228 ENVIRONMENT OF VERTEBRATE LIFE, ETC. 



Special types or characteristic Permian forms which are present in the Dunkard, 

 and on account of which the greater part of the Dunkard is regarded as Permian. 



"It would seem, however, that the Onaga flora should be of later date than 

 the Pittsburgh coal, since the facies presented by several of the species has not 

 yet been seen at so low an horizon. Thus the very large size of the form referred 

 to Pecopteris hemitelioides; the form referred tentatively to P. polymorpha, but 

 which seems hardly to differ unless in size from the Dunkard Callipteridium 

 grandifolium; the form identified by Lesquereux from the Dunkard as Neuropteris 

 plicata;^ the dilated heteromorphous N. scheuchzeri, and perhaps the type here 

 doubtfully listed as N. auriculata, all seem to indicate a stage as high as the roof 

 of the Pittsburgh coal, while some of these peculiar phases are present above and 

 are not yet known below the Waynesburg coal, i. e., in the Dunkard. Pecopteris 

 newherriana, which is possibly characteristic of the Dunkard, appears hardly 

 distinguishable from the small phase of P. fosmincsformis, figured by Zeiller,^ 

 from the Permo-Carboniferous of France. The normal form of the latter species 

 is reported from the roof of the Pittsburgh coal in the Appalachian trough. It 

 is probable that the apparent absence of many of the Dunkard forms in the lower 

 beds is due entirely to the lack of study of the plants in the strata between the 

 roof of the Pittsburgh coal, which forms the base of the Monongahela formation, 

 and the Waynesburg coal, the top bed of that formation. The absence of lepido- 

 phytes from the m>aterial in hand constitutes negative, and, under the circum- 

 stances, scarcely important proof, since their failure to be present may be due 

 to chance in preservation or collection. 



"The evidence presented by this small Onaga flora may, therefore, be con- 

 strued, so far as it represents the plants of its horizon, as indicating a stage 

 probably within the Monongahela formation of the Appalachian region, or pos- 

 sibly as high as the lowest part of the Dunkard formation, although, with the 

 exception of Pecopteris newherriana, the collection in hand does not contain any 

 species characteristic of the Permian of the Old World, and does not signify a 

 Permian age for the Onaga (Elmdale) beds. 



"Marion? (Wellington in Part?) Flora of Dickinson County. 



Sphenopteris sp. Sell. Glenopteris lineata Sell. 



Pecopteris sp. Sell. Glenopteris sterlingi Sell. 



Callipteris conferta Sternb. Glenopteris? lobata Sell. 



Callipteris conferta var. obliqua (Goepp.) Weiss. Odontopteris sp. Sell. 



Callipteris conferta var. lanceolata Weiss. Neuropteris sp. Sell. 



Callipteris conferta var. vulgaris Weiss. Taeniopteris coriacea Goepp. 



Callipteris n. sp. Taeniopteris coriacea var. lineata Sell. 



Glenopteris splendens Sell. Taeniopteris newberriana F. and I., C. W. 



Glenopteris simplex Sell. Sphenophyllum sp. Sell. 



"The above list includes only the material published or communicated to the 

 National Museum by Mr. E. H. Sellards, by whom the collection of the State 

 University survey is being elaborated. The specimens are described by him as 

 coming either from the topmost beds of the Marion formation or possibly from 

 the base of the Wellington formation, next above the Marion. The flora is 

 regarded by Mr. Sellards' as of Lower Permian age. I have not had an oppor- 

 tunity to examine the remaining material at the State University, but if the com- 



^ Probably specifically different from the older form, which seems to agree with Sternberg's 



species and which was placed under the same name by Lesquereux. 

 * Fl. foss. bassin houill. et perm, de Brive, 1892, pi. iv, fig. 5, 6. 

 'Trans. Kans. Acad. Sci., vol. xvii, 1900 (1901), p. 208. 



