FLORA OK THK CHEYENNE SANDSTONE OF KANSAS. 



207 



SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTIONS. 



Phylum PTERIDOPHYTA. 



Class LEPTOSPORANGIATAE. 



Order POLYPODIALES. 



ramily POLYPODIACEAE. 



Genus CLADOPHLEBIS Brongniart. 



Cladophlebis dakotensis (Lesquereux) Berry. 



Pteris (lakotttiniD Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. .Survey Mon. 17 

 (Flora of the Dakota group), p. 24, pi. 1, fige. 2, 3, 

 1892. 



This species, the type material of which 

 was collected 10 miles northeast of Delphos, 

 Kans., was described as follows by Lesquereux: 



Ultimate pinnae linear-lanceolate, pinnately deeply 

 cut into oblique equal subopposite lanceolate blunt- 

 pointed and subfalcatc pinnules, connate above the base, 

 entire, close but disconiiectoil above; median vein thin, 

 distinct; secondaries opposite, (i-7 pairs, simple, curving 

 upward in passing to the borders. 



This form is obviously to be referred to the 



genus Cladophlehis, which was so abundant 

 during the Mcsozoic era. It was referred to 

 Pteris by Lesquereux, as was the habit among 

 earlier paleobotanists. The material which 

 Lesquereux had and that from the Cheyenne 

 sandstone are both too meager for critical 

 comparisons with other described species of 

 Cladophlebis. The two specimens from the 

 Cheyenne sandstone came from Thompson 

 Creek near the Flume, 2 miles northwest of 

 Belvidere (2221). 



Genus ASPLENITTM Linn6. 



Asplenium dicksonianum Heer. 



Asplenium dicksonianum Heer, Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 

 3, Abt. 2, p. 31, pi. 1, figs. 1-5, 1874; vol. G, Abt. 2, 

 pp. 3, 33, pi. 2, fig. 2; pi. 32, figs. 1-8, 1882. 



Dawson, Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., vol. 1, sec. 4, p. 

 11, 1883 ; vol. 3, sec. 4, p. 5, pi. 3, fig. 1, 188.5; Canada 

 Geol. Survey Ann. Ropt., new ser., vol. 1, p. 7fi, 

 1886; Roy. Soc. Canada Trans., vol. 10, sec. 4, p. 91, 

 1892. 



Lesquereux, The flora of the Dakota group, p. 24, pi. 



1, fig. 1, 1892. 



Newberry, The flom of the Amboy clays, p. 39, pi. 1, 



figs. 6, 7; pi. 2, figs. 1-8; pi. 3, fig. 3, 189G. 

 Ward, U. S. Geol. Survey Nineteenth .\nn. Rept., pt. 



2, p. 704, pi. 170, fig. 1, 1899; Jour. Geologj', vol. 2, 

 pp. 259, 261, 1S94. 



Fontaine, in Ward, U. S. Geol. Survey Nineteenth 



Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 664, pi. 162, figs. 6-8, 1899 (not 



Fontaine, 1888). 

 Kurtz, Contribuciones 4 la palaeophjtologia argen- 



tina, III: Mus. La Plata Rev., vol. 10, p. 49, 1899 



[1902]. 



Berry, Torrey Hot. Club Bull., vol. 38, p. 409, 1911; 

 New Jersey Geol. Survey Bull. 3, p. 68, pi. 5, figs. 

 3, 4, 19il; Mar>-land Geol. Survey, Up|)er Creta- 

 ceous, p. 767, 1916; U. S. GeoL Survey Prof. Paijer 

 112, p. 53, 1919. 



This species was described by Heer in 1874 

 from material found in the Kome beds (Lower 

 Cretaceous) of Greenland. It was subse- 

 quently identified by Heer in material from the 

 much later Atane beds (l^pper Cretaceous) of 

 Greenland; Dawson reported it from a number 

 of localities in the Kootenai formation (Lower 

 Cretaceous) of British Columbia, although 

 these records are questionable: and Fontaine 

 and Ward described it from specimens obtained 

 in the Lower Cretaceous of the Black Hills. It 

 is also reported by both Lesquereux and Wartl 

 from the Dakota sandstone, and by Kurtz 

 from Argentina. It seems very doubtful if 

 these specimens can all be the same plant, and 

 the geologic range alone suggests that the ear- 

 her and the later forms may be distinct. The 

 Lower Cretaceous forms certainly suggest a 

 relationship with those widespread types of 

 sterile fronds variously itlentificd as Thyrsop- 

 teris or Ornjchiopsin, and thcj- nmy be com- 

 pared with Oiiychiopsis (joipperti (Schenk) 

 Berry. The Upper Cretaceous forms suggest 

 Anemia rather than Anplenimn and are much 

 like the widesi)read Eocene species Anemia 

 Jiaydenii (Lesquereux) Cockerell and Anemia 

 subcretacea (.Saporta) Gardner and Ettings- 

 hausen. However, in the absence of repre- 

 sentative material from the different horizons, 

 it seems unwise to attempt any segregation at 

 the present time, and the s'vnionymy is cited in 

 full for the use of some future student who may 

 have access to enough material to enable him 

 to make an accurate revision and segregation 

 of this so-called species. Attention should also 

 be called to its resemblance to the form occur- 

 ring in the Upper Cretaceous of Greenland, the 

 Raritan formation of New Jersey, and the Tus- 

 caloosa formation of Alabama which goes by 

 the name Dicksonia groenlandica Heer, al- 

 though the ground for considering it a Dicfc- 

 sonia is entirel}' inconclusive. 



Besides occurring at the localities named 

 above the present species is abundant in the 

 Karitan formation of New Jersey and Mary- 

 land, and material that is absolutely identical 

 with the New Jersey liaritan material which I 

 have seen and with that from the Dakota sand- 

 stone is present in the Tuscaloosa formation of 



