THE FOSSIL PLANTS FROM VERO, FLORIDA. 
EDWARD W. BERRY. 
The discovery of human remains associated with an extinct 
mammalian fauna at Vero has excited a great deal of local and 
general interest, and various theories regarding the age of these 
remains and the manner of their occurrence have already been 
advanced, as well as admirable accounts of the local geology by 
Sellards and others (i). It is therefore unnecessary for me to 
repeat any of these details in connection with my study of the fossil 
plants. 
Plant remains in the form of laminae of impure peat or scattered 
fruits, chiefly acorns, are present from the bottom to the top of the 
deposits overlying the shell marl which forms the base of the sec¬ 
tion. The lower sands (designated No. 2 by Sellards) have yielded 
no leaves and but few acorns, but the upper bed (Sellards No. 3) 
contains many le,af layers alternating with sand laminae, and it is 
from the latter horizon that all of the plants enumerated in the fol¬ 
lowing pages have been collected, except one species of acorn, which 
is common to both beds. 
Recent and extinct mammalian and other bones occur in both 
layers, and human remains are also found in both beds. After a 
thorough study of the local sections and the paleontologic evidence, 
I am convinced that there is no hiatus between beds 2 and 3, and 
that there is no great difference in age from the bottom to the top 
of the section, although it records changing physical conditions and 
necessarily becomes more and more recent as the top of the section 
is approached. The lower sand marks the recession of the sea in 
(1) Sellards, E. H., Am. Jour. Sci. (IV), vol. 42, pp. 1-18, 1916. 
Eighth Ann. Rept. Florida Geol. Surv., pp. 122-160, pis. 
15-31, 1916. 
Science, N. S. vol. 44, pp. 615-617, 1916. 
Journ. Geol. vol. 25, pp. 4-24, tf. 1-4, 1917. 
Chamberlin, R. T., Journ. Geol. vol. 25, pp. 25-39, tf. 1-9, 1917. 
Vaughan, T. W., Idem., pp. 40-42. 
Hrdlicka, A., Idem., pp. 43-51, tf. 1, 2. 
Hay, O. P., Idem., pp. 52-55. 
MacCurdy, G. G., Idem., pp. 56-62, tf. 1-6. 
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