| SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA - REPORT OF PROGRESS P. DESCRIPTION OF THE COAL FLORA OF PENNSYLVANIA AND OF THE CARBONIFEROUS FORMATION THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES BY LEO LESQUEREUX; ©1879 |
Tables of Contents:
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All Four Volumes: Scans and Webpage ©George Langford III, 2011 |
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Stems cylindrical, articulate
and furrowed as in Calamites; articulations scarcely contracted; ribs
cut square or obtuse at the articulations, continuous, not alterning,
thinly striate; cortical cylinder thick; leaves verticillate, free,
linear-lanceolate. |
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BORNIA RADIATA, (Brgt.,) Schp.—Plate I, Fig. 7.
Bornia transitionis, F. A. Roem., Paleont., III, Pl. VII, f. 8. Grd. 'E., Fl. carb., p. 54. Calamites radiatus, Brgt., Hist. d. Veg. foss., p. 122, Pl. XXVI, f. 1, 2. Heer, Foss. Fl. der., Baren Insel, p. 32, Pl. I-VI. Calamites transitionis, Goepp., Foss., Fl. d. Uebergsg., p. 116, Pl. III, IV, X XXVIII. Daws., Dev. Pl., Quat. Journ. Geol. Soc., Nov., 1862, p. 309. Calamites variolatus, Goepp.. l.c., p. 124, Pl. V. Calamites obliquus, Goepp., l.c., p. 121, Pl. VI, f. 9, 10. Calamites undulatus, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Arks., II, p. 812, Pl. IV, f. 7, 7a. Calamites inornatus, Daws., l.c., p. 310. Noeggerathia crassa, Goepp., l.c., p. 220, Pl. XL. Bornia radiata, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 835; III, p. 454, Pl. XXIV, f. 1-10. Archaeocalamites radiatus, Stur. Culm Flora, p. 74. Pl. II, f. 1-6; III, f. 1, 2; IV, V, f. 1. The character of the species is that of the genus. The stems, as far as I have seen them on numerous specimens from the sub-conglomerate Carboniferous of Alabama are small, five to eight centimeters in diameter; the ribs and furrows, one to three millimeters broad, are effaced on the surface, very distinct on the decorticated cylinder, and distinctly striate lengthwise. The articulations are generally very narrow, as cutting across the ribs, which are thus continuous, parallel and without deviations. In some rare cases, however, the articulations are slightly contracted. Heer, l.c., has given a very detailed description of the species, with six plates of remarkably fine illustrations, and critically examined all the forms described by other authors which he refers to this species. No mention is made of the internal structures of these plants. Roemer only says that the internal cylinder is surrounded by a zone of cellular matter, and Stur describes the stem as formed of a central cylinder, placed at a distance of the epidermis. Mr. R. D. Lacoe has in his cabinet a beautiful specimen of this species, obtained from the sub-conglomerate shale of Campbell's ledge, near Pittston. It is a branch, fourteen centimeters long, five millimeters broad, with articulations two and a half centimeters distant, surrounded by whorls of thirty to forty linear, canalictulate leaves, less than one millimeter broad, six and a half centimeters long, straight up or very oblique, some of them curved inward. This branch is of the same character as the fragment represented in Schimper's Atlas, l.c., Pl. XXIV, f. 2. The leaves seem to be joined at the base two together; at least they are approximate by two at the base. Habitat—Common in the sub-conglomerate measures of Alabama communicated by Mr. J. H. Aldrick. Found also near Pittston, by Mr. R. D. Lacoe. The specimen described by Prof. Dawson, as Calamites transitionis, is from the Hamilton Group; that of Calamites inornatus, from the Genessee slate, both of New York State. |
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Central cylinder striate lengthwise and articulate, surrounded by a thick woody cylinder, or bark, with outside surface smooth. It is on the anatomical structure of this outside zone, especially, that the discussion bears concerning the reference of these plants to cryptogamous, or to cotyledonous gymnospermous plants. |
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Internal ribbed cylinder small, variable in size; articulations deep
but narrow, irregular in distance; ribs flat, cut square at the base,
