FERNS— TEIPHYLLOPTBRIDEiE—EREMOPTBElS. 19 



appears so great, at least superficially, as to cause one to question whether 

 there is more than a varietal distinction between the two. 



Our species is quite distinct from the smoother, more lax Sphenopteris 

 furcata, which has more acute, generally larger lobes, and which, with its 

 very closely related species, Sphenopteris Royi Lx., seems to be largely 

 confined to the "Conglomerate series" or Pottsville series. Sphenopteris 

 splendens Lx. and Sphenopteris spinosa Goepp. are very insufficiently repre- 

 sented in the collections from other localities. Consequently no attempt 

 will be made at this time to point out the diff'erences between these species 

 and Eremopteris missouriensis. 



Localities.— Vitoher's coal bank, U. S. Nat. Mus., 5512, 5513, 5657, 

 5658, 5681, 5682; Hobbs's coal bank, U. S. Nat. Mus., 5509, 5670; Owens's 

 coal bank, U. S. Nat. Mus., 5514; Deepwater, U. S. Nat. Mus., 5510, 5511; 

 Henry County, Missouri, U. S. Nat. Mus., 5508, 5515. 



Eeejioptekis bilobata n. sp. 



PI. IV; PI. V, Figs. 4-6. 



Fronds apparently large, sinuoias, qtiadripinnate ; rachis broad, flexu- 

 ous, canaliculate above, raised beneath, consisting of a compact pithy (?) 

 portion, occupying one-third of the entire width, with broad, flattened 

 vascular borders; primary pinnaj alternate, open, spreading somewhat 

 irregularly, tapering from near the base to the acute apex; secondary pinnse 

 nearly at right angles below, becoming more oblique above, alternate, cor- 

 responding to the bends in the rachis, shghtly overlapping, ovate or oblong, 

 acute, terminating in a spiny prolongation of the rachis; secondary rachis 

 somewhat flexuous, sharply striate, bordered by a thick lamina from the 

 decurring pinnules or ultimate pinna;; pinnules alternate, more or less open, 

 close to one another, often slightly overlapping, decurrent, more or less con- 

 stricted at the base, usually with very broad attachment, ovate-deltoid when 

 compound, becoming triangular or oblong-triangular and acute in passing 

 into pinnas, trancate-lobate, or more or less deeply cut into broadly obcune- 

 ate, truncate lobes, the latter usually once or twice somewhat bilobate or 

 siib-bilobate, the lobes always broadly cuneate, truncate, emarginate, or sub- 

 bilobate, often thickened at the top, spreading in the process of develop- 



