282 OLDER MESOZOIC FLORAS OF UNITED STATES. 
plant as shown in this figure, and especially from the apparent digitate 
arrangement of. the foliage, I was led to think it a Laccopteris, prob- 
ably identical with Z. elegans, of Presl, and so stated in Mon. U.S. 
Geol. Survey, Vol. VI, p. 105. The original of the figure is in the 
Williams College eolleation of Emmons. This is the only specimen 
of the plant that I saw. 
Emmons’s figure does not give an exact representation of the plant. 
This figure indicates only two pinnules going off, diverging from a 
common point, whereas, in the specimen, there are three if not more. 
Two of them are as Emmons has indicated, and the third, standing on 
the left of the other two, is denoted by a very short portion of its 
base, where it was attached to the others. Hence it may be easily over- 
looked. The character of the plant is given in Fig. 2, Pl. XX XVIII. 
The basal pinnules differ from those higher up on the rachis. They 
are wider than long, with a rotundate-subquadrate shape. The nerva- 
tion of these is like that of Odontopteris, while that of the higher 
ones is like that of Pecopteris. The form of the higher pinnules is 
not so Pecopteris-like as Emmons’s figure makes them. Their bases 
are much the. widest portions and they are decurrent. They are 
obliquely placed on the rachis. Fig. 3 gives an enlargement of the 
lower pinnules, and Fig. 4 of the upper ones. 
The features seen make it still more probable that the plant is a 
Laccopteris like Z. elegans, but as no fructification is shown, and the 
amount of material insufficient, it will be best to leave the determina- 
tion doubtful. 
Genus ASTEROCARPUS Géppert. 
ASTEROCARPUS FALCATUS (Emmons) Fontaine.’ 
Pl. XXXVI, Figs. 5, 6. 
Many specimens of a large fern are in Emmons’s collection which 
prove to be identical with Asterocarpus virginiensis, a common form in 
the Virginia Older Mesozoic. It is the most abundant plant collected 
by Emmons, Lonchopteris oblonga, standing next to it. The large 
number of specimens collected most probably indicates that the plant 
is in fact common in the Older Mesozoic of North Carolina. This 
agrees well with its occurrence in the Virginia beds, where it is one 
of the most widely distributed ferns, affording many good specimens. 
In the North Carolina strata, as indicated by Emmons’s specimens, 
both sterile and fertile forms occur, the former being much the more 
common. Most of the sterile forms contain long, narrow pinnules,. 
the proportion of slender pinnules being greater than is shown in the 
Virginia specimens. On one specimen of shale from Ellingtons, three 
1 For synonymy, see supra, p. 237. 
