| 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 |
| OLIGOCARPIA FLAGELLARIS | Sphenopteris flagellaris |
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The group of Pecopterids has been much mixed by authors, and though the separation of the genus Pseudopecopteris has simplified it already, it is still interspersed with species whose characters are not in evident correlation, or do not fully answer for the definition of a simple genus. The subdivision of the tribe into groups, has been attempted, based upon the character of the fructifications. As it has been remarked already in the introduction, the fruits of most of the fossil Ferns are unknown, and when they are observable as in a number of species of the Pecopterids, their diagnosis even with the assistance of the microscope is always more or less incomplete. The spores, mostly placed on the lower surface of the leaflets, are seen through the epidermis by protuberances which do not distinctly represent the position of the sporanges in relation to the veins, and when the sori are exposed, they are mostly crushed and disfigured, so that their composition and generally, if not always, the indusium, its shape, point of attachment, etc., are indiscernible. And as fructified pinnae of Ferns are very often separated from the sterile plants, it happens, as it will be seen in some of the following descriptions, that a specific relation of the fertile fragments to the sterile ones is merely presumable. I have, indeed, as often as possible, represented the fructified part of the Pecopterids but cannot take them into consideration as characters for a subdivision of the tribe. One has only to look at the classification of a few species grouped from the apparent characters of the fructifications, to see how unreliable are the diagnosis derived from them. Goeppert, in his Systema, describes as Aspidites nodosus and Aspidites leptorrachis, two species referred by Schimper to Pecopteris arborescens, while another species of the same author, Asplenites nodosus, is for Weiss a synonym of the same Pecopteris arborescens described by him under a new generic name, Cyathocarpus, with Cyathocarpus candolleanus, Cyathocarpus Miltoni, Cyathocarpus unitus, this last a Goniopteris by its nervation, no more a Cyathocarpus by the fructification than Goniopteris emarginata, Goniopteris longifolia, etc. In Pecopteris, and because the fructifications are unknown, Weiss places Alethopteris Serlii, Pecopteris Bucklandi and Pecopteris oreopteridia, the first a true Alethopteris by the large size of the fronds and of their divisions, by the nervation, etc., far different from the two last species true Pecopteris. A classification of this kind tending to arrange the fossil Fern of the coal into a natural order according to their fructifications, however commendable it may be from a high scientific point of view, is with the limited knowledge we have of the coal plants, mere perplexing to the student. Schimper in his master work so often quoted, Paleontologie vegetale, has grouped the Pecopterids from their apparent relation to living Ferns, and has separated them in the following order: 1st. Pecopteris (Cyatheites). Ferns comparable to the living Cyatheae by the characters of the fructifications in round sori, placed in rows parallel to the borders. This is the essential group to which the larger number of the species of Pecopteris are referable. 2nd. Pecopteris (aspidioides). Ferns whose fructification is in round indusiate sori. In this group the author places most of the species described above as Pseudopecopteris; among others, Pseudopecopteris nervosa, Pseudopecopteris subnervosa, Pseudopecopteris muricata, Pseudopecopteris Sillimanii, Pseudopecopteris Loschii, Pseudopecopteris callosa, Pseudopecopteris pussilla, all Ferns whose fructification is unknown and whose relation to Aspidium is therefore uncertain. 3rd. Pecopteris (asplenioides). Ferns with fructifications in linear sori. None of our American species are named in this section except Pecopteris serrula which finds a more appropriate place elsewhere. 4th. Pecopteris (acrostichides). Ferns with the sporanges strewn upon the lower surface of the leaflets. Species of this division are Oolitic and Permian. 5th. The last section describes Pecopterids of uncertain relation. One of our species only, Pecopteris decurrens, finds a place in it. The clear definition of the genus Pecopteris given by Brongniart in his tableau des genres is applicable to the whole group of the Pecopterids. |
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Fronds bi, tripinnate; pinnae
long, pinnatifid; pinnules adhering to the rachis by the whole base,
often more or lass deeply connate, not decurring; borders generally
contiguous or nearly so; secondary veins derived from the medial nerve
of the pinnules, simple, bi- or trifurcate. As a kind of key for helping the difficult determination of the numerous species of Pecopteris, I have adopted the following somewhat different mode of grouping them from characters generally persistent and more easily recognized: 1st. Pecopteris (Goniopterids). The essential character of the Ferns of this division, which Schimper admits as a genus, is the upward curve of the lateral veins as seen upon all the figures of Atl. Plate XL. 2nd. Pecopteris (proper) or Cyatheids. To this belong the species answering exactly to the characters of Brongniart's definition of this genus. This group might be subdivided for species with veins simple or once forked; for those whose veins are twice forked, and for those with the veins branching three times. As some species have a different mode of division of the veins, according to the place of the leaflets upon the pinnae, I have merely approximately followed in the descriptions the order indicated above without mark or name of subdivisions. 3rd. Pecopteris (villous). The Ferns of this division have the surface hairy or villous. This character is permanent and easily discernible. 4th. Pecopteris (crestate). Species with pinnae not distinctly divided into obtuse entire lobes or pinnules, but generally cut on the borders in sharp irregular teeth. And last a group for a few species of uncertain relation which do not find place in the former divisions. |
| §1. PECOPTERIS (GONIOPTERIS.) |
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PECOPTERIS UNITA, Brgt., Plate XL, Figs. 1-7.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 342 , Pl. CXVI, f. 1-5. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a 1858, p. 867. Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 441. Schp.. Paleont. veget., I, p. 505. Cyatheites unites, Gein., Verst., p. 15, Pl. XXIX, f. 4, 5. Frond large, bi- or tripinnate; secondary pinnae in right angle, oblong, rapidly narrowed to an obtuse apex; rachis of the ultimate pinnae broad and flat; pinnules connate to below the middle, or to near the apex, oblong or linear, obtuse; midrib thin, reaching to near the apex; veins simple, curving inside in passing up to the borders, parallel; fructifications in round sori, placed upon the veins in single rows, between the medial nerve and the borders. Species extremely variable in the form and size of its ultimate pinnae very rarely found attached to the main rachis. As seen from the figures, these pinnae are linear, abruptly rounded to a terminal very small half round pinnule, with leaflets more or less deeply connate, often united to the apex. The detached pinna in the middle of Plate XL, f. 1. represents the more marked variety. According to the more or less deep separation of the pinnules, the lateral veins, curving upwards, ascend more or less high up along the borders; sometimes as in the branch of f. 1, all even the lower pair reach the margin, which is then merely undulate. The species is always and easily recognized by the broad fiat rachis of the ultimate pinnae; indeed all the fragments of rachis of this Fern are extremely broad, comparatively to the size of the branches which they support as seen Plate XL, f. 2. In Plate XL, f. 1 the pinnae are apparently joined to a rachis, two and a half centimeters broad, at the base of the figure; but the point of connection is not seen and the pinna of the left side appears as if passing over it. But in Plate XL, f. 2, the connection is clear. The radius of this branch appears puctulate. Plate XL, f. 7b shows the disposition of the sporanges as seen with the microscope. This disposition is like that of Cyatheites and Asterocarpus of authors. Habitat—Species locally extremely common. The nodules of Mazon Creek have afforded, by a large number of finely preserved specimens, the means of comparing the multiple forms of the pinnae and the variable disposition of the sori, according to their more or less advanced stage of maturity. The Museum of Cambridge has more than two hundred specimens of this species in these nodules; it has also the fine specimen Plate XL, f. 1 which I found at Muddy Creek in an old mine between Pottsville and Tremont. The species is also represented at Newport, Rhode Island; around Wilkesbarre and Pittson; at Oliphant, No. 1 vein; at the Salem Vein of Pottsville, etc. I have not seen it in the collections from Cannelton, Pa., and from Clinton, Mo., and therefore though present in the whole thickness of the middle coal measures, its geographical distribution is local. No specimen has been received from the subconglomerate measures. |
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PECOPTERIS EMARGINATA, Goepp. Plate XXXIX, Fig. 11.
