FERNS— INOERT.E SBDIS— APHLKBIA. 107 



a number of specimens identified by Professor Lesquereux, among whicli 

 Nos. 9389, 9391, and 9392 are of special interest, since they appear to 

 represent the form separated as Aplilebia German Zeill. 



The specimens from Missouri show considerable variation in the form 

 of the frond, though the general outline seems to be lanceolate or oval. 

 The incomplete example illustrated in PI. XLVI is, however, somewhat 

 remarkable on account of its size and the rather broadly oval or slightly 

 obovate form. The analogies of its lower divisions render it hardly jjroba- 

 ble that the apex extended more than 10 or 12 cm. beyond the present line of 

 fracture. The principal lateral divisions in this robust specimen are hardly 

 so slender or so contracted at the base as in some of the other fragments or 

 in the fine examples illustrated by Zeiller. A well-preserved and nearly 

 complete specimen, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, loaned by Dr. Britts, of 

 Clinton, Missouri, shows the divisions very similar to those in the Com- 

 mentry specimens. 



There is, perhaps, room for doubt as to the relation of the specimens 

 which I have referred to Aphlebia Germari and the fragment from the same 

 region described and illustrated by Lesquereux^ as Rhacophyllum hirsutum. 

 The figure in the Coal Flora, the origiiaal of which I have not seen, appears 

 to illustrate a much rougher plant, with rather more elongated, sfender, 

 and more distant branches, provided rather sparsely tlu'oughout with short 

 bristles or hairs. It may be noted, however, that portions of some of 

 the specimens, including a part of the lacinese of the example shown 

 in PL XLVI, are sparsely bordered with small, short, spiciile-like hairs, 

 which, though not so regular nor so long as those figured in the Coal Flora, 

 are apparently of the same character as those seen in certain specimens from 

 Rhode Island referred by Lesquereux to Bhacophyllwn hirsutum. Never- 

 theless, the latter si^ecimens are considerably more slender, while Professor 

 Lesquereux's identification of our specimens with B. Lactuca shows that he 

 considered them distinct from R. hirsutum (Lx.) Schimp. 



The specimens referred above to Aphlebia Germari Zeill. differ from the 

 A. crispa by the less conspicuously fibrous texture, the less flexuous divisions, 

 and the more diffused lacinese. 



Localities. — Pitcher's coal mine, U. S. Nat. Mus., 5544, 5546; Henry 

 County, Missouri, U. S. Nat. Mus., 5545. 



' Coal Flora, Atlas, pi. Ivii, fig. 2 ; text, vol. 1, p. 318. 



