| 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 |
| ODONTOPTERIS | LESLEYA | DICTYOPTERIS |
| §. ODONTOPTERIS. | |
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Fronds large, bipinnate; pinnae
opposite or sub-alternate; pinnules of various forms, generally oblong,
obtuse, joined to the rachis by their whole base sometimes de-current,
either disjointed and separate to the base,or connate to the middle,
generally becoming confluent towards the top of the pinnae and
gradually effaced in passing to a terminal leaflet; lower pinnules
sometimes attached to the main rachis and difform; veins emerging from
the rachis, more rarely from a midrib; veinlets thin, dichotomous,
diverging straight or in curve, in passing to the borders. This genus is so intimately allied to Neuropteris, that some of its species have been considered as indifferently referable to one or to the other of the genera. As far as I knew these plants, from American specimens, they differ especially by the absence of the large round cyclopterid leaflets, generally observed with species of Neuropteris and which I have not as yet remarked with Odontopteris. Grand'Eury however refers to this genus a number of those cyclopterid leaves, (among others Cyclopteris trichomanoides, Brgt.) which I have considered and described as Neuropteris from identity of some peculiar characters. The species of Odontopteris, like those of Neuropteris, were bushy ferns with immense fronds. The celebrated French author, quoted above, has seen them fifteen to twenty feet long, with petioles thirty to forty centimeters broad. To him also we owe, it seems, the discovery of the fructification of this kind of Ferns. He has represented in his Fl. carb., Pl. XIII, f. 4, leaflets of a species which he names Odontopteris sorifera, bearing upon the end of each division of the veins, at the point of contact to the borders, oval inflated corpuscles, apparently sporanges, slightly emarginate at the outside, passing a little out of the borders, and split in the length. They are remarkably similar to the fructifications of some living Angiopteris or Marattia like Marattia purpurascens or Marattia fraxinea, Sm., and for that reason as also on account of the analogy of structure of the petiole, both this author and Brongniart relate Odontopteris and Neuropteris to the tribe of the Marattiae. Fragments of pinnae of Odontopteris Schlotheimii and Odontopteris britannica, bearing inflated pinnules, were formerly considered by Goeppert and Geinitz as representing the fruiting organs of these species. They have been later recognized by the authors themselves as a peculiar kind of deformation without relation to fructifications. A leaflet of this kind is figured Atlas, Plate XX, f. 2. In order to facilitate the classification, some authors have separated the species of Odontopteris into peculiar groups, according to the characters of the venation. Weiss, especially, Foss. fl., p. 31, admits three subgenera as follows: 1st. Odontopterids proper (Xenopteris), for species with pinnules marked by numerous, equal, parallel veins, coming out of the rachis without any midrib. 2d. Mixoneura for those with leaflets of a mixed venation, or with pinnules xenopterid-neuropterid and even cyclopterid in one and the same species. Odontopteris Alpina, Atl., Pl. XIX, is a fine exemplification of the characters of this group. 3d. For the species whose leaflets have a midrib more or less distinct, oblique, vanishing upwards, and besides, numerous secondary veins, equal and parallel, emerging from the rachis. As far as evidenced by American species, the two first divisions might be admitted for a classification; but this could be of little advantage for the student, as it is often very difficult to decide, from imperfect fragments, to which of these groups the specimens may be referable. It is the case for separate pinnules of Odontopteris Alpina. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS TENUINERVIS, Lesqx., Plate XXII, Figs. 2, 3.
Neuropteris tenuinervis, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, p. 859, Plate V, f. 7, 8. Pinnae apparently linear; pinnules oblong, enlarged upwards, obtuse, entire or irregularly denticulate at the apex; borders undulate; middle nerve very thin, effaced at the middle by subdivision; veins from the rachis or from the midrib, slightly arched, dichotomous, thin and close. I have not seen any other specimens than the two figured. By their mixed nervation, they are referable to Neuropteris, as evidently as to Odontopteris. Their relation to Odontopteris subcuneata, is indicated by the form of the pinnules and for this reason they have their place in this genus. The two leaflets Plate XXII, f. 3, irregularly toothed or lacerated in the upper part, are comparable by this character to Neuropteris dentata, Plate V, f. 7, 8, a species which, by the form of the pinnules and the nervation is, however, a Neuropteris. The rachis of this fern is comparatively large, striate. Habitat—Gate vein, near Pottsville; very rare. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS ALPINA, Gein., Plate XIX, Figs. 1-5.
