FOSSIL FLORA OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE COAL FIELDS. 155 



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Samaropsis quadriovata Kidston, n. sp. 

 PI. XVI. figs. 1, la. 



Description.— Seed winged, quadrate-oval, 9 mm. long and 7 mm. wide. Nucule 

 cordate-acute, with a slight basal notch 6 mm. long and 5 '50 mm. wide at base ; wing 

 very narrow at base, but gradually widening as it advances upwards towards the apex, 

 where it is slightly emarginate and attains a width of fully 2 mm., for about which 

 distance it extends beyond the apex of the nucleus. 



Remarks. — The seed is shown natural size on PI. XVI. fig. 1 and enlarged 2 

 times at fig. la. It is somewhat of the type of Samaropsis fiuitans Dawson,* but is 

 larger, more quadrate, and the wing is not so much developed at the upper end of 

 the seed. 



There are several other described species of Samaropsis to which Samaropsis 

 quadriovata is more or less closely related, but with the figures and descriptions of 

 these there is none with which it accurately agrees. Among these allies may be 

 mentioned Cardiocarpus simplex Lesqx.,t but this has a wing of about equal width all 

 round the nucule. To Cardiocarpus (Samaropsis) latealatus Lesqx. \ it has also some 

 similarity, but this also has a wider wing at the base and is more contracted into a 

 point at the apex. 



With one of the figures of Cardiocarpus crassus Lesqx., that given in the Coal 

 Flora, vol. iii. p. 812, pi. cix. fig. 12, it agrees in some respects, but the nucule of 

 this species is much more oval and the wing narrow. This specimen may be specifically 

 distinct from the other specimens figured by Lesquereux under the same name on 

 pi. ex. figs. 6-9. 



Samaropsis quadriovata may be further compared with the Cardiocarpon 

 Oliveiranum White, § but one of the distinctive characters of this seed is the notched 

 apex of the nucule, which is also slightly narrower in proportion to its length than in 

 our seed. With Cardiocarpon Moreiranum White || it has also some similarity, but 

 this is a smaller seed, and the nucule appears to be more acute and the wing broader. 



There is no class of fossils more difficult to identify than seeds, for probably their 

 form and certainly their size must have varied much at different stages of development, 

 and this circumstance is an initial difficulty which can only be overcome when a good 

 series of specimens are obtainable. Another difficulty, perhaps not less, is the imperfect 

 figures and descriptions that have been given of many of the described species. It is 

 therefore not without some reluctance that I apply a distinctive name to this seed, 

 but, having failed to identify it with any known species, it seemed the only course to 

 follow. 



* Cardiocarpum fluitans, Dawson, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xx. p. 165, pi. xii. fig. 74, 1865. 



t Goal Flora, p. 569, pi. lxxxv. figs. 49, 50. 



% Loc. cit., p. 568, pi. lxxxv. figs. 46, 47. 



§ Comrnissao de Estudos das Minas de Carvao de Pedra do Brazil : Final Report, 1908, p. 565, pi. x. fig. 9. 



|| Loc. cit, p. 563, pi. x. fig. 10. 