Diplazites emarginatus, Gopp., Syst., p. 274, Pl. XVI, f. 1, 2. Pecopteris longifolia, Germ., Verst., p. 35, Pl. XIII. Goniopteris emarginata, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 544. Pecopteris emarginata, Bunb'y, Foss. pl. of Cape Breton, Quart. Geol. Jour., III, p. 82, Pl. VI. Cyatheites unites, Gein., Verst., p. 25, Pl. XIX, f. 4, 5. Alethopteris emarginata, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 398. Frond pinnately divided; ultimate pinnae linear, rounded to an obtuse acumen, borders regularly undulate; venation as in time former species. It is very difficult to find positive characters to separate this species from the former. A comparison of the pinna Plate XXXIX, f. 11, with that in the middle of Plate XL, f. 1, does not show any marked difference between them. The pinna representing Pecopteris emarginata, is somewhat shorter and broader and the medial nerve slightly narrower. But in the examination of a long series of specimens, differences far more striking than these become blended together by intermediate forms and it is not possible to see a point where a specific separation might be legitimately fixed. As figured by Geoppert and Geinitz, l.c., the sori of the fructified pinnae of this species are irregularly scattered and apparently cover the whole surface of the laminas. But as Goeppert and Schimper have already remarked it, this scattering is caused by the maturity of the sori, which when open have their sporanges mixed, irregularly strewn and spread by compression and maceration over the surface. Some of my specimens have those scattered sporanges upon one half of the pinnae while upon the other, the sori are round and in their natural position as in Pecopteris unita. From this I am inclined to follow Geinitz's opinion and to consider this so-called species as a variety of the former. Habitat—Mazon Creek always with the former. |
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PECOPTERIS LONGIFOLIA, Brgt.
Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 273, Pt. LXXXIII, f. 2. Goniopteris longifolia, Schp., Paleont. veget., p. 544. Alethopteris longifolia, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 469. Frond pinnately divided; pinnae linear-lanceolate gradually tapering to the apex; ultimate pinnae slightly oblique distant, narrow linear obtusely acuminate, with borders undulate by the entire cohesion or the pinnules; secondary nerves oblique to the rachis, lateral veins curved upwards and ascending all to the margins. The specimen from which the diagnosis is made is far better than that seen by Brongniart. It is the upper part of a pinna fifteen centimeters long, bearing alternate open secondary pinnae, the lower ones fructified, four and a half centimeters long eight millimeters broad, the upper sterile, three centimeters long, less than five millimeters broad, gradually shorter to the apex. The sori are distributed as in Pecopteris unita, in two rows along and on both sides of the midrib, seemingly covering the whole surface, on account of the narrowness of the lamina, with also the same starlike distribution of the sporanges. The lateral veins are much less numerous than in the former species, three pairs only curving up to the borders and reaching them without connection or anastomosing of the lateral branches. The rachis is comparatively broad, half round. This species is easily separated from both the former by the narrow linear lanceolate pinnae, comparatively longer, and the less distinct undulations of their borders. Habitat—Very rarely found. The specimen described, (P. 451,) of the Museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge, and another of the same collection (Al. 93), more fragmentary, are from Mazon Creek. In the cabinet of Mr. Lacoe, there is a still smaller fragment, part of an ultimate pinna, with a clear distinct nervation, labeled No. 192, from the sub-conglomerate ledge near Pittston. |
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PECOPTERIS LANCEOLATA, Lesqx., Plate XXXIX, Figs. 9, 10.
Alethopteris lanceolata, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 398, Pl. XIII, f. 1-3. Frond pinnately divided; pinnae lanceolate to the apex; secondary divisions alternate, narrowly lanceolate, entire, blunt or obtuse at the apex, open, slightly scythe shaped; primary nerve half round, of medium size; lateral veins thin, the middle one very oblique, the branches simple, parallel, ascending to the borders. I have seen only, of this Fern, the two fragments figured here. One is the upper part of a secondary pinna six centimeters long, with five pairs of distant alternate pinnae, the lower ones five and a half centimeters long, nearly one centimeter broad, rapidly shorter upwards, the upper ones, those of the fifth pair, being only two centimeters long and half a centimeter broad. The characters of this Fern distinctly separate it from those described above. The substance of the pinnae is thick; the surface smooth, the midrib narrower, half round, narrowly grooved in the middle; the veins inclined outside in a more acute angle of divergence are extremely thin, scarcely seen through the thick epidermis, even, as in Plate XXXIX, f. 10, totally obsolete; the borders are entire or scarcely undulate, rounded to a broad point of attachment to the rachis. Habitat—The specimens figured are in concretions from Mazon Creek. They belong to the museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge, Al. 64 and Al. 74. |
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PECOPTERIS ARGUTA, Brgt., Plate XLI, Figs. 2-3a.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 303., Pl. CVIII, f. 3-4. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 867. Polyporites elegans, Goepp., Syst., p. 344, Pl. XV, f. 10. Goniopteris arguta, Schp., Paleont. veg. I, p. 543. Frond bipinnate; pinnae open, rigid, very long, close; pinnules equal, contiguous, connate at base, linear, obtuse; medial nerve straight, distinct to the apex; lateral veins simple, parallel, thick, oblique and straight to the borders. This species is easily recognized by the peculiar disposition of its lateral veins, eight to twelve pairs, all in exactly the same angle of divergence, 40°, thick and sharply marked The pinnae are very long, (none seen in its whole), linear, the pinnules mostly equal, average one centimeter in length, and only two millimeters in width. The characters, excepting the number of the veins which increases somewhat in the longer leaflets, are not variable. I have represented Plate XLI, f. 2a, a fertile pinna, which seems to be referable to this species on account of the disposition of its veins. The fructifications in marginal oval sori are placed upon the end of each vein. The relation of the fragment is however uncertain as it has not been found attached to a sterile branch. Habitat—Formerly found only in the upper coal beds of the Anthracite, the Salem vein, near Pottsville and New Philadelphia. Later, specimens have been obtained from the Morris coal of Ill. From Mazon Creek I have only the fructified specimen uncertainly referable to this species which is rare and has been mostly found in small fragments. |
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PECOPTERIS ELEGANS, Germ.
Germ., Verst., p. 39, P1. XV. Goniopteris elegans, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 542. Pinnules long, narrow; veins in a more acute angle of divergence, more distant, fire to six pairs. It is very difficult to separate this species from the former, as the shape of the pinnae and pinnules, their relative disposition and that of the veins are remarkably similar. There are in the Museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge two specimens (P. 84 and 84a) whose characters perfectly agree with the author's description, the veins being slightly more oblique, less numerous, five to six pairs, and the rachis evidently hairy or scaly. But the number of the veins vary in accordance with the size of the leaflets, and it is scarcely advisable to base a specification upon such a variable character. I have, however, not remarked any trace of points or remains of scales upon the rachis of the former species. A fine specimen in the cabinet of Mr. Lacoe has a coarsely hairy rachis, pinnae eight to twelve centimeters long, some of its pinnules two to three millimeters broad, with five pairs of very oblique simple veins, while others broader have the veins curving inwards and ascending higher to the borders. The specimen bears also fertile pinnae with the sori placed upon the veins as in Pecopteris unita, and with the same star like disposition of the sporanges. The radius of the pinna is however narrow. The specimen explains how Geinitz, Verst., p. 25, may refer Pecopteris elegans to Pecopteris unita; for this last species has often a punctulate rachis like that of the specimen of Pittston. I describe this as a species still uncertain if it is legitimate. Habitat—Salem Vein of Port Carbon upper coal Oliphant No. 1 Vein. |
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Pinnce comparatively large, with, a broad rachis, lanceolate in the upper part, linear downwards; pinnules coriaceous, open or in right angle, connate at the base, the upper ones only contiguous, all oblong, obtuse; medial nerve thick, veins curving upwards, simple, parallel, ten to fourteen pairs. This species is quite distinct from all the others of the division by its more coriaceous texture, the broad rachis of the pinnae and the thick medial nerve of the pinnules, which enlarged at its point of attachment, is gradually narrower but distinct to the apex. The pinnules, eight to fifteen millimeters long, five to eight millimeters broad at the base, where they are joined in an obtuse sinus, are all more or less distant, the upper ones only contiguous. In the largest leaflets, the veins are distinctly curved inwards, in ascending to the borders; the curve is less marked in the smaller ones, though they are never quite straight, as seen Plate XXXIX, f. 8. The cabinet of Mr. R. D. Lacoe has a number of specimens of this species, all presenting the same characters and all also fragmentary. In the largest pinnules one or two of the veins are split in the middle, a division more marked in the following species. Habitat—Port Griffith, between F. and C. vein, Mr. R. D. Lacoe. |
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Pinnae narrow, with a narrow rachis, pinnately lobed; lobes alternate, linear, generally somewhat broader near the obtuse apex, connate at the base only, inclined upwards, even slightly decurrent, contiguous to above the middle; medial nerve thick; veins oblique, curved upwards, mostly split in the middle, six to eight pairs. The specimen figured is the only one seen. As in the former species, the medial nerve of the lobes is broad at the base, gradually narrower upwards, or as thin as the veins in the upper part of the pinnules. The species is related to the former by the disposition and the inward curve of the veins, but is clearly distinct by its narrow rachis, the thin substance of the pinnules, and the more general splitting of the lateral veins, as seen Plate XLI, f. la. Remarking upon his new Genus Cymoglossa, Paleont. Veget. I, p. 553, Schimper says that it has a close relation to Goniopteris, but that the tertiary veins are mostly bifurcated, a character which does not agree with that of the veins of Goniopteris. This assertion is true for the species of the type of Goniopteris emarginata, whose thin veins, all turned upwards, pass up to the borders of the connate pinnules, as are those of Cymoglossa. But in variety of Pecopteris unita, some of the veins are split as they are in this species. The same kind of division has been remarked still more distinctly in Pseudopecopteris subcrenulata. Habitat—Spring Creek, Indiana. Sent by Mr. Wm. Gibson. |
| §2. PECOPTERIS (CYATHEITES.) |
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PECOPTERIS ARBORESCENS, Schloth., Plate XLI, Figs. 6, 7.
