FOSSIL PLANTS. 
405 
m- 
Genus STAPHYLOPTERIS. 
Presl. in Sternb. Vers., ii, p. 174. 
Count Sternberg, in his Yersuch, loc. cit., defines this genus merely as: in¬ 
florescence or fructified panicles of ferns , analogous to those of Botrychium or 
Anepmtia. 
The only species described by the author as the type of his genus : Staphy- 
lopteris pofybotrya, from the Tertiary of Europe, represents a small group of 
round sporanges. In our American species here described, these sort have 
various forms. But it is convenient to consider them under the same generic 
name, till their relation to sterile fronds, or their true generic affinity can be 
ascertained. To this genus, therefore, I refer all agglomerations of sporanges 
of various forms, either borne upon separate plants, or upon separate segments 
of a plant, like those of our species of Botrychium, without visible remains of 
leaves, or whose connection to frond-bearing leaves can not be traced, and is 
unknown. 
No species referable to this genus has been found as yet in the Carboniferous 
strata of Europe, a fact which led Palaeontologists to suppose that ferns bear¬ 
ing fruits in separate panicles did not exist at the time of that formation. 
From our Coal Measures, we have previously obtained only Staphylopteris stcl- 
lata, Lesqx., Arks. Geol. Kept., vol. ii, p. 309, pi. 2, fi^. 2 and 3, from the 
Sub-Conglomerate coal of Arkansas. The discovery and publication of the 
following species is, therefore, a valuable contribution to the fossil flora of the 
coal. 
ft A 
Staphylopteris Wortheni, Sp. 110V. 
PI. xjv, fig. 1 and 2. 
Frond bi-pinnate, ovate lanceolate in outline ; pin nee linear, 
gradually tapering to an obtuse point, short, one inch long 
near the base of the frond, scarcely half an inch near the top 
perpendicular to the main rachis; pinnules alternate triangu¬ 
lar, formed of an agglomeration of three or five sort apparently 
attached to a main pedicel, but without trace of leraves. The 
main rachis of this fruiting segment of a fern is proportionally 
thick, three lines at its base, finely irregularly striate, the 
branches or pinnae appearing attached rather upon it or 
