FLOE A OF THE DAKOTA GEOUP. 51 



EMBOTHRITES, Ung. 



Embothrites (?) daphneoides, Lesqx. 

 " U. S. Geol. Rep.," vi, p. 87, pi. xxx, fig. 10. 



From the comparison of a number of well-preserved specimens of 

 Andromeda Parlatorii, Heer, recently received from Kansas, I am disposed 

 to consider this fragment as referable to this last species. 



LOMATIA, R. Brown. 



Lomatia? Saportanea, Lesqx. 

 Plate III, Fig. 8 (enlarged). 

 Hayden's *' Ann. Rep.," 1874, p. 346. 

 Todea Saportanea, Lesqx., "U. S. Geol. Rep.," vi, p. 48, pi. xxix, figs. 1-4. 



Leaves compound, linear in outline; ultimate divisions membranaceous or sub- 

 coriaceous, narrowly lanceolate, acute, connate by the decurriug base forming a nar- 

 row nerved wing to the rachis; medial nerve strong and straight, continuous to the 

 apex ; secondary veins simple, close, parallel, diverging at an acute angle in passing up 

 close to the borders, which they follow in simple bows; tertiary veins shorter, anasto- 

 mosing with the secondary ones by oblique diversely inclined veinlets. 



The ultimate divisions of the leaves are parallel-oblique or somewhat 

 curved downward, alternate or sub-opposite, a disposition similar to that 

 of the divisions of the pinna? of a number of species of ferns. They are 

 gradually decurrent on the rachis, following it downward as a narrow- 

 veined or smooth margin. The venation of the leaves is distinctly seen 

 on the enlarged fragment, fig. 10. 



My first impression in regard to these remarkable and fine vegetable 

 remains was that they represented an extinct kind of fern. I even sup- 

 posed that, considering the peculiar disposition of the leaflets and their 

 venation, which is sometimes mixed with curved lines, we had here vege- 

 table remains of a new type, constituting a link of transition between the 

 ferns and the plants of a higher order. The segmentation of the leaves is 

 similar to that of some species of fossil ferns, Sphenopteris desmomera, 1 

 for example, which, according to the remarks of the author, has no relation 

 to any living fern; also related to the fragments described by Debey and 

 Ettingshausen 2 under the generic name of Monheimia. For not only have 

 they a similar division of the pinnae, but, as seen in fig. 6, the nervation 



'Saporta, "Plantes fossiles des lits a poissons de C6rin, p. 22, pi. xiv. 

 3 " Unveltlicher Acrobryen," p. 31, pi. iv, figs. 1-10. 



