28 FLORA OF LOWER COAL MEASURES OF MISSOURI. 



material from Missom'i, the above description is that given by Professor 

 Lesquereux under Pseudopecopteris ancej)s in the Coal Flora. The Missotiri 

 plant appears to differ from the type only by a slightly closer arrangement 

 of the nerves. 



The identity oiSplienopteris squamosa Lx. sxidiPseudopecopteris anceps Lx., 

 signified by the inscription of the former as a s^aionym preceding the descrip- 

 tion, is evident from a comparison of the figure oi Splienopteris squamosa given 

 in the Geology of Pennsylvania^ with the fine series, including the types 

 from Cannelton, Pennsylvania,, now resting in the Lacoe collection. The 

 equivalence of Pseudopecopteris anceps Lx. with the Pecopteris neuropteroides 

 of Boulay, first recognized by Zeiller, was soon afterwards corroborated by 

 Kidston,^ after a comparison of the European material with sjiecimens from 

 Pennsylvania. Those specimens which I have seen from the Radstock coal 

 field or the Department of Pas-de-Calais, seem to represent a form with 

 smaller pinnules than those in our common type, although there appears to 

 be no important difference between them. It is probable that the few frag- 

 ments in our collections may be below the average in respect to size of the 

 pinnules. 



That Pseudopecopteris squamosa, as a whole, was very large is shown 

 by many fine fragments of fronds found near Pittston, Pennsylvania, in one 

 of which (No. 3431 of the Lacoe collection) we find a segment of a rachis 

 15 mm. wide, giving off two opposite branches, each nearly 10 mm. in 

 width. I do not, however, remember noticing dichotomous fronds con- 

 forming to the description, the general habit being a pinnate branching like 

 that shown in pi. xxxviii of the Coal Flora. 



The punctation seen frequently on the surface of the pinnules of this 

 species, as illustrated in fig. 2 of the Coal Flora, and which is obscurely 

 observable with the aid of a lens in the Missouri specimen, has been iden- 

 tified by Kidston^ and Meschinelli* with the Excipidites CaUipteridis (Schimp.) 

 Kidst. These dots, which generally show as small pustules, are distinctly 

 ihterneural, and are strongly suggestive of glands. They are possibly 

 comparable to the ca^'ities occupied by ovoid granules found by Renault^ in 

 Alethoioteris aquilina. 



' Vol. ii, 1858, p. 862, pi. x, fig. 3. 



■^Foss. Fl. Radstock Ser. ; Trans. Roy. Soc. Ediub., vol. xxxiii, 1887, p. 349. 



3Loc. cit.,p. 339. 



" Sylloge Fungorum Fossilium, 1892, p. .52. 



■' CouTS. bot. foss., vol. iii, 1883, yl. xxvii, fig. 10. 



