DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 75 



I had often, during my earlier visits to Clover Hill, found long, strap- 

 shaped impressions, marked by very distinct lines, or nerves, which were 

 very puzzling to me from their great length, their equality in width through- 

 out, and from their showing neither insertion nor termination. . Some of 

 these impressions were 30 centimeters long, the ends being still wanting, 

 and of equal width throughout, being smooth and shining. They were 

 evidently made by some portion of a plant which possessed a thick and 

 fn-m character. It was not until after long search that I succeeded in 

 finding the insertions of some of these strap-shaped bodies, and then I was 

 surprised at the great apparent width of the stem to which they were attached. 

 This stem, though very broad, was smooth and shining, and had, appar- 

 ently, but little more woody tissue than the leaflets themselves, for it left 

 flat, strap-shaped impressions, not unlike the impressions of the leaflets, 

 except that the strong, regular nerves were wanting, and were replaced by 

 an irregular striation. During my last visit I succeeded in finding the fine 

 impressions which I reproduce in the figures now given. These were 

 found in a very fine-grained, dark shale, which preserves very perfectly 

 the entire leaf substance of the plant, which may be peeled off like paper. 

 From the study of this material, which shows the character of the plant 

 very perfectly, I was enabled to make out the details given in the diag- 

 nosis. The stem evidently had little woody matter in proportion to its 

 size, and must have obtained much of its strength from the dense, strong 

 epidermis which covered it and extended over the bases of the leaflets. 

 Stripping off this epidermis, it is seen that the stem proper is much nar- 

 rower than it appears to be when covered with it. I have depicted in Plate 

 XXXIX, Fig. 2, the condition of things when the epidermis is removed, as 

 it is in the upper part of the figure. Even in the stem proper the woody 

 tissue is small in amount, and seems to have been immersed in fleshy 

 matter. The epidermis over the leaflets, though thick and strong, is not 

 so much so as over the midrib. The length of the leaflets seems to have 

 rendered them very liable to be torn off and scattered, for we find great 

 numbers of scattered leaflets, but very few stems with leaflets attached. 

 From the numbers of these leaflets near the top of the main coal we 

 may conclude that they, with their fleshy stems, contributed a good deal 



