FOSSIL PLANTS. 91 
zigzag. The bases are auricled, the upper lobe is greatly developed, the 
attachment being at a single point, and from this the fine and parallel nerves 
radiate to all parts of the margin after the manner of the genus as shown in 
Fig. 2a. . 
On aslab of slate now in the possession of Mr. 8. W. Loper, at Dur- 
ham, several of the fronds are shown radiating from a central area, proba- 
bly the summit of the stem. Of the stem itself, which was doubtless some- 
what succulent, we have as yet found no traces. 
Locality, black shales, associated with Ischypterus, Catopterus, ete., 
Durham, Conn. 
OTOZAMITES BREVIFOLIUS F. Br. 
Pl. XXIV, Fig. 3. 
Among the many fronds of Otozamites obtained at Durham there are 
some of small size, set with short, crowded, rounded, or blunt-pointed pin- 
nules. These correspond perfectly to some of the specimens of Otozamites 
brevifolius figured by Saporta, Braun, Schimper, and Schenk. One of these 
is represented on Pl. XXIV. We have not yet sufficient material for 
comparing these fronds with those which I have referred to Otozamites latior, 
but it has seemed to me possible that these two forms, which are here and 
in Europe so frequently intermingled, may be but varieties of the same 
species, the smaller fronds belonging to small plants or representing a spe- 
cial stage of growth. Whether this is true or not, it is a matter of much 
interest that we here find fronds which correspond so perfectly to those 
common in the Rhetic of Germany and France. 
In Schenk’s admirable memoir, Die fossile Flora der Grenzschichten, 
Pls. XXXJ, XXXII, and XXXIV, a series of excellent figures are 
given which perfectly represent our Durham eyeads, both the larger and 
the smaller forms (Otozamites latior and O. brevifolius). 
By Schenk they are considered to be ferns, as they were by Lindley, 
and he unites the two forms under the name of Otopteris Bucklandi. Prob- 
ably they should be united, but it is hardly possible that they are ferns. 
Locality, Triassic shales, Durham, Conn., collected by 8. W. Loper. 
