44 PP. REPORT OF PROGRESS. FONTAINE & WHITE. 



minuteness of its lobes. This is the only Sphenopteris 

 which comes up from a lower horizon into the upper beds, 

 as it is found 20 feet below the Pittsburg coal near Wheel- 

 ing, W. Ya. The resemblance in facies of the plant to the 

 genus Tliyrsopteris, Heer, from the Oolite, is very striking, 

 and, so far as the form is concerned, it would belong to that 

 genus. The fructification however of Thyrsopteris is not 

 found, and as the plants are so widely separated in time, 

 it is best to place it among the Sphenopterids in the absence 

 of proof of its Thyropteris character. 



Habitat — Twenty feet below the Pittsburg Coal near 

 Wheeling, and in the roof shales of the Waynesburg Coal, 

 West Union, W. Va. 



Sphenopteris foliosa^ Sp. nov., PI. V, Figs. 9-11, 



Frond, tripinnate ; secondary pinna3, very long ; linear- 

 lanceolate, rigid ; tertiary pinuffi, short, oblong lanceloate 

 sub-opposite, inserted at an angle of 45° ; pinnules, sub- 

 quadrate or rotundate, decurrent, cut into slightly marked 

 segments, which are notched into two rounded teeth, or are 

 simple ; mid-nerve, well dehned but slender ; lateral nerves 

 passing off obliquely, and forking into the incisions, a branch 

 passing into each tooth. 



The plant has a thick, fleshy leaf substance, and belongs 

 to the Pecopteroid section of the Sphenopterids, a section 

 which seems most abundant in the upper beds. 



Habitat. ^Roof shales of the Waynesburg Coal, Cass- 

 ville. West Virginia. 



Sphenopteris Lescuriana,'^^. nov. PI. VI, Fig. 1; VII, 1-2. 



Frond, quadripinnate ; rachis of primary pinna?, stout 

 and smooth ; rachis of secondary pinnje, strong, going off 

 at right angles from the primary one, and arching slightly 

 outwards ; secondary pinnules, long, oblong-elliptical in 

 outline ; tertiary pinnae, numerous, linear- lanceolate, alter- 

 nate ; quaternary pinnae (pinnules) lanceolate, densely 

 crowded, those near the base of the secondary pinnae, again 

 divided, with pinnatifid lobes or divisions, the lowest pin- 

 • nule (quaternary pinna) heteromorphous, being larger 



