48 THE OLDER MESOZOIC FLORA OF VIRGINIA. 



Asterocarpus penticarpa, Bpec. nov. 



Plate XXVI, Fig. 2. 



Frond bipiuuate. Fertile frond alone seen. Rachis of the ultimate pinnse stout 

 and rigid. Pinnules reduced to groups of sori, which have in their grouping a triangular 

 outline. The sori form two rows, one on each side of the midrib, which is not dis- 

 tinctly seen, containing in each two sori, the two rows being capped by a single sorus, 

 giving five in all. The groups stand at right angles to the rachis. The last sori next 

 to the rachis of the pinna are larger than the rest. The sori are rounded and prom- 

 inent, with a depression in the center. Further details could not be made out. 



This small plant was found only in a very fragmentary condition, and 

 on a rock too coarse-grained to permit the structure of the sori to be made 

 out. The sori are quite large and prominent, showing a slight depression 

 in the center, which sometimes presents an appearance like the indusium of 

 Aspidium. The two lower sori are considerably larger than the rest, and 

 the groups which represent fructified pinnules stand at right angles with 

 the rachis. From the large size and the convex shape of the sori, and the 

 depression in the center of each, they appear to belong to a species of 

 Asterocarpus, and the groups of sori are not unlike Asterocarpus Sternbergii, 

 Goepp., from the Carboniferous formation, as figured by Schimper in "Pal. 

 Ve'g.," plate xli, fig. 15. A. Sternbergii has, however, more numerous sori, 

 and the groups are oblong in shape. 



Formation and locality. — Found only at Clover Hill, in strata associated 



with the main coal. 



PECOPTERIS, Brongt. 



Pecopteris rarinervis, spec. nov. 



Plate XXVI, Figs. 3, 4. 



Frond bipiuuate ? Pinuse of the ultimate order, with a stout, rigid rachis. Pin- 

 nules oblong, subfalcate, separate to the base, opposite, bluntly rounded at the extrem- 

 ities, united more and more towards the end of the ultimate pinnae, and finally at the 

 ends coalescing into a single undulate terminal pinnule. Nervation Pecopteris-like. 

 Midrib strong to near the apex of the pinnule, sending off at regular intervals lateral 

 nerves, which are quite remotely placed, forked near the middle of their length, and 

 maintain a nearly parallel position to each other. 



This small plant was seen only in a very fragmentary condition, and 

 consequently its true place cannot be definitely fixed. It is so much like 

 some of the Pecopterids of the Carboniferous formation that at one time I 



