OLDER POTOMAC OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 549 



Abietites marylandicus Fontaine n. sp. 



PL CXV, Figs. 4, 5. 



There are in the collection from Vinegar Hill two imprints, counter- 

 parts of a cone which is of somewhat doubtful character. It seems 

 to be a cone of some Abietites, and may belong to A. ellipticus, being 

 preserved in such a way as to give it a different aspect from that pre- 

 sented by most of the cones of that species. Still, it is so unlike any 

 species of this genus hitherto described from the lower Potomac that 

 it is most probable that it 'oelongs to a new species for which the name 

 marylandicus is proposed. The two impressions thus made of this cone 

 show different aspects of it, so as to complete each other, and hence it 

 it has been thought best to figure them both. One of the impressions 

 is given in PL CXV, Fig. 4. The summit and left-hand margin are 

 wanting, although apparently not much is missing. This cone is smaller 

 than any of the Abietites ellipticus, which seems to be the nearest to it 

 of hitherto described species. It is in form narrowly oblong, about 

 15 mm. wide, with perhaps the full width not shown. The length, with 

 a little of the summit wanting, is 3 cm. It is covered with closely 

 placed rhomboidal scars that are elongated in a direction transverse 

 to the axis of the cone. A casual inspection would give the impression 

 that these markings are the imprints of the shield-shaped tips of the 

 cone scales, but a lens shows that they are probably the closed-up hol- 

 lows, or molds, left on the decay of the scales which once occupied them. 

 These compressed molds show striations, apparently made b}^ the surface 

 of the scales. The scales seem to have been thin and closely imbri- 

 cated. There are several different kinds of cones that are suggested by 

 this fossil. In general form it resembles the cone of some Zamia. It 

 is also not unlike the cones of some Sequoias, and even Brachyphjdlum 

 is suggested. On the whole, however, it seems more nearly allied to 

 some Picea. like P. excelsa. This cone is supported on a stem that is 

 in proportion to its size remarkably stout. Three centimeters of the 

 length of this is still preserved. The width of the peduncle is a little 

 more than 5 mm. There are, on the same fragment of shale, a number 

 of scattered detached leaves of Leptostrobus longifolius. Though the 

 bases of some of these are hidden under the stem, they do not seem to 



