V* 



THE 



AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



[THIRD SERIES.] 



Art. I. — A new Erian {Devonian) Plant allied to Cordaites / 

 by Sir Wm. Dawson. 



I have recently, through the kindness of R. D. Lacoe, Esq., 

 of Pittston, Pa., had an opportunity to study a remarkably fine 

 specimen collected by him in the lower Catskill (Upper Devo- 

 nian) at Heshoppen, Wyoming Co., Pennsylvania, and which 

 promises to throw much light on some difficult questions of 

 fossil botany, as well as to add a new and very interesting form 

 to the Devonian flora. The present note is intended as merely 

 a preliminary notice. The full discussion of this unique plant 

 will require a reference to much of the work that has been 

 done in Cordaites, Nmggerathia, etc., from the time of Stern- 

 berg to the recent reports of Lesquereux and Fontaine, and I 

 hope will illustrate a number of fragmentary and enigmatical 

 specimens which have long been in my own collections, and 

 which need further study in connection with it. 



The specimen is a branch or small stem 2|- om in diameter 



and 46 cm in total length. It is flattened and pyritised, and 



shows, under the microscope, merely the indications of a pith 



surrounded by a fibrous envelope, the minute structure of 



which is not very well preserved, but it is hoped by proper 



treatment may give some further information. The stem shows 



portions of about 15 leaves which have been at least 16 cm long 



and 3 to 4 cm broad. They are decurrent, apparently by a broad 



base, on the stem. Their distal extremities are seen in a few 



cases, but in all seem injured by mechanical abrasion or decay. 



It seems most probable that they were truncate and uneven at 



Am. Jour. Scl— Third Series, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 223.— July, 1889. 

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