The Cretaceous Flora of North America

Abstract

IN the abstract of a paper on the above subject by Mr. J. Starkie Gardner in NATURE of September 25 (p. 528), it is stated that “the lowest beds (of the American Cretaceous) are distinguished by the presence of well-developed dicotyledonous leaves;” and further on these are said to occur at “the very base” of the formation. Now though such statements are sometimes loosely made, it should be understood that American geologists generally acknowledge that the base of their Cretaceous is, in some localities at least, only equivalent to the base of the Upper Cretaceous of Europe. In Canada, at least, the strictly Mesozoic flora of the Lower Cretaceous has been clearly distinguished from the angiospermous flora of the middle and upper parts of the series.