| 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 |
| LEPIDOSTROBUS AND LEPIDOPHYLLUM. Strobiles
cylindrical or ovate, oblong, conical, variable in length, composed of
sporanges (spore cases) subcylindrical or clavate, marginate at the
apex, supported in the middle lengthwise by bracts formed of a pedicel
attached like the sporanges in right angle to the axis, linear or
oblanceolate, either simple, not longer than the sporanges or prolonged
into lanceolate obtuse or acuminate laminas, curved upwards on the
outside of the strobiles and imbricated on their sides, or merely
inflated at the outer end and covering the apex of the sporanges by a
rhomboidal small shield; spores triquetre on one side, half globular on
the other, like those of the Lycopods, homomorphous or dimorphous.
Without taking into account the anatomical details of the structure of the strobiles (Lepidostrobus)* which can be studied only from silicified specimens and by the work of the lapidary,
we recognize in the cones of Lepidostrobus a central axis, Atlas, Plate LXIX, f. 1-2, to which are attached in right angle the sporanges of various forms, supported by a long linear pedicel. The sporangiophores are either short and not passing out beyond the apex of the sporanges, as in Plate LXIX, f. 10, or prolonged on the outside, where they enlarge at the apex of the sporanges into a kind of shield, ibid., f. 8, or continued as the medial nerves of blades (Lepidophyllum) of various forms, mostly linear or lanceolate, acuminate, ibid., f. 34-40, etc., or oblong obtuse, ibid., f. 29, 31, 33. The sporanges united to their supports and generally left attached at the base of the blades, are seen also of various length and shape in the same figures, either oblanceolate or wedge form, truncate or emarginate at the point of union to the blades, etc. Prof. Schimper, Paleont. Veget., II, p. 60, describes the spores as microspores, united or agglomerated by four, tetrahedral, very small, not perceivable by the naked eyes, not larger in diameter than the fiftieth of a millimeter, and macrospores, those of the same form as described above, Pl. LXIX, f. 9a, large enough to be seen without a magnifier, not less than half a millimeter in diameter, often as large as one millimeter or more (ibid., f. 11, 12, etc.) Those of this kind only are described in this work as spores. I have observed the microspores on a single specimen of Lepidostrobus, only. Sometimes, after dehiscence of the
blades, scars of their base, of a transversely rhomboidal shape, are
left upon the strobiles which, when flattened, resemble fragments or
short branches of Lepidodendron.
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LEPIDOSTROBUS GOLDENBERGII, Schp.
Paleont. Veget., II, p. 61, P1. LXI, Brgt., Hist. d. Veget. Foss., II, Pl. XXIV, f. 6. Strobiles large, bracts lanceolate, acuminate, half open; axis comparatively narrow; sporanges long, in right angle. The American specimens referable to this species are mostly fragmentary; one only is preserved whole. It is cylindrical, thirty-three centimeters long, four and a half to five centimeters broad between the base of the blades, with an axis eight to ten millimeters. The blades or bracts, two and a half centimeters long, are half open, curved inward, four to five millimeters broad at the base which is carinate by a broad double nerve generally indistinct. The scars upon the cones, when the blades are detached, are transversely rhomboidal. The size of the strobiles is like that of the fragment figured by Schimper; but the blades are somewhat shorter. The strobiles are exactly cylindrical, abruptly rounded or nearly truncate at the top. Habitat—The fine specimen described here is from Cannelton, found by Mr. I. F. Mansfield. Another, broken in the middle, in the cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, is from Oliphant. The museum of Comp. Zool., Cambridge, has two specimens from Mazon Creek, L. 36 and 37, which are finely preserved but not in their integrity. The species is rare. | |
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Strobiles very long, comparatively narrow; sporanges linear, inclined upward; blades narrow, linear or lanceolate-acuminate. The only fragment seen of this fine species is twenty-five centimeters long. From the statement of the owner the strobile was seventy-eight centimeters long to the point where it was broken, and part of it remained still imbedded in the slate. The axis averages one centimeter in diameter, being larger toward the base; the sporanges inclined upward, are one and a half centimeters long; the bracts, half opened, are on the same angle of divergence as the sporanges, narrower, three to four millimeters broad at the base, four to five centimeters long, gradually narrowed up to a sharp thin acumen, with the double broad midrib of Lepidophyllum. The oblique position of the narrow sporanges remaining the same in the whole length of the strobiles, the form and size of the blades, narrower and longer, and the great length of the strobiles, separate this species from the former. Habitat--Near Pittston, Everhart's colliery, C. vein; specimen No. 556 of Mr. R. D. Lacoe's collection. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS PRINCEPS, Lesqx.
