CLINTON GROUP. 
21 
407. 12. BUTHOTREPHIS RAMOSA (n.sp.). 
Pl. VI. Fig. 3. 
Stem rigid, divaricately branching , branches numerous, opposite or alternate ; root or ter¬ 
minations unknown. 
This species is clearly distinct from any other one, in its rigid form; and numerous branches - 
which are not flexuous. 
Position and locality. In the shaly sandstone of Blackstone’s quarries, New-Hartford, Oneida 
COUnty. (State Collection.) 
Roots of Buthotrephis'? 
Pl. VII. Fig. 2 a, b, c. 
Specimens such as are here represented in the figures, are frequently found upon the surface, 
and penetrating the strata. In the figures 2 a and 2 6, there has been clearly a round stem broken 
off in removing the superincumbent layer, for there is a fresh fracture in the centre. From this 
stem radiate something resembling rootlets, which form a compact mass, and penetrate the. 
stratum in which it lies imbedded. The surface of this stratum has evidently, for a considerable 
time, remained the undisturbed bed of the sea ; for over its surface, sometimes for many yards', 
are spread fragments of several species of marine plants, around which have accumulated thin 
laminae of extremely comminuted materials like the last sediment of turbid waters. Upon such a 
surface these marine plants affixed themselves, growing upwards to a greater or less height. At 
the time of the deposition of the succeeding bed, many of them are thrown down, and it is those 
only which give us the form of the plant. Those which remain upright during the next deposition 
of mud, penetrate the now stony bed, and we are able to see only the transverse sections of the 
stems. 
The figures 2 a, 6, represent the common appearances of these roots upon the lower surface 
of the stone. 
Fig. 2 c is a specimen where the successive layers of a subsequent deposition gathered around 
the stem. It is represented in its vertical position ; the lower part being the root which was fixed 
in the lower bed, and above this the edges of the successive layers are clearly seen : penetrating 
the centre of these from the base to the top, is the stem as represented in 2 b. 
Pl. X. Figs. 9 a, b, and 1U. 
Fig. 9 a. The lower part of this figure presents precisely the same appearances as the lower 
part of fig. 2 c, pl. 7. The upper part presents a thin layer of rock with a depression upon the 
upper side, in the centre of which appears the stem of one of these plants broken off. The form 
of the cavity and the size of the stem are shown in fig. 9 b. The sides of this cavity present 
shallow grooves or depressions, extending down to the point where the stem is broken off. 
These depressions appear very much as if made by the stem of the plant as it swayed from side 