Filicites arborescens, Schloth., Flor. d. Vorw., Pl. VIII, f. 13, 14. Filicites cyatheus, ibid., Pl. VII, f. 11. Pecopteris Schlotheimii, St., Flor. d. Vorw., I, p. 18. Pecopteris arborescens, Brgt., d. veg. foss., p. 310, Pl. CII, CIII, f. 2, 3. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 867. Geol. Dept. of Ill., II, p. 442. Schp., Paleont veget., I, p. 499. Pecopteris aspidioides, Brgt., ibid., p. 311, Pl. CXII, f. 2. Pecopteris cyathea, Brgt., ibid. p. 307, Pl. CI, f. 1-4. Pecopteris lepidorachis, Brgt., ibid., p. 313, Pl. CIII, f. 5. Frond tripinnate; primary rachis thick, smooth or tuberculate, secondary rachis strong, minutely punctate, sometimes smooth; primary pinnae broadly lanceolate, ultimate divisions linear, open, taper-pointed, generally close; pinnules close, in right angle to the rachis, narrowly oblong, obtuse, convex on the surface, and coriaceous; lateral veins strong, simple or forking once; fructification in two parallel rows of sori, one on each side of the midrib; sporanges disposed star-like. This Fern is represented in numerous forms or varieties which have been often and are still considered by some authors as distinct species. The upper part of the deltoid primary pinnae generally resemble a beautiful dwarf tree. The tertiary divisions are narrow especially in the upper part of the pinnae, scarcely half a centimeter broad, and the small pinnules all equal and simple veined. In the lower part of the pinnae, the divisions of the same kind are longer, flexuous, one and a half centimeters broad, or more, the pinnules distinctly inequal in length, the veins once forked. This form answers to Pecopteris cyathea, Brgt.—Pecopteris aspidioides, referred by Schimper to this species has the same characters in the form and disposition of the pinnae and pinnules; but the veins, instead of being merely inclined to the border, are distinctly curved back. Of specimens with this character of nervation, I have seen only those corresponding to Pecopteris cyathea, Brgt., as represented by the author, l.c., Pl. CI, f. 2a. Pecopteris lepidorachis, Brgt., is also referred by Schimper to Pecopteris arborescens as a variety. The form of the pinnules and their disposition correspond to that of Pecopteris cyathea, the pinnules being however slightly decurrent at the base. The veins are forked once at the base and the upper branch forked again. I have not seen any specimen with this character, the fragments referred to this species from Mazon Creek being fructified and the nervation invisible. The fructifications of this species are not rare, but the position of the sori in regard to the veins is not discernible; at least I have never been able to see it, and it has not been described by any author. The sori are large and close, therefore cover the whole surface of the pinnules. The sporanges are obovate, attached star-like by five to the central point. Habitat—Upper carboniferous measures, especially of the Anthracite basin. Abounds in the roof shale of the South Salem vein of Port Carbon, in connection with Neuropteris Rogersi and Pecopteris arguta and also at the Gate or Tunnel vein near Pottsville, Tremont, and New Philadelphia. I have not seen it in the low coal of Illinois, indeed nowhere west of Ohio; for the only specimen doubtfully referred to this species from the nodules of Mazon Creek is too imperfect for positive identification. It is not rare at Pomeroy, and in the clay beds between Athens and Marietta, Ohio. With Neuropteris hirsuta, it marks the horizon of the upper coal of the middle division, the Pomeroy, the Pittsburgh beds, and passes upward to the Permian, becoming still more diversified in its characters and also more prevalent. |
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PECOPTERIS PLATYRACHIS, Brgt., Plate XLI, Fig. 5, 5a.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 312, Pl. CIII, f. 4, 5. Pecopteris arborescens, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 499. Leaf tripinnate; primary and secondary rachis flat, distinctly punctate, smooth and shining; upper secondary pinnce oblique, short, lanceolate; pinnules very close and narrow linear, obtuse contiguous to the apex; veins simple or forking once, curved back. The essential characters separating the species is the broad flat rachis, which resembles a fistulose flattened stem, with surface very smooth, rather shining, and punctate. It is represented by two specimens from Cannelton. One apparently the upper part of a branch, has short, lanceolate, oblique pinnae, the lower ones two and a half centimeters long, gradually shorter towards the apex, seven millimeters broad, with close small narrow pinnules, scarcely one millimeter broad, four to five millimeters long. The middle nerve is distinct, but the lateral veins obsolete. The other may be the lower part of the same pinnae, the rachis is one centimeter broad, the pinnae are slightly oblique, linear, gradually acuminate, eight centimeters long, with pinnules in right angle, irregular in length, and veins forking once. The disproportion of the rachis to the size of the secondary pinnae is remarkable. Besides this the pinnules are narrower, rather flat than convex and the veins totally obsolete in the smaller leaflets. The difference in the geological horizons, from which the specimens are derived, being added to this, I consider the form as specifically distinct from Pecopteris arborescens. Habitat—Cannelton, Mr. I. F. Mansfield. |
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PECOPTERIS NODOSA, (Goepp.) Schp.
