| 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 |
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All Four Volumes: Scans and Webpage ©George Langford III, 2011 |
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Rachis thick, cylindrical; pinnules short, narrowly oval or oblong-obtuse, sessile, scarcely narrowed at the base, without trace of veins. The specimen is not in a good state of preservation. The so-called pinnules are like flakes of coaly matter, without very determined outline, and without appearance of veins. Schimper supposes that it is merely a young unfolding frond of Neuropteris. The species is too uncertain and cannot be preserved. It is merely mentioned for future comparison in case of discovery of better specimens. Habitat—The shale bearing this branch and seen in the cabinet of Mr. W. D. Moore of Pittsburg, is from the base of the barren measures near that place. It is covered with marine shells and fragments of vegetable remains, Calamites and some Ferns, especially a Sphenopteris. |
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PACHYPTERIS GRACILLIMA, Lesqx., Plate LXXV, Figs. 10, 10b.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 419, Pl. XIX, f. 6-8. Separate pinnae linear, simply pinnate; pinnules opposite, erect or oblique, narrow, spathulate, obtuse, decurring or confluent at base; veins obsolete. This plant is very small; its fragments strewn upon the stone in great number, mere simple pinnae, are two to four centimeters long, with pinnules nearly erect, scarcely half a millimeter broad, three long, opposite, decurring and joined at the base, bordering the rachis by a narrow margin between the leaflets. They may have a middle nerve, but on account of the narrow lamina, the nerve is undiscernible. The attachment of the two lateral branches upon the middle of a longer one Plate LXXV, f. 10 is merely casual. The genus Pachypteris, Brgt., is established by the author for Jurassic Ferns, with pinnules entire, coriaceous, narrowly oval, contracted at the base, not connate to the rachis, without nerves or with a medial nerve only. The American plant has these characters, differing from the two species of Brongniart by the narrowness of the pinnules. It is comparable also to Dicksonia gracilis, Heer, Fl. foss. Arct., V, p. 13, Pl. III, f. 8-14, whose pinnules are sometimes very narrow and the medial nerve undiscernible. The pinnules, however, are evidently connate to the radius at their base, and not decurring into a border, a character at variance with that indicated by Brongniart for Pachypteris. On the specimen from which this species is described, the base of the pinnules, continued along the rachis and on both sides of it, is often partly separated from it in its whole length, showing the non-confluence of the border to the rachis. Living species of Adenopteris, Adenopteris hymenophylloides and Adenopteris tamarisci, Kaulf., have the pinnules shaped and disposed as in this fossil plant. Habitat—Shale of the Morris coal, Ill., Mr. Jos. Even. Cannelton, Pa., Mr. I. F. Mansfield. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM, Schp.
Schizopteris, Auct. (ex p.). Aphlebia, Presl. (ex p.). Hymenophyllites, Goepp. (ex p.). Pachyphyllum, Lesqx. Fronds either flabelliform, many times subdivided or pinnate, irregularly pinnatifid, bipinnatifid; rachis flat, often much dilated, scarcely thicker than the foliaceous lamina which is very variable in the size and the mode of its divisions; veins numerous, more or less indistinct, following the rachis in parallel bundles, dichotomous in the foliaceous divisions. This diagnosis is that of Schimper, Paleont. veget., I, p. 684, modified for the characters of the nervation. In describing some species of this genus, Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, I proposed for it the new appellation of Pachyphyllum, though the genus was already encumbered by too many synonyms. But the word Pachyphyllum (thick leaves) implies a character which is not remarked in all the now numerous species referred to this group, and as the nervation for a number of them is that of Hymenophyllites, I thought advisable to admit in the Geol. Rept. of Ill. this generic name employed by Goeppert. Hymenophyllites however cannot be applied to vegetable remains which have not all between them an evident relation; for if most of them are typically allied to Hymenophyllum, others have, in the shape of their leaves, and in the nervation, an affinity to Neuropteris, while others still, differing from any plants of the carboniferous, have characters which seem to place them as intermediate between marine plants and Ferns. Instead of increasing the synonymy by new generic subdivisions, I admit here Schimper's nomenclature, grouping the species in three subgenera:
Though the morphology of the plants referred to Rhacophyllum, may be quite as clear as that of the other Ferns of the coal, their nature and their role in the vegetation is uncertain. Some are evidently Ferns, related to Hymenophyllites as said above, and their general character is of the same type. Others are attached to stems of Ferns, apparently as parasites; others seem to be derived from a kind of Thallus, or form rhizomatic tufts of leaves, of characters different from those of the divisions of the branches. Stur considers them as leaves of support (Stutz-blatter), while Grand'Eury is disposed to admit some of them in the Gymnosperm, as related to the Noeggerathiae. Indeed the fragments figured and described as Lepidoxylon anomalum, Atlas, Plate LXXXIII and Plate LXXXIV, closely related to the Cordaites, seem to represent the plant described by Brongniart as Aphlebia anomala, considered until now as pertaining to the group of Rhacophyllum. This subject like many others concerning the vegetation of the coal is still obscure and demands. from the phitopaleontologists careful investigation. |
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| §1. RHACOPHYLLUM (NEUROPTERIDS). |
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Fronds entire in the lower part, lobed at the top or pinnately divided from the base; divisions entire, obtuse or diversely lacinate; veins distinct and distant, dichotomous, following the directions of the lobes; ultimate divisions simple, entering the points of the lacince as in species of Sphenopteris (Hymenophyllites). |
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RHACOPHYLLUM FLABELLATUM, St. Plate LVII, Fig. 1, 1a.
Aphlebia flabellata, St., Fl. d. Vorw., II, p. 112. Filicites crispus, Germ. and Kaulf., Abdr., p. 229, Pl. LVI, f. 6. Fucoides dentatus, Gutb., Abdr., p. 14, Pl. I, f. 1, 2. Rhacophyllum flabellatum, Schp., Paleont. Veget., p. 687, P1. XLVIII, f. 8. Frond entire and oblong in the lower part, rounded at the base, enlarged and diversely lobed in the upper part; lobes curved outward, diverging, narrowed to an acuminate apex. The beautiful specimen figured here represents a much larger leaf of this species than any of those published by European authors. The upper border is unfortunately partly broken, but the mode of division by obtuse sinuses in narrow linear laciniae, is clearly seen on the half detached lobe of the right side. Another slightly smaller specimen, in the cabinet of Mr. J. F. Miller of Richmond, Indiana, is eleven centimeters long, from the broken base to the top of the laciniae, four centimeters broad, split or bibbed from the middle, enlarged and flabelliform upwards, deeply lobed around the borders, the lobes subdivided in short linear lacinae, blunt at the apex, as in Schimper's figure, l.c., the laciniae being only somewhat shorter. In the specimen figured by Schimper, the lamina is cut from near the sub-cordate base into three lobes, the lateral ones diverging. In all the species of this genus the subdivision of the lamina is extremely variable. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek, Mr. S. S. Strong. Coal, of Mercer Co., Ill. (subcarboniferous) specimen in the cabinet of Mr. Miller. |
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Leaf apparently large, flabellate in the upper part, and there divided in broad linear obtuse or truncate lobes; veins thin but distinct, dichotomous. Of this species I have seen only the fragment figured. By the curve of the borders on the left side, the leaf appears to have been about of the same shape as the former, with the same kind of divisions in large segments, descending to the middle of the lamina, then subdivided above in linear, obtuse or truncate lobes of about the same width, six to eight millimeters bread. The substance of this leaf is membranaceous, the veins, scarcely perceivable when the epidermis is dry, becoming quite distinct when it is moistened. Cyclopteris Brownii , Daws, Quat. Journ. Geol. Soc. Nov. 1863, p. 463. Pl. XVII, f. 6, seems referable to this species, or at least to this group. The mode of subdivision of the borders, the narrowing of the lamina to the base and the venation are of the same characters. Prof. Dawson remarks, on a specimen of this species, in the Cabinet of Prof. Wm. Rogers, that it very closely resembles a beautiful leaf from the Ponent of Pennsylvania, figured but not described, Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, Pl. XXII, and compared by Prof. Balfour to Salisburia adiantoides, a likeness, which, considering merely the outline of the leaves is marked also in this species, and still more of Rhacophyllum flabellatum. The coincidence of habitat tends to confirm the supposition concerning the reference of Prof. Dawson's species to this one. Habitat—Red shale of the Vespertine on the bluffs of the Susquehanna River above Pittston, with Archaeopteris minor. Mr. J. P. Rosencrantz. Specimens of Cyclopteris Brownii were found in the Devonian of Perry County, Maine, by Prof. C. H. Hitchcock. |