Neuropteris alpina, St., Fl. d. Vorw., II, p. 76, Pl. XXII, f. 2. Heer, Fl. foss., Helv, IV, p. 26, Pl. VI, f. 14, 15. Odontopteris alpina, Gein., Verst., p. 20, Pl. XXVI, f. 12; XXVII, f. 1 Odontopteris obtusa, Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 255, Pl. LXXVIII (fide Schimper) Ll. and Hutt., Foss. FL. 1, Pl. XL. Odontopteris Lescurii ? H. C. Wood, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., v.XIII, p. 348, Pl. VIII, f. 8, 8c. Frond large, with abroad flattened striate rachis; pinnae irregularly divided; pinnules either large, oblong-obtuse, or smaller, round or reniform, sessile by their whole base, or rounded to a broad point of attachment; veins dichotomous, curved, emerging from the rachis and parallel, or from the narrowed base and flabellate. The beautiful specimens figured here expose the variety of characters of this remarkable Fern. Plate XIX, f. 1 has two kinds of divisions of the main rachis; one by forking in an acute angle of divergence, like the dichotomy of a large branch, while on the other side, the pinnae with a narrow rachis, are short, in right angle or even turned back. The pinnules have also two marked characters of shape and venation; the large ones, oblong-obtuse, two to four centimeters long, one centimeter broad, oblique or in right angle, Plate XIX, f. 1, are with few exceptions neuropterid; while those of Plate XIX, f. 2, close or distant, and much smaller, vary in size and shape, and have on a same pinna the venation of both Neuropteris and Odontopteris. The veins are distant and distinct, forking generally twice; the ultimate pinnules are long, lanceolate, obtuse, the upper lateral leaflets becoming confluent at their base. The species is not satisfactorily represented by European authors. Sternberg and Heer merely figure an ultimate pinna, with some of the leaflets obtusely pointed. Geinitz has two fragments, one with pinnules oblong-obtuse, like those of Atl., Plate XIX, f. 1, the other with small, short divisions, connate to near the top, both with veins undulate, a character which I have not remarked in any American specimen. Of Odontopteris obtusa, Ll. and Hutt., Goeppert makes Odontopteris Lindleyana, which Schimper refers to this species. The figure given by the English author represents a mere fragment of a pinna, with small oval pinnules apparently of a different type. The fragment described as Odontopteris Lescurii, by Dr. H. C. Wood, 1.c., apparently represents a variety of this species with leaflets broader at the base, even enlarged into half round lobes, and intermediate between Odontopteris Alpina and Neuropteris Agassizi. It may be a good species. Habitat—Mount Hope coal mines, near Newport, Rhode Island. Jas. H. Clark. The museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge has numerous specimens of the species. It is also in the cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, of Pittston, from Olyphant, Pa., No. 1 Vein. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS NEWBERRYI, Lesqx.
Odontopteris neuropteroides,* Newb'y, Geol. Rept. of Ohio, Paleont., I, p. 381, Pl. XLVII, f. 1-3.
Frond bipinnate; pinnae of lower part of frond linear in outline, composed of twenty or more pinnules, of which the terminal one is large and irregular, as in Neuropteris, the upper pinnae shorter and broader, with the terminal pinnule relatively smaller; pinnules of various form, those near the base of lower pinnae ovoid and cordate, precisely like those of Neuropteris; upper ones more or less cuneate, strongly decurrent, the upper side of base free, as in Otopteris; pinnules of the upper pinnae linear, often acute, connate and decurrent at base. This species has, by the diversity of some of its characters, a relation to the former; the venation, however, is much closer. By the shape of the pinnules it may be compared to Odontopteris obtusa, as figured by Brgt., Hist. d. Veg. foss., Pl. 78, f. 4. It is related to Odontopteris neuropteroides, Roem., l.c., by the terminal pinnules of the same form; but the lateral ones are larger and comparatively broader. It is a distinct and fine species. Habitat—Coal No. 1, of Mahoning and Summit counties, Ohio. Also on Mill creek, near Youngstown, Ohio. I owe to Prof. Wm. M. Fontaine the communication of specimens from the conglomerate series of West Virginia, Quinnimont coal seam, which are most probably referable to the species. They have been described by the discoverer in Amer. Journ. Sci., 3d series, vol. XI, p. 378, as representing, perhaps, a Neuropteris. Prof. Newberry rightly remarks that separate leaflets of this fern look precisely like those of Neuropteris. | |
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Frond pinnate; rachis thick, obtusely striate; pinnules long, lanceolate in outline, entire in the lower part, divided from the middle upwards into lateral, linear-lanceolate, obtusely acuminate lobes, gradually shorter and more obtuse towards the base of a long lanceolate terminal pinnule; veins dichotomous, more or less curved, emerging from a distinct primary nerve, or from thin lateral ones. We have of this remarkable species only four specimens, three of which, the best preserved, have been figured. The best, Plate XXII, f. 8, an ultimate pinna, is apparently attached to a main thick rachis, of which a fragment only is preserved. The pinna is ten centimeters long, two centimeters broad in the middle, rounded at the upper basilar side to the point of attachment, more enlarged, and slightly auricled on the other, entire and gradually enlarging up from the base to the middle. The upper part is irregularly or pinnately divided into linear, obtusely acuminate, lateral segments, obliquely diverging, about two centimeters long, passing up to shorter, three to five millimeters half round lobes, at the base of a long terminal linear-lanceolate pinnule, gradually narrowed to an obtuse apex. The characters of Plate XXII, f. 7 are about the same; it shows only the upper part of a much larger pinna, which, if entire, would be about twenty centimeters long. Plate XXII, f. 9 represents another of those polymorphous divisions, attached to the rachis, whose analogy of shape is remarked in Neuropteris Clarksoni, Odontopteris Alpina, etc. It is sessile, truncate, or slightly cordate at the base, only four and one half centimeters long, and palmately irregularly divided from below the middle into five lobes, of about the same shape as in Plate XXII, f. 8. The midrib in this specimen is indistinctly marked upon all the lobes. The lateral veins are somewhat thick, not very close, forking three or four times, much curved backwards, near the base, nearly straight, in the lobes; numbering fifteen to twenty per centimeter along the borders. The substance is subcoriaceous. When the somewhat thick epidermis is erased, the veins appear under it, and in some places, as split in filaments, irregularly passing from one to another, as in pinnules of Dictyopteris. This species has some distant likeness to the following, and I supposed at first that it might be referable to the same. By comparison of specimens the veins are seen to be of a different character, especially thicker and closer. Habitat Cannelton. Discovered by Mr. I. F. Mansfield; not seen elsewhere. