Review of Recc?it Geological Literature. 59 
sefries of the Franco-Belgian basin. The McAlester coal flora he re- 
gards as Stephanian, representing the Upper Coal Measures of Great 
Britain, the Commentry flora of France, and the Saarbriick series in 
Germany. H. l. f. 
Relative Ages of the Kanaiuha and Alleghany Series as Indi- 
cated by the Fossil Plants. By David White. Bull. Geol. Soc. 
Amer., Vol. II, pp. 145-178, March, iqoo. 
The value of fossil plants for the purpose of stratio^raphic correla- 
tion has been questioned, and not unnaturally, considering the frag- 
mentary character of the plant remains, the variability of the forms 
and the partial and indefinite character of the collections. The chief 
real difficulty is the lack of any standard paleobotanical section. With 
the immense material and literature now concentrated in the U. S. 
National Museum, David White has an opportunity for comparative 
study which he is improving. In this paper he virtually throws down 
the gauntlet to those who would disparage the value of plant corre- 
lation by boldly submitting it to a severe and crucial test. 
As indic_ated in the title, the paper is mainly stratigraphical, the 
biological results of the author's study of the Kanawha coal flora being 
reserved for publication by the U. S. Geological Survey. He dis- 
cusses here the relative ages of the Kanawha and Alleghany coal 
strata as shown by the fossil plants, and reaches a conclusion radically 
different from the accepted belief. 
The geologists who have studied and described the Carboniferous 
strata in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia have regarded 
the Kanawha strata and coals as the equivalent of those in the Alle- 
ghany valley. At the recent Washington meeting of the Geological 
Society, where this paper was read, with a fulness of illustration not 
here reproduced, the continuity and identity of the coal-bearing strata 
of the two regions was emphatically stated in the animated discussion 
of the paper. But David White finds that the characteristic plants of 
the Alleghany coals do not appear in the lower half of the Kanawha 
series, but do apppear in their proper sequence in the upper half. The 
fiora of the lower half of the Kanawha section belongs as low as the 
uppermost portion of the Pottsville in the Pennsylvania or northern 
West Virginia regions and represents a life older than any found in 
the Alleghany series. The highest coal (Stockton) of the Kanawha 
series carries a flora similar to the lowest (Clarion) group' of the Alle- 
ghany series. The author says: "The application of the names of the 
Alleghany coals to the several individual coals of the Kanawha series is 
in direct contradiction to the testimony of the fossil plants." The 
closing pages of the brochure are given to a concise and acute sum- 
ming up of the argument. 
Apparently the only way to settle the contention is by the continu- 
ous tracing of the strata. This will take time, but the result will be 
awaited with impatient interest. Fortunately all the persons directly 
interested are cordial friends, possessing excellent judgment and 
temper. h. l. f. 