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Leaf large, pinnately divided; primary divisions linear at the decurring base, enlarged and subdivided in the upper part; ultimate lacinice short, lanceolate, acuminate, entered by a simple branch of the dichotomous strong veins. A beautiful species which is represented in three specimens, one of which Plate LVIII, f. 1, is the upper part of an apparently very large frond, the other mere fragments of secondary pinnae. The leaf, as in the former species, appears as split to the middle; the lateral divisions oblique, eight to ten centimeters long, are sharply bi-, trifurcate, or irregularly divided in long linear laciniae, which are subdivided into shorter lobes, and then sharply cut in triangular acuminate teeth. The substance is membraneous, yellowish, the epidermis easily separated in flakes. I do not know any species published until now from the coal measures, which might be compared to this. Rhabdophyllum pachyrachis, Schenk, figured by Heer, Fl. foss., Helv., Pl. XXVI, f. 5, resembles it only in the lateral divisions of the leaf, the nervation being of a different type, or the veins derived from a midrib. Habitat—Clinton coal, Mo., communicated by Dr. J. H. Britts. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM SCOLOPENDRITES, Lesqx.
Scolopendrites grosse-dentatus, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 868, Plate VIII, f. 7. Fragment of a linear leaf, deeply, obtusely and irregulayly dentate on the borders; medial nerve thin, veins widely distant, alternately diverging in acute angle from the midrib, extremely thin, once or twice forked, slightly curving to the borders; substance of the leaves thin, membranaceous, pellucid. I am now as uncertain on the relation of this fragment as when I described it, l.c.; for since that time I have never been able to find, either in fossil Ferns or in those of our time, any plant comparable to this one. The fragment, the best which could be preserved on account of the extreme brittleness of the shale, is seven centimeters long, two centimeters broad at the broken base, where the borders are merely undulate, three centimeters in the upper part, where the obtuse teeth, which in the middle are large and more distant, become closer and more effaced. The midrib, though thin, half a millimeter, is every distinct, and the lateral veins, averaging five millimeters in distance, are also distinct, though of extreme tenuity, not half as thick as the middle nerve, from which they diverge in an angle of about 10°. They are somewhat flexuous and generally fork twice in passing to the borders where they casually enter the teeth or the irregular subdivisions which are without relation to the venation. The affinity of this Fern to Scolopendrium is marked merely by the linear ribbon shape of the leaves. Its reference to Rhacophyllum is presumable only, from the peculiar charater of the venation. Habitat—Gate vein, New Philadelphia, Pa. |
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| §2. RHACOPHYLLUM (HYMENOPHYLLITES.) |
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Fronds flat, diversely lobed, and laciniate, all the divisions dichotomous; veins in parallel fascicles, constituting the axis of the leaves, dividing in bundles in entering the subdivisions, sometimes dichotomous, generally obsolete. The venation of the plants of this group is rarely distinct, except in some species of thick texture, when the epidermis is destroyed. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM ARBORESCENS, Lesqx.
Schp., Paleont. veget., III, p. 525. Hymenophillytes arborescens, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 415, Pl. XVII, f. 1. Leaf large, linear in outline, with a broad flat axis, pinnately alternately dichotomous; divisions or pinnules oblique, pinnately lobed; lobes simple, bifid or trifid,veins obsolete. The preserved part of the leaf is twenty centimeters long; the axis or rachis is linear, quite flat, like the primary divisions, one and a half centimeters broad. These are alternate, at irregular distance, subdecurrent, not narrowed at the base, pinnately irregularly lobed, the lobes bi-, tridentate or entire, broadly lanceolate, acute or blunt. The terminal lobe of the pinnules is sometimes long and linear. The veins are not clearly defined, but are perceivable in parallel fascicles, either vertical in the primary axis or diverging and parallel also in the primary lateral branches. The species is closely related to Rhachophyllum pachyrrachis (Schizopteris), Schenk, of the Keuper. The divisions of the plants of this group are generally produced by expansion and splitting of the laminae and are therefore simply or many times dichotomous, the ultimate divisions being called lobes or teeth according to their shape. Habitat—Morris, Ill.; roof shale of the coal, communicated by Mr. Jos. Even. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM LACTUCA, Sternb.