and continuous; furrows distinct, but very narrow; bark thick, smooth. The whole specimen, eight and a half centimeters long, is figured. The internal cylinder has the characters of Calamites approximatus, differing merely by variation of its size, being inflated in the middle to sixteen millimeters in width, while a little above, its breadth is decreased to one centimeter. The articulations are also more variable in length than in any of the specimens of Calamites approximatus which I have seen. They are marked by distinct points, apparently the bases of bundles of vessels. The bark, transformed into hard cannel coal, averages six millimeters in thickness, and is not enlarged in accordance with the variation in size of the internal cylinder, so that its borders are nearly parallel. This queer conformation is not peculiar to this single specimen, for I find it still more evident in some large fragments which may represent a different species, and which have been recently received from the Rocky Mountains. The largest of these fragments, thirteen centimeters in diameter, is exactly cylindrical, marked on its outside by articulations, regularly distant, two and a half centimeters, much inflated, with half-round projections at different distances, corresponding in character and position to the small round scars seen upon Plate LXXV, f. 16. The surface is regularly ribbed, the ribs flat or slightly convex, the furrows sharply carinate, but very narrow. The whole is a compound of coarse sandstone, and except the outside marks, no trace of central or internal axis is seen. On other specimens the central axis is partly covered by the bark, or by an outer-layer of tissue, variable in thickness, five to twenty millimeters, measured at different parts of the same line of circumference. The outer surface is also marked transversely by prominent rings corresponding to the articulations of the internal cylinder, and vertically by longitudinal ribs which, though broader, seem to correspond to those of the central axis. In all the fragments, all the ribs, either of the surface or of the internal cylinder, are equal in width in their whole length, without trace of convergence at the articulations. One of them is remarkable for this fact: the internal cylinder is broadly channeled, half hollowed in the middle, as by a flexure, and the outer zone is in places much thicker, as if it had filled the depression under it, measuring on one side of the fragment only one to two millimeters in thickness, while it is twenty-two on the other. That this variation is not caused by compression, is seen by the horizontal inflated rings and the regular ribs of the surface, which preserve the same direction and relative distance. There are, however, other specimens evidently curved, with the concave side without bark, and the convex one more or less thickly covered with it. Others of these trunks vary in diameter from three to twelve centimeters. In some of them the ribs of the surface tend in opposite directions or zigzags, from every successive articulation, at an angle of about 140°. In comparing these fragments to the beautiful figures representing restored stems of Arthropitus and Calamodendron, in Grand'Eury, Pl. XXX, f. 7 and 8, it is evident that the large specimens from the Rocky Mountains are referable to one of these genera—probably to Arthropitus, while the specimen of Plate LXXV, f. 16, may represent Calamodendron approximatum, Cotta, which Goeppert mentions in Perm. Fl., p. 180, as synonymous with Calamities approximatus. The stem of this species, as figured by Dawson, Quat. Journ. Geol. Soc., May, 1866, is small, only two and one half centimeters, and has the articulations at irregular distances, like the fragment Plate LXXV, f. 16, of our plate. I have, however, also from Cannelton, another specimen, whose character seems to contradict this reference. It is a stem of the same size as the one figured, also flexuous or variable in thickness, twenty-two millimeters in the middle, where it is more inflated, contracted only a little lower to eleven millimeters, with the articulations close—five to eight millimeters distant. On the inflated part of the stem, the articulations bear large oval scars, six millimeters long, five millimeters broad, four millimeters distant, transversely, alternating with others of the same character, placed higher up at intervals of three short internodes. The close articulations, the ribs and the scars, are like what we should expect to see on branches of a Macrostachya, representing, in a reduced scale, the upper part of Atl., Plate III, f. 14. Habitat—The specimen figured is from Cannelton, found by Mr. I. F. Mansfield, as all the specimens mentioned from this locality. The other large ones were sent from Colorado, with Calamites gigas, by the collectors of the U. S. Geological Surveys under the direction of Dr. F. V. Hayden. |
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Stems articulate; branches opposite; central axis hollow or solid; leaves verticitilate, free to the base, linear, acuminate, simple nerved. Fructifications in elongated ears bearing round sporanges in the axils of the leaves. Brongniart, Grand'Eury, and some other authors, consider either all the Asterophyllites, or some species of the genus, as referable to the Phaenogamous Gymnosperms, as branches of Calamodendron. I do not know as yet any species with characters different from those of the Calamariae. Some of them represent, evidently, branches of Calamites, and have been described by Schimper as Calamocladus. Paleont. Vegt. 1, p. 423. |
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ASTEROPHYLLITES EQUISETIFORMIS, Schloth.—Plate II, Fig. 3, 3a, Plate III, Figs. 5-7.
