A KEVIEW OF THE FOSSIL FLOIIA OF ALASKA, WITH 13ESCXUPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. By F. H. Knowlton, .Assistant Curator of the Department of Fosml I'lnnls. I HAVE leoeiitly bail (K'casiou, in studying a. collection of leaves from Hereiideeu I>ay and iutergiacial wood from beneath the Muir Glacier, to go over all of the literature relating to the fossil flora of Alaska. As the literature is somewhat widely scattered, a list of all the species of fossil plants heretofore reported from Alaska was compiled as a matter of personal interest and convenience. This was used in determining the collections above mentioned, but after comi)leting the identifications and descriptions of new species detected it was decided to present, in connection with them, a complete compilation of the fossil Hora. It was done also witli the hope that it might stimulate further investigation of the paleobotany, for from what we know of the distribution of the plant-bearing beds, some of which are represented by single examples, much must remain to be accomplished. This is further shown by the fact that every collection contains a good proportion of new species. I have first prepared an historical review of works and papers relating to the fossU fiora of Alaska, which incidentally shows the geographical distribution of the plant beds. This is followed by a systematic enu-meration of the fossil plants, with descriptions of the new species from Herendeen Bay, a table showing the distribution of the plants in other parts of the world, and finally a discussion of the geological age of the beds as indicated by the j)lants. HISTORICAL REVIEW. One of the first accounts of fossil plants in Alaska is given by Dr. 0. Grewingk* in his classical history of the ISTorth west coast of America. This, however, is in the main a compilation, but the sources from which he derived his information are obscure, and I have not been able to find them. It is hardly probable that if found they would prove of much value. He reports coniferous wood from fehe islands of Kadiak and Unga and the Alaskan peninsula, and dicotyledons (Alnus) and conifers * Beitrag zur Kennt. d. Orographisclien ii. Geogn-ostisclien Beschaffenlieit d. Nord-West Kiiste Amerikas niit Auliegenden Inseln. Verhandl. d. Kuss-Kais. Mine-ralog. Gesell. St. Petersb. 1848-1849, St. Petersb., 1850, pp.41, 9.3, 97, 124 Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XVII — No. 998. 207
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