Schizopteris lactuca, Presl., in St., Fl. d. Vorw., II, p. 112. Gein.,Verst., p. 19, Pl. XXVI, f. 1. Germ., Verst., p. 45, Pl. XVIII and XIX. Fucoides crispus, Gutb., Abdr., p. 13, Pl. 1, f. 11. Pachyphyllum lactuca, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 863, Plate VIII, f. 4, 5. Hymenophyllites lactuca, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 415. Rhacophyllum lactuca, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 684, Pl. XLVI, f. 1; XLVII, f. 1, 2. Frond large; medial axis or lamina either prolonged and pinnately divided, or sessile, enlarged from the base, fanlike, and laciniate all around; primary divisions large, curving outward, variously cut into large lobes; ultimate divisions short, linear-lanceolate or long, linear, flexuous, generally obtuse. The leaves are most variable in their general outline and subdivisions. In large specimens from the Penn' a anthracite coal fields I have seen the primary fronds nearly round in outline or broadly ovate, sessile, with border divisions multiple and multifid. In others, the axis is prolonged into a broad linear flexuous lamina, diversely folded and diversely divided in large dichotomous pinnae, curving down and subdivided in short F. 4, of Pl. VIII, in Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., represents a diminutive leaf of the first character, the figures of Germar, l.c., are a splendid representation of the other. The plants are generally found in fragments which may be recalled to the type by their flat thin substance, where no trace of veins is apparent, and whose borders are diversely cut, sometimes in long linear laciniae, dichotomously and many times subdivided in segments, gradually narrower, the ultimate ones long, flexuous, sometimes split. It passes by transition to the following species and is easily confounded with it. Habitat—In the whole thickness of the middle carboniferous measures, not rare, but rarely seen on account of the obscurity of its outline and divisions, which of thin substance, are immersed into the stone or scarcely distinguishable from it. Gate vein below New Philadelphia, Penn'a; Mazon Creek, Ill., in nodules; Shale of the Coal of Cannelton, Pa. and Clinton, Mo. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM FILICIFORME, (Gutb.), Schp.
Fucoides filiciformis, Gutb., Abdr., p. 11, Pl. I, f. 3, 6, 7. Schizopteris Gutbieriana, Gein.,Verst., p. 19, Pl. XXV, f. 11-14 (fide Schimper). Medial axis comparatively long and narrow, flat, erect, pinnately divided; primary pinnae narrow, pinnately lobed; lobes subpinnato-laciniate; ultimate segments short, truncate or obtuse. In the var. Gutbieriana, the lateral branches are simply divided in short, obtuse, entire or crenulate lobes. The above description is made from a specimen whose main axis is one centimeter broad, ten centimeters long, nearly as thick at the upper part, where it is effaced in dividing. It is pinnately divided from the base as described above, the divisions oblique and variable in length, the lower five centimeters, the upper ones seven to eight. It corresponds exactly in its characters, for the medial axis to f. 1, Pl. I, of Gutb., l.c., and for its divisions to f. 6. Among a large number of specimens which I have had for examination, I have never seen a transitional form to f. 14 of Guth. and f. 13 of Gein. which represents Rhacophyllum Gutbierianum. When seen with the glass the upper surface of the plant is apparently villous or marked with very small points indicating base of hairs. The specimen described above represents, as coming out of the same basilar stump, a pinna or simple frond of Pecopteris, which seems either dwarfed or as yet not entirely developed. Its lateral pinnae and pinnules are distinct but the nervation is totally obsolete. This specimen, with others described here below, confirm the supposition of Prof. Schimper that some species of this genus are primitive basilar leaves of Ferns appearing before the unfolding of the fronds. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek, Ill., there not rare. Clinton, Mo., upon coal shale. The var. Gutbieriana is also commonly found in the whole thickness of the Middle Coal Measures. It seems to be a distinct species. |