Strobile large, cylindrico-conical; axis narrow; sporanges oblanceolate; blades short, lanceolate, acuminate.Gcol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 455, Pl. XLV, f. 1-4. Schp., Paleont. Veget., II, p. 65. This, like the former species, is related to Lepidostrobus Geinitzii, Schp., as figured in Gein., Verst., Pl. II, f. 1, 3, 4, from which it seems however to differ by the small axis, the shorter sporanges and the erect loosely imbricate blades enlarged and emarginate at their point of attachment to the sporanges. The cone is twenty to thirty centimeters long; the blades two to five and a half long, eight millimeters broad at the base, marked by a broad double medial nerve. This species cannot be identified to Lepidostrobus variabilis of Ll. and Hutt., though it may be a variety of Lepidostrobus Geinitzii, Schp., a form referred by Geinitz to Lepidostrobus variabilis, Verst., l.c., p. 35. Habitat—I found this species at Duquoin, Ill. If the strobile is that of an Ulodendron it should be referable to Ulodendron elongatum, whose leaf-scars have the same characters, but certainly not, as Schimper supposes, to Ulodendron minus, which as yet is for America a subconglomerate species. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS VARIABILIS, Ll. and Hutt., Plate LXIX, Fig. 26.
Ll. and Hutt., Foss. fl., I, Pl. X, XI. Schp., Paleont. Veget., II, p. 61, Pl. LVIII, f. 2a, 5; L XI, f. 1, 2. Cones of medium size, cylindrical or conico-cylindrical; sporanges in right angle; bracts narrow, lanceolate-acuminate, closely imbricated and appressed. From the figures given of the species by European authors, it seems evident that different kinds have been described under this common name. The few American strobiles which I have considered as representing it, are not cylindrical, but narrowed to the apex or conical. The blades are generally crowded, closely imbricate, about one centimeter long, narrow, nearly linear or scarcely enlarged at the base, where they measure one and a half millimeters in width. The strobiles vary from two to three centimeters in diameter when flattened, and from seven to fourteen centimeters in length. Habitat—The cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe has a sub-cylindrical specimen from Oliphant. Another, that of f. 26, is in the same cabinet under No. 305, with a few others of the same type, scarcely variable in shape and size. The species is rare in the American coal measures. | |
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Cone large, linear-oblong, rounded at base to the axis, obtuse at the top; axis comparatively narrow; sporanges long, in right angle to the axis; blades short, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, appressed and closely imbricated. The cone described under this name is the best preserved strobile I have seen from the coal measures. It is forty centimeters long, five centimeters broad in the middle, gradually decreasing upward where it measures, at the obtuse top, three centimeters in diameter, and to the base, where it is three and a half centimeters broad, there rounding to an axis one centimeter in diameter. The blades are short and narrow, one and a half centimeters long and two millimeters broad at the base, point of union to the sporanges covered by the close imbrication of the blades. Considering the shape of the cone and the size of the appressed blades only, this splendid cone could be considered as a variety a Lepidostrobus variabilis; but its great size is against this reference. The blades also are not as thick or coriaceous as in Lepidostrobus variabilis; not as closely compressed against the cone and though the medial nerve is distinct, it is not as thick, and the bracts are not carinate on the back. Habitat—I have two specimens of this fine species both received through the kindness of Mr. I. F. Mansfield. The one not described is a little narrower, not as much enlarged in the middle and apparently longer, for its lower part is broken, and the preserved fragment is thirty-seven centimeters long. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS LANCIFOLIUS, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Figs. 30, 30a.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 442, Pl. XXXI, f. 7. Schp., Paleont. Veget., III, p. 544. Cones narrow, cylindrical ?; sporanges very short, triangular; blades linear in the lower part, slightly enlarged to the point of attachment, lanceolate from above the middle and sharply acuminate, convex or carinate, thick; medial nerve distinct, inflated. A mere fragment with bracts of a peculiar form, two and a half centimeters long, five millimeters broad below the middle where they are a little narrower than at the base and under the apex; sporanges short, four millimeters long, enlarged to five millimeters at the point of attachment. The cone, judging from the fragment, is about one and a half centimeters in diameter. The form is intermediate between that of the former and of the following species. Habitat—Concretions of Mazon Creek. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS LANCEOLATUS, Brgt., Plate LXIX, Fig. 38.