Primary branches long,
obscurely striate; cortex thick; lateral branches more or less oblique,
simple; leaves linear, acuminate, straight or curved inside; costa
thick.Casuarinites equisetiformis, Schloth., Flor. d. Vorw., Pl. I, f. 1; II, f. 3. Asterophyllites equisetiformis, Brgt., Prodr., p. 159. Roehl, Paleont., XVIII, p. 22, Pl. III, f. 5. Gein. Verst., p.8, Pl. XVII, f. 1-3. Germ., Verst., p. 21, Pl. VIII. Goepp., Perm. Fl., p. 36, Pl. 1, f. 5. Lesqx. Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 851. Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 444. Asterophyllites ovalis, ? Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 851, Pl. I, f. 2. Asterophyllites erectifolius, Andrews, Geol. Rcpt. of Ohio, Paleont., II, p. 425, Pl. XLIX, f. 3. Hypurites longifolius, Ll. & Hutt., Foss. fl. Pl. CXCI. Calamocladus equisetiformis, Schp., Paleont. Veget., 1, p. 324. Pl. XXII, f. 1, 2, 3. Crepin, Bull. Acad. Belg., XXXVIII, Nov., 1874, p. 7. It is one of the most common species of the genus, and being of hard texture, is generally found in well preserved specimens. The best I have seen is a branch eighty-eight centimeters long, the stem one and a half centimeters broad at the base, gradually narrowed to two millimeters near the top, (broken.) The lateral branches, ten centimeters long at the base, also become gradually shorter upward, to five centimeters. The leaves, one to one and a half centimeters at the base, half as long at the apex of the branches, are a little more than one millimeter broad. The articulations upon the main stem are surrounded by a vertical column of leaves appressed against the stem like sheaths; but on fragmentary specimens, these leaves are mostly destroyed, or sometimes open. The number of leaves, seen on different specimens, varies from ten to twenty in each whorl. They can, however, rarely be all counted, being often destroyed in part, or imbedded in the stone. The width also varies from one half to one millimeter, and the length sometimes reaches to fifteen, even seventeen millimeters. The stems are generally deprived of the bark. The articulations are neither enlarged nor contracted, merely slightly inflated a little above and below the point of insertion of the leaves. In young branches the articulations are very close and the leaves crowded in spikes. According to Dr. Feistmantel, Flor. d. Bohm. Steinkohl, p. 117, Pl. X, f. 3, the fructifications are in long spiciform branches, with short internodes, bearing leaves like those of the branches of Asterophyllites, with sporanges placed in the axils of the leaves. The description and figure agree with the fragment, described Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 851, Plate I, f. 2, as Asterophyllites ovalis. These fructifications are very rare. They are comparable to those of Atl., Plate III, f. 5-7. The branches are, however, narrower on the specimens figured here. It may be referable to another species. Habitat—The whole extent of the coal measures; more prominent in the upper strata. The fine specimens mentioned above are from Cannelton, Pa. In the Anthracite, it is most common at the Gate Vein, near Pottsville. |
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Articulations very close;
leaves much longer than the internodes, imbricate, curved inward,
linear, slightly narrower at the base; medial nerve obsolete. This form, as described by the author, appears to be a good species. At least I have seen a number of specimens which represent it, especially in the more compact, thicker leaves, without trace of medial nerve. The articulations are three and a half to four millimeters distant in the whole length of the branches, the leaves at least twice as long as the articulations, are slightly narrower at the base. There is an unimportant difference from the European form, in the direction of the leaves, which are straight up, not generally curved inward. But even some of the figures of the author represent them in that way. Habitat—Cannelton, Pa., Mr. F. Mansfield; more rarely found than the former. The museum of Princeton College has splendid specimens of this species, from the same locality. |
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ASTEROPHYLLITES LONGIFOLIUS, Brgt. (Prodr.)
