280 PROF. A. C. SEWARD OX A COLLECTIOX OF [vol. Ixxvui, 



certainty. The best specimen is shown in PI. XIII, fig. 1 : the 

 branched axis is longitudinally striated and smooth ; the pinnules 

 are more or less deltoid, deeply dissected, and the ultimate segments 

 are obtuse or truncate. A smaller piece of pinnule is reproduced 

 in PI. XIII, fig. 2. The broader piece of rachis seen in PI. XIII, 

 fig. 3, if found without any associated pinnules, might be mistaken 

 for a portion of a Cord a it es leaf. 



Pig. 1 recalls Sjplienopteo^is fiircata Brongniart, an Upper Car- 

 boniferous species by some authors referred to Diplotmema or 

 Pahnatopteris ; but in the Peruvian pinnules the segments are 

 obtuse, and not acute as in Splienopteris furcata. Comparison 

 may also be made with JEremo])teris onissoiiriensis Lesquereux, as 

 figured by D. White ^ from the Lower Coal Measures of Missouri, 

 in which the ultimate segments are obtuse or truncate. Specific 

 determination is probabh" impossible, and the occurrence of ferns 

 or pteridosperms, in both Upper and Lower Carboniferous strata, 

 with pinnules very similar to those shown in figs. 1 & 2, precludes 

 any definite conclusion as to the question of geological age. 

 Several Lower Carboniferous species have been figured, in which 

 the pinnules bear a very close resemblance to the Peruvian 

 specimens ; the deeply-dissected form of the lamina suggests com.- 

 parison with pinnules of species of IRliodea and Sj^Jienofteridium?" 



Lepidodejs'deox sp. (PI. XIII, figs. 4-6.) 



This specimen, part of which is shown in fig. 4, is an impression 

 on a carbonaceous sandstone of a piece of a stem or branch 16*5 cm. 

 long and 3 cm. wide, with several attached and indistinctly pre- 

 served leaves spreading over the rock at the edges. The fossil is 

 doubtless part of a Lepidodendroid plant ; the surface does not 

 reveal at all clearl}' the form of the leaf -cushions, except at the 

 lower end. An examination of the carbonized surface shows im- 

 pressions of linear leaves pressed against the stem. Fig. 5 

 represents a single leaf -cushion, with a leaf -scar and the impression 

 of part of a leaf. The specimen seen in fig. 6 shows more clearly 

 the form of the leaves, each of which has a midrib. 



These specimens unfortunateh' do not enable one to determine 

 with any confidence the precise age of the plant-beds, as Lepido- 

 dendroid plants generally resembling that from Peru occur in both 

 Upper and Lower Carboniferous strata. 



SiGiLLAEiA sp., or Lepidodexdeox sp. (PI. XIII, figs. 7 & 8.) 



The two specimens reproduced in figs. 7 & 8 are pieces of a stem 

 having contiguous leaf-cushions which bear leaf-scars agreeing both 

 with some tj^pes of Sigillaria, as, for example, Sigillaria JBrardi 

 Brongniart, and with certain species of Lepidodendron. On the 

 upper part of several leaf-cushions there is a small circular scar, 



1 WMte (99) pi. V, figs. 1-3 a & pp. 6-19. 



2 See Nathorst (20) pi. i, figs. 11-13. 



