96 PP. REPORT OF PROGRESS. FONTAINE & WHITE. 



scars. It is probable that this may be the caudex of the 

 fern which in its fronds gives us the forms of Alethopteris 

 Virginiana, as the two are always associated in the roof 

 shales. 



Specimens of this Caulopteris have been seen more than 

 1^ feet broad. 



a glgantea, Stipes. PL XXXVII, Fig. 5. 



This figure represents certain forms which we find, by the 

 hundred, in the same shale with Alethopteris Virginiana and 

 Caulopteris gigantea. They are of varying lengths and have 

 sometimes the thickness of 2 or more inches. They seem 

 to be impressions of the bark of fern stipes, and may be- 

 long to C. gigantea. 



SiGiLLARiA, Brongt. 



Sigillaria approximata, Sp. nov., PL XXXVII, Fig. 3. 



(Leaf scars, very ornamental, hexagonal, horizontal diame- 

 ter nearly twice as long as the vertical, and terminating in 

 acute angles at the extremities of the longer diameter, 

 closely approximate ; decorticated stem, marked by longi- 

 tudinal furrows, one between each row of leaf scars ; vascu- 

 lar scars, thin, the middle one slightly concave above and 

 convex below, larger than the lateral ones, and transversely 

 elongated, the two lateral scars are placed slightly above 

 the middle scar, one at each end, and are punctiform and 

 mucli smaller than the middle scar.) 



This plant belongs to the Sigillaria of the type of S. Me- 

 nard% a form characteristic of the upper portions of the 

 Carboniferous system everywhere. It is the only Sigillaria 

 except S. Menardi that we have seen in the upper beds 

 above the Pittsburg Coal in West Virginia. It is very rare, 

 only two specimens having been seen. 



Habitat. — Roof shales of the Wavnesburg: Coal near 

 Arnettsville, W. Va. 