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS HETEROPHYLLA, Lesqx., Plate XXI, Fig. 6.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 433, Pl. XXXVIII, f. 2-5. Schp., Paleont. Veget., I, p. 464. Frond bipinnately, irregularly divided; pinii lanceolate in outline; pinnules alternate, entire, obovate, decurring and distinct, the lowest reniform or half round, becoming smaller, lanceolate, pointed and recurred in the secondary divisions; terminal pinnules linear-obtuse or obovate, sometimes reniform ; reins mostly derived from the rachis, thin, parallel, except in the basilar round pinnules, distant, generally forking once. This species is extremely polymorphous. Of the specimens obtained at the same locality, numerous enough, but all fragmentary, I have figured four, in the Geol. Rept. of Ill., l.c.—F. 1 is represented upon our plate; f. 2 and 3 are fragments of pinnae with broad, distinctly and distantly striate rachis, alternately divided in pinnules of conform shape, obovate or cuneate-obtuse, decurring but not connate, rather distant, five to twenty millimeters long, three to seven millimeters broad, near the top, where they are the widest. The terminal pinnule is two and a half centimeters long, one centimeter broad in the middle, where it is enlarged, sub-lobate and free, the upper lateral pinnules not being confluent with it. F. 4, of the same report, represents two other lateral pinnules, similar to the lower branches of Atlas, Plate XXI, f. 6, with the lower leaflets half round or reniform, the veins flabellate or curved, dichotomous, and the upper divisions oblong or obovate, like the upper leaflet of the middle branch of the same figure. The fragment Plate XXI, f. 6 seems to represent a rachioid pinnule, like Plate XXII, f. 9, of the former species. No other Odontopteris known until now from European authors has any relation to this. Two small branches, figured by Dr. H. C. Wood, Jr., Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., Vol. XIII, Pl. VIII, f. 8d and 9, and described p. 348, as Odontopteris Lescurii, (omitting f. 8, 8a, 8b) may represent this species. The pinnules have the same form as the upper ones of f. 2, of the Ill. Rept., l.c. But the specimens are too small for positive determination, and the venation is not indicated. Habitat—Murphysborough. It is not rare in the roof shale of the coal, there, but until now it has been found only in small fragments. A specimen has been sent by Mr. Wm. Gibson from Spring Creek, Indiana. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS WORTHENII, Lesqx. Plate XXII, Fig. .1.
Geol. Rept. of. Ill., II, p. 432, Pl. XXXVI, f. 1. Schp., Paleont. Vega., p. 468. Frond pinnate; rachis thick, irregularly striate; upper pinnae longer, linear-lanceolate, pinnately divided into obovate or oblong-obtuse lobes, connate at the base and subdecurrent, confluent towards the top, passing into a lanceolate obtuse terminal pinnule; lower divisions pinnatifid at the top and the base only, with the middle part entire; lower lobes half attached to the rachis, enlarged upwards, reniform; veins thin and close, dichotomous, curved; surface hairy. We have many specimens of this fine species, but none better than the one figured. The others mostly represent merely simple pinnae, pinnately lobed on one side, entire on the other, like the lower one of Plate XXII, f. 1. Some pinnules are entire and similar in shape to those of Neuropteris decipiens —smaller, however. The veins are all from a thick middle nerve, which represents the rachis of a secondary pinna; they appear extremely thin in the middle of the lamina, on account of the hairy surface which render them confused; at the borders and joining it, they are inflated, distinct, numbering only thirty to thirty-five per centimeter. The species is, like the former, remarkable by the variable and abnormal divisions of its pinnae. Habitat—Mazon Creek, in nodules; received from Mr. S. S. Strong. I have seen also one specimen in the collection of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, of Pittston. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS ALATA, Lesqx. Plate XXI, Fig. 1.
Car. Carb. foss. pl., p. 6, Pl. f. 1. Schp., Paleont. Veget., p. 456. Frond
bipinnate; pinnae oblique, linear, sub-opposite; pinnules ovate,
subrhomboidal, obtuse, confluent to the middle and decurrent; terminal
pinnule lanceolate, obtusely acuminate, lobate at the base by the
confluent upper lateral lobes; basilar leaflets attached to the rachis
by a broad base, quadrangular or broadly cuneate, truncate or slightly
emarginate at top; veins parallel in joining the rachis, thin but
distinct, forking once at or above the middle.
This species is closely related to the following, and according to Schimper's remark, the fragment figured may represent the upper part of a small pinna of the same plant. It differs by the pinnules comparatively smaller, the largest one centimeter long, none broader than five millimeters, oblong, obtuse, very oblique to the rachis (never pointed and falcate at the upper part, as in Odontopteris Brardii); by the basilar pinnules attached to the rachis, and by the terminal leaflet larger, much longer, lanceolate, and obtusely pointed. Schimper remarks that in Odontopteris Brardii, the basilar pinnules, in the upper part of the pinnae, are also attached to the rachis. This is seen, indeed, Pl. 75, of Brgt., 1.c., where a pair of these pinnules is joined to the rachis as decurring to it at the base of one of the upper pinnm, and as a prolongation of them. Such a partial displacement of the lower pinnules is seen also upon some species of Neuropteris; but it seems then casual, while, on our specimen, the lower pair of leaflets appear normally attached to the main rachis, the one below the terminal pinnule being in the middle of the space separating the two upper branches. The terminal leaflet of Odontopteris Brardii, also, is always very small, oval, and in no way similar to that of this species. The venation, however, is positively of the same character, and notwithstanding the differences mentioned above, the relation appears so close, that I might have admitted Schimper' s opinion and considered this plant as a mere variety of Odontopteris Brardii if the specimens representing both forms had been found at the same locality, and did not have altogether a different facies. Habitat—Tremont; probably from the Tunnel vein. The specimen was found by Mr. P. W. Sheafer, of Pottsville, and presented to the Cabinet of the Scientific Society of that locality. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS BRARDII, Brgt.— Plate XXI, Fig. 2.
