FOSSIL PLANTS. 
439 
Genus LEPIDOPHLOIOS, Sternb. $ ^ •) 
Ill. Geol. Rep., vol. ii, p. 457. 
Lepidophloios? auriculatum, Sp. nov. 
PI. XXX, fig 1. 
Stem or cone covered with large thick rhomboidal imbricated 
scales, broader than long, rounded at the sides, marked at the 
top by enlarged rhomboidal cicatrices and three obscure vascu¬ 
lar points. 
The specimen copied in our figure looks like a part of a large flattened cone ; 
whose broad thick rhomboidal scales are imbricated like those of a strobile of 
pine, and in the same order. According to Prof. Goldenberg, specimens of this 
kind should merely represont the surface part of stems (Lmidophloios), whose 
leaves are attached at the base of the scales which cover them. If this is 
the case, it is doubtful, indeed, whether our plant is referable to this genus, 
notwithstanding the similarity of the scales to those of some species of Euro¬ 
pean Lepidophloios , or whether it should be considered as a cone or Lepidos- 
trolus. It is evident that the scales, which are often found isolated and vari¬ 
ously grouped on the shales, were free to their base ; that in their union, as in 
the specimen which is figured here, they rather represent the form of a strobile 
than that of a stem, and that also some of these scales appear connected with 
Lcpidoplujllum auriculatum , Lesqx., though the mode of connection is not dis¬ 
tinct. On the other side these scales are marked at the top by three vascular 
points like the scales of Lepidopldoios, and also have in the middle the small 
scar scarcely perceptible with the naked eye, which Mr. Goldenberg considers 
as the scar of a spine, and which also is a character of the genus. They are, 
moreover, remarkably similar in form to those of Lepidophloios laricinus, 
Sternb., as figured by Goldenberg in his Flor. Sarr., pi. 16, fig. 1. Though 
this may .baits true generic relation, this species differs from the European one 
by the scales, which in ours are proportionally broader and shorter, and by the 
small medial scar which is triangular and not round. 
Found in the shales of the coal of St. Johns. 
•V 
