1 62 STUDIES IN GEOLOGY, No. 4 



segments. The present species is exceedingly abundant in 

 the wind-blown material. Fertile pinnae are much less com- 

 mon than the sterile, and the relation of this seolian material 

 to the waterlaid leaf-bearing clay is not certainly determin- 

 able since the material was collected from dumps of the old 

 prospects which were flooded at the time of my visit. It 

 appears to have come from below the upper lignite and to 

 have had waterlaid material both above and below it. 



Genus FILICITES Schlotheim 



Pilicites claphoglossoides Berry, sp. nov. 



PLATE VI Fig. 4 



This occurrence is based upon a tiny fragment of a simple 

 pinnule or frond, evidently linear in form, with a stout mid- 

 vein, entire margin, and numerous thin parallel straight 

 simple lateral veins which diverge from the midvein at wide 

 angles. In the absence of more complete material it is out 

 of the question to attempt the generic determination of this 

 fossil scrap, and it is therefore referred tu the old form- 

 genus Filicites proposed by Schlotheim. 



There are a number of existing genera that suggest com- 

 parisons, namely Blechnum, Lomaria, Gymnogramme, Elaph- 

 oglossum, etc. Even with more complete material it would 

 probably be impossible to determine which genus the fossil 

 represented unless fructifications were preserved. Analogies 

 suggest the genus Elaphoglossum Schott. as the most likely 

 and this suggestion is embodied in the specific name chosen. 

 The fossil suggests Elaphoglossum simplex of Brazil and 

 H. villosum of Peru. The Modern species are numerous 

 (the genus AcrO'Stichum of authors) and are wide spread in 

 rain forest regions of the tropics and subtropics. They are 

 mainly American and occur also in the humid forested region 

 of the northern Andes, and in the montafia zone of the 

 Eastern Andes. In Peru Elaphoglossum Jamesonii attains 

 altitudes of 8,800 feet, but theoretically at least the upper 

 limit of the genus should be somewhat lower than this in the 

 Yungas region of Bolivia. 