Brgt., Hist. d. Veg. foss., p. 252, Pl. LX XV and LXXVI. Schp., Paleont. Veget., p. 454. Heer, Ft. foss. Helv, IV, p. 25, Pl. VII, f. 1-7. Odontopteris intermedia, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Arks., II, p. 313, Pl. V, f. 7. Fronds very large, bipinnate; pinnae alternate, from a thick sub-striate rachis, open, linear-lanceolate toward the apex; pinnules rhomboidal-ovate, scythe-shaped and acuminate, confluent to the middle, gradually smaller towards the top of the pinnae, with a small ovate or ovate-lanceolate terminal leaflet; basilar pinnules attached to the base of the pinnae, cuneate, emarginate or lobate; venation of the same character as the former, more obscurely or coarsely marked. The Museum of Comparative Zoology of Cambridge has large specimens of this species, agreeing in their characters with those of the European form, the veins generally indistinct, or obscured by a thick epidermis. The fragment, f. 2 of Plate XXI, described as Odontopteris intermedia, 1.c., differs from Odontopteris Brardii, by the more obtuse leaflets and the irregular thickness of the veins, some of them more inflated towards the base and also near the slightly crenulate borders. Prof. I. E. Teschemacher, Boston Journ. S. N. H., v. V, p. 382, Pl. XXX, has described and finely represented the normal form of this fern, a large fragment of a pinna, from the coal mines of Rhode Island. As it is generally the case on specimens of the anthracite of that State, the leaflets expanded on one side of the pinnae are longer and sharply acuminate, while on the other they are contracted, much shorter and nearly truncate. The same configuration is remarked in the description of Odontopteris deformata. Habitat— Subconglomerate Coal, Jenny Lynd prairie, Arks. Specimens of the normal form, with very large pinnae, are not rare in the coal of Rhode Island. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS SQUAMOSA, Lesqx.
Boston Jour. S. N. H., v. VI, p. 419. Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 860, Plate XIX, f. 2. Frond pinnate; pinnae long, lanceolate; pinnules oblong, obtuse or truncate at the top, disconnected at the base; terminal pinnules small, oblong, obtusely lobed on the sides by connection of the upper lateral pinnules; veins very thin, close, dichotomous. Schimper considers this form, like Odontopteris intermedia, as referable to Odontopteris Brardii. The difference is however marked. The veins are thin, twice as close; the leaflets not connate at the base, but rather distant. It seems more closely related to Odontopteris obtusa, Brgt., (Odontopteris lingulata, Goepp.) as figured Hist. d. veg. foss., Pl. LXXVIII, f. 4, and I should have united it to this species but for the great difference in the size and shape of the terminal leaflets. In this fragment as in that figured by Brongniart, the veins are obscured by a coating of coal which covers the surface as a scaly epidermis, which is easily detached, however. The last character recognized also upon the leaflet described as Cyclopteris laciniata, led me to suppose that it might represent the same species, a supposition supported by identity of venation and by the discovery of these two specimens at the same locality. Habitat—Muddy Creek, a coal vein formerly opened and now abandoned, near the road between Tremont and Pottsville, Pa. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS SUBCUNEATA, Bunb'y, Plate XXII, Figs. 4 and 5.
Bunb'y, Quat. Geol. Journ., III, p. 427, Pl. X XIII, f. 1. Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 433, Pl. XXXVI, f. 3. Schp., Paleont. Veget., I, p. 461. Pinnately divided; pinnae long, linear; pinnules distant, alternate or opposite, oblique, either ovate or cuneate, obtusely acuminate, auricled and narrowed to a broad point of attachment; or obovate, broadly obtuse, drawn out at the lower base into a short half round auricle gradually effaced in the upper part of the pinnae; terminal pinnules large, lanceolate, obtuse; veins all from the rachis, parallel at the base, dichotomous, diverging and more or less curved towards the borders. The species is distinct and its characters recognized in all the specimens. The rachis is sometimes finely striate as by the decurring of the veins into it, a character observed by Bunbury and which is marked only upon few specimens. The pinnae seem to have been long and linear. The leaflets, either opposite or alternate, generally distant, even near the top of pinnae, vary in length from one and a half to three centimeters long and from one to one and a half centimeters broad, a little above the point of insertion, where they are unsymmetrical, or inflated to a short obtuse auricle. They are oblong or obovate, very obtuse, sometimes, however, obtusely acuminate, as on the left side of Plate XXII, f. 5. The point of attachment, generally broad, is narrowed, however, in some of the large inferior pinnules into a short pedicel. The terminal pinnule is free, comparatively large, as seen Plate XXII, f. 4. Another specimen, with upper leaflets alternate, one and a half centimeters long, has the terminal pinnule nearly linear, obtusely acuminate, six and a half centimeters long and only one centimeter broad. The venation is always odontopterid, all the veins being derived from the rachis, without any trace of a midrib, a character which evidently separates the species from Odontopteris tenuinervis. They are more or less curved, dichotomous, clearly marked, not very close, numbering thirty per centimeter on the borders. The substance of the leaflets is somewhat thick, not coriaceous, however. I have seen a specimen bearing a pinna with close nearly imbricate leaflets, without basilar auricles, except on the lower pair of pinnules. Habitat—Rare in our coal measures; most of the specimens seen until now are from the nodules of Mazon Creek. | |
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Pinnae lanceolate; pinnules coriaceous, convex, oval or oblong, obtuse, distant, attached to the rachis by the whole base and nearly in right angle to it, oblique and connate only in the upper part of the pinnae ; terminal pinnules small, lanceolate, obtuse; veins parallel at the base, distinct, very thin, slightly diverging upwards, generally forking once above the middle; rachis smooth. The species was described in the Rept. of Ill., l.c., from a too fragmentary specimen. Atlas, Plate XXI, f. 8, representing the largest part of a whole pinna, gives some more light upon the general characters of this Fern. It is rigid, pinnately divided into sessile pinnules, the lower ones seventeen millimeters long and one centimeter broad, nearly exactly oval, truncate at the point of attachment, all of the same form, gradually smaller towards the upper part, where they become confluent, passing to a lanceolate obtuse terminal leaflet. In the specimen of the Rept. of Ill., the leaflets are all connate at their base, but the lower ones are more deeply disjointed, and in right angle to the rachis. The substance of the pinnules is coriaceous; the surface distinctly convex; the veins immersed into the epidermis are very thin, scarcely distinguishable, one millimeter apart, diverging upwards towards the borders, but parallel at the base. It is evidently a distinct species, without analogy to any other of the coal measures. Habitat—Mazon Creek, Ill., in nodules; Cannelton, Pa., very rare. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS SCHLOTHEIMII Brgt., Plate XX, Figs. 1, 2.
