IV.— ON A NEW FOSSIL FUNGUS FROM THE 

 NEBRASKA PLIOCENE 



BY A. C. WHITFORD 



While studying the fossil woods of Nebraska, under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. E. H. Barbour, it was my good fortune to find an 

 interesting specimen. This specimen is in the collection of fossil 

 woods in the Nebraska State Museum, and was collected by Dr. 

 Barbour from the Pliocene, or Snake Creek beds, about 20 miles 

 south of Agate, Nebraska, during the summer of 191 1. 



The specimen itself is about six inches long by four inches wide 

 and two inches thick. It has the appearance of typical agatized 

 wood, but has numerous limonite streaks running through it. 

 Upon sectioning the specimen, there was no woody structure to be 

 seen, except very isolated cells of resistant tissue, such as the 

 separate cells of tracheae. It showed all the signs of complete 

 decomposition save in exceptional places. From a series of sec- 

 tions, it seems that the specimen is an Angiosperm of the diffuse 

 porous type, but no further classification is possible. 



Many spores and hypha were found upon closely examining the 

 sections to ascertain the cause of the decomposition. These were 

 in a nearly perfect state of preservation, and showed the various 

 phases of the fungus in an excellent manner, save that the cell 

 walls were slightly crinkled. It was also observed that the spores 

 were generally in the brown streaks, although a few were found 

 in clear parts. On the other hand, hypha were common in the 

 clear parts of the specimen. 



The structure of the fungus at once suggested that of Clado- 

 sporium, and close comparison established the similarity. Dr. 

 Felix has described a specimen of Cladosporites, which he says is 

 very closely related to the Cladosporiiinis. He has called this 

 species Cladosporites bipartitus from the fact that all of the spores 

 were two-celled. His description is as follows : " Conidia, elliptical 



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