DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES. 107 



FLOWERS, FRUIT, AND ROOTLETS OF UNCERTAIN RELATION. 



WiLLiAMSONiA PROBLEMATicA (Newberrj) Ward. 



PI. V, figs. 27-32. 



WiUiamsonia proUematica (Newb.) Ward, Fifteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 1893-94 (1895), p. 382. 

 Palxanthus (WUliamsonia) prollematicus Newb. Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. 26 (FI. Amboy Clays), 1895 

 (1896), p. 125, pi. 25, figs. 1-9; Hollick, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 7, 1895, p. 13. 



This exceedingly interesting species has been so fully described and illustrated 

 hj Newberry (loc. cit.) that any extended discussion here would be superfluous, and 

 a careful examination of our specimens has resulted in adding notliing wliich could 

 serve to throw any further light upon its probable botanical relationships, although 

 certain forms, such as are represented by our figs. 27-30, seem to connect it more 

 closely than was at first suspected with WiUiamsonia cretacea Heer," which he 

 regarded as belonging in the Balanophoracese. The genus, however, has been shifted 

 and referred by competent authorities to so many different orders and families that 

 I have thought it safer to regard its systematic position as yet unsettled. 



Locality: Gay Head, Marthas Vineyard. Collected by David White. Speci- 

 mens in U. S. Nat. Mus. 



* WiLLIAMSONIA RiESII HolHck. 



PI. V, figs. 25, 26. 

 WiUiamsonia ? Riesii Hollick, Trans. New York Acad. Sci., vol. 12, 1892, p. 37, pi. 1, figs. 2, 3. 



This organism was originally referred to the genus WiUiamsonia with some hesi- 

 tation on account of the fragmentary character of the remains, and it may be seen 

 to be strikingly similar in its general adpearance to Lepacyclotes circularis Em- 

 mons,'' which Ward placed under "Plants of doubtful affinity" (loc. cit.), and 

 which Fontane regarded as the cone of a Gymnosperm.'^ 



Mr. W. A. Seward, in a discussion of our specimen, says " it is probably a true 

 WiUiamsonia," and places it under " Bennetites (WiUiamsonia) Flores;"'^ but 

 whether it should be regarded as generically identical with TF. proUematica is per- 

 haps open to question. 



Locality: Kreischerville, Staten Island. Collected by Arthur Hollick. Speci- 

 mens in Mus. Staten Island Assn. Arts and Sci. 



Strobilites perplexus n. sp. 

 PI. II, fig. 43. 



Organism consisting of an elongated, ellipsoidal, pitted nucleus, attached to a relatively thick stem or 

 petiole and with a series of overlapping, strap-shaped, longitudinally striated, petaloid appendages, arranged 

 like a fan around the exterior. 



I have been unable to find a description or figure of any fossil with which this 

 specimen may be satisfactorily compared, although it has some features in common 



sFl. Foss. Arot., vol. 6 (abth. 2), 1882, p. 59, pi. 12, fig. 1; pi. 13, flg. 9. 



6 Fide Ward, Twentieth Ann. Kept. 0. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1898-99 (1900), p. 311, pi. 47, flg. 4. 

 " Araucarites carolinensis Font., Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. 6 (Older Mesoz. Fl. Va.), p. 119. 



<i Catalogue of the Mesozoic Plants in the Department of Geology, British Museum, etc., pt. 2, Gymnospermse, 1895, pp. 

 155, 156. 