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Basilar pinnae diverging in circle from a central axis (or rachis), broadly lanceolate, pinnately dichotomous; divisions oblique; pinnules either entire, short, obtuse, truncate, or pinnately dichotomous; ultimate laciniae narrow, simple or forked once or twice; surface dotted and hirsute. As represented in the figure, the pinnae, two to four centimeters long, are generally regularly pinnately divided into nearly entire obtuse truncate or bifid lobes which, in the lower part of the pinn, are subdivided into narrow linear small laciniae, either simple or forking once or twice. Another specimen, recently received, represents the species with primary pinnae surrounding the base of a naked flattened rachis ? or stem, ten centimeters long, nine millimeters broad, gradually narrower to the point, which is broken. These pinnae are somewhat longer than those figured; palmately laciniate at the base, with divisions multifid, while in the upper part the lobes are merely oblong, or lanceolate, obtuse, or truncate, thus showing the two kinds of divisions seen upon Plate LVII, f. 4. The pinnae are distinctly seen attached to the base of the naked rachis and flattened around it. Geinitz, Verst., Pl. XXI, f. 1, represents a Fern bearing upon the rachis, as parasite, tufts of leaves of a species which he refers to Rhacophyllum Gutbierianum. From this specimen as from others, like Rhacophyllum adnascens, it is seen that plants of this group were, in some cases at least, parasitic. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek in fine specimens. |
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Leaf tripinnatifid; primary pinnae long, oblique; secondary divisions short, linear-lanceolate, obtuse, pinnately lobed; lobes short, half round, with borders inflated; veins thin, in fascicles, ascending into the lobes; surface rough. The divisions of the plant are opposite or alternate; the primary rachis is flat, not inflated as incorrectly shown on the figure, comparatively broad; the veins, seen only where the epidermis is destroyed, are in parallel fascicles, diverging in passing into the divisions, not dichotomous. The leaves are more distinctly pinnate than in any other species of the genus. The lobes on the specimen, figured from a nodule, appear inflated on the upper border. On another specimen from Cannelton, they are all flat. The epidermis is thickly dotted, as from the remains of basilar points of hairs. Habitat—Mazon Creek in nodules. Cannelton, Pa., on shale. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM HIRSUTUM, Lesqx., Plate LVII, Fig. 2.
Schp., Paleont. veget., II, p. 687. Pachyphyllum hirsutum, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 863, Plate VIII, f. 3. Pachyphyllum affine, Lesqx., ibid., Pl. VIII, f. 1. Primary rachis or lamina broad, flexuous, bipinnately dichotomous; pinnae oblique, either pinnately divided into short, triangular, entire, obtusely pointed lobes, or cut in irregular linear-lanceolate acuminate lacinicae; surface covered with long distinct hairs or scales; veins in parallel fascicles. The divisions of the axis or lamina are extremely variable. In the specimen figured Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., the pinnae are simply lobed, the lobes short, broadly lanceolate, entire. In the specimen figured here, the lobes are diversely and irregularly cut and the ultimate laciniae much narrower and distinctly acuminate. Habitat—Salem Vein near Pottsville, Penn'a, upper Coal The specimen figured is from Clinton. Mo., Mr. J. H. Britts. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM FIMBRIATUM, Lesqx.
Pachyphyllum fimbriatum, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 868, Plate VIII, Fig. 2. Frond bipinnate; primary pinnae linear, narrowed to the point of attachment; lobes lanceolate, entire, bordered by a fimbriate membrane; veins in distinct fascicles, following the divisions of the lamina and passing up to the apex of the lobes; substance membranaceous. This species is much like the former and at first sight it could be taken for a variety caused by maceration of the plant and. deprived of its epidermis. There is a marked difference, however, in the substance of the leaves which is rather membranaceous, not thick; in the peculiar narrowing of the pinnae, contracted in joining the rachis; in the mode of attachment and nature of the border divisions which are not hairs, as in the former species, but true fringes, derived from the borders and enlarged in joining them as if they were cut from the substance of the leaves. In this species the nervation is distinctly seen as a narrow simple thick fascile of veins, in the middle of the primary rachis and of the divisions diverging and ascending to the apex of the lobes. It is remarkable that both these species so very similar in some of their characters and so different in others were found together in two localities only. Rhacophyllum affine , Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., is apparently a variety of this or of the former species. It is represented by a too small specimen, merely differing by the borders entire or deprived of a fringe; the venation is of the same type. Habitat—With the former, Salem and Gate Vein, near Pottsville, upper Coal. Clinton, Mo., lower Coal, Dr. J. Britts. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM CLARKII, Lesqx., Plate LVII, Fig. 5.
