No. 6. — Report on the Recent Additions of Fossil Plants. By 



Leo Lesquekeux. 



In the department of Paleophjthology the collections of the Museum 

 have been this year greatly increased by the following contributions : — 



1. The Smithsonian Institution has presented one hundred specimens 

 of tertiary and cretaceous plants, obtained by the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 veys of the Territories imder the direction of Dr. F. V. Hayden. They 

 are referable to species published hi the Cretaceous and Tertiary Floras, 

 Vols. VL and Nil. of the U. S. Eeports. 



2. More than six hundred specimens of cretaceous fossil plants have 

 been obtained in the Dakota group of Kansas by Mr. Charles H. Stern- 

 berg. These specimens, in a remarkably _ good state of preservation, 

 represent forty specific forms, of which about twenty are new, and six 

 known only as yet by the descriptions of Professor Fleer. 



The new species arc referable, like those published already from this 

 formation, to all the essential divisions of the vegetable kingdom. ^ The 

 Cryptogamous have fragments of a Jeanpmdia ? and of an Equisetum, 

 The Conifers are represented by a large TImites ; the Cycadese, by three 

 or four species, of Podozarmtes. The Phomogamous Apetaletv have a 

 Mi/rica, an Al/iiteSj a Qucrcus, two species of /Vcms, and ti Laui^opkyllum ; 

 the Dialypetale(E^ an Aralia, three distinct forms of A raliopsisj a Cissus, 

 four species of Liriodendron, an Anoua, a Greviopsis, a Sapiudus, and a 

 Ehamnas. Besides these new species there are in the collection ^>Qii\- 

 mQusol Popuhts litil</iosaj Ficus primordialisj Dios2}yros primo'va^ already 

 described by Ileer from the Dakota group, with Protcoidcs lancifolius^ 

 described by the same author from the European Cretaceous of Qued- 

 linburg, and Magnolia speciosa, from that of Moletin. Some other very 

 rare species, like Popidiies elegans, Platanus primmva^ Magnolia tenuifo- 

 lia, Liriodendron giganteum, Aralia Towneri, Aralia sapoi^tanea^ divers 

 species of Protophyllum, and especially Aspidiophylhim trilohativm, are 

 represented also by numerous beautifull}'" preserved specimens. Taken 

 all together, this collection is therefore a valuable acquisition for the 

 Museum. 









*! 



VOL. VII. — NO. 6. 



V^ 