Aspidites nodosus and Aspidites leptorrhachis, Goepp., syst., p. 372 and 373, Pl. XXIII, f. 1, 2. Pecopteris nodosa, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 500, Pl. XLI, f. 14. Cyatheites arborescens, Gein., Verst., p. 24. Frond tripinnate; rachis thick, inflated or bossed at the joints of the divisions; pinnules in right angle, contiguous, small; sori in two rows, numerous, crowded, round-oval. There is some uncertainty about this species which, as far as I have been able to see it seems to be merely a variety of Pecopteris arborescens. The only marked character which separates it is the inflation of the primary or secondary rachis corresponding to the base of the divisions. I have never seen any sterile specimens of the plant. The form and size of the ultimate pinnte and of the pinnules are the same as in Pecopteris arborescens; the sori are crowded and appear either round and distant or oval even linear in passing from the midrib to the borders. The different appearances are remarked upon the same specimens, even of small size. This form is extremely abundant in the red, shaly clay, at the bottom of the Grotto of flowers near Marietta. It is even the only species which can be obtained there, and though the shale is very brittle and the specimens small they can afford satisfactory points of comparison. By the rachis they represent Aspidites nodosus, Goepp. l.c.; by the rachis also and the form of the pinnae and pinnules they are referable to Asplenites nodosus, of the same author; by the characters of the sori, their position, and by those of the pinnae and pinnules, they may be referable either to Pecopteris arborescens, Brgt., or to both the species of Goeppert. Habitat—Grotto of flowers, near Marietta, Ohio, in red clay; also in the tunnel between Athens and Marietta. Upper veins of the Anthracite. Salem and Gate, near Pottsville, Pa. |
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Tripinnately divided; pinnae large, oblong or lanceolate in outline; secondary divisions linear, slightly and gradually narrowed to the apex, open, pinnules close, small, disconnected to the base, oblong, truncate at the top, midrib thick; veins scarcely visible through the thick epidermis, simple, oblique; fructifications in round sori, disposed as in the former species. This Fern, not rare in the lower coal strata, much resembles the small varieties of Pecopteris arborescens. It is easily identified by the shape of the very small truncate pinnules, two to four millimeters long and half as broad, of a thick epidermis, flattened around the margins. The rachis is not as thick as in Pecopteris arborescens; the sori are comparatively larger three to four for each row. There is in the cabinet of Mr. S. S. Strong a specimen with a pinna thirty-one centimeters long, its ultimate pinnae five or six centimeters long, bearing both fructified and sterile branches. The characters are preserved on its whole. The museum of Princeton College has also fine specimens of the same kind. Habitat—Shale of the coal of Morris, Ill.; Cannelton, Pa.; also in the Anthracite basin around Pittston. |
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PECOPTERIS SQUAMOSA, Lesqx., Plate XXXIX, Figs. 12-13.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 400, Pl. XII, f. 1-4; Pl. XIII, f. 10 and 11. Schp., Paleont. veget., III, p. 496. Frond large, tripinnate; rachis very thick, distinctly squamose; primary pinnae lanceolate or oblong, gradually but distinctly tapering to the apex; ultimate pinnae oblique, narrowly lanceolate, with a very broad rachis; pinnules in right angle, narrow, linear, obtuse, unequal, disjointed to near the base but contiguous; medial nerve thick, reaching the apex veins totally obsolete; fructification in small round soil placed in one row quite near each border. The species is very distinct though referable to the group of Pecopteris arborescens. It has been found in fine and large specimens, its characters being fully preserved in all. The main rachis is one and a half centimeters thick covered in its whole length by long linear acuminate scales which nearly one centimeter long, at the base of the primary rachis, are still eight to ten millimeters near the apex of the secondary pinnae. The scales are straight, flat, flexuous, or, in the upper divisions, crispate or twisted; when detached, they leave the radius deeply punctate. The lower ultimate pinnae are short comparatively to the size of the rachis, five centimeters, open, rigid, the upper ones longer, flexuous, generally curving upwards. The ultimate radius is still very broad, two millimeters at the base and scarcely narrower toward the point. The pinnules are crowded, numerous, narrow, the largest scarcely two millimeters broad, seven millimeters long, with the thick medial nerve ascending to the apex and no visible trace of veins. The sori, small and round, are placed in rows quite near the borders, six to ten on each side, according to the length of the leaflets. We have from Cannelton where the species is as abundant as at Mazon Creek, some specimens representing the upper primary pinnae rapidly narrowed and acuminate, the pinnae becoming simple pinnules towards the apex and the terminal ones small, oblong, obtuse. The lower secondary pinnae, also lanceolate acuminate, have very narrow pinnules, as narrow as one millimeter; the lower pinnately round-lobed or crenulate near the base, entire from the middle upwards, the upper all entire. This is the normal mode of subdivisions of the pinnae and pinnules in species of Pecopteris. In these specimens however the pinnules are so narrow that with the eye they appear merely crenate, the subdivisions being visible only with a strong glass. Habitat—Mazon Creek, Ill., in nodules; Cannelton, Pa. |
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PECOPTERIS STRONGII, Lesqx., Plate XXXIX, Figs. 14-15a.
Frond bipinnate; pinnae oblong,
broader in the middle, gradually lanceolate to the apex; pinnules
alternate, in right angle to a narrow rachis, disconnected, even
distant in the lower part of the pinnce, somewhat enlarged and rounded
to the point of attachment, narrower in the middle, obtusely acuminate;
medial nerve distinct in the sterile branches; veins obsolete;
fructifications in rows of large round sori, close to each border.Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 399, Pl. XIII, f. 7-9. Schp., Paleont. veget., III, p. 497. The relation of this fine species was, when first described, somewhat doubtful, on account of the peculiar disposition and form of the pinnules, which give to the pinna the appearance of a simply divided frond. I have seen, later, large specimens representing primary pinnae forty to fifty centimeters long, linear-lanceolate, with secondary divisions alternate or opposite, long, the lowest sixteen centimeters or more. These branches, with a thin smooth, flexuous rachis ascending up parallel to the main stem, or reflexed, and curved in various directions, have their pinnules of the same character as those described and figured upon the plate, variable in length from seven to fourteen millimeters or less according to their place. As in the former species the leaflets become slightly, minutely lobate toward the base of the pinnae, in their transition from pinnules to branches of a second order. In these specimens the rachis more distinctly exposed is smooth, not punctulate, the pinnules have a thick epidermis, but the veins simple or forking once and obliquely inclined to the borders are sometimes discernible. The fructifications have the same disposition upon all the fragments, the medial nerve of the fertile pinnules being always as if erased and the space between the sori flat. The only relation I find to this fern is Cyatheites (Pecopteris) pulcher, Heer, Fl. foss. Helv., IV, p. 29, Pl. VIII, f. 7. The specimens not figured, on which is remarked above, have the pinnae alternate or opposite, as in the European plant; the rachis however is not articulate or noduse at the joints of the secondary branches as figured by Heer. But this is apparently a mere casual deformation. It is not mentioned by the author in the description. Heer also describes the pinnules as subpetiolate, but says that he has seen traces of a petiole only in a few or in one pair of them. Except this all the characters are alike. Habitat—Roof shale of the coal of Morris; nodules of Mazon Creek; not seen elsewhere. |
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PECOPTERIS SERPILLIFOLIA, Sp. nov., Plate XLVI, Figs. 1-3d.
Pecopteris flavicans ? (Presl.) Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 404. Leaves bipinnatifid; pinnae linear or narrowly lanceolate; lateral divisions linear-lanceolate, obtuse, enlarged at the sessile base; pinnules inclined outside, connate nearly to the half round apex; primary veins oblique, pinnately branching; veinlets alternate, simple, slightly curved inside; fructification in small round sori placed upon each vein, half way between the medial nerve and the borders. The short lateral pinnae, nearly in right angle to a narrow rachis flattened on the borders, are two and a half to three and a half centimeters long, about seven millimeters broad, more or less distant, pinnately cut into more or less deep lobes or connate pinnules, entirely confluent towards the apex in passing to an obtuse terminal leaflet. The two lower pairs are longer. All the pinnules have a separate venation, medial vein oblique to the rachis, pinnately divided in four pairs of veinlets, simple and slightly curving inside as seen Plate XLVI, f. la and 2a, enlarged. The fructifications are born upon separate pinnae (Plate XLVI, f. 3), whose facies is a little modified by a narrower rachis, and shorter more crowded lateral divisions. The sori, small round dots, are placed upon each veinlet at the point where they become effaced, half way between the medial nerve and the borders. As seen Plate XLVI, f. 3, b, c, d., these dots, seen under enlarging power, appear as cut into five equal half round sporanges, the large side joining the borders. There is not any appearance of indusium; but the anatomical details seen upon the opaque surface are in this case, as in the other enlarged exposition of the sori, somewhat indistinct. This Fern is coriaceous; all its parts distinctly cut and preserved uninjured in nodules of Iron, may be easily studied. I do not find any affinity to it in any of the species described from the coal measures. My hypothetical reference of this Fern to Sphenopteris flavicans, Presl., in St. Flor. d. Vorw., II, p. 127, Pl. XXXVIII, f. 1 a-c, is not sufficiently authorized. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek, not rare and often fructified. Answering Prof. Brongniart's request, specimens of this species were sent to him with many others on which to my regret the celebrated author did not give his views. |