Filicites osmundaeformis and Filicites vesicularis, Schloth., Petref., pp. 412 and 418. Flor. d. Vorw., Pl. LIZ, f. 5; f. 26. Odontopteris Schlotheimii, Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 256, Pl. LXXVIII, f. 5. Goepp., Gatt., V, VI, p. 98, Pl. VI, f. 1, 5. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 860, Plate VII, f. 1. Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 460. Weissites vesicularis, Goepp., Syst., p. 14. Gein., Verst. d. Zechst., 1, P. 2, Pl. VIII, f. 8. Frond bi-pinnate; primary divisions oblong-lanceolate, more enlarged in the middle; secondary pinnae in right angle, or slightly oblique, pinnately divided in oval, obtuse pinnules or lobes, the lower ones nearly free, the others gradually smaller, more and more connate toward the apex, where they pass into a small deltoid or lanceolate obtuse terminal pinnule; veins parallel from the base, distinct and distant, forked above the middle. This species is well known; however, no specimens have been figured until now, representing entire pinnae like that of our plate. The parallel position of these pinnae indicates them as primary subdivisions of a large frond. They vary from twenty to thirty centimeters long, even more, and are apparently in right angle to the main rachis. The secondary pinnae, also in right angle, five to ten centimeters long in the middle, become shorter towards the base, and bear alternate leaflets, generally connate to the middle. Toward the upper part of the primary pinnae, the lobes become connected in their whole length, and the secondary divisions pass into entire, oblong, obtuse pinnules, with a three or four lobed terminal leaflet. The veins are distant, parallel at the base, curving downwards to the radius, or joining it in right angle, distinct, forking once. In the basilar leaflets, whose shape is generally round, the distribution of the veins is palmate from a central basilar point, as in Odontopteris alpina. The rachis of this species when flattened, is exactly linear, and distinctly striate, like a leaf of Cordaites. I have seen fragments of it, two and a half to three centimeters broad. Plate XX, f. 2, copied from Goepp., Gatt., l.c., represents inflated leaflets which, as said above, were considered formerly as fruiting parts of this species, but have been more recently recognized as casual deformations due probably to the action of some insects. A similar inflation is remarked on the borders of some pinnules of this species in specimens from Morris. Habitat---Tremont new vein, in large specimens. Found also at the Tunnel vein, near the same place. St. Clairsville, Ohio, in a Coal equivalent of the Pittsburgh Vein, Mr. P. W. Emerson. More generally found in the upper strata of the middle coal measures, rarely in the lower. It has been obtained, however, by Mr. S. S. Strong, in the shale above the coal of Morris, Ill. | |
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ODONTOPTERIS SUBCRENULATA, Sp. nov., Plate XXI, Figs. 5, 6.
