Page:The Living Flora of West Virginia and The Fossil Flora of West Virginia.pdf/416

392 paleobotany of the upper Paleozoic. The identifications, therefore, represent the diverse points of view and the interpretations of men varying as to their special lines of scientific work, as to their familiarity with fossil floras, and as to their periods of study. The result is the introduction of some incompatible identifications and some confusion in the lists. There are doubtless cases in which the same species is listed under different names, while, in others, plants differing as to species, or even as to genera, are probably recorded under a single name. The results are the records as present of species not present in a given formation and the omission of others. The writer has attempted to eliminate the greater number of the paleobotanical and stratigraphic errors thus introduced. In numerous cases, however, for the sake of conservatism this has not been attempted. Obviously the errors cannot in all cases be eliminated without consultation of the original specimens, which appears to be for the most part impossible.

In the first list, which is systematic and approximately complete, the name of the species is accompanied by the citation of either the place of its original publication or the publication in which the generic combination was first introduced. Other references are to papers relating to the floras of West Virginia. The lists given in Volume II of the State Reports are not cited for the reason that these lists are quoted from a paper of earlier date by the writer (Bulletin of the Geological Society of America vol XI), which is cited. In passing mention should be made of the list of fossil plants of the State printed in Professor Millspaugh "Preliminary Catalogue of the Flora of West Virgin" (see Bul 24, W. Va. Agric. Exp. Sta., 1892. pp. 519-527). The fossil plant list in this publication was contributed by America's great patron of paleobotany, R. D. Lacoe, of Pittston, Pa. It is based in part on identifications made by Lesquereux in his last and enfeebled years, and in part on studies made by Mr. Lacoe who was, himself, a high authority on the Paleozoic floras. Lack of comparison of the specimens studied by Fontaine and White is responsible for certain variations in identification.

Full data descriptive of the formations of the Pennsylvanian and Permian in West Virgina, the position of the coals and their stratigraphic relations will be found in Volume II A of the State Reports, to which the reader is referred for all geologic information respecting the plant beds.