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PECOPTERIS OREOPTERIDIS, Schloth.—Plate XLI, Fig. 8.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 317, Pl. CIV, f. 1, 2; CV, f. 1-3. Filicites oreopteridis, Schloth., Fl. d. Vorw., Pl. IV, f. 9. Cyatheites oreopteridis, Goepp., Syst., p. 323. Gein., Verst., p. 25, Pl. XXVIII, f. 14. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 866; Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 442. Pecopteris oreopteridia, Schp., Paleont, Veget., I, p. 502. Frond tripinnate; rachis smooth; primary and secondary pinnae linear-lanceolate; pinnules connate at base, contiguous or distinct, ovate or oblong; veins forking once below the middle, curved, reaching the borders nearly in right angle; fructifications in round sori, as inPecopteris arborescens. The species is extremely variable, especially in the shape and size of the pinnules, which, upon the upper pinny and towards the apex of the primary divisions, become much smaller, crowded, contiguous, like those of Pecopteris arborescens. The difference is then marked merely by the forked veins and the flat surface of the pinnules. The smooth rachis also, which is never punctulate, may direct for the reference of fragments of this kind. The inclination of the veins is often marked upon the same specimen in a different degree, as I have seen it upon a large pinna in the collection of Mr. Lacoe. It has the lateral veins either nearly in right angle to the medial nerve, or more oblique, merely inclined backwards, but reaching the borders nearly in right angle, or still more oblique, to the medial nerve, and passing upwards to the margin in preserving the same degree of divergence. Habitat —The whole thickness of the middle coal measures, especially in the anthracite basin. Mazon Creek, Ill.; Pomroy, Ohio; upper anthracite beds around Pottsville, Wilkesbarre, Pittston, etc. |
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PECOPTERIS PENNAEFORMIS, Brgt.—Plate XLV, Fig. 1-2a.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss, and Pecopteris aequalis, p. 343, 345, Pl. CXVIII, f. 1-4. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 867. Schp., Paleont., veget. I, p. 504. Fronds large, tripinnate; rachis strong, punctulate; secondary pinnce linear, oblique; ultimate divisions open, close, short and narrow; pinnules small, ovate, narrowly obtuse, the lower connate at base, the upper ones to the middle, becoming confluent in joining the terminal oblong-obtuse leaflets; medial nerve strong; lateral veins distant, simple, or forking once; sori large, round or oval, in two longitudinal rows, five on each side of the midrib. Like all the species of Pecopteris, the disposition, the form and size of the pinnules, are very variable, and it is sometimes difficult to specifically refer to their species, even the different parts of the same frond. The specimen figured represents the middle part of a large pinna. The lowest secondary pinnae of the fronds are often bipinnately subdivided, and the ultimate divisions, short and linear, are merely crenate or crenate-lobate on the borders. This last form is Pecopteris aequalis, Brgt., l.c., f. 1, recognized by the author himself as referable to Pecopteris pennaeformis. This species has, in its character, a great affinity to the following, differing especially by the rough punctate rachis and the more acute pinnules. The fructified part, Plate XLV, f. 2, was not observed upon the same specimen, but mixed in many fragments of the same locality, positively referable to the sterile plant by the form of the subdivisions and the sub stance of the leaflets. The epidermis of the rachis being destroyed, its projecting dots are not distinctly perceivable. In the large rachis of Plate XLV, f. 1, the surface epidermis is very rough, while under it the stem is nearly smooth, marked here and there only by indistinct points. In another specimen the sterile pinnae, upper branches, have the rachis smooth, while fructified fragments, mixed with them, have the rachis punctulate. The points upon the rachis, especially upon that of the secondary pinnae, are often undiscernible. As this is the essential character which separates this species from the following, I doubt if it is sufficient to authorize a specific distinction; and I am inclined to think with Gutbier, Gaea., of Sachsen, pp. 82, 83, that the two species are made of fragments of the same. Gein. Verst., p. 26, considers Pecopteris aequalis, Brgt., as probably identical with Asplenites ophiodermaticus, Goepp. Habitat—Clinton, Mo. Communicated in numerous and very fine specimens, by Dr. I. H. Britts, including those of Pecopteris aequalis, and of the following species. I found, also, a good specimen in the shale of the Mammoth vein of Raush Gap, Lebanon county, Penn'a. The rachis is very minutely punctate. |
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PECOPTERIS DENTATA, Brgt.— Plate XLIV, Fig. 4, 4a.
Brgt., Hist. d, veg. foss., p. 346, Pl. CXXIII, and CXXIV. Pecopteris plumosa, Brgt., ibid., p., 348, Pl. CXXI and CXXII. Lesqx. Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 867; Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 442. Pecopteris dentata, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 404. Schp. Paleont. veget., I, p. 508. Frond large, tripinnate; rachis thick, smooth, grooved in the middle; secondary pinnae long, linear, the lower flexuous or recurved, bipinatifid, the middle ones straight, simply pinnately lobed; pinnules oblong, obtuse, or lanceolate to an obtuse acumen, connate towards the base; veins simple or forked. Besides the shape of the pinnules not enlarged towards the base, and not as distinctly narrowed to the point, with equal, not crenulate borders, as they are often in the former species, this one differs by the longer, flexous, less rigid pinnae. The veins are generally more deeply marked, sometimes simple; but, as figured by Brgt., l.c., for both Pecopteris plumosa and Pecopteris dentata, more generally forking once. Even near the base of the large pinnules, the upper veinlet is forking once again, as represented Atlas, Plate XLIV, f. 4a. This specimen has the rachis perfectly smooth. Among other specimens of the same species, one especially, from Clinton, has a long, flexous pinna, the preserved part fifteen centimeters long, with short pinme ten centimeters long, and pinnules oblong obtuse, only three millimeters long, connate at the base, becoming more and more confluent in passing to simple linear-lanceolate pinnules in the upper part, and all simply veined. The veins are oblique, the lower pair slightly curving inward, the upper ones distinctly arched back to the borders. This pinna has all the characters of Pecopteris plumosa, Brgt., and is attached to a broad flat grooved primary rachis, evidently punctulate. The points are distant and obscurely marked, but no more so than under the bark of the primary rachis of the former species. There is, nevertheless, a marked difference in the appearance of the rachis, which is flat and grooved in the middle in this species, half round and apparently more solid in the former. This difference may result from the degree of maceration in the fragments preserved. Habitat—Clinton, Mo., with the former. Also sent in many specimens from Mount Hope, Rhode Island, by Mr. James H. Clark. Mazon Creek, in nodules. |
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PECOPTERIS ACUTA, Brgt.
Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 350, Pl. CXIX, f. 3. Schp., Paleont., veget.,I, p. 516. Leaf bipinnatifid; ultimate pinnae rapidly shorter toward the apex, open, deeply pinnatifid; pinnules oblique, ovate, acute, connate at base; nerves pinnate; veins simple, slightly marked. The specimen answering to the description of the author is merely the upper part of a pinna, with the divisions very deeply and distinctly impressed upon the stone. The ultimate pinnae are longer than in Pecopteris pennaeformis, the pinnules triangular, sharply acute, the medial nerve inflated and the veins simple, scarcely distinct. All the parts of the plant are smooth, the primary rachis flexuous, the ultimate deeply narrowly groved. Habitat—Recently discovered at Cannelton, by Mr. I. F. Mansfield. |
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Leaf tripinnate; primary divisions in right angle, linear lanceolate; secondary pinnae short, parallel, with alternate, short, entire, oblong, obtuse pinnules, connate at base; middle nerve distinct; pinnately branching, veins forking once or simple. The primary pinnae are somewhat distant, three centimeters, their width being a little less. The secondary ones in right angle and parallel, divided (the lower) into six pairs of pinnules, with a broad ovate or half round terminal leaflet, become gradually shorter and more and more confluent towards the apex, the pinnules, however, remaining distinct to the base of small obtuse terminal leaflets, where they measure scarcely one millimeter in length and width. At the base the secondary pinnae are a little more than one centimeter long, the middle ones somewhat longer, the lobes or pinnules three millimeters in average length, and two millimeters broad. The leaflets are somewhat thick, but not coriaceous. On the upper surface, the middle nerve only is perceivable. On the under side the veins are distinctly though not sharply marked. The rachis, half round and comparatively thick, is punctate or rough, as described by Brongniart. Habitat—Morris, Ill., shale, above the coal. Specimen S. S., 202, collection of the Museum Comp. Zool. of Cambridge. |
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PECOPTERIS CANDOLLIANA, Brgt.