Lepidophyllum lanceolatum, Brgt., Prodr., p. 87. Ll. and Hutt., Foss. .11., I, Pl. VII, f. 8-4. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a (1858), p. 875, Plate XVII, f. 1 (cross section of a cone). Lepidostrobus lepidophyllaceus Gutb., Gaea. v. Sachsen. p. 89, Schp., Patcont. Veget., II, p. 65. Sagenaria dichotoma (St.), strobile, Gein., Verst.. p. 34, Pl. II, f. 6-8. Strobiles large, cylindrical; axis small; sporanges short, broadly cuneiform, truncate at the top; blades open, large, lanceolate-acuminate. Atlas, f. 38, represents merely a sporange and bract, is a Lepidophyllum. Part of a cross section of a cone is figured in Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., but it could not be copied upon our plate for want of room. As the essential characters are taken from the blades, the omission is of no importance, the less so, as I have had occasion to study fragments in a better state of preservation. A specimen of Mr. Lacoe's collection is part of a cone, exactly cylindrical, nine and one half centimeters long, one and a half centimeters broad, without the blades, with an axis four millimeters in diameter. As seen from the separate Lepidophyllum (Atlas, f. 38) upon the same specimen, which is one of the largest and best preserved I have had for examination, the sporanges are eight millimeters long, cuneiform, obtusely pointed at the base; the bracts three and a half centimeters long, seven to eight millimeters broad in the middle, equal at the base or rather narrowed than enlarged in joining the sporanges. As seen upon the cone and imbricated as 'they are at the base, the blades appear somewhat shorter and generally a little narrower, five to seven millimeters across. The reference of this species by Geinitz to Sagenaria dichotoma is rightly contradicted by Schimper who has seen strobiles attached to the branches of this Lepidodendron with much narrower blades, and referable to Lepidostrobus variabilis. Habitat—Mostly found in fragments, as Lepidophyllum. I first saw it at Carbondale in the collection of Mr. Chambers; then I found it at Mazon Creek, Ill., in nodules; in the shale of the Mammoth and five foot vein near Pottsville, Pa., and near Newport, R. I. The best specimen in the collection of Mr. R. D. Lacoe is No. 334b, labeled Hughsville deep shaft; others are from Brown's colliery E vein, and. Griffith R. Road cut, Pittston, Pa. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS OBLONGIFOLIUS, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Fig. 29.
Strobiles large with a broad
axis; sporanges cuneiform acuminate to the base; blades oblong,
lanceolate to the acute or slightly obtuse apex.Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 441, Pl. XXX. f. 3, 3b. Schp., Paleont. Veget., III, p. 544. Differs from the former by the broader axis; the broader shorter blades mostly obtusely or abruptly acute, more distinctly hastate at the base; the longer sporanges acuminate to the point of insertion. Blades two and a half centimeters long, about one centimeter broad above the middle; sporanges seven millimeters long. Habitat—Concretions of Mazon Creek, rare. The cross section of another cone, shows the blades curved into the stone at the apex and thus apparently shorter and more obtuse. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS OVATIFOLIUS, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Fig. 32.
Geol. Rept. of Ill.,IV, p. 441, Pl. XXX, f. 2, 2b. Schp., Paleont. Veget., III, p. 544. Strobiles cylindrical, of medium size; blades open, short, ovate lanceolate, blunt at the apex; sporanges short cuneiform. The cone as figured in Geol. Rept, of Ill., l.c., a fragment seven centimeters long, averages two centimeters in diameter without the blades which are open, short, one to one and a half centimeters long, blunt at the top, largest at the base where they measure seven to eight millimeters in diameter. The sporanges are cuneiform and short, four millimeters long and equally broad at the point of attachment. Habitat--Nodules of Mazon Creek. There is a fine specimen, No. 134, of the nodules in the museum of Princeton College. Two others, upon slate, referable to the same species, though less distinct, are in the cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, from Yatesville, Pa. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS HASTATUS, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Figs. 27, 28.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 456. Schp., Paleont. Veget., II, p. 65. Lepidophyllum hastatum, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 876, Plate XVII, f. 7. Strobiles small, ovate; blades erect, short, enlarged at the base into diverging acuminate auricles, or hastate; sporanges long, oblanceolate or narrowly wedge form. The cone is like those represented by Ll. and Hutt., I, P1. 10, f. a, and Pl. XI, left side, which the author refers to Lepidostrobus variabilis. As the characters of the bracts and sporanges are not indicated, I cannot tell whether this species is the same as that represented by the English specimens, Theblades one and a half centimeters long, are distinctly hastate at the base. In my specimens of Lepidostrobus variabilis, the blades though about of the same size are not hastate but join the top of the sporanges by their whole width, the sporange being of the same length, while in this form they are evidently shorter only eight millimeters long. The shape of the strobile also should be considered in the comparison of the species to Lepidostrobus variabilis. Habitat—The specimen described in Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., was given to me by Mr. W. D. Moore, now of Pittsburgh, without indication of locality. One is described in the Geol. Rept. of Ill., from Mazon Creek. Mr. Lacoe has a number of specimens in his cabinet. One of them is figured here from the subconglomerate ledge of Pittston, Pa. | |