Odontopteris crenulata, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 860. Frond bi-pinnate ; pinnae linear-lanceolate; pinnule, attached by the whole decurring base to the narrow rachis, disjointed, rhomboidal, obtuse or truncate, distinctly crenulate; veins all from the rachis, parallel at the base, forked from the middle, distant. This species resembles Odontopteris crenulata, Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 254, Pl. 78, f. 1-2, but differs by its shorter broadly obtuse leaflets, crenulate all around, not lanceolate, nor lobate or deeply crenate at the apex. The larger pinnules, Plate XXI, f. 6, about one centimeter long and nearly as large, are broadly obtuse, some of them obliquely truncate and equally crenulate all around the borders. They are sessile by their whole base and decurrent, bordering the rachis by a narrow margin. In the upper part of the primary pinnae, as seen Plate XXI, f. 5, the secondary divisions gradually pass to simple, linear-lanceolate, obtuse pinnules, undulate on the borders by the gradual shortening of the lobes. They are distinctly crenate and decurring as in Plate XXI, f. 6. Brongniart's species is closely related to Odontopteris Brardii, to which it is united by some authors; this one has its affinity to Odontopteris Schlotheimii, from which it essentially differs by the crenulate borders. I have seen a number of fragments of this plant, all from the same locality and with identical characters, the pinnules only being variable in size, according to the inferior or superior position of the pinnae. Habitat—The large specimen communicated by Mr. W. Lorenz, chief engineer of the Philadelphia and Reading R.R., is from Salem Vein, near Pottsville. The other is from the Tunnel Vein below Tremont, same horizon. Another fragment found there also, represented, Atl., Plate XVI, f. 11, and described with Neuropteris crenulata, Brgt., has a great affinity to this species and may perhaps be referred to it. | |
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Pinnately divided; pinnae apparently open, parallel, close; pinnules alternate, oblong or sub-linear, obtuse, disconnected, rounded to the rachis and joined to it by a broad base; borders undulately lobed, but entire; costa broad, gradually thinning upwards and effaced below the point; veins diverging in an open angle from the midrib, slightly curving towards the borders, forked above the middle. The leaflets, nearly equal, gradually, slightly shorter towards the top of the pinnae, average one and a half centimeters long and eight millimeters broad, at their base. They preserve from the base to the top of the pinnae (ten centimeters long) exactly the same form and size. Near the base, they are a little enlarged into one pair of more distinctly marked lobes, then upwards merely undulate and then gradually entire to the obtuse apex. The veins are distinct, twice as close as in Odontopteris Schlotheimii, to which the species is comparable, and generally inflated from the middle to the borders, Atl., Plate XXI, f. 7a. The parallel position of the two branches indicates the fragment as detached from a primary pinna of large size. Habitat Pittston. Collection of Mr. R. D. Lacoe. Specimen No. 172, from Carbon Hill shaft, C vein. | |
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Bipinnate; secondary pinnae lanceolate, joined by a narrow margin of the rachis, distant, pinnately deeply lobed; lobes triangular, acute, deeply crenate; veins distant at the base, more or less declaring, either all from the rachis and parallel at the base, or branching from a middle declaring nerve, forking once. I have nothing of this species but the two fragments figured. By the narrow flat margin following the rachis and uniting the pinnae; by the attachment of the veins of some of the lobes to a decurrent midrib, as seen Plate XXI, f. 3, and by the direction of the veinlets, each to the point of the teeth, the species seem really referable to Sphenopteris. But in most of the sub divisions, especially in those of Plate XXI, f. 4, and also in those of Plate XXI, f. 3, when not very oblique, the emergence of the veins from the rachis is clearly marked. Comparing Plate XXI, f. 3 to Plate XXI, f. 2 of the same plate, a fragment doubtfully referable to Odontopteris Brardii, whose rachis is also flattened along the borders, whose veins are, some of them at least, joined to a more inflated medial one, representing a costa, the relation between the two species is evident. It would amount to identity, if the pinnules of Plate XXI, f. 2 were crenulate. In both, the pinnae are short, three to four centimeters, divided in about seven pairs of alternate lobes, more and more connate towards the acute terminal pinnules, and the lower is lobed on the inferior side. Habitat—One of the specimens, communicated by Dr. Britts, is from Clinton, Mo. The other, more distinct, is in a nodule from Mazon Creek. | |
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Frond bipinnate; pinnae close, long and narrow, parallel, open; pinnules short, rhomboidal, acute, confluent to the middle; veins strong, mostly three, attached to the rachis and parallel at the base, the central divided in three branches from the middle. This species is remarkable by its narrow, very long, linear pinnae, one of which, figured, is fifteen and a half centimeters long, seven millimeters broad in the middle, slightly and gradually narrower both toward the base and the apex. The species is not less remarkable by its nervation. Of the three veins, rarely four, which, parallel at the base, ascend in curving upwards towards the borders, the middle one, stronger in the lower part, divides in three branches near the middle, the two lateral branches being opposite, the medial one ascending to the acute and scythe-shaped point of the pinnules. The author remarks that the fertile pinnae are of the same form, only relatively narrower, and that the fructifications are somewhat different from those of Odontopteris Schlotheimii, the entire surface of the fronds being covered with sori. This species is without relation to any other of the coal measures. It resembles, by its narrow, long pinnae, Alethopteris serrula, Lesqx. Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 865, Plate XII, f. 1, but the divisions of the pinnules and the nervation are of a far different character. Habitat—Coal No. 1, (sub-conglomerate), Youngstown, Ohio. | |
| SPECIES INSUFFICIENTLY KNOWN. | |
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Pinnately divided; pinnules distant, small, lanceolate-acuminate, rounded at the base and somewhat prolonged on the inferior side, with a short, distinct pedicel; middle nerve either totally obsolete, or obscurely marked from the middle downward; veins thin, dichotomous, diverging towards the borders, distinct only under the removed epidermis. Until recently I had not seen any specimen which might elucidate this species, described from a single leaflet, not even preserved entire. Among the specimens communicated lately by Mr. F. W. Emerson, there is a fragment of a pinna, four and a half centimeters long, bearing six pairs of sub-opposite leaflets, the terminal one destroyed. It is from this pinna that the diagnosis is made. The pinnules are distant, lanceolate, sharply acuminate, obliquely truncate at the base, the superior basilar lobes being cut obliquely, and the lower ones prolonged in the same direction. The surface is covered by a coating of coaly matter, which obliterates the veins. The facies of the Fern is most like that of Neuropteris acuminata, Brgt.; but its leaflets are not half as large. I do not believe, however, that it represents a Neuropteris, at least the nervation, as far as it can be discerned through the epidermis, is of the same type as in the pinuule figured in the Ill. Rept., l.c. These fragments may, however, belong to two different species. Habitat—Concretion of Mazon Creek, a single leaflet.—Shale over the coal of St. Clairsville, Ohio, an upper coal. The distribution of the fragments in the upper and lower coal render their identity more doubtful. | |
