''"l89o'."'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 285 



Several specimens show loug, strap-shaped leaflets, whicli never pos- 

 sess either base or termination. They look much like Gtenophyllum 

 grandifolium of the older Mesozoicor Eichmond Coal Field of Virginia, 

 but are not well enough preserved to be certainly made out. They 

 may be fragments of dewberry's Pteropkyllum rohtistum, found at Los 

 Bronces, and this is apparently the same as CtenophyUum grandifolium. 



These fossils from the copper mines near Abiquiu are not numerous 

 enough and suiticiently well preserved to enable one to determine with 

 positiveness the age of the strata which contain them. They, however, 

 indicate that the beds are not older than the Khetic. 



FOSSIL WOOD FROM THE OLD COPPER MINES. 

 By F. H. Knovvlton. 



Araucarioxylon Arizonicum Knowlton* is represented by seven pieces 

 of wood which, as stated above, were obtained from sandstone about 10 

 feet above the shale containing fossil plants at the old copper mines. 

 The material is not as perfectly preserved as that from which the si^ecies 

 was described, but it is sufficiently clear to indicate that it is identical 

 with it. 



In trausv^erse section the annual rings are found to consist of only 

 three or four layers of tangentially compressed cells as in the type. 

 The remaining cells are of nearly uniform size and possess thick walls. 



The radial section is very obscure, and in only one or two limited areas 

 is it possible to demonstrate the ])resence and outline of the puuctations. 

 They are arranged in a single longitudinal row in the center of the cell. 

 No double row of punctations could be detected, but this condition was 

 not of frequent occurrence in the type specimens. The medullary rays 

 consist of relatively short cells as in the type. 



In tangential section the medullary rays are observed to be in a single 

 series of superposed cells, and range from one to twenty or more in num- 

 ber. The punctations that were described in the type specimens could 

 not be detected in this material, and, indeed, a further examination of 

 material from the type locality shows that these tangential punctations 

 are not all uniformly present. 



Coniferous Wood f As before stated the deposits of copper occur as 

 displacements of vegetable stems, from which, in most cases, the struct- 

 ure has entirely disappeared. Sections were made from exceptionally 

 well preserved specimens from the new copper mines, and these show 

 the outlines of a few cells which are arranged in radial rows and sepa- 

 rated by what must be medullary rays, although tljese latter are only 

 imperfectly preserved. This seems to indicate that it was a solid stem, 

 and from the general appearance it most probably represents a conifer- 

 ous wood. 



Kuowltoii in Proc. IT. S. N.it. Mas., vol. xi, 1888, pp. 1-4, PL 4. 