Branch generally small, with
distant articulations, distinctly striate; leaves numerous, very long,
open, linear, subulate, flat, flexuous.Ll. & Hutt., Foss. fl., Pl. XVIII. Gein., Verst., p. 9, Pl. XVIll, f. 2, 3. Heer., Fl. foss., Helv., IV, p. 50, Pl. XIX, f. 3. Calamites tenuifolius, Ett., Steink. v. Stradonitz, p. 5, Pl. VI, f. 5; Steink. v. Radnitz, p. 27, Pl. II, f. 1-8; Pl. 4. Calamocladus longifolius, Schp., Paleont. Veget., p. 323. The leaves vary from three to ten centimeters long, averaging seven to eight. They are very narrow, scarcely one millimeter broad, flat, rather flexuous than rigid; medial nerve distinct. The synonimy of this species is not quite clear. Asterophyllites tenuifolius, St., II, Pl. XIX, f. 1, 2, referred to this species by Schimper, rather resembles Asterophyllites rigidus, as well as Bruckmania longifolia, St., II, Pl. LVIII, f. 1. Asterophyllites comosus and Jubatus, Ll. & Hutt., Foss. fl., Pl. CVIII, and CXX XIII, seem by their crowded leaves and broad stem to represent a different species. Habitat—More rarely found than the following, which it resembles. Wilkesbarre, Pittston, Pa., from the sub-conglomerate Campbell's ledge; Morris, Ill., in many specimens. |
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ASTEPOPHYLLITES RIGIDUS, Gein.
Branches somewhat thicker;
articulations shorter; surface indistinctly or very narrowly striate;
leaves rigid, deeply concave or half cylindrical; nerve thick.Verst., p. 9, Pl. XVII, f. 7-8. Brgt. Prodr., p. 159. Ll. & Hutt., Fos. Pl. CCXI. Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 424, Pl. XXI, f. 4, 4b. Calamocladus rigidus, Schp., Paleont. Veget., p. 324. These characters are seen from good specimens preserved in the nodules of Mazon Creek, as the essential differences which separate the species from Asterophyllites longifolius, to which it is closely allied. The leaves are of about the same length. One specimen from Mazon Creek, has them ten centimeters long, another only four and a half. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek; Cannelton; Pittston, Brown Colliery, E., as seen in the cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe. |
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Branches thick; articulations
close, equidistant; surface of the stem smooth, merely undulate
lengthwise below the inflated articulations; leaves short, linear,
gradually acuminate; branches short, with two to four whorls of short
leaves. This species is easily known, by its comparatively broad (five to ten millimeters), smooth stems; the short inter-nodes, thirteen to fifteen millimeters; the short leaves, half as long as the internodes, flat, half open, gradually narrowed from the base to the acumen; and the short branches generally placed on the same side of the stem, none longer than the internodes, oblique, with two or three whorls of short open leaves. I have many specimens of this plant from the same locality, but no Calamites, which by concordance of characters, could be supposed to be its trunk. Habitat—Shale of the Anthracite of Rhode Island—Mount Hope Coal; Mr. James H. Clark. Also found at Cannelton, one specimen only. |
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ASTEROPHYLLITES FOLIOSUS, Ll. & Hutt.
