DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 53 



once forked, and curving up to meet the upper margin of the lobes. Lateral or second- 

 ary nerves going off mostly from the rachis of the pinnse, and curving up toward the 

 upper part of the lobes. 



This small fragment has somewhat the appearance of a Goniopteris, so 

 far as the nervation goes, with the exception of the forking of the lateral 

 nerves, but as the portion seen is evidently a fragment of a lobed pinna or 

 pinnule, and gives but a faint idea of the true character of the plant, I place 

 it provisionally in the genus Cladophlebis, to which its nervation would seem 

 to refer it. It may be identical with Asterocarpus Virginiensis, var. obtusi- 

 lobus, though found at a locality remote from that where this plant occurs. 

 It is one of the few plants found in the Hanover Area, the northern portion 

 of the Richmond Coal Field. 



Formation and locality. — Hanover County, near Hanover Junction, in 

 the upper barren strata of the Mesozoic of this portion of the field. 



LONCHOPTERIS, Brongt. 



Lonchopteris Virginiensis, spec. nov. 



Plate XXVIII, Figs. 1,2; Plate XXIX, Figs. 1-4. 



Frond bi- or tripinnate. Ultimate pinnse alternate or subopposite. United pin- 

 nules or lobes closely crowded, opposite or subopposite, united at base, becoming 

 more and more united towards the summit of the frond, or primary pinna, and with 

 the pinnse finally passing into simple pinnules. Basal pinnules or lobes placed close to 

 the principal rachis, so as to make the ultimate pinnse sessile. The pinnules are vari- 

 ous in shape, either oblong, slightly falcate, and very obtuse, or ovate, slightly falcate, 

 and somewhat acute. Middle nerve strong at base and dissolved above the middle of 

 the pinnule into a network of branches. Lateral nerves departing both from the middle 

 nerve and the rachis of the ultimate pinnse, usually branching once before anastomos- 

 ing, the branches repeatedly anastomosing, and often free at the margin of the pinnules 

 or lobes. The anastomosis forms elongate elliptical meshes, which have their longer 

 axes turned out towards the margin of the pinnules. The nerves are very strong. 



This splendid plant must have been a very large fern, for the fragment 

 given in Plate XXVIII, Fig. 1, is plainly only a small part of a primary 

 pinna or frond, and one coming from the summit. It shows clearly the 

 gradually increased union of the lobes or pinnules, until they finally pass 

 into simple pinnules. Plate XXIX, Fig. 1, seems to represent a portion of 

 the lower part of the plant, where the lobes or united pinnules are very 

 obtuse. Fig. 4 represents a portion of the plant where the lobes^are still 