Frond large, with a distinct
rachis of medium size, irregularly many times dichotomous; pinnae
reflexed, flabelliform, from a wedge shaped base; lobes oblanceolate,
obtuse, veins in parallel fascicles, diverging in passing to the lobes,
ultimate divisions simple.Hymenophyllites Clarkii, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 438, Pl. XXXIX, f. 7; IV p. 416, Pl. XVI, f. 1, 2. This species is extremely variable, in size. The fragment figured seems to be a primary young frond. It gives an idea of the mode of subdivision of the lobes only, but not of the plant in its entire development. The rachis in ascending is laterally divided either pinnately on both sides, or merely on one side, into flabellate pinnae, enlarging by dichotomous subdivisions into lobes of various length, curved backward, cut in obtuse oblanceolate laciniae. The epidermis is thick, rough, especially upon the rachis, often destroyed by maceration, and in this case only, leaving exposed the venation in parallel fascicles, dividing into each of the lobes, and apparently ascending in simple veinlets to the apex of the ultimate laciniae. This species has a great affinity to Rhacophyllum Gutbierianum, from which it differs by its distinct sometimes long rachis, the obtuse divisions of the pinnae and the thick substance of the plant. In the nodules of Mazon Creek, where its remains are not rare, they leave upon the stone deep impressions, such as can be done only by thick bodies of hard consistence. Habitat—Shales of Mount Hope Coal, Rhode Island, Mr. Jas. H. Clark. Nodules of Mazon Creek, frequent. Also found at Cannelton, but rare. Not seen in the specimens from Clinton, where Rhacophyllum filiciforme and its variety Rhacophyllum Gutbierianum are common. |
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Rachis fiat, broad, pinnately dichotomous; pinnae, diverging in acute angle, lanceolate, pinnately lobed; lobes short, spinescent, simple or bi-, trifid. As seen from the fragment of a primary rachis at the base of the figure, we have a mere pinna of a plant which had apparently a large frond. The divisions are all of the same character, gradually passing into short ultimate laciniae resembling spines, either simple or forked. The veins are clearly seen in parallel fasciles on the rachis, and may be followed into the lateral pinnae, where they disappear, probably there dividing into very thin branches, and passing into the lobes. The rachis is distantly dotted. The points are indistinct on the decorticated surface, Plate LVIII, f. 5. The stem and its ramification are more clearly defined than in Rhacophyllum filiciforme to which this species has some affinity; the lobes are shorter and sharply acuminate. Habitat—Clinton, Mo., Dr. J. H. Britts. Mazon Creek, in nodules. |
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Frond divaricate or pinnately divided; ultimate pinnae either lobed, the lobes deeply diversely lacinate, or simple in the upper part of the pinnae; lacince linear, gradually narrowed to a long filiform more or less hooked acumen; venation obsolete. This plant might perhaps be considered as a variety of the following species which is extremely variable. It essentially differs by its multiple divaricate ramification from a definite stem or primary rachis; by the absence of any trace of veins and the long acuminate apex of the lacinia. Habitat—I have seen one specimen only, communicated by Dr. J. H. Britts, from the same locality as the former species. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM ADNASCENS, Ll. and Hutt., Plate LVII, Figs. 9, 10, 11.
