OLDER POTOMAC OF VIK(iINlA AND ?kIAKYLAND. 549 



Abietites jfARYi-ANDicrs Fontaino n. sp. 



PI. ('XV. Figs. 4, 5. 



Thoro are iti tlie eolloction from Vinogar Hill two iniprints, countor- 

 parts of a cono wiiich is of somewhat doubtful chai'actor. It soonis 

 to be a cone of some Abietites, and may beloiifj; to A. (illplicu.s, being 

 preserved in such a way as to give it a different aspect from that pre- 

 sented l)\- most of tlu> cones of that species. Still, it is so unlike any 

 species of this g(>iuis hitherto described from th(^ lower Potomac^ that 

 it is most probable that it 'oelongs to a new species for which the name 

 inarylatKliciis is proposed. The two impressions thus made of this cone 

 show different aspects of it, so as to complete each other, and hence it 

 it has lieen thought best to figure them l)oth. One of the impressions 

 is given in PI. CXV, Fig. 4. The summit and left-hand margin are 

 wanting, although apparently not much is missing. This cone is smaller 

 than any of the Abietites ellipticus, which seems to l)e the nearest to it 

 of hitherto descril^ed species. It is in form narrowly ol)long, about 

 15 mm. wide, with perhaps the full width not shown. The length, with 

 a little of the summit wanting, is 3 cm. It is covered with closely 

 placed rhomboidal scars that are elongated in a direction transverse 

 to the axis of the cone. A casual inspection would give the impression 

 that these markings are the imprints of the shield-shaped tips of the 

 cone scales, V:)ut a lens shows that they are probably the closed-up hol- 

 lows, or molds, left on the decay of the scales which once occupied them. 

 These compressed molds show striations, apparently made Ijy the surface 

 of the scales. The scales seem to have Ijeen thin and closely imbri- 

 cated. There are several different kinds of cones that are suggested by 

 this fossil. In general form it resembles the cone of some Zamia. It 

 is also not unhke the cones of some Secjuoias, and even Brachyphyllum 

 is suggested. On the whole, however, it seems more nearly alhed to 

 som° Picea. like P. excelsa. This cone is supported on a stem that is 

 ill proportion to its size remarkably stout. Three centimeters of the 

 length of this is still preserved. The width of the peduncle is a little 

 more than 5 mm. There are, on the same fragment of shale, a number 

 of scattered detached leaves of Leplostrohus Inngi/oliw^. Though the 

 bases of some of these are hidden under the stem, they do not .seem to 



