60 THE OLDER MESOZOIC FLORA OP VIRGINIA. 



2 is a fragment of what must have been a pinnule at least 12 centimeters 

 long. It is given of natural size. The lateral nerves are inserted at some 

 distance from one another, and branch either near the midrib of the pinnules 

 or some distance from it. The nervation near the midrib is quite distant 

 and lax, but from about half way between the midrib and margin up to 

 near the border of the pinnules, the nerves anastomose frequently, and fill 

 the lamina with a close, fine reticulation. The meshes are elongate and 

 irregular in form. At the margin of the pinnules the nerves become free, 

 and appear simply forked, as shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 gives a form of the 

 plant in which the bases of the pinnules appear somewhat rounded. This 

 specimen shows marks of considerable compression, especially at the bases 

 of the pinnules, and I think the rounding off is due to the fact that the leaf- 

 substance has been pressed into the yielding material of the shale. In 

 Fig. 1 , I have given a restoration of what I take to be the appearance of 

 the large pinnules when inserted on the principal rachis. No specimen has 

 been seen showing all the details combined that are given in this figure. 

 It is a restoration obtained by taking many specimens and uniting features 

 found in each. 



Professor Emmons in "American Geology," fig. 90, depicts a plant under 

 the name Strangerites planus, which is evidently the same with Pseudoda- 

 nceopsis reticulata. It has the same shape in the fragment of a pinnule given 

 in the figure, the same rather slender and lax nervation, the same prominent, 

 well-defined midrib, and the same size with P. reticulata. Professor Emmons 

 has drawn the nerves of his plant in rather a vague manner, and represents 

 many of the branches of the lateral nerves as stopping short in the lamina 

 of the pinnule, when, if continued, they would anastomose with their 

 neighbors. 



Formation and locality. — This plant is quite widely diffused, and is not 

 uncommon at several localities. It has been found at Clover Hill, at Mid- 

 lothian, and at Carbon Hill. Only at the latter place could the precise 

 horizon be fixed. It occurs here in the shaly sandstones over the lower coal 

 bed, along with Acroslichides rhombifolius, Asterocarpus Virginiensis, &c. 



