MESOZOIC PLANTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 99 



Walchia angustifolia. 

 Plate XLIX, Fig. 10. 

 Emmons's "Am. Geo].", plate 3, fig. 3. 



"Leaves linear, or slightly lanceolate, and very narrow. All the specimens ob- 

 served are small and imperfect. Fragments are frequently met with in the soft slates, 

 but they have changed so much by weathering that the plant has become indistinct, 

 It has been observed only in the Dan River Coal Field." 



This small fragment seems to be a Cheirolepis very near to, if not 



identical with, Cheirolepis Miinsteri. 



Sphenopteris Egyptiaoa. 



Plate XLVIII, Fig. 3. 

 Emmons's "Am. Geo].", fig 8, p. 3G. 



Emmons's description is: 

 "Frond bipiunate, pinnae decreasing slowly in length, elongate; pinnules smooth, 

 thin, rather obtuse, lower lobes divided from the secondary rachis, but the others appar- 

 ently attached, edges crenate, or in some instances apparently lobed." 



It occurs only between the little or lower, and the main seam at Egypt, 

 in the Deep River belt. 



It is clear that this plant is not a Sphenopteris. It is closely allied to, 

 if not identical with, the Acrostichides princeps of Schenk, "Flor. Foss. der 

 Grenzsch," plate viii, fig. 1, differing from it only in being larger and in 

 the somewhat more acute form of the pinnules. It has the same undulate 

 margin and straggling nervation in the pinnules. In the absence of fruc- 

 tified pinnules, and on account of the greater dimensions of the plant, it 

 should for the present be retained as a distinct species, and might be called 

 Acrostichides Egyptiacus. 



From this scanty list it will be seen that the bituminous slate group is 

 remarkably poor in the remains of plants, and does not approach in rich- 

 ness the strata on the same horizon in the Virginia Mesozoic which at Clo- 

 ver Hill and elsewhere yield so many fine plants. I pass over without 

 further mention the animal remains of this group, described by Emmons, 

 which are not very rare and which are of great interest. I am unable to 

 say what age would be indicated by them as a whole, but would call atten- 

 tion to the fact that if they should indicate an age somewhat older than that 

 derived from the plants, this would be a condition of things similar to that 

 found in the case of the Lignite Beds of the western portions of the United 