Hist., d. veg. foss., p. 305, Pl. C, f. 1. Germ., Verst., p.108, Pl. XXXVIII. Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 401. Schp., Paleont, veget., I, p. 500. Pecopteris affinis, Brgt., ibid., p. 306, Pl. C, f. 2, 3. Frond large; ultimate pinnae long, sublinear; pinnules distinct to the base, narrowly linear, obtuse; medial nerve thick, dissolved under the apex; lateral veins forked once or twice. A rare species in the American coal measures. It is easily known by its long, narrow, nearly linear pinnules, one to one and a half centimeters long, three to four millimeters broad, slightly decurrent, and more enlarged at base, sometimes a little contracted in the middle; disconnected, even distant. The veins are strong, generally forked once from the middle, and the branches of the same thickness, but rarely forking again, a venation very similar to that of Pecopteris dentata, Atlas, Plate XLIV, f. 4a. Habitat—The specimens referred to this form are mostly from Mount Rope coal, Rhode Island, and these are all more or less deformed by metamorphism. The essential characters are, however, distinctly preserved. One specimen only is from Mazon Creek. |
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PECOPTERIS CISTII, Brgt.—Plate XLI, Fig. 4.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 330, Pl. CVI, f. 1, 2. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 866; Geol. Rept. of III., II, p. 441. Schp. Paleont. veget., I, p. 510. Primary pinnae linear, oblong; secondary divisions linear, slightly oblique, rigid; pinnules broadly ovate, connate at base, contiguous to above the middle, the terminal obovate; medial nerve thick at the base, effacing in dividing above the middle; veins distinct, forked near the base, with one or both branches forking again, curving in passing to the borders. The species is scarcely known to me. Brongniart described it from one specimen sent by Cist, from Wilkesbarre, and from another from England. Though I have seen many fragments referred to it, I have never been able to positively recognize in any the characters indicated by the author. Our figure is a copy of the upper half of that of Brongniart, l.c.; it shows a comparatively narrow rachis; pinnules broadly ovate, equal in size, five to seven millimeters long, four to five millimeters broad at the connate base, inclined outward, and the veins disposed as in Atlas, Plate XLI, f. 4a. The upper part of the pinnae of Pecopteris pteroides and of Pecopteris polymorpha, often present, the same characters. Except Brongniart, none of the European authors have seen a specimen of it. Goeppert, Syst., Unger and Schimper l.c., describe it from Brongniart, recording the localities indicated by the author—Wilkesbarre, and Bath, England—from a specimen in the museum of the University of Oxford. It is from this last specimen that f. 2 of Brgt. is made, and that our figure is copied. F. 1 has the main rachis destroyed, the pinnules longer, the veins apparently indistinct, and it is with this one that agree all the specimens mentioned above. I consider them as rather referable to Pecopteris polymorpha, or Pecopteris Miltoni, than to Pecopteris Cistii. Habitat—Specimens dubiously referred to the species are from Wilkesbarre, from the Mammoth vein of Raush Gap and from Mazon Creek. |
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PECOPTERIS BUCKLANDI, Brgt.
Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 319, Pt. XCIX, f. 2. Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of III., IV, p. 401. Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 504. Frond tripinnate, ultimate prance slightly oblique; pinnules close, connate at base, oblong, narrowly obtuse; medial nerve thick, lateral veins once forked, the lower pairs twice. Brongniart places this species in the group of those with a glabrous rachis. All the American specimens which I consider referable to it, show the rachis smooth, even polished, but distantly punctulate or scabrous when observed by the glass. The pinnae are comparatively broad and short, six to seven centimeters long, fifteen to seventeen millimeters broad in the middle, where the pinnules are generally a little longer; pinnules oblique, close, connate at the base, even to the middle, the lower ones sometimes disconnected, all about of equal width, four millimeters, rapidly shorter towards the apex, where the two or three upper pairs become confluent and united to a small terminal triangular leaflet. The veins, in an acute angle of divergence, reaching the borders with only a slight curve, are generally forked once near their base, and one of the branches forking again, sometimes both. Pecopteris Bucklandi, Pecopteris oreopteridis, and Pecopteris Cistii, are closely allied species, which it is difficult to separate, especially from fragmentary specimens. The first has large, comparatively short ultimate pinnae, with narrow longer pinnules, lanceolate into a narrowly obtuse acumen, the ultimate leaflet is triangular, acute. The veins are in a more acute angle of divergence about 30°, nearly straight to the borders, the rachis slightly muricate. Both the other species have shorter, comparatively broader, more obtuse pinnules. In Pecopteris oreopteridis, the veins are curved to the borders, nearly in right angle, forked once only. In Pecopteris Cistii, the angle of divergence of the veins is intermediate to that of the two other species, and all except the upper pairs are twice forked. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek; found also in the mammoth vein of Raush Gap, Penn'a. |
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PECOPTERIS ELLIPTICA, Bunb'y, Plate XXXIX, Figs. 4-6.
Bunb'y, Quart. Journ., Geol. Soc. 1845, p. 82, Pl. VII. Fronds large, bipinnate; secondary divisions linear-lanceolate, narrowed at the apex to a nearly round or obovate pinnule; lateral leaflets oblong or ovate, distant, rounded at base to the point of attachment; medial nerve thick; veins forked once at the base, the lower ones forking again near the borders, oblique and curved; fructifications in two to four rows of round sori parallel to the medial nerve. The species distinct, and easily recognized, preserves its characters in all its parts, as well on fertile as on sterile specimens. The pinnae or fronds are large, thirty centimeters or more; the secondary divisions distant, turned upwards, the lower ones five centimeters long, gradually shorter towards the apex, with pinnules oblique, distant, attached to the rachis by half the base only, the borders on both sides being rounded to the point of attachment. The nervation is always as figured, the medial nerve thick, abruptly effaced under the apex; the veins generally obsolete, covered by a thick epidermis, only very distinct when the epidermis is erased. The fructified pinnules somewhat broader, bear one or two rows of round sori on each side of the medial nerve both the inside rows of six or seven sori being quite close to it. The author's figure, l.c., shows five rows of sori upon the pinnules. I have not seen more than four, and when only two or three, one of them is generally quite close to the midrib, even as it attached to its borders. Habitat—Tremont, New Vein. The species is also in numerous large sterile and fructified specimens, in the collection of Mr. Lacoe, from Oliphant, vein No. 1. |
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PECOPTERIS DISTANS, Lesqx.
Boston Journ. S. N. H., v. VI, p. 413. Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 866, Plate XI, f. 3. Schp. Paleont. veget., I, p. 506. Ultimate pinnae long, linear-lanceolate, flexuous or re-curved; pinnules distant, rounded at base, oblong, narrowed to an obtuse point; medial nerve thick, gradually effaced in dividing above the middle; veins distinct, forking once above the middle. As remarked in the description of this Fern, l.c., it is closely allied by its characters to Pecopteris elliptica, and may be a variety of it. The pinnules are narrower, still more distant, the substance not as thick and the veins quite distinct, forked only once. Habitat--Shale of the Muddy Creek coal, between Pottsville and Tremont, Penn'a. |
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PECOPTERIS MILTONI, Brgt., Plate XLI, Fig 9.