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Cone very long and narrow; cylindrical, flexuous, attached to a pedicel which, chaffy or scaly at its base, is higher covered with short narrow lanceolate imbricate leaves, and gradually increases in thickness to the base of the cone. Bracts short and broad, ovate, acuminate, narrowed in rounding to the point of attachment of the sporanges, closely imbricated; sporanges small, narrow and acuminate at the base, enlarged in joining the blades. The species is a very remarkable one and is represented, beside some separate fragments, by a most beautiful and well preserved specimen. The base, which is like a fragment of Rhizomopteris, is a stem ridged in the middle, punctulate, five centimeters long, five millimeters broad, without the chaff composed of very small scales which cover it in a thickness of two and a half millimeters (stem with chaff ten millimeters broad). It supports a leafy stem, four centimeters long, live millimeters in diameter with the leaves, which are short, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, closely appressed and imbricated. This stem gradually increases in thickness upward to the base of the strobile which is forty- three centimeters long, two centimeters in diameter, including the blades which are closely imbricated appressed and incurved, showing mostly, on the outside, their backs carinate by a thick medial nerve. These blades are seven millimeters long, broadly ovate, acuminate, three to four millimeters broad in the middle, rounded in narrowing to the point of attachment to the sporanges. These are short, one and a half to two millimeters long, obovate, tumescent, attached by a comparatively broad base to a semi-globular mamilla, remaining prominent, as their scars, upon the axis. The line of connection between the bracts and the sporanges is no more than one millimeter broad. This, and many other fine specimens seen, after the preparation of the plates and too large for the limited space accorded to them, should be figured. The descriptions, however detailed they may be, cannot satisfactorily represent the plants. Habitat—Oliphant, No. 1 vein; specimen No. 524 of the collection of Mr. R. D. Lacoe. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS ORNATUS, ? Ll. and Hutt.
Foss. fl., I, Pl. XXVI; III, Pl. CL XIII. I. D. Hooker, Mem. Geol. surv. of England, II, 1847, p. 448, Pl. VII; VIII. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 876. Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 443. Schimp., Paleont. Veget. II, p.67, Pl. LXII, f. 34-38. Strobile narrow, variable in length; sporanges in right angle; blades short, broadly lanceolate, acuminate, closely imbricate and appressed, coriaceous, convex and carinate on the back by the thick medial nerve. I refer to this species, with other fragments, a flattened cone, gradually narrowed from the base to the obtuse apex, fourteen centimeters long, two and a half centimeters broad at the base, fourteen millimeters at the obtuse slightly inflated top, with scales thick or coriaceous, closely imbri- cated, seven millimeters long, four millimeters broad at the base, inflated on the back, along the broad medial nerve. The cone is longer than those figured by the English authors. But one of the fragments in Hooker's, l.c., Pl. V, III, f. 1, indicates the length of the strobile as longer than in those which are represented whole, ibid., P1. VII, f. 1, and in Ll. and Hutt., Pl. XXVI, f. 3. The scales also are slightly longer and. narrower in our specimens. The other characters correspond. It is the only species seen in the American Coal measures with the blades rather scaly not foliaceous. Habitat—Wilkesbarre, Clarkson's collection. Mazon Creek, in small fragments. The best specimens are from Cannelton, Pa., communicated by Mr. I. F. Mansfield. | |
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Strobile small, cylindrical; blades very small, imbricated and appressed to the cone, lanceolate, acuminate enlarged at the base. A small cone preserved in its whole, thirty-five millimeters long, ten millimeters in diameter. The blades or scales closely imbricated are apressed, four to five millimeters long, two and a half millimeters broad at the enlarged base, thick, coriaceous, with a thick prominent nerve. Habitat—Subconglomerate coal of Alabama; Montevallo mines, Mr. T. H. Aldrich. There is upon a specimen of Lepidodendron longifolium, No. 559, in the cabinet of Mr. Lacoe, a cone two and a half centimeters long, one and. a half broad, which has blades of the same size and form. It is covered with a coating of coaly matter, and the characters are not distinct enough to ascertain identity. The museum of Princeton has a fine specimen, No. 140, from the nodules of Mazon Creek. The cone is two centimeters long, one centimeter in diameter, cylindrical-oblong, obtuse at both ends; the blades very thick. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS CONNIVENS, Lesqx.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 442, Pl. XXXI, f. 6. Lepidostrobus truncatus, Lesqx., ibid., p. 442, Pl. XXXI, f. 5. Cones very small; blades long, narrow, linear-lanceolate, closely imbricate. These two strobiles, described, 1.c. under different names, are only two centimeters long and half as large, truncate at the base; one, Lepidostrobus truncatus, is oval, with shorter lanceolate closely imbricating bracts; the other, oblong-obtuse, has bracts apparently longer, covering the cone from the base to the top, where they join by an inward curve. Both fragments are somewhat obscure. They may represent two different species or merely the broken top of larger strobiles. They are distantly comparable to Lepidostrobus gemmaeformis, Goep., Perm. fl., p. 142, Pl. XIX, f. 14-16. Habitat—Concretions of Mazon Creek. | |
