DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 65 



BETULITES BUGOStTS, SJ). uov. 



PI. VI, Figs. 3-5. 



Leaves ovate, tiimcate at base, round-pointed at ajiex, denticulate on 

 the borders, rugose ou the surtace from the ch:)se, tliick nervilles. 



This form, which answers to the variety oblonr/us of B. Westii, differs 

 from it in the distinctly more deeply denticulate borders and the coarse 

 surface of the leaves. 



Habitat: EUswortli County, Kansas. Nos. fiO and 69a of the museum 

 of the University of Kansas ; A. Wellington, collector. 



Betulites denticulatus Heer. 

 Phyll. Cr6t. du N6br., p. 15, PI. iv, Figs. 5, 6. 



Stipules of Betulites. 

 PI. V, Fig. 18. 



Stipules of small size, formed by the enlarging base of the petiole, 

 rarely found attached to it, appearing, when separate, as minute leaflets cut 

 from the middle into two pointed, obliquely diverging, acute lobes, which 

 are cuneate at the truncate base. 



As the fragments of the small organisms described above were discov- 

 ered at the same locality where the leaves of Betulites were most abundant, 

 I fancied that in their size and form they had some affinity to the trilobate, 

 obtuse bracts of flowers of Betula, admitting this as a kind of presumptive 

 evidence of the relation of the leaves to the Betulaceae. Just now, and 

 when ready to deliver the manuscript to the printer, I have received, tlii'ough 

 the kindness of Pr(_)f F. H. Snow, a specimen of a fine leaf of Betulites with 

 the petiole entirely preserved, enlarging at its base into a stipule (PI. V, 

 Fig. 18) like those described above, which had all l)een found separate from 

 their support. In the form and mode of attachment to the enlarging base 

 of the petiole these appendages are indeed in their characters similar to the 

 stipules of the leaves of some species of Viburnum ; for instance, V. lantan- 

 okles Michx. This fact, in opposition to the reference I have proposed for 

 the vegetable remains described above, is on the other hand in harmony with 

 the opinion of the Marquis de Saporta, who writes that he is disposed to 

 refer to Vibm-num a number of leaves of tlie same kind sent him by Prof. 

 F. H. Snow. As he says, he has figured and described the leaves for a new 



JtON XVII 5 



