WHITE] FLORAS OF THE LOWER LYKENS DIVISION. 791 



at Brookside, was, however, obtained through the cooperation of the 

 Philadelphia and Heading Coal and Iron Conipan3\ 



Excluding- AMi Ittleseya Camjjbelll^ which in some form is nearly 

 everywhere present in the Pottsville formation, and Sphenopteids 

 patent Iss hn a ^ which is more abundant in the neighborhood of coals 

 No. 5 and 4, there remain yeuropterh l^tcahontas var. pentlas. and 

 Alethopteris coinpos'ita^ the latter of which has not been found in any 

 other bed. The variety of Xeuropteris Pocaliontas has, perhaps, not 

 been seen from a higher level than the roof of No. 5. Its presence, 

 accordingh', in a coal but 50 feet lower is quite natural. It must 

 therefore be understood that the shales attending coal No. G have not 

 yet revealed any floral characters of value, though the default may be 

 due to lack of specimens known to have come from this level, rather 

 than entirely to its propinquity to coal No. .5. 



FLORA OF LVKENS COAL NO. 5. 



The collective flora from the roof of Lykens coal No. 5, also known 

 as the ''Big bed,'' or the "Lykens Valley bed,"'^ may readily be com- 

 piled from the flrst section in the table of distribution. As will be 

 noted in glancing at the vertical range of the species in the latter, a 

 large portion of the plants are common to the flora of coal No. 4, 

 while others, perhaps exclusively from this bed, are represented by 

 specimens whose mingling in the rock dump with material from No. 6 

 deprives them of any present stratigraphic trustworthiness. Among 

 the specimens definitely known to come from the roof of this coal the 

 most important species are: Mariop>terls eremopteroides^ Splienopteris 

 a.p)lenloides, S. patentlssiraa^ Neuropteris Pocahontas and its two 

 varieties, Calaniites Roemeri, Asteroj)kyllites parvulus^ Lejj'idophyllum 

 quinnimontanum, Lejjidoj^hylhmi Janceolatum var. virginianum^ and 

 Sigillai'ia l-almiana. Eremopteris sp. No. 1, Calamostachys cf. lanceo- 

 lata^ Lep'idodendron. alahamense^ and a S'lglllaria which I refer, Avith a 

 little doubt, to .S', h-htyolepis^ are species of restricted range, but the 

 circumstances attending the collection of some of the fossils make 

 it uncertain whether their source is exclusively in the region of coal 

 No. 5. The most a])undant and characteristic species is Neuropteris 

 Pocahontax val'. pmtias^ which rarely fails to be present in large num- 

 bers, even in a small collection. The variety ina'pialis, which is more 

 connuon in the roof of Lykens coal No. 4, is also present. Another 

 form, which throughout th(; Wiconisco Basin seems to bo confined to the 

 same stage, is the ]K"diit\hi\J/arlopter(s ere/j/opteroidrs illustrated in PI. 

 CLXXXIX. Sp/ienopteris a.splenimdes here, as in other regions, 

 exhibits the diminutive round-lobed or Dickaonioides type common in the 



' "Xo. 2" in the iiomeiiclature employed for tliis vicinity in Rogers, (Jeology of Pennsylvania, Vol. 

 II, Pt. II, 1858, p. 192. 



