200 FLOEA OP LOWEE GOAL MBASUEES OP MISSOUEI. 



leafy branch shown in PI. LXXII, Fig. 4, is rather more slender and sparsely 

 leaved than the average specimen. The good suite of fragments is very uni- 

 form in the specific characters, there being hardly any variations except in 

 the ends of the bolsters, which are sometimes deformed or foreshortened by 

 pressure, or the slight inward or outward curve of the borders of the leaf 

 scar. Prevailingly, however, the iipper borders are very slightly concave, 

 while the lower are nearly straight or very slightly convex. The ligular 

 mammilla is in a small triangular depression on the imperfectly developed 

 keel in the upper field, while still higher in a few specimens may be seen 

 another small deltoid area. The largest of the fragments present is not more 

 than 5 cm. in diameter. The ramose habit of the species is shown in 

 PI. LV, Fig. 1. 



The specimens described above bear the closest relation in the details 

 of the bolsters and leaf scars to certain material from the Appalachian 

 region referred by Professor Lesquereux to Lepidoclendron dichotomum Stb. 

 It even seems probable that they should be combined under the same name, 

 as may eventually be done. But since the specimens included ^^nder the 

 latter name appear to represent branches of several species involving the 

 thorough revision of that and several other related species, time and space 

 necessitate the postponement of this difficult task to a future work. As has 

 been noted above, the reference of the material to L. scutatum rests on the 

 apparent agreement with the meager description and figures of the two 

 small branch fragments given by Professor Lesquereux. I am inclined to 

 regard it as specifically distinct from the larger fragment illustrated in the 

 Coal Flora, to which the name Lepidodendrou scutatum should probably 

 adhere. Eventually the systematic relation and nomenclature of the form 

 before us should be treated in connection with the revision of the American 

 material now resting under Lepidodendron dichotomum Stb. 



The species described above is easily separated from the other species 

 of Lepidodendron found in the Hemy County region by the shorter bolsters, 

 the imperfect, transA'ersely marked cauda, the well-developed tripunctate 

 leaf scars, much broader vertically than in the species previously discussed, 

 and the still more slender, often carinate leaves. 



Localities. — Owen's coal mine, U. S. Nat. Mus., 6045, 6046; Pitcher's 

 mine, U. S. Nat. Mus., 6044, 6074; Gilkerson's Ford, Township of Chnton, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., 6117. 