Branches slender, narrowly
striate; leaves shorter than the articulations, verticillate, eight or
ten in a whorl, distinct at the base, linear-lanceolate, obscurely
nerved; fructifications in spikes with close articulations and long
lanceolate imbricating leaves or scales.Foss. fl., Pl. XXV, f. 1. Gein. Verst., p. 10, Pl. XV and XVI. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a., 1858, p. 851. Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 424. Hydatica prostrata, Hydatica columnaris, Myriophyllum gracile, Artis, Anted. Phytol., Pl. I, 5, 12 (roots and rootlets). Wolkmannia disticha, St., Vers., 1, p. 30, Pl. XLVIII, f. 3 (spikes). Bechera dubia, St., ibid., p. 30, Pl. LI, f. 3 (branches and leaves). Asterophyllites lanceolatus, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a., 1858, p. 852 (spike). Calamocladus foliosus, Schp., Paleont. Veget., I, p. 326. Annularia longifolia? Lesqx., Gcol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 422, Pl. XXI, f. 1, 2. The specimens which I refer to this species, all in nodules from Mazon Creek, exhibit the following characters: A long root, one centimeter thick, articulate at great distances, with the surface obscurely striate, marked by deep points in irregular positions, evidently scars of rootlets. The radicles from the articulations are flat, two millimeters broad, also distantly articulate, with branches in whorls, half a millimeter broad, short or very long and flexuous. The whole surface of the specimen is covered by these rootlets, derived either from the articulations or from different parts of the stem and of the branches, as marked by the dots of their scars. With this, we have other specimens representing leaves and stems. One has a branch attached to the articulations of a large-ribbed stem of Calamites, two and one half centimeters broad, with flat or slightly convex ribs two millimeters broad, furrows sharp but very narrow, answering to the characters of Calamites ramosus by the ribs and the position of the derived branches. These have the articulations close and the leaves imbricated in tufts as in Gein., l.c., Pl. XVI, f. 1. They are certainly not spikes but branches bearing leaves of Calamites. These leaves in their crowded state are rarely distinct, but can be seen sometimes separate. They have the same characters as the leaves f. 2, of the same plate, in Gein., l.c. They are twelve to fifteen millimeters long, two millimeters broad in the middle, lanceolate, sharply acuminate, with a thick medial nerve three fourths of a millimeter broad. The identity of these fragments with those figured by the German author is positive, and I consider as referable to the same species the fragments described Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, f. 1 and 2, as Annularia longifolia. Now, with this I have a fertile specimen, a fragment also, with a deeply-ribbed axis, three millimeters broad, with short, inflated articulations, five millimeters distant, and leaves of just the same width and length as those of the species, with a very broad nerve, bearing oval sporanges at the articulations. This may represent the fruiting branch of this plant for all the fertile spikes of Asterophyllites show, as far as they are known, bracts of the same character as the leaves of the species to which they belong. I have indeed many fragments comparable to those figured by Sternb., Pl. XLVIII, f. 3a, 3b, as Wolkmannia disticha, positively spikes, or ears, and not agglomerations of leaves crowded and imbricated at the top of the branches, as in Geinitz's figure. The pedicels of these ears one centimeter broad, are closely articulate, the inflated articulations being only three to four millimeters distant, with linear-lanceolate, distinctly and sharply nerved leaves, seven millimeters long, or twice as long as the internodes, and therefore imbricated. They are abruptly constricted at the top to five millimeters, half their size, and bear long ears, nearly two centimeters thick, with close articulations, surrounded by long lanceolate leaves, larger than those of the stem, and also twice as long as the internodes. The spikes have the characters of the cones of Macrostachya. Their reference to the species is not certain. They are described in Geol. of Penn'a., l.c., as Asterophyllites lanceolatus. Grand'Eury, in his Flor. Carb., p. 31, has represented in wood cuts, branches which he considers as probably referable to Asterophyllites foliosus, a species, which he says, may perhaps represent Calamites Cistii. I have from Cannelton a fragment of a branch, which in its characters is perfectly concordant with the figure given by the French author, and agrees also with his diagnosis of Asterophyllites foliosus. The branch is six millimeters thick, the articulations eight to nine millimeters distant, marked by two parallel inflated rings, leaving between them a furrow or depression