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Cone small, linear; blades erect, lanceolate; scars of their points of attachment broadly rhomboidal lengthwise, or broadly oval; sporanges in right angle with micro-spores exposed. This is a mere longitudinal section of a cone in nodules. The blades are mostly destroyed, and the specific relation is uncertain. I figured it to show the horizontal position of the sporanges, which, by the section of the cone, are exposed, open, and the spores discovered. These are extremely small, three hundredth part of a millimeter in diameter, round on one side, triangular on the other. The sporanges are oblong, slightly emarginate at the point of union of the blades. It is the only strobile where I have been able to observe microspores. Habitat—In a nodule of Mazon Creek, split in the middle and exposing the inside structure. | |
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Strobiles cylindrical; axis narrow; sporanges very short, inclined and decurring to the axis; blades ovate, lanceolate-acuminate. The fragment has not the appearance of a Lepidostrobus. The blades and sporanges seem continuous, the line of separation, Atlas, f. 25a, being indistinct. The specimen is, however, somewhat obscure. It is a fragment of soft gray shale, where the blades are mostly immersed and their base generally indistinct. One specimen represents two bracts, somewhat more enlarged at the base than upon the figure; they are joined at the corner, and thus appear like a fragment of a sheath of Lycopodites. Other specimens may be found to elucidate the characters of this species. Habitat—Morris, Ill. Shale above the coal. | |
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Subgenus. LEPIDOSTROBUS (MACROCYSTIS), Lesqx.
Polysporia ? Newb'y, Geol. Rept. of Ohio, Paleont., 1, p. 360. Strobiles long; sporanges large, joined to the axis by their base, without any bracts; pedicels either none or shorter than the sporanges. Sporanges filled with macro-spores attached around a central axis. We have here, evidently, a distinct subdivision of Lepidostrobus. The species referable to it have been known, until now, merely from loose or scattered sporanges, whose reference to the genus was uncertain. To this subdivision is very probably referable the genus Polysporia, Newb'y, l.c. I should consider the reference as certain but for the remark of the author, that the sporanges are filled with microspores or very minute seeds. | |
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Strobiles cylindrical, very long, flexuous; axis broad, marked by long, narrowly oval scars impressions of the base of large inflated linear oblong sporanges, without any pedicel or support. This species is very rare. The fragments figured are part of long strobiles, sixty centimeters or more, flexuous, with sporanges in right angle to a broad axis to which they are attached by their whole rather enlarged than narrowed base. These sporanges inflated and bladder like, are of various size and shape, according to their relative position, their compression, etc., and when found separated from the axis have been referred to different species of Carpolithes. The axis is eight millimeters broad. The scars marked in spiral upon it as point of attachment of the sporanges, are four to five millimeters long, less than one millimeter broad in the middle. The sporanges one and a half centimeters in length and five to six millimeters in width are slightly emarginate, inflated in the middle, truncate at the point of attachment, and by cross section narrowly rhomboidal. The surface or thick epidermis is very thinly rugose across. The sporanges, f. 21-23, described as Lepidocystis fraxiniformis may be referable to this species. Habitat—The fragment, Atlas f. 1, is from Coal Creek, W. Virginia. It was presented to me by Dr. Salisbury as part of a strobile more than four times as long, then in his possession. The specimen is S. 28 of the collection of the Museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge, Mass. | |
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Sporanges twice as broad as in the former species, square or equilateral, truncate at the point of attachment, emarginate at the outer end, sometimes bi- or trilobate by compression. Of this species I have numerous detached sporanges but only a small fragment of a cone, with two sporanges attached to the border of the axis, the only part seen. The average width of the spore cases is one and a half centimeters, their length three centimeters. I have always seen them flattened, merely slightly inflated per places, especially toward the outside borders, like bladders irregularly compressed. They however contain spores, as seen from some of my specimens where the macrospores pierce across the envelope at the inflated inside border like those of Atlas, Plate LXIX, f. 9, which however belongs to the following species. Habitat—Cannelton, Pa. Not rare. | |
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Strobiles large; sporanges oblong, truncate at both ends; spores attached around a medial or central broad axis. The fragment, an upper part of a strobile is five centimeters broad and about eight long. The sporanges, in the lower part, are nearly in right angle to the axis, apparently empty or sterile, while in the upper part, they are filled with macrospores like f. 11, of Plate LXIX, which is probably referable to this species. The sporanges however as seen attached to the stem are narrower, more distinctly truncate at both ends, two centimeters long, six to seven millimeters broad, with the sides parallel or rather narrower in the middle and slightly falcate. The axis is narrow only two millimeters in diameter and the sporanges appear as if they were disposed in two ranks and alternate. In these sporanges, when open and full of spores, the internal axis is not visible, the spores being heaped and crowded as in Atlas, f. 11. Their disposition around the axis is surmisable from Atlas, f. 10, an empty capsule also probably referable to this species, and copied from another specimen, a crushed strobile whose sporanges, in great number, are heaped and scattered, some filled with the spores as Atlas, f. 11, some with the spore already detached, Atlas f. 10. Habitat—Cannelton. Mr. I. F. Mansfield. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS (MACROCYSTIS) ? FOLIACEUS, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Fig. 8.
