Speclca of i'jjcadcoidcn Jroni Murylaial. 13 



Cycadeoidea Fontaineana n. sp. 



Trunks small and low, usually much compressed or flattened vertically, 

 light brown to whitish in color, often spongy or porous and of low speciiic 

 gravity ; leaves and spadices set nearly at right angles to the axis ; leaf 

 scars not obviously arranged in spiral rows or imperfectly so arranged, 

 variable and irregular in shape, usually with four angles and four curved 

 sides, often in the form of a cross, rarely subrhombic, small, S to 12 milli- 

 meters in vertical and 14 to 25 millimeters in lateral measurement, averag- 

 ing 10 by 19 millimeters ; ramentum walls thick, 4 to 10 millimeters, 

 usually without commissure or punctations ; leaf bases rarely present, 

 when so, spongy or porous without visible bundles ; terminal bud (present 

 in one specimen) 6 centimeters high, 65 millimeters broad at the down- 

 wardly convex base, definiteh^ bounded below, symmetrically conical 

 above, consisting of a mass of densely matted bracts imbricated along a 

 central axis ; reproductive organs few and imperfectly defined, usually 

 cavitous in the center and sometimes surrounded by irregular-shaped 

 bract scars; armor rather thin, 2 to 4 centimeters; liber and cambium 

 obscure ; woody axis divided into several rings, sometimes consisting of a 

 loose, open structure separated by thin, firm plates, the inner face next 

 the medulla definitely marked by the remains of vessels and medullary 

 rays ; medulla large, marked on the external surface by thin longitudinal 

 ridges or lamelhe varying from 1 to 3 centimeters in length, the ends over- 

 lapping adjacent ones {Cycadeoimjelon Saporta), internal parts coarse and 

 porous or somewhat chambered. 



This species resembles C. McGeeana in the general form of the trunks, 

 but the external organs are very different. It embraces fifteen specimens, 

 all but two of which belong to Mr. Bibbins' collection. The two smaller 

 specimens in Museum of the ^Maryland Academy of Sciences have been 

 somewhat doubtfully referred to this species. They are fragments, and 

 show so few characters that their .specific relations are obscure. The other 

 specimens bear the following numbers of the Museum of the Woman's 

 College of Baltimore: 1467, 1470, 1473, 1485, 14S8, 1658, 3046, 3122, 3326, 

 3327, 3346, 3347, 3350. I^o. 1467 has been taken as the type of the species, 

 although it does not show quite all the characters. It has the most per- 

 fect terminal bud in the entire collection, and a vertical section of the 

 specimen has been made which passes through the center of the bud. 

 There are two other specimens of special interest ; one of these is No. 1470, 

 which consists of a fine piece of the medulla, with its characteristic ex- 

 ternal markings {Cycadeomyelon of Saporta), to which is attached a por- 

 tion of the armor and connecting tissues in such a manner as to show their 

 relations. The other is No. 3046, called the "chicken trough " because 

 so used by its owner at the time of its discovery. The large decayed 

 cavity at the summit affords an excellent view of the structure of the in- 

 ternal parts. The remaining specimens are fragments of greater or less 

 completeness. 



In naming this species I have wished to commemorate the pioneer in- 

 vestigator of the deposits from which the cycads are derived and to whom 