Brgt. Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 333, Pl. CXIV. Pecopteris polymorpha, Brgt., ibid., p. 331, Pl. CXIII. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 866. Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 506. Cyatheites Miltoni, Gein., Verst., p. 27, Pl. XXX, f. 5-8; XXXI, f. 1-4. Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 506. Frond very large; rachis thick, smooth obscurely striate; ultimate pinnae nearly in right angle, somewhat curving upwards, longer in the middle of the pinnae, linear-lanceolate, gradually narrower to the small terminal ovate leaflets; pinnules connate or disjoined at the slightly narrowed base, contiguous on the borders, oblong, obtuse; medial nerve distinct to below the apex; veins in a broad angle of divergence, generally forked twice, very close, distinct, joining the borders in right angle. This diagnosis is made from the middle part of a pinna, thirty centimeters long, the upper and lower part destroyed, with the rachis eight millimeters broad, half cylindrical. The lateral pinnae are all simple, nine centimeters long in the middle of the primary ones, only six towards the base, with pinnules all entire as described. This Fern like all the Pecopterids is extremely variable in the different parts of its fronds. Often the lower ultimate pinna becomes enlarged at the base, bipinnate, the pinnules being first undulate on the borders, then distinctly subdivided in small half round pinnules similar in shape to f. 6 of Plate XLVI, where I have represented the various forms under which most of the species of Pecopteris of this division are seen. There is a diversity of opinion in regard to the relation of Pecopteris Miltoni to Pecopteris polymorpha. Schimper considers them as different species, remarking that it is however extremely difficult to separate them. Goeppert and Geinitz unite them in one, as I have done also in Geol. of Penn'a, l.c. Weiss and Heer do the same. Habitat—Upper coal measures, horizon of the Pittsburgh coal. Salem vein of the Tunnel near Tremont, in fine specimens. Gate vein near Pottsville, and Muddy Creek; also near the Wabash river, below New Harmony, Ind., and at Grayville, Ill. It seems to follow Pecopteris arborescens in its distribution. |
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PECOPTERIS ABBREVIATA ? Brgt., Plate XLVI, Figs. 4-6.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 337, Pl. CXV, f. 1-4. Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 867. Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 403. Pecopteris polymorpha, Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 506. Cyatheites Miltoni, Gein., Verst., p. 27, Pl. XXX, f. 7, 8. Frond diversely pinnately divided; pinnae lanceolate, narrow; ultimate divisions slightly oblique, from a cylindrical smooth rachis, linear-lanceolate; pinnules of the upper pinnw ovate, obtuse, connate at the base; those of the lower pinnce longer, pinnately lobed or undulate on the borders; medial nerve thin, effaced under the apex; lateral veins distinctly inflated, forking twice. The form and size of the pinnae, is variable according to their position upon the fronds. Plate XLVI, f. 4 and 5 are the upper parts of lanceolate pinnae with short divisions and pinnules entire, connate near the base, gradually shorter near the apex where they become confluent to the terminal comparatively large half round leaflet. These pinnules are all entire in the upper pinnae; but near the base, Plate XLVI, f. 5, they become already regularly undulate, and in Plate XLVI, f. 6, probably a lower fragment of the same pinna, the leaflets are more distinctly pinnately lobed and each lobe has its separated venation as marked Plate XLVI, f. 5a, 5b, showing a group of veinlets forking once or twice and curved in passing to the borders of the lobes. The veins are distinctly and sometimes remarkably thick, but irregularly so; for some of them are inflated towards the base, or near the borders while others preserve in their whole length the average thickness. None of the specimens has any distinct fructifications; some leaflets as Plate XLVI, f. 5b are irregularly dotted with small points, which do not appear organic, or are not in shape and regularity of, position analogous to the sori figured and described by Geinitz, 1.c. Though all the characters of this plant are in some concordance with those described and figured by Brongniart, Geinitz and other authors of Pecopteris abbreviata, it is not certain that our specimens represent the same species, none of the authors remarking on the remarkable inflation of the veins. Geinitz has figured them Pl. XXX, f. 7a comparatively thick towards the base, like those of his Pl. XXXI, f. 2, which he refers to Pecopteris Miltoni; but he gives the same character in most of the enlarged figures of species of Pecopteris, and therefore it is merely the size represented by the enlarging glass; while in the plant described here, the inflation of the veins is distinctly seen with the naked eye; and not merely basilar, but often stronger towards the borders. This form cannot be referred to Pecopteris Miltoni as a variety, for it is common in the nodules of Mazon Creek, where no remains with the normal characters of Pecopteris Miltoni, or Pecopteris polymorpha, have been seen. The specimen mentioned Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., with veinlets obsolete, might be referble to this last species. Habitat—Mazon Creek in nodules. |
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PECOPTERIS PTEROIDES, Brngt.
Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 829, Pl. XCIX, f. 1. Andrae, in Germ. Verst., p. 103, Pl. XXXVI. Lesqx. Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 441. Schp., Paleont. Veget., I, p. 508. Frond tripinnate; rachis thick, smooth; pinnae narrow, lanceolate; lateral divisions short, oblique, close, sessile, linear, obtuse; pinnules oblong, obtuse, connate at the base contiguous in half their length, oblique; medial nerve thin, effaced above the middle; veins forking once near the base, the branches, either both or one of them, forking again near the border; fructified pinnae longer, with pinnules distinct to the, base, even distant, sessile by the whole base, bearing near each border and parallel to them one row of twelve to fourteen round sori, not confluent, composed of five oval sporanges placed star-like around a central point. Brongniart says of this species that it is so intimately related to Pecopteris Miltoni that it is separated with difficulty. I refer to it a large number of specimens which partly agree, by the sterile branches, with the author's description, and by the fructification with the figures of Asterocarpus radiatus, Goepp., which Geinitz supposes the fruiting part of this species. The lateral pinnae are short, five centimeters in the middle of the fronds, the pinnules sometimes free and rounded to the base, sometimes connate to above the middle; their substance is thick, the medial nerve thin and the veins mostly twice forked. It is indeed difficult to separate this and the former species by characters. which present so few points of difference. Brongniart however had not seen the fructifications and it is especially on this point that both plants are unlike. In all the fertile specimens of Pecopteris Miltoni, the sori are round, inflated but not open, and the distribution of the sporanges not distinct as it is in this species or as in Asterocarpus. Habitat--Pomeroy, Ohio, there very abundant. A specimen from Mazon Creek mentioned in the Geol. Rept. of Ill., loc. cit., has no fruit, and its relation to the species is not positive. |
| §3. PECOPTERIS (VILLOUS). |
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PECOPTERIS VELUTINA, Lesqx.
Boston Jour. S. N. H., v. VI, p. 493. Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 866, Plate XII, f. 3. Schp. Paleont, veget., I, p. 509. Frond bipinnnate; rachis thick, flat, smooth; primary pinnae lanceolate; lateral divisions nearly in right angle slightly flexuous, short and distant, sessile; pinnules ovate, enlarged above the base, rounded and slightly narrowed to the point of attachment; disconnected and distant in the lower part of the pinnce, more and more confluent in the upper part, passing to lobed terminal pinnules; epidermis thick, punctulate, rendering the venation obsolete; fructifications in two rows of three to four distant sori in the upper part of the leaflets. The specimen represents a pinna twenty-four centimeters long, with flat smooth rachis seven millimeters broad at the base, where it is broken, bearing lateral branches, five centimeters long in the middle of the leaf, somewhat shorter towards the base. The pinnules averaging six, millimeters. long and four broad near the base, are contracted from the middle into an obtuse or blunt apex, and bear, in the, narrow part, two rows of large sori, two to four, between the medial nerve and the border. In the specimen figured Geol. of Penn'a, l.c., the only one I had seen then, the medial nerve is distinctly marked by a furrow, but the venation is totally obsolete under the thick punctate epidermis which, however to the eyes, appears smooth or polished. Another specimen recently obtained from Cannelton bears a bipinnate leaf, with short oblong pinnae, abruptly narrowed into small triangular terminal pinnules, coalescent with the two upper pairs of the lateral ones, as in the figured specimen. The lateral pinnules are however smaller, less distant, regularly oblong-obtuse, attached in right angle to a broad flat rachis. They have also a thick, shining epidermis, covered with very small dots. On a few of them, in a more advanced stage of maceration, the veins are perceivable, coming off from the medial nerve in an acute angle of divergence, even decurring at the base, curving abruptly from the middle to the borders, which they join in right angle, forking once near the base and one of the branches of the lowest pair forking once again. Habitat—Johnstown, Penn'a, in a bed of black soft shale near the base of the middle coal measures. Cannelton coal, Mr. I. F. Mansfield. |
