50 PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW YORK DEVONIAN. [bui.l.120. 
A. obtusa. Later, these two specimens were sent Sir William Dawson 
who identified both as A. obtusa. 1 
Archceopteris obtusa was described without figure under the name of 
Nceggerathia obtusa by Lesquereux in the Jour. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 
Vol. vi 7 1854, p. 415, as simply from Pennsylvania. The species is 
figured in the Geol. Penn, Vol. n, pt. n, 1858, pi. I, fig'. 11, and on p. 
854, Lesquereux states that it is from the u Bed sandstone of the Po- 
nent group [Catskill], Lehigh, below the Mauch Chunk Gap." Lesque- 
reux, Am. Jour. Science, 2d ser., Vol. xxxn, 1861, p. 200, stated that he 
had "lately received from Prof. J. D. Dana, of New Haven, the figure 
of a splendid specimen of Nceggeratliia obtusa, found in the old Bed 
Sandstone [Catskill] of Montrose, Pa." A portion of the frond of 
this fern was figured by Dana in the Man. of Geology, 2d ed., 1875, 
fig. 557a on p. 279. Fontaine, Am. Jour. Science, 3d ser., Vol vn, 1874, 
p. 578, reported this species from Lewis Tunnel, Virginia, which he 
then called Catskill, but later changed to Vespertine (Pocono). 
Lesquereux (2d Geol. Surv. Penn., P, 1880, PI. xlix, Figs. 0, 7, p. 301) 
redescribed the species under the name of Archceopteris obUisa, and 
changed the age of the locality below Mauch Chunk, from the Catskill 
to the Vespertine [Pocono j. 
Dawson, Foss. Plants Erian (Dev.) Up. Sil., Canada, Pt. n, 1882, PI. 
xxn, p. 100, under the name of Gyclopteris obtusa, reported it from the 
Upper Erian (Devonian) of Scaumenac Bay, opposite Dalhousie, New 
Brunswick. Dr. Dawson also stated that he had a specimen from the 
Catskill, at Franklin [Delaware County], N. Y. [It is probable that the 
age of the horizon at Franklin is not later than Chemung, although 
since the exact locality is not given, it may have been from the lower 
part of the Catskill.] Daw^son further states that the specimens from 
the Middle Devonian shales at St. John, New Brunswick, referred by 
him to this species (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, Vol. xvni, 1862, PL xv, fig. 
33, p. 319), belong to a different species, as stated by Lesquereux (2d 
Geol. Surv. Penn., P, pp. 301, 302), and is renamed Aneimites obtusa. 
Lesquereux (2d Geol. Surv. Penn., P, Vol. in, 1884, p. 850) reported 
the species from the Catskill of Meshoppen, Wyoming County, Pa. 
The range and distribution of the species may be tabulated as from 
the Catskill of Montrose and Meshoppen of Pennsylvania; Catskill or 
Chemung of Franklin, Delaware County, N. Y.; Catskill or Pocono 
below Mauch Chunk, Pa., and Lewis tunnel, Virginia; and the Upper 
Devonian of Scaumenac Bay, Quebec. 
Letter of Sir William Dawson, March 31, 1892. While studying the species of Archceopteris, 
the writer found another instance of similar identification. In Mr. Lacoe's collection from Meshoppen, 
Pa., was a specimen identified by Lesquereux as Archceopteris minor Lx. In general character 
this specimen agreed more closely with A. rogersi (Dn.) Lx., and the rachis was clearly transversely 
rugose. In Lesquereux's key to the genus Archceopteris (2d Geol. Surv. Penn., P, Vol. Ill, p. 773), 
he put A. minor under Section B, "rachis striate lengthwise," and A . rogersi under Section D, "rachis 
transversely rugose." This specimen and the type specimen of Meek' s Gyclopteris alleghaniensis 
from Virginia, which Lesquereux made a synonym for A. rogersi (ibid., P, p. 307), were sent 
to Sir William Dawson, who wrote mo that the Meshoppen specimen "is certainly J.. Rogersi, but 
A. allcghaniensis is quito distinct." (Letter of Sir William Dawson, March 1, 1892^ 
