lO KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



presence on another genus, Taeniopieris, with additional evidence 

 of their irregularity of arrangement, size, distance apart, and their 

 position on the rachis — an unusual place for fern fructification — all 

 argue strongly against such a conclusion. But there is more satisfac- 

 tory evidence at hand that the scars can not have anything to do with 

 fructification. A specimen of Glenopteris splendens Sellards, from 

 the same locality, has an identical scar on the rachis, as noted in 

 the description of that species, Kans. Univ. Quart., Vol. IX, No. 

 3, p. 184.— A second scar occurs on the rachis of another specimen 

 of the same genus, the species scarcely determinable, but probably 

 the same. Glenopteris is a very different genus from Taeniopteris 

 and can hardly be thought of as having the same fructification. 



The presence of the scar on three genera and several species 

 indicates that they are not the result of any accidental injury to 

 the plant. It is difficult to make out with any degree of certainty 

 what they are. They resemble some fungi rather closely.* The 

 possibility that they may be the result of pathological growth due 

 to the sting of an insect naturally suggests itself and, indeed, seems 

 very possible. 



Figure 2, plate II, shows another set of markings, this time 

 entirely on the lamina. They are elongate, or ovate-elongate, with 

 the long axis parallel to the nerves, of varying size from very small 

 to 5 or 6 mm., close or distant, project sensibly from the frond, 

 usually with the carbonaceous layer rubbed off of the top. Some 

 of the smaller ones are uninjured, and seem to show an elevated 

 border with a depressed center. These scars are very suggestive 

 of the work of the fungi. 



The scars have an added interest because of their resemblance 

 to scars on the type specimens of Taeniopteris newberriana from 

 West Virginia, which Professors Fontaine andl. C. White regard as 

 the basis of the sori. In the West Virginia specimens the scars are 

 placed in a single row along each side of the midrib, and the frond 

 is divided into segments by deep obtuse sinuses. Nothing of the 

 segmented character has been observed on our specimens, and the 

 large scars are more commonly on the midrib. These authors, 

 however, compare the scars to those on Macrotaeniopteris magnifolia 

 to which ours are very closely related. They say, Permian 

 Flora, p. 93, "Maerotaeniopteria rogersi Schimper of the Rich- 

 mond coal field, contains, on specimens in our possession, 

 elliptical depressions strikingly like the depressions seen on 

 this plant, and shown on plate XXXIV, figure 3. In the speci- 

 men from the Richmond coal the depressions are larger, and are 