Schizopteris adnascens, Ll. and Butt. Foss. fl., II, p. 57, Pl. C and CI. Gein., Verst., p. 20, Pl. XXV, f. 7-9. Fucoides radians, Gutb., Verst., p. 12, Pl. I, f. 5. Trichomanites adnascens, Goepp., Syst., p. 266. Rhodea radians, Presl., in St. Fl. d. Vorw., II, p. 11. Aphlebia adnascens, Presl., ibid. Hymenophyllites adnascens, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 414. Rhacophyllum adnascens, Schp. Paleont. Veget., I, p. 686, Pl. XLVIII, f. 1, 2, (7?) Frond small, many times dichotomous; divisions radiate or divaricate from the base, narrow, linear, obtuse; veins parallel or simple in each division, often obsolete. This species is extremely variable, as far at least as it is known from fragments generally referred to it, or as seen by the three specimens figured. Plate LVII, f. 9 has a distinct rachis with veins parallel, diverging in fasciles, dichotomous and passing in simple veinlets into the ultimate lobes. This form corresponds to f. 7 of Schp., l.c., which he considers as either referable to this species or perhaps representing a young plant of Rhacophyllum flabellatum. Plate LVII, f. 11, in Atl., has the ordinary size and mode of division of the species, differing merely from Plate LVII, f. 10 by a medial vein, which passes by veinlets to the apex of the lobes. Plate LVII, f. 10 is the species as represented by the original authors Lindley and Hutton, who figured it in numerous specimens attached as parasite on the stem of Sphenopteris crenata. In this as in some similar cases where I have seen Rhacophyllum Lactuca and Rhacophyllum filiciforme in connection with rachis of Ferns, these plants seem to appear first as a primordial vegetation, a kind of prothallium, which continues growing upwards in connection with the rachis of the Ferns, even reaching the primary divisions of the fronds. Habitat—Generally found in fragments of its divers forms in the whole extent of the middle coal measures; not rare, but rarely observed by collectors. |
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Pinnules rounded to the point
of attachment, divided to the base in capilliform filaments diverging
fanlike, forking once near the base or at a distance from it, then
simple, flexuous in various directions, variable in length. One of the specimens bears, seemingly attached along the borders of a leaf of Cordaites, three pinnules, five to six centimeters distant, appearing like bundles of veins deprived of epidermis. The base of these fasciles is four to five millimeters broad, the filaments cylindrical, capillaceous, four to five centimeters long, flexuous and flagellate in the upper part, of the same thickness in their whole length. These filaments, as seen in the upper part where some of them are flattened, are not simple nerves but fasciles of very thin thread-like veins. Habitat—Wilkesbarre, Pa. Specimens in the cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, from Oakwood colliery, F ? vein. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM INFLATUM, Lesqx., Plate LVII, Figs. 7-8.
Hymenophyllites inflatus, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 414, Pl. XVI, f. 6, 6a. Frond small, pinnately divided; pinnae deeply pinnately lobed; lower lobes bifid or quadrifid, with obovate divisions, the upper simple, oblong, obtuse; veins simple or dichotomous by branching into each lobe. No other fragments of this species have been found than those figured. They seem at first sight to represent a Sphenopteris. But comparing them to f. 11, of Plate LVII, the relation between the two species is observable not only in the mode of venation, but also in the subdivisions of the pinn, the ultimate laciniae being in both figures simple or bifid, obtuse, even somewhat broader at the apex. This plant has also a marked affinity to Hymenophyllum Weissii, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 415 Pl. XXVIII, f. 4-7, described by the author from specimens communicated by Prof. Weiss. The analogy of this Rhacophyllum inflatum both with Rhacophyllum adnascens and a species of Hymenophyllum sufficiently warrants the reference to Hymenophyllites of a number of the plants described under this new generic name. Habitat—Roof Shale of the coal of Duquoin, Illinois. |
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Frond apparently large, with a rachis pinnately repeatedly dichotomous; rachis and divisions bordered by a large membranaceous lamina, without traces of veins, cut into broadly lanceolate acuminate lobes. This very peculiar species is represented by a rachis twice pinnately divided, the divisions gradually shorter and narrower from the base to the apex, spiniform, lanceolate-acuminate, simple or forking again, a mode of division exactly similar to that of Rhacophylllum spinosum. The membrane bordering all the divisions and assimilated to their shape, linear along the main rachis, cut in lanceolate acuminate lobes corresponding with the sharply pointed branches of the pinnae, is flat, smooth, membranaceous, without trace of veins. The peculiar conformation of texture of this plant does not find any point of comparison in the Ferns and therefore its relation is uncertain. Habitat--Coal shale, Oliphant, Pa., specimen in Mr. R. D. Lacoe's cabinet. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM THALLIFORME, Lesqx.