Sporanges rounded at the top,
truncate at the base, obovate, flattened and undulate on the borders,
attached to the axis by a thick pedicel.Lepidophyllum foliaceum, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 444, Pl. XXXI, f. 10. Sporanges of this species have been formerly found in Illinois, but always separately, and I have been a long time before I could understand the relation of these peculiar organs. From the position of the three sporanges figured, and in comparison with the strobiles described above, they seem to belong to a strobile of analogous kind. The borders of the sporanges are always flattened and more or less deeply undulate on the surface and along the borders, undulations which vary according to the degree of compression, as seen in the three sporanges of Atlas, f. 8. From the former species this one differs evidently by the narrowed base of the sporanges, attached to the axis by a pedicel and not by the whole base. The top of the sporanges appears like a rhomboidal flattened shield, imperfectly representing a blade and thus, the species partakes, as transitional form, of some of the typical generic characters and of those of the subgenus. The sporanges, two and a half centimeters long are six millimeters broad at the truncate base and twice as large near the apex. The axis is as yet unknown. Habitat—Murphrysborough, Ill., main coal, the specimen decribed in Geol. Rept., l.c. Morris shale, Ill., specimen, Atlas f. 8. It is check Ll. 36 of the Museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge, Mass. Seen also in nodules of Mazon Creek, Ill. I have from Cannelton a sporange referable to this species. It is shorter, narrower, with flat borders. | |
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LEPIDOSTROBUS (MACROCYSTIS) MIRABILIS, (NEWBY.) Lesqx.
Polysporia mirabilis, Newby., Geol. Rept. of Ohio, Paleont., p. 362, Pl. XLI, f. 5, 5a, 6. Cones consisting of a series of club-shaped sporanges thickly set upon a central axis and filled with minute spores. The cone is seven to eight centimeters long, the sporanges of which there are perhaps a hundred on each cone are one and a half centimeters long, rounded at the remote extremity, narrowed and sometimes necked and wedged at the proximate end, filled with microspores, many hundred being contained in each. They are flattened and discoid as fossilized, but were originally spherical. They are of ten marked with radiating lines. This description copied from the author would not leave any doubt on the identity of his genus with this section of the Lepidostrobus if the sporanges were not filled with micro-spores. Even f. 5a of the plate, l.c., representing a separate sporange, is so much like f. 23 of Atlas, Plate LXIX, that both these organs seem specifically identical. The only difference (and it is a capital one) is that in all these specimens which I refer to Lepidostrobus (macrocystis) the spores are truly macrospores, easily distinct even their shape recognizable without a magnifier. Habitat—Shale over a subconglomerate coal, Youngstown, 0. Except this one, all the species described above are from the super-conglomerate coal measures. | |
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Blades or bracts either joined to sporanges or sporangiophores of Lepidostrobus or isolated. The spore cases are rarely left attached to the pedicels or sporangiophores after their separation from the strobiles. A number of species described as Lepidophyllum represent fragments of linear leaves of Lepidodendron. These are very numerous, variable according to the mode of preservation, compression, etc., Their characters are unreliable. They are interesting and merit a description only when found in connection with the stems. | |
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LEPIDOPHYLLUM AFFINE, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Fig. 31.
Geol. of Penn'a (1858), p. 875, Plate XVII, f. 5. Blade oblong, obtuse, not enlarged to the point of attachment; sporangiophores narrowed to the base. The blade is two centimeters long, five millimeters broad, with borders exactly parallel from the base to the very obtuse half round apex. On the explanations of the plate the name is marked by error as Lepidophyllum spatulatum. Habitat—A specimen from Yatesville, in Mr. Lacoe's collection at Pittston, No. 650, is the one from which our figure is copied. The specimen in Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., is from New Philadelphia, Schuylkill county, Pa. Species very rare. | |
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LEPIDOPHYLLUM BREVIFOLIUM, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Fig. 33.
