64 



distribution in the Sub-Carboniferous and there exist, up through all 

 the coal-measures, under the most favorable conditions possible for 

 preservation, without discovery is very improbable. There is no ex- 

 ample of a plant existing through such a lapse of time and such geo- 

 logic changes as intervene between the Devonian and the Trias. 

 Even if the fossils were Lepidodendron at all, to identify them with 

 the most ancient species would certainly seem erroneous. 



It may be said that Prof. Lesquereux does not call the fossil L. 

 Veltheimiamtm positively, only " as distinctly as a specific representa- 

 tion can be made upon a decorticated trunk." That is, however, 

 pretty decided, for decorticated specimens have been his basis for 

 new species. It would seem to have been better to regard these fos- 

 sils, if Lepidodendron at all, as a new species, if for no other reason 

 than their separation in time from the Lower Carboniferous species. 



I should have been pleased to examine the fossils themselves; but 

 I have seen other fossils from the same region which are so similar 

 m appearance as to leave little doubt of their identity in kind, and 

 they are not Lepidodendron. And we may confidently believe 

 thatthe genus has not been discovered in rocks later than the Car- 

 boniferous. 



x\oTE : The above article was written a year ago, but its publication has been 

 delayed in the hope of seeing the specimens, and so placing the matter beyond 

 doubt. Recently, I have examined some fossils from the same locality and of pre- 

 cisely the same character as those in question; and my suggestion that the furrowed 

 surlace shown in the photographs probably represented the wood, is fully confirmed. 

 Considerable of the bark is in position, and carbonized, but the exterior surface 

 shows not the slightest trace of quincunx markings. The photographs represent 

 the same condition, but before seeing these specimens I could not assert that the 

 smooth external ayer was carbonized cortex. This fact alone is sufficient to estab- 

 lish beyond question its distinctness from Lepidodendron, 



59. New Species of North American Funqi 



By J. B. Ellis. 

 Minute, about i-4th of an inch high; pil- 



M 



eus membranaceous, hemispheric, sometimes slightly umbilicate sul- 

 cato-striate, pale at first, becoming chestnut-brown, .04'— 045' diam- 

 eter; stipe filiform, striate, brown, paler above; spores obovate, 

 .00015 long. The outer coat of the pileus consists of a layer of 

 ovate, echmulate, spore-like bodies, something like the spores of a 

 -Scleroderma. , 



/TTii^" i^"".^^^"?, pear-leaves lying on the ground. June, 1880. 

 \^\\\%,N. Am. Fungi.'^o. /i^o\). ' 



CoRTiciUM ECHiNospoRUM.-Effused, indeterminate, hymenium 

 sulphur-yellow, forming a thin, soft, sub-membranaceous stratum on 

 the loosely-compacted threads of the subiculum, which form a scanty, 

 evanescent, light-colored margin; basidia clavate, spicules rather 

 long, bearmg at their tips the globose, echinulate spores, which are in 

 diameter .00015 — -0002 . 



On wood and bark of pine, November 



Arthrosporium compositum.— White, tufted or subconfluenf 

 stems about i-i6th of an inch high, composed of compacted threads' 

 whose free ends form lateral branches wkich bear fusiform, 3-se;tate 

 conidia, .0013— .ooi5'x.ooo2' in size. " 



