No. 442.] PLANTS FROM MA TA IV A A FORMATION. 679 



specimen 1 our form is practically identical with that of Confer- 

 vites aquensis Deb. & Ett., from the lower Senonian of West- 



Gleichenia saundersii sp. nov. Fig. 1-3. 



In the flora of the Matawan formation I called especial atten- 

 tion to the total absence of ferns in that formation. Recent 

 collections contain three characteristic fragments of what I 

 regard as a new speeies of Gleichenia, adding another to the 

 considerable list of types common to the floras of the mid- 

 cretaceous Atlantic coastal plain and that of Greenland. The 

 larger fragments are each about 3 cm. long and 7 mm. wide and 

 the smaller is 16 mm. long and 3 mm. wide. Pinnules broadly 

 falcate-ovate, entire, bluntly pointed ; attached by a wide base, 

 about as wide as the pinnule is long ; length 4.5 mm. ultimately 

 becoming much smaller, each with a stout mid vein which sends 

 off alternately on each side rather thick veins to the margin, 



is sometimes forked, those running prolimad are usually once 



Three species are found in the underlying Raritan formation, 

 Gleichenia gicsckiana Heer is larger with longer narrower pin- 

 nules, Gleichenia micromcra Heer is much smaller with narrow 

 linear right-angled pinnules, and the widespread Gleichenia 

 zippei Heer has narrower pinnules with more rounded apices. 2 

 The only other coastal plain species is the fragment which 

 Hollick* refers to Gleichenia gracilis Heer, which is about the 

 same size as the Cliffwood fern but has the pinnules more acute 

 and runcinate. This reference of Hollick's was only provisional 

 as he did not wish to found a species on so small a fragment. 

 His specimen is quite distinct from the Matawan form and also 