Blade very short, triangular, slightly obtuse at the apex; sporangiophores oblanceolate, narrow, longer than the blade.Geol. of Penn'a, (1858), p. 876, Plate XVII, f. 6. The bracts are only six millimeters long, enlarging in a curve to the base, seven millimeters broad; the narrow sporangiophores are seven millimeters long, only two and a half millimeters at their point of union to the blades. Habitat—I found this species abundant in a lower coal bed, at Wilkesbarre and Johnstown, Pa., always in scattered specimens separated from the cone. | |
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Blades and sporanges (united) oblong, narrowed and sharply acuminate at the apex, rounded to an obtuse point base of the sporanges; blades thick, inflated, especially in the middle, carinate by a thick midrib. The sporanges nearly one centimeter long and as broad in joining the blade, are vertically rhomboidal, with the borders arched to the base; the line of attachment is obtusely angular in the middle, with the angle turned upwards. The blade, exactly of the same width as the top of the sporange, is continuous to it by its borders, the separation being marked only by the angular line closing the top of the sporanges. The bracts are one and a half centimeters long, thick, especially in the middle, tumescent along the medial strong nerve, rapidly rounded near the apex into a sharp and short acumen. By a cross section the convexity of the surface is marked as transversely oval, one and a half millimeters in diameter in the middle, fiat on the borders. Habitat—The specimen described is from Wilkesbarre, No. 565, of Mr. R. D. Lacoe's cabinet. I have seen another in a collection of Mr. Ch. Mammeth, of Newport. It was obtained from the anthracite of Mount Hope, Rhode Island. | |
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Blades lanceolate-acuminate, rounded and narrowed at base; sporanges obovate, narrowed downward to the point of attachment, rounded and contracted in joining the blades. A peculiar form. The blades vary in length from two and a half to four and a half centimeters long, and from eight to twelve millimeters broad in the ovate part, toward the base. From this point they are gradually narrowed upward into a sharp long acumen, or subulate and rounded downward to the sporange which, in the specimen, Atlas f. 40, where it is preserved, is five millimeters broad at its top. In a reversed position and in a reduced size, it has the same form as the blade, its length being only one centimeter. The medial nerve is triple. Habitat—I have seen only the two specimens figured. They are from the shale over the coal of Morris, Ill. Communicated by Mr. S. S. Strong. | |
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LEPIDOPHYLLUM MAJUS, Brgt.
Prodr. p. 87. Gein., Verst., p. 87, Pl. II, f. 5. Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 455. Schp., Paleont, veget., II, p.72, Pl. LXI, f. 8. Blade large, oblong, lanceolate-acuminate, triplenerved by plication of the midrib; sporangiophores obovate, obtusely pointed at the base. The species is much like f. 34, of Plate LXIX, differing by the blade not enlarged in the middle, not undulate, and by the longer sporangiophores. The blades are generally from seven to nine centimeters long, and thirteen to sixteen millimeters broad. Habitat—Rare in the American coal measures; most of the specimens of this species come from the Western coal measures; Morris and Clinton. Some are preserved in them cabinet of Mr. S. S. Strong. A fine one was communicated by Dr. I. H. Britts. | |
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Blades larger in the middle, lanceolate, acuminate, flexuous and undulate across the surface from the middle to the base; sporangiophores gradually enlarging from the base to the line of union to the bracts. Differs from the former by the sporangiophores being longer and narrower, the blades more rapidly contracted to a sharp acumen, more deeply and distinctly triple-nerved, and by the peculiar folds undulating the lower part of the laminae. Some of these blades are narrow, not much larger than leaves of stigmaria, but always identifiable by the undulations of the lamina. Habitat—Common in the Cannelton coal, and not seen elsewhere. Numerous specimens obtained present the same characters. | |
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LEPIDOPHYLLUM AURICULATUM, Lesqx., Plate LXVIII, Fig. 5.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 457, Pl. XXXVI, f. 6. Blades shorter than in the former species, enlarged in the middle, lanceolate, acuminate, expanding at the point of union to the sporanges into two small half round auricles; surface minutely striate under the epidermis; medial nerve simple, sporanges oblong, obtuse to the base, enlarging upwards. I consider this species as distinct on account of the auricled base of the blades, the simple medial nerve and the more sharply acuminate apex. Under the epidermis the surface is minutely lined lengthwise. Habitat—Shale of the coal of Morris, Ill., not rare; also found at St. John, Ill., with Lepidophloios auriculatus. | |
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LEPIDOPHYLLUM ACUMINATUM, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Fig. 37.
