FLORINITES 



59 



50^^- 



Fig. a — Florinites antiquus sp. nov., drawing 

 from microprojection of holotype. 



fairly common, there is a central gap or tear 

 in the bladder membrane on the distal side cor- 

 responding to the "contact area" and the central 

 proximal region of the bladder wall is visible 

 without any overlying layers. Granules seem 

 aligned in a semblance of a central trilete pat- 

 tern, obsolescent, with rays perhaps 6 microns 

 long; the granulation of the surrounding area 

 of the bladder membrane (it is too faint to be 

 recognizable as reticulation) also seems faintly 

 aligned to correspond to three radii. Conclusive 

 definition is difficult in material obtained by coal 

 maceration but such specimens tend to confirm 

 Florin's (1936, p. 637) interpretation of prox- 

 imal structure in the more highly reticulate and 

 better preserved pollen identified by him as 

 Cordaianthus sp. 2. 



Florinites antiquus seems distinguishable from 

 all the similar forms Florin (1936, 1938-40) has 

 identified with Cordaianthus, Lebachia, Ernestio- 

 dendron, and Walchianthus, on the basis of its 

 size. F. antiquus is evidently significantly 

 smaller judging from measurements Florin has 

 given and by dimensions measured directly 

 from the illustrations he has published. His 

 Cordaianthus sp. 1, from the Stephanian of 

 France compares most closely in size, (bladder 

 length, 78-90 ; width, 62-67 microns ; body 

 length, 42-50; width 40-48 microns). The dif- 

 ferences can best be evaluated by reference to 

 the assembled measurements of F. antiquus 

 presented in text figure 5. Presumably the 

 flattening of F. antiquus pollen grains would 

 give rise to dimensions which are slightly ex- 

 cessive in the plane of compression and there- 

 fore not quite comparable to measurements 

 taken from Florin's uncompressed forms. That 

 the species are distinct is evident from the much 

 less pronounced bladder reticulation in F. an- 

 tiquus. The distal striation has not been noted 

 in forms regarded as cordaitean but is evident 

 (though no mention is made of it) in several of 

 Florin's figures of Paleozoic coniferous pollen, 

 (cf. Florin, 1939, pis. 55-56, fig. 21; Florin, 

 1940, pis. 145-146, fig. 19; ibid, pis. 147-148, 

 fig. 5). 



From its age (early Allegheny) one might 

 assume that F. antiquus belonged with the 

 cordaitealeans, but its features are advanced on 



a par with that of the Paleozoic Coniferales. 

 When the conifers first made their appearance 

 in the Missouri series in Kansas, they already 

 were highly developed plants whose previous an- 

 cestry must have been of some considerable 

 duration. Thus it seems equally plausible that 

 these pollen grains of advanced character and 

 older derivation may actually be coniferous. The 

 pollen grains, it must be recalled, are the most 

 widely distributed of the determinable fossil 

 plant entities and the pollen membranes are 

 among the most indestructible in fossilization 

 of any known plant materials. It is to this 

 fossil-pollen record that one would most log- 

 ically turn to obtain earliest evidences of newly 

 differentiating plant groups that became estab- 

 lished among the upland vegetation of the period. 



Body Bladder 

 LENGTH P 



U^ 20 30 40 6 60 70 80 90 ytc 



o — 



Body LJ Bladder 

 BREADTH 



Fig. 5 — Florinites antiquus, coordination of 

 length-breadth measurements from 23 specimens, 

 grouped according to 5 micron increments. (Di- 

 mensions modified by unusual folding have been 

 omitted). Cross-lined areas represent measure- 

 ments from the holotype. 



F. antiquus has been obtained in moderate 

 abundance from a widespread 10 to 12-inch 

 coal in the Wiley cyclothem where it crops out 

 along Soap Creek southeast of the town of 

 Carbon, Davis County, Iowa. Correlation with 

 the widespread Wiley coal of western Illinois 

 has recently been confirmed by L. M. Cline of 

 Iowa State College, who has measured the 

 section, showing this coal to be in proper se- 

 quence and about 12 feet above the lower Sea- 

 borne coal and limestone developed in this area. 

 The Wiley cyclothem is near the top of the 

 Tradewater group of Illinois and is considered 

 to be lower Allegheny in age. 



The holotype of F. antiquus, illustrated in 

 text figure 4, is from maceration 413, slide 8 

 (unstained) in the Illinois State Geological 

 Survey collections in Urbana. 



2. Florinites (?) pumicosus (Ibrahim) S. 

 W. and B., comb, nov. 



