164 



I.OWEl! EOCKXK i'H)l!AS OF SOUTHEASTERN NORTH AMKlilCA. 



as impressions in clay and fail to show essential 

 features, which is unfortunate, since nothing 

 hke them has heen described in the fossil state 

 and I knowof no exist ni<^ species that resembles 

 them very closely. 



Occurrence. — Iloily S])rini;s sand, Early 

 Grove, Marshall County, Miss, (collected liy 

 E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — I'. S. National Museum. 



Class FILICES. 



Order FILICALES. 



Family SCHIZ^ACEffi. 



Genus ANEIMI.\ Swartz. 



AxEiMiA EOCENicA Berrv, u. sp. 



Plates IX, figure 7; X, figure 2; and XI, figures 1 and 2. 



Description. — Frond (character miknown, 

 stipate, dichotomous and l)iphiuate or tripin- 

 nate in the closely allied species Aneimia stih- 

 cretacea (Saporta) Gardner and Ettingshausen,' 

 which is a widely distributed and wc^ll-known 

 species that ranges from the base of the Eocene 

 as high as the lAitetian and is more abundant 

 in the later than in the earlier horizons. Pin- 

 na? ovate-lanceolate, pinnately divided almost 

 to the rachis into lanceolate lobes. Lobes 

 attached very obliquely by their entire base 

 (possibly those lower down on the frond maj^ 

 have had a narrowed base and been free 

 pinnules) and more or less confluent, becoming 

 more and more confluent distad. Angle of 

 divergence about 20° or less, becommg more 

 acute distad. Lobes linear-lanceolate, sharply 

 pointed, with distant serrate teeth, commonly 

 in pairs; decurrent, separated by narrow acute 

 sinuses. Texture coriaceous. Stipe stout, prom- 

 inently winged. Rachis slender, flexuous, prom- 

 inent on the lower surface of the pinnae. Midrib 

 of the lobes (pmnules) diverges from the rachis 

 at a very acute angle (between 5° and 10°) 

 and near the lower decurrent margin curves 

 outward, retaining its identity nearly to the 

 tip of the lobe, although becomhig reduced by 

 repeated branching. Commencing at the base 

 on the outer side alternate branches are given 

 off on each side of the midrib at a narrow angle, 

 and these are almost straight and all branch 

 dichotomously. The distal branch usually 

 forks before reaching the margin, but the 

 proximal one generally remains simple. There 



> Gardner, J. S., and EtUngshausen, C. von, British Eocene flora, vol. 

 1, pt. 2, p. 45, pis. 8 and 9, 18.SU. 



are fnc or six of tliese liranches on each side in 

 lolies th<' size of those figured. The veins are 

 thin but distinct and all tenmnate in the 

 margin, one entering each marginal tooth. 

 Marginal teeth 6 or 8 in nundier on each 

 margin, commonly in pairs as shown in the 

 ligiire of the enlarged h>be, somewhat irregu- 

 larly spaced, in general becoming closer distad. 

 These teeth are distinctly seiTate, with the 

 pohits produced and directed upward, and the 

 apex of the lobe is gradually naiTowed and 

 acuminate. 



This species is closely allied to the previously 

 mentioned Aneimia subcrefacea, which was 

 descri])ed originally from the Paleocene of 

 France by Saporta- as Asplenium subcretaceum. 

 Shortly aftenvard Lesquereux described what 

 subsequently was con-elated with this same 

 species as Gymnogramma Itaydeni.^ This spe- 

 cies came from the divide between Snake 

 liiver and Yellowstone Lake. The locality, 

 which has never been rediscovered, has com- 

 monly been assumed to be Laramie, although 

 it may lie basal Eocene. In 1880 Gardner and 

 Ettingshausen,* by means of abundant remains 

 from the Middle Bagshot beds (Lutetian) of 

 the south of England, were able to associate 

 these occuiTences and to prepare a full accomit 

 of the species. The species under discussion, 

 though close to this widespread lower and 

 midiUe Eocene form, differs in sufhciently 

 important particulars to warrant its descrip- 

 tion as a closely allied but disthict form 

 The lobes m Aneimia eocenica are nan'ower, 

 more ascending and acuminate, and not 

 abruptly and more or less obtusely pointed as 

 in Lescjuereux's material, and the venation is 

 much more open than in his forms. Though 

 some of the English material has as slender 

 lobes, all the foreign material as well as the 

 western material has crenate or dentate teeth 

 passing gradually into rounded distal lobes. 

 In Aneimia eocenica, on the other hand, the 

 lobes preserve their character distad and aU 

 have distinctly serrate teeth, more or less pro- 

 duced upward and usually double. 



Gardner, in the course of his work on the 

 Engli.-ih material, submitted either specimens 



Saporta, G. de, Prodrome d'lino floro fossile des travertins anciens de 

 Suzanne: Soc. g<'ol. France M^m., 2d scr., vol. S, p. 315, pi. 2.'), fig. 4, isas. 



'' I,esqueroux, I,co, U. S. Gcol. and Ocog. Snrvey .\nn. Kept., IS71, p. 

 295, 1S72; The Tertiary flora, p. 59, pi. 5, flgs. 1-3, 187S (not The Cretaceous 

 and Ten iary floras, p, 122, pi, 19, fig. 2, 1883, which is a Ptoris). 



* Op. cil., p. 45. 