Geol. of Penn'a, (1858), p. 875, Plate XVII, f. 2. Blades about the same size and shape as in the former species, lanceolate, more sharply acuminate, a little enlarged above the line of union to the sporangiophores, which are longer and oblanceolate. The fragment described in the Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., under this name, is only the upper half of a blade, and I had then no other specimen for completing the diagnosis. In Atlas, f. 37, the base of the blade is somewhat enlarged, but not distinctly auricled. Except this difference the chacacters of this and the former species are the same, the medial nerve is also simple, and both forms may represent mere varieties. In Atlas f. 37, however, the surface does not show any trace of vertical lines, and the specimens are from different localities. Lepidophyllum trinerve, Ll. & Hutt., II, Pl. CLII, is like this species by the form of the blades, but it is triple-nerved, with the veins distant. Habitat—The specimen of the Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., is from the lowest coal of Johnstown, Pa. That of Atlas, f. 37, is from Grape creek, near Danville, No. 3 of Mr. Wm. Gurley's collection. | |
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Blades long, linear, abruptly rounded at the top to a short acumen; medial nerve broad; sporangiophores not seen. I have seen of this species only a few fragments from which the above description is made. The blade is nine centimeters long, thirteen millimeters broad at the base, where it is broken; twelve millimeters near the apex, where it abruptly curves to a short point. From other fragments found at the same locality, I supposed the blades to have been about twice as long as the part figured. It is thus far different from any other form of this group. Habitat—Lowest coal bed of Johnstown, Pa. | |
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LEPIDOPHYLLUM ROSTELLATUM, Lesqx., Plate LXIX, Fig. 35.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 443, Pl. XXXI, f. 8. Blade apparently thick, distinctly triple nerved, rounded in narrowing at base to the sporangiophore, to which it is joined by a narrow neck; sporangiophore rhomboidal, elongated, narrowed to the base. The blade three centimeters to the part where it is broken, there one and a half centimeters broad, is of a thick substance, rounded at the base to a narrow neck five millimeters broad, which joins it to the sporange or sporangiophore. This, enlarged at the upper part to more than one centimeter wide, rounded at the corners, is narrowed by inside curves to an acuminate base. The sporanges appear to be still attached to the pedicel, which is thick and covered with a coating of coaly matter. Habitat—Concretions of Mazon Creek. No other specimen has been seen. | |
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LEPIDOPHYLLUM STRIATUM, Lesqx. Plate LXIX, Fig. 36.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 445, Pl. XXXI, f. 9. Blades long, lanceolate, acuminate, triple nerved, distinctly lineate or striate in the length; sporangiophores in right angle to the blades, oblanceolate. The first specimen described in the Geol. Rept. of Ill. represents two erect blades attached to sporangiophores in right angle. The sporanges are half buried in the stone and somewhat indistinct, the part which can be seen representing them as oblanceolate from below the point of attachment, which is destroyed. On this specimen, the blades broken at the top are also lacerated along the borders; their nervation is not distinct, and therefore the characters could not be fully ascertained. The blade figured now, represents the same species, as seen from the striation of the surface, a character which I have not seen distinct in any other Lepidophyllum. The blades are a little enlarged in the middle, slightly narrowing and curved to the line of union to the sporanges, lanceolate, sharply acuminate to the apex, distinctly triplenerved, seven and a half centimeters long, twelve millimeters broad in the middle, there scarcely one millimeter larger than at the base. Habitat — Concretions of Mazon Creek, the specimen figured in Geol. Rept. of Ill. The one represented here is from the cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, No. 199, from Butler mine, E vein. The blade of this last specimen is somewhat longer, and I considered it at first as a distinct species. The striate lamina is, however, a peculiar character, which indicates the identity of these fragments. | |
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Blade long and narrow, linear, subulate, rounded and contracted to the point of attachment to the linear sporangiophore subulate to the base; sporanges enlarged at the top, oblong, truncate at the base. The specimen figured represents a blade with the sporangiophore only. I have had later for examination other specimens with the sporanges. The blades, carinate by a thick medial nerve, vary from seven to twelve centimeters long; their widest diameter towards the base is three millimeters, and from the base they are gradually narrowed, awl shaped to the apex. The sporangiophores one and a half centimeters long, are equally linear and inversely subulate. The sporanges are large, nearly one centimeter broad in the upper part, under the base of the blade, and one and a half to two centimeters long. As the sporanges are not open, the spores cannot be seen; but from the nearly smooth surface of the epidermis covering them, they appear to be microspores. Lepidostrobus Bailyanus, Schp., Paleont. Veget., II, p. 71, Pl. LXI, f. 9, 9a, 9b, as represented by Lepidophyllum blades and open sporanges, is much like this species. The blades are about of equal size and length, but they are enlarged at the base and as broad as the top of the sporangiophores, while in our species they curve at the base, narrowing to half their width in joining the pedicels. Contrary-wise, the sporanges are abruptly enlarged at the top, where they are twice as large as those of Lepidophyllum Bailyanus, oblong, truncate at the base, and filled apparently with microspores. The blades are carinate by a broad triple nerve, which is simple under the epidermis. Schimper's species is from the old Red Sandstone of Ireland. Habitat—The specimen figured here is from Wilkesbarre lower coal bed, found there with Lepidophyllum brevifolium. It is Ll. 13 of the Museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge. The two other specimens with sporanges are in the cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, No. 85c, 85a, from Boston mine, C vein, Pittston, with a number of others probably referable to a different species, the blades, although of the same shape, being very short, two centimeters, with broad square sporanges, half as long as those of this species. I have specimens of the same character from Cannelton. | |
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