222 



SHOKTER COXTRIBUTIOXS TO GENERAL, GEOLOGY. 1921. 



leaves diverging from the typical Saf<safran cre- 

 tdct'i/Di, the form shown in Plate VIII, figure 1, 

 of ''Later extinct floras" is removed a slight 

 distance hy the shortening of the blade, the 

 thickening of the primaries and secondaries, and 

 the shortening and rounding ol the lobes (Sai^sa- 

 fras obtusmiri) ; while a smaller leaf would be its 

 logical descendant : and from these leaves to those 

 referred to the typical Cififiitef! salishiiriacfoli ui< 

 is but a step. In the third series of leaves diverg- 

 ing from the typical Sassafraff cri'taceiim the 

 leaf lias its lo])es much produced, narrow, and 

 running to a sharp point, as in the beautiful 

 leaf sliown on Plate VII, figure 1, of "Later 

 extinct floras," which, however, is still referred 

 to Sasnafnis cretaremn. Lesquereux's Sassa- 

 frri.s nciitilohirm does not difi"er greatly from the 

 leaf just mentioned except in the direction of 

 the lobes, whicli is a questionable specific char- 

 acter. From this leaf it is no great jump to 

 those trilobed forms which are referred to Ara- 

 lia ircTlirKjtoriiana, the chief difl'erence being in 

 the margin. Thus we have an interrelated 

 series connecting those leaves which seem to 

 show affinity to Sassafras with those which 

 suggest Plata nils, on one hand, and with others 

 which suggest Cissites and Aralia, on the other. 



While it may be considered probable that 

 biologically the forms mentioned in the forego- 

 ing paragraphs, as well as others not cited, 

 represent tiie variations of a single species of 

 LTpper Cretaceous tree or at least represent 

 the leaves of closely affiliated species, it seems 

 best with reference to systematic and especially 

 stratigraphic paleobotany that most of the 

 difl'erentiations instituted by Lcsquereux be 

 perpetuated. Consequently the present series 

 is limited to the typical material as defined 

 and illustrated hy the original describer. 



Falling within these limits are a number of 

 occurrences in the true Dakota sandstone and 

 the Raritan and Magothy formations of the 

 Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Cheyenne sand- 

 stone has furnished four specimens obtained 

 near Medicine Lodge River, 2 miles west of 

 Belvidere (2224), and one specimen from the 

 left bank of the middle branch of Champion 

 (Wildcat) Draw, half a mile south of Belvidere 

 (2229). 



POSITION UNCERTAIN. 



Genus FEISTMANTELIA Ward. 



Feistmantelia oblonga Ward. 



PlateXLVII, figures -t, 5. 



Feistmantelia oblonr/aWard, U. S. GeoL Survey Nineteenth 

 Ann. Kept., pt. 2, p. 693, pi. 169, fig. 19, 1S99. 



In not proposing a specific name for the form 

 of this genus found in the Cheyenne sandstone 

 I emphasize the fact that the term Feist inantdia 

 denotes merely a form of preservation and that 

 the objects to which it is applied lack either 

 stratigraphic or botanic value. 



This genus and in fact the nominal species 

 Fdstmatttrlia ohloiign were founded by Ward in 

 1899 for tlie reception of certain casts of obscure 

 affinities, l)ut evidently of a vegetable nature, 

 from tiie Fuson formation of eastern Wyoming. 

 No diagnosis was attempted, but an extended 

 discussion was given of somewhat similar forms 

 figured by previous authoi's from various 

 geologic horizons. The American Ci-etaceous 

 forms referred to tliis genus may be character- 

 ized as showing a rather close-set series of 

 elliptical, fusiform, or cigar-shaped convex casts 

 of concave cavities formed by the rhytidosis 

 of various plant tissues. They vary consider- 

 ably in size, from 0.6 to 2.5 centimeters in 

 length by 0.35 to 1.0 centimeter in widtii, and 

 are arranged in an irregular spiral, the irre- 

 gularity being perhaps due to compression. 

 They are thus overlapping or alternate in a 

 horizontal tlirection and more or less linear in 

 a vertical direction. 



Somewhat similar remains occur at widely 

 separated geologic horizons, and comparable 

 objects with the markings inclined to be 

 rhomboidal in form are not rare in the New 

 Jersey Triassic deposits, where they are, ac- 

 cording to Newberry ,^^ the decorticated trunks 

 of some conifer, possibly Palissya. Similar 

 remains are figured by Schauroth ^' as trunks 

 of Voltzia cohunjeiisls and by Blanckenhorn^" as 

 trunks of VoJtzia heterophylla. 



36 Newberry, J. S., U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 14, p. 94, pi. 26, flgs. 1, 2, 



ISSS. 



3' Schaiu-oth, Oeutsch. geol. Oesell. Zeitschr., Band 4, p. 539, 1852. See 

 Sfhenk. Aupi.-it, Palaeontographica, Band 11, p. 3iiK, pl. 4C., ft)!. 2, 1S04. 



as Blanckenluira, Max, Palaeontographica, Band 32, p. 135, pl. 22, 

 flgs. 18-20, l.HSd. 



