176 THE POTOMAC OR YOUNGEK MESOZOIC ELORA. 



flora of Virginia (see Contributions to tlie Knowledge of the Older Mesozoic 

 Flora of Virginia, Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. (i, PI. XXXIX, Figs. 1-3, 

 to PI. XLII, Fig. 1). It may possibly be a descendant of some such plant 

 as C. (jramUfolimn. Its extreme rarity indicates that this form of cycad 

 was nearly extinct in this region. 



GLOSSOZAMITES, Schimper. 



Leaves pinnate, Avith leaflets Ungulate or elliptical in shape, obtuse at 

 the summit, inserted on the upper face of the midrib by a contracted base, 

 equilateral ; nerves fine, branching dichotomously, diverging slightly from 

 the point of attachment towards the borders of the leaflets, which are 

 always entire. 



This description of the genus given by Saporta coincides exactly witli 

 the character of a fossil found in the Potomac flora. Only one species 

 of the genus was found. The genus is characteristic of the Lower Cre- 

 taceous, and seems to play a very unimportant part in the Potomac flora. 



Glossozamites distans, sp. nov. 



Plate I.XVIII, Fig. 5. 



Leaf pinnate, midrib slender ; leaflets alternate, diminishing in size in 

 ascending, distant, oblong, linguiform, slightly curved upwards, attached 

 to the upper surface of the midrib by a rounded, abruptly narrowed base, 

 which in the lower ones is slightly auriculate, obtuse ; nerves fine, numer- 

 ous, closely placed, diverging slightly from the point of attachment, and 

 ending, except the central ones, in the entire margin ; outer nerves simple 

 or deeply furcate ; inner ones repeatedly forked, with- the ultimate branches 

 of all very long and approximately parallel. 



Locality: Fredericksburg; very rare. 



Only one specimen of this very fine plant was found, and that in a 

 fragmentary condition. The leaflets of the lower portion have a base 

 which indicates that they were attached by a callosity. The nerves when 

 forked have very long branches, owing to the distance from their ends at 

 which the forking takes place. It is very much like Schenk's Podosamites 



