8 



Devonian Plants* 



further examination might disclose its rhizomes, leaves, or fruc- 

 tification.* 



2. LEPIDODENDROlir. (Fig. 3.) 



A single species of this genus is found rather plentifully in the 

 beds containing the plants just described, and is distinct from any 

 that I have observed in the Coal-formation. The specimens 

 observed were all of small size and fragmentary, nor was their 

 state of preservation very good, though most of them were 



Fig. 3 a Fig. 3 h Fig. 3 c 



Fig. 3. Lepidodendron Gaspianum. a, decorticated stem and leaves ; bj 

 areoles ; c, small branch and leaves. 



accompanied by the leaves. In specimens about two inches in 

 diameter, the areoles are two lines in length and one in breadth, 

 and placed closely together. They are elliptical, acuminate, with 

 central leaf scar, the form and markings of which could not be 

 perceived. The leaves are thick at the base and short, slightly 

 ascending, and then curving downward. The branches are 

 slender, straight, and very uniform in thickness in the portions 

 observed. This plant may be identical with the L. Chemungense 

 of Hall, from the Devonian rocks of New York ; but I am not 

 aware that any specimens of that species hitherto observed show 

 the leaf-scars or leaves; and, when these are obtained, should the 

 present species prove distinct, I would name it L. Gaspianurrv\, 

 Its characters, as above stated, are represented in figs. 3 a-c, 



* It is possible that some of the fragments, from the Devonian of the 

 Thiiringerwald, included by Prof. Unger in his order RhachiopteridecB 

 may be allied to Psilopkyton. (See Denkschr. Kais. Akad. Wissen. 

 Wien, vol. xi. p. 139.) 



f L. (Sagenaria) Veltheimianum, another ancient and widely distri- 

 buted species, resembles the above in the form of the areoles and position 

 of the scars ; but the leaves and young branches diflFer, and my speci- 

 mens show no median furrow in the areoles. L. nothum (Unger) also 

 seems closely allied. 