Leaf simple, apparently flattened upon the ground, undulately or obtusely lobed on the borders; surface hairy.Hymenophyllites thalliformis, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 417, Pl. XVI, f. 8-5. The name implies the character of the plant. It is a fragment of a frond which, in its whole, appears to have been large and rounded in outline, with undulate borders and an undulate rugose hairy surface. It exactly resembles the leaf of a Marchantia. From the emarginate border of the frond, come out cylindrical branches, either erect or creeping, whose form is far different from that of the frond, being similar to the basilar primary rachis of some Ferns. Their projections are about one centimeter broad, covered with oblanceolate obtuse closely imbricated scales, which appear, under the glass, very thinly striate. I compared these branches to those of some Lycopodiaceae. But from what has been remarked above of the relation of some species of Rhacophyllum to Ferns, as a kind of prothallium, this fragment seems to represent such an organism more evidently than any other species of this genus. Habitat—Concretions of Mazon Creek and Shale of the Coal of Colchester, Illinois. |
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| §3a. RHACOPHYLLUM (FUCOIDS.) |
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Characters very variable; mostly groups of linear simple filaments, cylindrical and inflated to the apex, or flat, joined in their length and irregularly split in linear divisions. |
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Filaments simple, cylindrical, filiform, slightly inflated to the obtuse apex, coming out in tufts from a common central amorphous base and flexuous, or attached to the side of a hirsute rachis. Plate LVIII , f. 6 represents fragments of two branches whose simple divisions coming out opposite, decline in curves towards each other, getting close together but not united at the apex. Plate LVIII, f. 7 is apparently a young plant whose axis is not yet developed, all the filaments coming out of a central point. This peculiar species has a remarkable degree of analogy to the common Fucoides (Taonurus) Cauda-Galli, of which we have closely allied representatives in Taonurus Colletti and Taonurus marginatus, Plate A, f. 1-7. It is impossible to say if these plants are truly marine, inhabiting shallow brackish water, along the borders of the coal swamps, or land plants merely related by their characters to Fucoids and already passed into the domain of the land vegetation and mixed with it. There is, it seems, an evidence of this last hypothesis in the carbonaceous substance of the plants in their state of decomposition, indicating therefore a ligneous or vascular tissue. This substance is not seen upon the remains of true marine or mere soft cellular vegetables. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Ceek, Mr. S. S. Strong. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM STRONGII, Lesqx.
Hymenophyllites Strongii, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 417, Pl. XVIII, f. 1. Rachis woody, undulately lineate lengthwise, covered in the lower part with long, straight, thick scales or hairs, and bearing upon short branches tufts of hairs of the same character as those of the rachis. The specimen is not very clear and this species might have been omitted. It has however a kind of affinity to the former by the opposite direction of those tufts of hairs which, borne upon parallel branches and opposite in their direction, come together by the apex of the filaments. These whose exact form cannot be seen, are short, straight, compressed in thick tufts and attached to the main rachis or to short branches, thus rather resembling the leaves and the divisions of trailing stems of Lycopodiaceae. Habitat—Concretions of Mazon Creek, communicated like the former by Mr. S. S. Strong. |
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RHACOPHYLLUM MOLLE, Lesqx.
Filaments thin, flat, linear,
emerging from a common support, parallel at the base, joined in their
length by compression, separated on the borders of the tufts in linear
obtuse filaments, nerveless.Hymenophyllites mollis, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., VI, p. 418, Pl. XVIII, f. 2-6. These plants, found in numerous specimens, cannot be clearly defined. They seem to grow upon fragments of decayed woody matter, and to cover them by numerous closely apressed filaments, which, by compression, form an irregular mass where their borders only are here and there distinct. In the beginning, these filaments are short, two to ten millimeters, one millimeter broad or a little more, linear, obtuse, close and parallel; later, or in a state which seems to be their full growth, they are four to seven centimeters long, more or less flexuous, sometimes disconnected in laciniae, two millimeters broad, irregularly lined either in the middle or along the borders, while at the apex, when distinctly separated, they have the same width and form as the primary one. These medial laciniae; which of ten join again upwards, are not, therefore, separate leaves, but fragments of two or more filaments pressed and glued together. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek, not rare. |
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Frond large, irregularly divided from the base; divisions irregularly dichotomous, forking at the obtuse sometimes inflated apex. This plant resembles a Fucoid, the divisions, of various length, are irregularly inflated or narrowed, three to four millimeters thick, also very irregularly branching, either dichotomous or forking in branches of various length. This species is not mentioned in Schimper's Vegt. Paleont. and is very little known. It has some features in common with the large forms of Rhacophyllum adnascens. Habitat—I have seen only one specimen of this plant in the Museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge. It is without label. |
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