GENERAL REMARKS. 121 



in two, and others with three leaves, and the base of the fourth. One of the latter is 

 therefore restored in the figure. Mr. Lea, of Philadelphia, has a similar plant from 

 Turner's Falls, Mass., but this has two opposite leaves only." 



The only fossil plant that I can compare this curious form to is the 

 Actinopteris peltata of Schenk, "Foss. Flor. der Grenszchichten, &c," plate 

 vi, figs. 3, 4, 5, from the Rhgetic of Germany, where it is abundant. Schenk's 

 forms appear to be circular, single leaves, though on some of them there 

 appear faint indications of a segmentation. Schimper says of these im- 

 pressions that they are not plants, but dendritic infiltrations of hydrated 

 oxide of iron around bits of carbonized matter. This may be true of the 

 European impressions, and the explanation may suffice for circular mark- 

 ings, but it is not easy to see how infiltrations could take the form of reg- 

 ular wedge-shaped segments, with well-defined margins, as in the North 

 Carolina markings. Feistmantel, on plate xi, figs. 1, 2, "Pal. Indica," 

 series xi, 1, "Oolitic Flor. of Kach," gives figures of forms which closely 

 resemble the North Carolina specimens, and which are clearly segmented 

 in a similar manner, but which show five and six wedge-shaped segments. 

 Feistmantel, with Schimper's explanations before him, states that he has a 

 form from the Raniganj Coal Field, which proves that this impression really 

 belongs to a fern.' We may then conclude that the plants in question from 

 North Carolina are perhaps ferns, and probably of the genus Actinopteris. 

 They might be called Actinopteris quadrifoliata. 



GENERAL REMARKS AND CONCLUSIONS. 



I have now given all the significant forms mentioned by Emmons from 

 the Mesozoic of North Carolina, with his descriptions of them, and with my 

 conclusions respecting them. 



It is not necessary to dwell upon the character of the strata of the two 

 North Carolina areas. It is evident that they have a close resemblance to 

 each other and to the Mesozoic beds of Virginia. The physical and strati- 

 graphical resemblances are sufficient, without the evidence of the plants, to 

 indicate that the North Carolina and Virginia Mesozoic strata are of the 

 same age, and that they were formed under similar conditions. In both 

 States we have at the base of the formation barren strata, followed by car- 



