408 PALEONTOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



GENUS SPHENOPTERIS, Brgt, 111. Geol. Rep., vol. ii, p. 435. 

 SPHENOPTERIS SCABERRIMA, Sp. nov. 



PI. xv, fig. 1 and 2. 



FROND tripinnate, primary pinnae lanceolate, curved down- 

 wards, flexuous; secondary divisions perpendicular to the verru- 

 cose, broad, round rachis, linear lanceolate pointed, one to two 

 inches long, distinct and somewhat distant alternate; pinnules 

 lanceolate acute, gradually diminishing to the point, distinct 

 to the base, horizontal, irregularly cut on the borders or entire 

 with borders irregularly expanding and undulating by crushed 

 groups of sporanges or of scales ; surface rugose, marked by 

 round small convex points resembling small dots, produced by 

 groups of sporanges placed on the lower surface. All the 

 plant, even the thick, primary rachis, is covered with verrucose 

 points, evidently indicating the base of scales, or hairs, with 

 which the plant was covered, and which are still indistinctly 

 seen on some part of the secondary branches. The frond of 

 this species was evidently a large one, the pinnae being more 

 than six inches long. 



The whole appearance of the plant is like that of some species of Cheilan- 

 thcs of our time, especially of Cheilanthes vestita, Schwarz. The species should 

 therefore be classed in the genus Cheilantites, Gopp. Nevertheless, the group 

 of sori appears to cover the whole under surface of the leaflets, a position 

 which is not similar to that of the sori of a Cheilanthes. On shales from 

 Morris. 



SPHENOPTERIS GRACILIS, Brgt. 



PL xv, fig. 3 to 6. 



FROND bi or tripinnate ; primary pinnae or fronds triangular 

 in outline, taper-pointed, slender; secondary pinnae linear 

 lanceolate, alternate and distant, open, curved upwards, flexu- 



