FOSSIL PLANTS. 405 



GENUS STAPHYLOPTERIS. 



Presl. in Sternb. Vers., ii, p. 174. 



'Count Sfcernberg, in his Versuch, loc. cit., defines this genus merely as: in- 

 florescence or fructified panicles of ferns, analogous to those of Botrychium or 

 Aneirnia. 



The only species described by the author as the type of his genus : Staphy- 

 lopteris polybotrya, from the Tertiary of Europe, represents a small group of 

 round sporanges. In our American species here described, these sori have 

 various forms. But it is convenient to consider them under the same generic 

 name, till their relation to sterile fronds, or their true generic affinity can be 

 ascertained. To this genus, therefore, I refer all agglomerations of sporanges 

 of various forms, either borne upon separate plants, or upon separate segments 

 of a plant, like those of our species of Botrychium, without visible remains of 

 leaves, or whose connection to frond-bearing leaves can not be traced, and is 

 unknown. 



No species referable to this genus has been found as yet in the Carboniferous 

 strata of Europe, a fact which led Palaeontologists to suppose that ferns bear- 

 ing fruits in separate panicles did not exist at. the time of that formation. 

 From our Coal Measures, we have previously obtained only Staphylopteris stel- 

 lata, Lesqx., Arks. Geol. Rept., vol. ii, p. 309, pi. 2, fig. 2 and 3, from the 

 Sub-Conglomerate coal of Arkansas. The discovery and publication of the 

 following species is, therefore, a valuable contribution to the fossil flora of the 

 coal. 



STAPHYLOPTERIS WORTHENI, Sp. nov. 



PI. xiv, fig. 1 and 2. 



FROND bi-pinnate, ovate lanceolate in outline ; pinnse linear, 

 gradually tapering to an obtuse point, short, one inch long 

 near the base of the frond, scarcely half an inch near the top 

 perpendicular to the main rachis; pinnules alternate triangu- 

 lar, formed of an agglomeration of three or five sori apparently 

 attached to a main pedicel, but without trace of leaves. The 

 main rachis of this fruiting segment of a fern is proportionally 

 thick, three lines at its base, finely irregularly striate, the 

 branches or pinnse appearing attached rather upon it or 