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Bi or tripinnate; primary pinnae long, linear-lanceolate, narrow; secondary pinnae short, sessile, linear-lanceolate; pinnules connate at the base only, becoming confluent near the top, small, five to six millimeters long, lanceolate, with a blunt apex; veins nearly straight, thin, parallel, or slightly diverging, dichotomous. The specimens representing this species are deformed by contraction of the pinnules on one side, and expansion on the other, as is often the case with the vegetable remains of the anthracite of Rhode Island. The. general characters agree with those of Odontopteris Brardii. The pinnules, however, are much smaller, of the same size about as those of Odontopteris minor, Brgt., and rather obtuse than acute. It is an intermediate form of uncertain relation, especially on account of the deformation of the remains. Habitat—Mount Hope coal mines, near Newport, Rhode Island, communicated by Mr. Jas. H. Clark. The specimens from which the above diagnosis is made, are O. 17 and O. 57 of the collection of the Museum of Comp. Zool., Cambridge. | |
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Pinnae simple, very entire, sub-lanceolate, gradually narrowing towards the base, traversed by a thick costa effaced under the apex; veins oblique, curved, equal, repeatedly dichotomous. This description is the exact translation of Brongniart' s diagnosis of the Genus Glossopteris, with the omission of the last sentence, indicating the characters of the veins as being sometimes anatomosing or reticulate. On this Schimper remarks, Paleont. Veget. 1, p. 644, that Brongniart, in his Tableau des genres, considers the partial reticulation of the veins marked only near the middle nerve, as the essential character of this genus; but that the description of the nervation is not perfectly exact, as the anatomoses are not limited to the area bordering the rachis, but are seen too near the borders, where they become only more rare. The leaves described here under the above generic name do not show any trace of anastomoses or reticulation of the veins, not even in their connection to the rachis. It would, therefore, be inappropriate to refer them to a group of plants whose essential character is different, and which represents only species of the Indian and Australian Carboniferous. This genus is related by some of its characters to Neuropteris and by its venation of its fine species especially to Megalopteris. | |
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Leaves or pinnae apparently simple, broadly lanceolate, obtusely pointed, largest in the middle, gradually narrowed to the base; borders entire or deeply split; nerve very thick, half round, thinning to near the point, where it is effaced by division; veins dichotomous, moderately curved in traversing the lamina, distinct. The relation of this species, at least by its more marked characters, is with Neuropteris. Except for the strong round midrib, it should be referred to that genus. The three fragments figured, the only ones seen until now, indicate the leaf as simple and basilar. The largest, Plate XXV, f. 1, finely preserved, is twenty-two centimeters long, eight centimeters broad in the middle, narrowed nearly in the same degree downward to the base, which seems to have been slightly decurrent, and upward to an obtuse apex. This leaf is entire, while that of Plate XXV, f. 2, apparently in a more advanced state of decomposition, is more or less deeply split along the borders, thus divided in lobes or laciniae of different size. This splitting indicating a thin texture of the laminae, is probably casual and mechanical, though the base of the lacerations is in some places an obtuse, narrow sinus, such as could result from the separation of the lobes during the growth or development of the leaves. In any case, it cannot be considered as a normal character. Others and irregular erosions seen Plate XXV, f. 1 and 3, have the borders also smooth, like the sinuses of Plate XXV, f. 2. The lateral veins, exactly represented, do not fork as repeatedly as in species of Neuropteris. They are more equal, less curved, slightly turning upwards near the borders, where they number twenty-five to thirty per centimeter. Habitat---Soft shaly sandstone, base of the Chester Limestone. Communicated by Prof. A. H. Worthen. | |
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Frond bipinnate; pinnules cordate, truncate or rounded at the base, sessile or short pedicelled, oblong-obtuse or lanceolate, entire; veins flexuous, connected by flexures and intersections, forming a more or less distinct and close reticulation of polygonal meshes. This genus is, like the former, intimately allied to Neuropteris. As seen from Dictyopteris rubella, Atlas, Plate XXIII, f. 7-10, the more common forms of species of Neuropteris, are represented in it, either by small oblong obtuse pinnules, Plate XXIII, f. 8, similar by size and shape, even by the short pedicel, to the lateral leaflets of Neuropteris capitata, f. 1, of Pl. XXIII; or by lanceolate pinnules, truncate at the point of attachment, with undulate borders like those of Neuropteris gibbosa, Atlas, Plate VI, f. 2, while the cyclopterid character is clearly seen in f. 10 of Plate VI. The reticulation of the lateral veins is more or less close and distinct in the different species of Dictyopteris, but generally the veins may be followed in their direction towards the borders and the undulations seen coming close to each other, often without connection of the flexures. This character is represented for Dictyopteris Scheuchzeri, in Roem., Paleont., VIII, Pl. XXI, f. 12. I have given also an enlarged figure of the same distribution of the veins of Dictyopteris rubella, in Rept. of Ill., l.c. Sometimes indeed the undulations of the veins are short and joined at their angles, and the veinlets pass across either above or under them, and thus multiply the meshes. It is the case in Dictyopteris obliqua. But I have not seen any real anastomosing of the veins, even upon specimens of the species, and really the affinity of venation between Dictyopteris and Neuropteris species is so great that, as remarked in the description of Neuropteris Loschii, some leaflets representing Dictyopteris by the reticulation of the veins, are intermixed upon the same pinna with others positively referable to Neuropteris Loschii, by their venation. Roemer regards his Dictyopteris cordata as identical with Neuropteris cordata, Brgt., a mistake probably, caused by considering as veinlets the hairs attached to the lower surface of some Neuropteris, like Neuropteris cordata, or Neuropteris decipiens, which, often close and thick, stamp the counter-impressions upon the shale by linear grooves similar to those of anastomosing veinlets. Brongniart, in his Tableau des genres, remarks the relation of this genus to Neuropteris. Gutbier, its author, places it after Neuropteris, mentioning, however, the affinity of the venation to that of Lonchopteris. Schimper in his Handbuch der paleont., 1879, separates the Dictyopterids as a sub-group of the Neuropterids, under the name of Dictyoneuropterids, while he admits in Dictyopteris the Ferns only whose areolation is composed by true anastomosis of the veins, like Camptopteris, Dictyophyllum, Clathropteris, etc. | |
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DICTYOPTERIS RUBELLA, Lesqx., Plate XXIII, Figs. 7-10.
