DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. PP. 69 



lobes rotundate to siib-quadrate ; nervation, as in C. Pluck- 

 eneti." 



The form ligured by G-ermar in his work, "Verst. d. 

 Stein." &c., PI. XVII, Fig. 4, is referred by Weiss to the 

 same sub-species. 



At West Union we find in the roof shales of the Waynes- 

 burg Coal abundant and beautifully preserved specimens 

 of a plant which agrees exactly with this description. Al- 

 though it occurs with immense numbers of all possible forms 

 of P. Pluckeneti, yet it preserves always a distinct facies 

 which enables us at a glance to detect it, and no intermedi- 

 ate or transition forms are seen to indicate that it may pass 

 into P. Pluckeneti. It would seem then to be entitled to rank 

 as a distinct species. The characters may be given as fol- 

 lows : 



Pecopteris Germari. 



(Frond quadripinnate, elongate-elliptical in outline ; sec- 

 ondary pinnae, linear-lanceolate, inserted under an angle of 

 nearly 90°, stiff in aspect, with a broad flat rachis, which is 

 marked by a raised woody ridge on each border, and a 

 strongly striated, depressed central portion ; tertiary pin- 

 nae, linear to oblong, inserted at an angle of 45°, slightly 

 decurrent and in the lower portions of the frond cut into 

 from 5 to 7 pairs of rotundate, subquadrate or broadly 

 spatulate pinnules in the middle portions ; these pinnules 

 pass into rounded lobes, which become less and less defined 

 until the pinnse of this order pass in the terminal part of 

 the frond into pinnules ; nerves diverging flabellately in the 

 pinnules or segments, being composed of lateral nerves 

 which fork once, and are nearly as strong as the middle 

 nerve. ) 



The parenchyma of the plant seems to have been thick 

 and dense, for it leaves a smooth shining film of carbona- 

 ceous matter. The nerves seem to have been imbedded in 

 the parenchyma, hence they are usually difficult to make 

 out. On macerated specimens they are seen to be rather 

 slender and sharply defined. 



This plant, which is one of the most beautiful in the en- 



