No. 6. — Report on tJie Recent Additions of Fossil Plants. By 

 Leo Lesquereux. 



In the department of Paleophythology the collections of the Museum 

 have been this year greatly increased by the following contributions : — 



1. The Smithsonian Institution has presented one hundred specimens 

 of tertiary and cretaceous plants, obtained by the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 veys of the Territories under the direction of Dr. F. V. Hayden. They 

 are referable to species published in the Cretaceous and Tertiary Floras, 

 Vols. VI. and VII. of the U. S. Reports. 



2. More than six hundi-ed specimens of cretaceous fossil plants have 

 been obtained in the Dakota group of Kansas by Mr. Charles H. Stern- 

 berg. These specimens, in a remarkably good state of preservation, 

 represent forty specific forms, of which about twenty are new, and six 

 known only as yet by the descriptions of Professor Heer. 



The new species are referable, like those published already from this 

 formation, to all the essential divisions of the vegetable kingdom. The 

 Cryptogamous have fragments of a Jeanpaidia ? and of an Equisetum. 

 The Conifers are represented by a large Thuites ; the Cycadese, by three 

 or four species of Podozamites. The Phsenogamous Apetalece have a 

 Myrica, an Alnites, a Quercus, two species of Ficus, and a Laurophyllum ; 

 the Dialypetalea, an Aralia, three distinct forms of Araliopsis, a Cissus, 

 four species of Liriodendron, an Anona, a Greviopsif, a Sapindus, and a 

 PJiammis. Besides these new species there are in the collection speci- 

 mens of Po/9m/?<s ^i^i^wsa, Ficus primordialis, Diospyros primreva, already 

 described by Heer from the Dakota group, with Proteoides lancifolius, 

 described by the same author from the European Cretaceous of Qued- 

 linburg, and Magnolia speciosa, from that of Moletin. Some other very 

 rare species, like Popidites elegans, Platanus prirtKeva, Magnolia tenuifo- 

 lia, Liriodendron giganteum, Aralia Toioneri, Aralia saportanea, divers 

 species of Protophyllum, and especially Aspidiophyllum. trilobaUtm, are 

 represented also by numerous beautifully preserved specimens. Taken 

 all together, this collection is therefore a valuable acquisition for the 

 Museum. 



VOL. VII. — NO. 6. 15 