Frond bi- or tripinnate; pinnae
linear-lanceolate; pinnules open, either cyclopterids, large, sessile,
deeply cordate-auriculate; or of middle size, distant,
lanceolate, obtusely acuminate, sub-truncate, or abruptly rounded at
base,
to a short, enlarged petiole; or, as tertiary leaflets, small
oblong-obtuse; midrib basilar
or none; veins dichotomous and flabellate from the base, arched towards
the
irregularly undulating, and forming, by contact of the flexures,
rhomboid-oval reticulations.Geol Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 388, Pl. VII f. 2-6. Schp., Paleont. Veget. III, p. 514. The specimens figured represent the three more distinct forms of this specie, relating it, as said above, to species of Neuropteris from which it differs only by the reticulation from the undulation of the veins. Plate XXIII, f. 10 is a Cyclopteris with a deeply cordate-auricled base, indicating its attachment either to a primary rachis or to the point of division of the pinnae. Plate XXIII, f. 9 has leaflets four and a half centimeters long, one and a half centimeters broad at the rounded base, similar to those of Neuropteris vermicularis and other species. They are only more distinctly scythe-shaped. This character seen upon the pinnules of other species of Dictyopteris is not marked on those of the tertiary pinna, Plate XXIII, f. 8, whose oblong-obtuse leaflets, a little longer than one centimeter, are slightly contracted in the middle, resembling those of Neuropteris tenuifolia. The reticulation is formed by contact or merely by the approach of the flexures of the undulating veins, which become free and separated towards the borders. As remarked in the first description of this species, Geol. Rept. of Ill., l.c., the epidermis or the substance of the pinnules has become, by maceration, easily separable from the stone in thin lamellae. Whole pinnules have been obtained in that way, without any earthy substance adhering to them and half pellucid, showing the disposition of the veins clearly exposed by microscopical examination. An enlarged representation of the venation as seen through the microscope, Pl. VIII, f. 6, l.c. could not be given on our plate from want of space. The peculiar red color of the epidermis and its easy separation from the stone, in all the specimens obtained, prove their reference to the same species. They were moreover all cut from the same block of shale. Habitat--Murphysborough, Ill., low coal. | |
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DICTYOPTERIS OBLIQUA, Bunb'y., Plate XXIII, Figs. 4-6.
Bunb'y., Coal Form. of Cape Breton, Quart. Journ., III, p. 427, Pl. XXII, f. 2. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a., 1858, p. 861 (excl. Plate VIII, f. 6). Geol. Rept. of Arks., p. 313, Pl. V, f. 10. Schp., Paleont. Veget., 1, p. 618. Frond bi-pinnate; pinnae linear; pinnules linear or oblong-obtuse, more or less distinctly scythe-shaped, sub-cordate at base; veins closely reticulate. The pinnules of this species, attached to a narrow rachis by the base of the costa only, are very deciduous and generally found scattered and free from the rachis, though sometimes extremely numerous. The leaflets, one to two centimeters long, six to seven millimeters broad, are a little more prolonged on one side of the base, according to their direction. For though generally in right angle to the rachis, they incline either upwards or downwards and the enlarging of the base of the leaflets is opposite to that inclination, as seen on the branch Plate XXIII, f. 6. The leaflets vary in size merely, and this, even comparatively little; for the smallest I have seen; figured in Arks. Rept., l.c., is one centimeter long; and half as broad. The reticulation of the veins is always close and distinct; the costa, distinct to above the middle, is formed by the prolongation and close apposition of the base of the lateral veins, as seen Plate XXIII, f. 5. In Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, I referred to this species and there figured, Pl. VIII, f. 6, a fragment which does not seem to belong to it. The venation is somewhat similar or reticulate by the undulation of the veins; but as I have observed the same character in leaflets of species of Odontopteris and Neuropteris, I now consider this fragment referable to Odontopteris Schlotheimii. Habitat—The whole extent of the coal measures from the sub-conglomerate to the upper beds of the middle coal, the Pittsburgh and St. Clairsville veins. It is also present through the whole area of the coal fields. Abounds at Trevorton where I have found a stratum of shale so thickly intermixed with leaflets of this species that it appeared as merely composed of them; also at the Salem vein, near Pottsville. Rare in the sub-conglomerate coal of Arkansas; more abundant in the nodules of Mazon Creek, Ill. in the shale of Cannelton, Pittston, Wilkesbarre, Pa.; at Clinton, Mo.; also in the coal of Rhode Island, etc. | |
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