knowlton.] INTRODUCTION. 3 
seams of the region came to be regarded as belonging to the Laramie, 
and the flora associated with them was naturally regarded as a true 
Laramie flora. It is this so-called "true Laramie flora" that lias given 
rise to much misunderstanding and confusion regarding the distribu- 
tion and geological significance of the fossil plants of the Kocky Moun- 
tain region. 
After the announcement of the fortieth parallel geologists, as before 
mentioned, the presence of well-defined plant bearing strata below the 
marine Cretaceous seems not to have attracted much attention until 
it came to the notice of Prof. W. C. Knight, of the University of Wy- 
oming, at Laramie. Professor Knight, as State geologist and mining 
expert, has visited and become intimately acquainted with the geology 
of the entire State, but more particularly with the area known as the 
Laramie Plains. As early as 1894, in a letter to me, he called particular 
attention to the presence of a well-defined coal and plant horizon below 
typical marine Cretaceous. 
In July, 1896, Professor Knight generously guided Mr. Stanton and 
me to a number of localities on the Laramie Plains, at a distance of 25 
to 30 miles northwest of Laramie, in the vicinity of Rock Creek and 
Cooper Creek, where we were abundantly able to confirm his claims. 
One of the first sections visited in which the relations are best exhibited, 
is within a mile or two of Harpers Station, on the Union Pacific Rail 
mad, and not far from the old Miser Station, which is frequently referred 
to in the early accounts of the region. One mile northwest of Harpers 
is an exposure of white sandstone and clay, with coal seams, having a 
thickness of about 40 feet. Fossil plants of the following species were 
found near the base of the exposure and in a band some 20 or 25 feet 
higher : 
Geinitzia formosa Heer. i Cinuamomum affine Lx. 
Brachyphyllum macrocarpum Newb. Quercus Lesquereuxiana Kn. 
The beds immediately overlying this coal and plant-bearing series 
ire obscured by the disintegration of the beds above, but, fortunately, 
in exposure was found about 200 yards south of the plant locality and at 
least 100 feet higher. From this exposure the following characteristic 
Jretaceous invertebrates were obtained: 
Chlamys nebrascensis M. & H. 
Iiioceranms cripsii var. barabini Morton. 
Baculites ovatus Say. 
These species, Mr. Stanton says, u occur in both the Fort Pierre and 
Fox Hills beds, which are not very clearly differentiated in this region, 
jut the fauna of the underlying beds shows that we are here probably 
n the Fox Hills beds." Since our return from the field Professor Knight 
las informed us that he has again visited the locality and found a typ- 
cal Fox Hills fauna a mile farther south, and pro! ably 1,000 feet higher 
han the coal and plant-bearing beds. 
