310 BOTANY AND PALAEONTOLOGY 



stem or pedicle. As it is shown in the figure, the spore-cases are oval or 

 round, narrowly striated, united four or five together by short alternate 

 branches perpendicular to the smooth main stem. Some branches appear 

 longer than the point where the spores are attached, and thus may have 

 been a common pedicle for a few groups of spores. Such fructifications of 

 ferns, supported on a peculiar pedicle and distinct from the sterile leaves, 

 are common enough in our time, but are very rarely found in the old for- 

 mations. I do not know of another species found in the coal formations 

 but this. The genus Staphylopteris was established by Mr. Brongnart on 

 a species found in the tertiary. 



5. Sphenopteris dilatata, Sp. nov. (PI. 2, fig 3 and 3 a). Frond bi-pinnately 

 divided. Pinnse short, oval-lanceolate in outline ; pinnules irregular, round 

 or enlarged above and fan-shaped, decurring on the rachis, mostly united 

 near the base. Medial nerve obsolete or none ; nervules dichotome or fork- 

 ing two times, arched and oblique to the medial nerve. By its peculiar 

 nervation, which is like that of a Neuropteris, this species would be refer- 

 able to the genus Adiantites, Gbpp. Male's coal-bank. 



6. Asterophyllites gracilis, Sp. nov. (PL 2, fig. 4 and 4 a). Stem narrow, 

 thread-like ; leaves in whorls, narrow, linear, pointed and marked by a 

 medial nerve ; the point generally upraised. Though I have found a few 

 specimens of this species, they present all the same form and appearance 

 as shown in the figure. The leaves, never flattened, are imbedded in the 

 stone in such a way that the horizontal section shows only their thickness 

 and their direction. Probably the figure only represents a branch of a 

 somewhat larger species. The hardness of the leaves indicated by the pe- 

 culiar disposition of all the whorls, separate it from all the other species of 

 the genus. Locality, Male's coal-bank. 



7. Lepidodendron modulatum, Lsqx. (PL 3, fig. 1 and 1 a.) Stem appa- 

 rently of a great size. Scars oval, narrowed and acuminate at both ends, 

 separated by a broad, half round, elevated and deeply furrowed or wrinkled 

 margin. Wrinkles undulated and mainly parallel to the scars. Vascular 

 scars rhomboidal, arched or obtuse above, narrowed at the base in a long 

 depressed point, acute at both sides, marked with three transverse points. 

 Tubercles narrow ; medial line deeply marked and transversely furrowed 

 by deep short wrinkles. Surface of the scars transversely, narrowly 

 wrinkled ; appendage double. This beautiful species was first found in 

 the low coal of Carbondale, Pennsylvania ; but only in some pieces of a 

 large stem figured at 1 a. The specimen fig. 1 of Male's coal shows the 

 exact preservation of the specific characters on a branch or on a 3 T oung tree, 

 and consequently fixes the validity of the characters presented by the scars 

 of the bark of the Lepidodendron. 



8. Sigillaria reticulata, Sp. nov. (PL 3, fig. 2). Surface reticulated by per- 

 pendicular furrows and horizontal deep wrinkles. Scars distant, nearly as 