of about one millimeter broad, where are distinctly seen the small, oval, horizontally enlarged tubercles, bases of leaves. A few of them are still preserved on the border of the stem. These leaves are exactly lanceolate, very sharply and gradually acuminate, distinctly nerved. The surface of the stem is a pellicle of coaly matter, indistinctly striate, the striae being without correlation to the scars of the leaves. But under this thin bark, the broad, flat, or slightly convex ribs are seen, and they correspond to the tubercles. This specimen resembles, in a very reduced scale, f. 4, of Pl. V, in Grand'Eury, l.c., with this exception, however, that so far as can be seen, the leaves of our specimen are free to the base. This fragment seems to represent and explain the peculiar chgracter of Calamites disjunctus, Lesqx., Geol. of Penna., p. f. 5. Habitat---Most of the specimens described are from the Mazon Creek. The cones of Macrostachya are from the upper shale of the Anthracite, near Pottsville, not rare. Also found at Cannelton. |
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ASTEROPHYLLITES GRANDIS, St.
Stems distinctly striate and
contracted at the articulations: leaves open, narrowly
linear-lanceolate, short, of thin texture; nerve indistinctly marked.Bechera grandis, St., Fl. d. Vorw., 1, p. 80, Pl. XLIX, f. 1. Ll. & Hutt., Foss. fl., P1. XVII and XIX; III, Pl. CLXXIII. Asterophyllites grandis, Gein., Verst., p. 8, Pl. XVII, f. 4-6. Bechera delicatula, St., 1.c., p. 31, Pl. XLIX, f. 2. Calamites nodosus, Ll. & Hutt., Pl. XV and XVI. Calamites. cannaeformis, Gein., Verst., Pl. XIV, f. 5. Calamocladus grandis, Schp., Paleont. Veget., 1, p. 325. This species closely resembles Asterophyllites equisetiformis. It is separated by its shorter, more delicate, narrower leaves, generally open, flattened upon the stone, or slightly curved inward from the middle. I have never seen specimens of this species with large stems nor with leaves as long as one centimeter. The midrib is not easily seen, even with a magnifier. The stem is more distinctly costulate, and the internodes comparatively longer. Bechera grandis , as figured by Ll. & Hutt., Pl. XIX, seems referable to the former species rather than to this one. Habitat —The variety with small, narrow, delicate leaves, is common in the shale of the Anthracite coal of Rhode Island. Specimens with longer leaves are from Morris, Ill. The species is generally rare, except at the first mentioned locality. |
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Stems
comparatively thick; branches dichotomous, fasciculate or opposite,
distinctly striate under the inflated articulations; internodes short;
leaves short, lanceolate; fructifications in narrow, linear spikes;
sporanges oval in the axils of the leaves.
The main stem, Plate III, f. 2, with opposite branches, as in all the species of the genus, is four millimeters at the base, gradually narrowing to the apex, with articulations one centimeter distant, inflated, also proportionately shorter in the upper part. In the tuft of branches confusedly mixed upon a separate specimen, Plate III, f. 1, the largest is six millimeters broad, and the internodes much shorter, varying between three and six millimeters. The stems are distinctly obtusely costate, the ribs in the decorticated state corresponding to the round tubercles, points of attachment of the leaves. These are three to four millimeters long, sessile by their whole base, lanceolate-acuminate, or gradually tapering up to a sharp point. They seem as if joined at their base, an appearance caused by a narrow ridge of the cortex which surrounds the articulations, projecting just in the middle, covering the point of attachment of the leaves, which is distinct only under the bark in round small tubercles. The fructifications as seen, Plate III, f. 3 and 4, are in spikes four millimeters broad, three to five centimeters long, bearing sporanges superposed upon the axils of the leaves. These sporanges were easily detached, as they are often found sparse upon the shale aside of the spikes, as seen Plate III, f. 3, which, with the enlarging, Plate III, f. 3a, 3b, 3c, show their mode of attachment as axillary by a very short pedicel, and their broadly oval form. The ramification of Plate III, f. 1 is in discordance with that of Plate III, f. 2, and indeed with the mode of branching of all the Asterophyllites. I can explain it only in supposing that Plate III, f. 2 shows a tuft of basilar branches, or rather of creeping rhizomas. But fructifications are found spread upon the specimens bearing these tufts, even with fragments of spikes, which essentially show the identity of both forms. Habitat —Clinton, Mo. Shale above the coal; kindly presented in fine specimens, by Dr. J. H. Britts. |
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ASTEROPHYLLITES GRACILIS, Lesqx. Plate II, Figs. 4-5a.
