biological Survey, for determining five species of fruits for me, 
and I am indebted to Mr. R. M. Harper for data regarding the 
present distribution in Florida of some of the forms. 
After giving an annotated list of the species identified, their 
bearing on the age and physical conditions at the time of deposition 
of the deposits will be discussed. 
GYMNOSPERMAE 
ORDER CONIFERALES. 
FAMILY PINACEAE. 
GENUS PINUS LINN. 
PINUS TAEDA LINN. THE LOBLOLLY PINE. 
The occurrence of this species in the Vero deposits is based on 
three seeds, and for that reason the identification may be questioned. 
The seeds are mature and are identical in form and texture with 
those of this species and are clearly not referable to Finns caribaea 
or Pinas clausa, which grow around Vero at the present time. 
The loblolly pine is found at the present time along the Atlantic 
coast from Cape May, New Jersey, southward to Cape Malabar on 
the east coast and Tampa Bay on the west coast of peninsular 