Stems and branches very
slender, obscurely striate; leaves shorter than the internodes, in
whorls of eight to ten, open, curved upwards; fructifications of the
same character as in the former species, in spikes distinctly smaller.Geol. Rept. of Arks., II, p. 310, Pl. II, 4, 4a, (1860.) The species is very slender in all its divisions. The primary stem, at least as far as it is known, is, for the largest specimen a little more than one millimeter in diameter, more generally half as broad. The branches truly capillary in form and size, are simple or divided, oblique. The leaves of the main stem are three millimeters long, and those of the branches scarcely half as long, and all so narrow that it is not possible to distinctly see the costa. The spikes, Plate II, f. 5 and 5a, are of the same character as those of the former species, differing, however, much by the size and the globular form of the nutlets. Two other species, closely related to this if not identical, have been published, from the sub-conglomerate coal measures. The first, by Prof. Dawson, Asterophyllites parvula, Can. Natur., vol. VI, p. 168, f. 6, a, b, c ; the other by Prof. Andrews, Asterophyllites ? minutus, Geol. Rept. of Ohio, Paleont., II p. 424, Pl. LI, f. 4, 4a. In both, but especially in this last species, the internodes are shorter, and the leaves more crowded. They have the appearance of Asterophyllites delicatulus, Brgt., as figured in Roehl. Paleont., XVIII, Pl. f. 6. It is impossible, from the imperfect state of too small specimens, to definitively judge the value of the characters indicated as specific. The likeness of Prof. Andrew's species to Asterophyllites gracilis and to Asterophyllites parvulus, is remarked by him. Habitat—Sub-conglomerate Coal of Arkansas in small fragments. Woodworth coal mine, Alabama, Mr. J. H. Aldrich. |
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Grand'Eury, in resuming the result of his own researches and of the
phytopaleontologists who have given attention to the subject, considers
the organs described as Wolkmannia by Authors, as the spikes of Asterophyllites, which, he says, have not yet been referred to their respective species. Among others he describes Volkmannia gracilis, Fl. carb., Pl. VI, f. 1, a branch only half as thick as the one of our Plate III, f. 12, or like the fragment described as Asterophyllites ovalis, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 851, Pl. I, f. 2, and Atl., Plate III, f. 5-7, a species referred by Feistmantel to Asterophyllites equisetiformis.
With this we have now the two other species described above, whose
reference to their stem-bearing leaves is indubitable, and which,
therefore, bear, their true generic names. Another species of Grd.'E.,
Volkmannia pseudosessilis,
Pl. VI, f. 3, is partly reproduced on our Plate III, f. 11, enlarged. It
shows the sporanges as born upon a somewhat long pedicel, curved down,
so that the ovules appear as placed between the articulations. F. 7, of
our plate, represents a specimen in nodules from Mazon Creek. The
sporanges seem indeed pedicelled, either pending or supported higher
than the axils of the leaves. It is impossible to positively ascertain
the relative position of the ovules, therefore their reference to Asterophyllites ovalis, or to Asterophyllites equisetiformis is not sufficiently proved. |
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