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Frond large, polypinnate; rachis smooth, striate; pinnae lanceolate, bi or tripinnatifid; ultimate divisions lanceolate or linear, obtuse; pinnules connate at the base either distant and decurrent, deeply pinnately lobed, or merely oblique, contiguous, simple, entire or crenulate; medial nerve thick towards the base, effaced above the middle; veins buried into the villous or hairy epidermis, indistinctly seen, very oblique to the medial nerve, scarcely curved, forked once or twice; fructifications in two rows of close transversely oval sori, covering the whole surface of the pinnules. This Fern, known by a number of finely preserved fragments, is extremely variable, especially in the shape of the pinnules. In the large branches near the base of the fronds, the lateral pinnae curved upwards, are regularly divided in large pinnules, connate at the base, contiguous, oblique, either undulately lobed or crenate, all oblong-obtuse, one to two centimeters long, Plate XLII, f. 3. Higher up these pinnae are more flexuous, and the pinnules, more distant, become more deeply irregularly, pinnately lobed and decurrent at the base, Plate XLII, f. 1, while near the apex, as in Plate XLII, f. 2, the pinnules are short, entire, oblong, oblique, slightly decurring, becoming confluent near the top. Plate XLII, f. 4 is a lower lateral pinna, inferior to those at the base of Plate XLII, f. 3. Its pinnules, longer and more deeply pinnately lobed, are like divisions of a second degree, rather than those of a third. The fructifications marked Plate XLII, f. 5, are in two rows of very close sori, covering the whole leaflets in such a way that the epidermis appears often as destroyed, and the sori as attached to the medial nerve. This is, however, a mere appearance, for in the larger pinnules, the outlines of the leaflets are distinctly marked by a border around the sori. Habitat—Clinton, Mo.; communicated in numerous specimens, by Dr. J. H. Britts. |
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Rachis of medium size, scaly or punctulate; pinnae lanceolate, rapidly tapering to the apex; lateral divisions narrowly lanceolate, slightly broader in the middle, in right angle to the rachis, sessile; pinnules oblique, connate and decurring at the base, rarely contiguous, oblong, obtuse, entire; surface villous or hairy; medial nerve thin; veins forking generally once; fructifications in two rows of distant and oval sori, placed on the forks of the veins. Though the lateral pinnae have different forms, according to their position, the facies is generally uniform, and the pinnules merely vary in size, their borders being generally entire, becoming undulate only in the lower pinnae as in Plate XLIII, f. 1, 2. They average one centimeter in length, the longer becoming undulately pinnate in the lower parts, Plate XLIII, f. 1. They are all inclined outwards, more or less distinctly decurring, and when distant and passing into pinnae, as in Plate XLIII, f. 7, the base follows the rachis in a narrow border. This character separates this species from those of this section. The medial nerve is thin and nearly continuous to the apex, generally curved downwards at its base; the veins are once forked; but sometimes, as seen Plate XLIII, f. 3a; the upper branch forks again. The surface is covered with short hairs, a villosity distinctly seen upon all the sterile pinnules, though none appears upon the fertile ones. These, bear in the middle of the lamina, or between the borders and the midrib, two rows of distant oval inflated sori, Plate XLIII, f. 4, a fragment with the characters, nervation, and shape of leaflets of Plate XLIII, f. 3.—Plate XLIII, f. 5, 5a, enlarged, seem to be the fructified part of a pinna of the same character as Plate XLIII, f. 3. The sori are destroyed and their place marked by an oval empty space. There is merely a difference in the closer, more numerous fruit dots, and in the less decurrent base of the leaflets. The rachis of both fructified parts, Plate XLIII, f. 4 and 5, is much larger than that of the sterile pinnae. The relation of this species to Sphenopteris integra, Andrae in Germ., Verst., p. 67, P1. XXVIII, f. 1-3, is very close. In that species, which has the same shape and disposition of the pinnae and pinnules, the medial nerve is more distinctly decurring to the rachis, and the lower veins of the upper side are curved in the same way along the rachis to join the base of the medial nerve. The veins, also, are all twice forked, and the surface is apparently smooth. The author does not remark upon this character, but only says that the veins, though thin, are distinct. In our specimen the hairs are longer, more distinct upon the veins, whose disposition is thus recognized. The rachis also is distinctly scaly or dotted with deep points under the cortex. Habitat—Morris, shale of the coal, in a number of specimens in the collection of the Museum of Comp. Zool. of Cambridge. |
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PECOPTERIS VILLOSA ? Brngt.
Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 316, Pl. CIV, f. 3. Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, P. 442; IV, p. 402. Schp. Paleont. veget., I, p. 503. Cyatheites villosus, Gein., Verst., p. 25, Pl. XXXIX, f. 6-8. Pecopteris Miltoni, var. pilosa, Gutb., Gaea von Schs., p. 82. Fronds very large, polypinnate; divisions variable as in the former species; rachis deeply punctulate; pinnules densely villous, especially upon the lower surface; veins dichotomous, forking once, twice or more. This species has in its pinnae all the diversity of forms remarked in the subdivisions of the Pecopteris. For that reason, the reference of its separate fragments is often perplexing. But it is generally possible to compare their characters from a large number of specimens, and thus to recognize the identity of their different forms; for they are derived from Fern-trees of large size, and their branches are often widely spread in the roof shale of some coal beds, even locally distributed without any other kind of vegetable remains. The ultimate pinnae bear linear obtuse, comparatively long, simple pinnules, or are composed of pinnules whose borders are undulate or more or less distinctly crenate-lobed. The veins are rarely discernible. Neither Brongniart nor Schimper have described their characters. Geinitz figures them simple or forked once. When the epidermis is destroyed by maceration, and the skeleton of the plants preserved, as it is sometimes the case in the nodules of Mazon Creek, the veins, then remarkably distinct, are seen, curved to the-borders, forking generally twice, with simple branches intermediate to the sub-divisions. The venation is therefore of the same character as that of Pecopteris Miltoni, and it is probably from this that Gutbier considered Brongniart plant as a villous variety of it. The shape of the leaflets not decurring, and the venation separate this species from the other three described above with villous pinnule. The scales are generally destroyed upon the ultimate divisions of the rachis, but the three first subdivisions of the stems are always distinctly marked with deep points. The rachis to wards the base of the fronds is of very large size, some of the fragments measuring five centimeters in diameter, even more. They are recognized by the irregularly scattered dots remaining upon the thick coaly surface, as base of destroyed scales. The dots are variable. in size and distribution, the largest, one millimeter in diameter, upraised or with inflated borders, but without any vascular central points. Pecopteris arborescens, also a Fern tree, is, by the subdivisions of its branches, the rachis often punctate, the shape and size of the pinnules, remarkably similar to the species described here as Pecopteris vollosa, Brgt. The convex, naked (not villous) surface of the pinnules of Pecopteris arborescens, and the always distinct, and far different venation, offer sufficient evidence for its identification. As the nervation described from American specimens does not agree with the character indicated by European authors, the identity of this plant is not positively ascertained. Habitat—Most common in some localities. Nodules of Mazon Creek, Ill.; around Pittston, Penn'a. A collection examined there is composed mostly of specimens of this species in indefinite numbers. Generally found in the lower coal measures. |
| §4. PECOPTERIS. (CRESTATE.) |
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PECOPTERIS EROSA, Gutb., Plate XLIV, Fig. 1, 3.
Pecopteris erosa and Pecopteris linearis, Gutb., Gaea v. Sachsen., p. 81, 83. Alethopteris erosa, Gein.,Verst., p. 29, Pl. XXXII, f. 7-9. Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 394. Schp., Paleont. Veget., III., p. 501. Leaf large, long, linear; lateral divisions sessile, alternate, close and narrow, linear, with borders unequally dentate; teeth short, acuminate, more or less distinctly lobate on the side; veins simple, in acute angle fron the rachis, forking in two or three branches near the top; fructifications in large round marginal sori between the branches of the veins. This species like those of this group is remarkable by its narrow linear pinnae in right angle to the rachis, three millimeters broad, two or three centimeters long, with the borders cut into short simple or slightly lobate teeth, turned to the outside, thus similar to the blade of a small saw. The veins, oblique to the rachis, pass up and divide near the border in one or two branches, entering the points of the teeth and of the lobes. The fructifications are in broad round sori placed on the borders of the pinnae and covering the teeth; they appear composed of an irregular agglomeration of punctiform sporanges. The border divisions of the pinnae and especially the form of the sori are generally obscure and their characters difficult to observe. Habitat—Morris shale, in large specimens communicated by Mr. S. S. Strong, sterile and fertile; Clinton, Mo., Dr. I. Britts, in sterile specimens. Taylorsville, Pa. (E. vein), Mr. B. D. Lacoe. |
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PECOPTERIS CRISTATA, Gutb., Plate XLIV, Figs. 2, 2a.
Gutb. Goea v. Sachen., p. 80. Alethopteris cristata, Gein., Verst., p. 29., Pl. XXXII, f. 6. Lesqx, Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 395. Schp., Paleont. Veget., III, p. 801. Lateral plumes more deeply lobate; lobes cut in three or four sharply accuminate teeth; veins forking from the base, in two or three branches, one or two of them forking again near the borders, all the divisions entering the teeth. I have not been able to find positive and persistent characters to separate this form. When in Pecopteris erosa, the lobes are more enlarged, as it is the case in the lower pinnae Plate XLIV, f. la, these lobes become more deeply and distinctly divided, cut in three or four sharply acuminate teeth. The medial vein is then also proportionally more divided, as the teeth are formed each, by the prolongation of the lamina to the points of the veins or of their branches. I have figured, Plate XLIV, 2a, the enlarged portion of Plate XLIV, f. 2, which, I believe, represents in its characters the form described and figured by Geinitz as Pecopteris cristata, and which seems to be a mere variety of Pecopteris erosa. It may be however that I do not know the true Alethopteris cristata of Geinitz, who represents the borders larger than those of the fragment Plate XLIV, f. 2. In this specimen the pinnae are not broader than those of the former species. Habitat—Cannelton a large well preserved specimen. None with the characters of Pecopteris erosa have been found there. |
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PECOPTERIS SERRULA, Lesqx.
Alethopteris serrula, Lesqx., Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 865, Plate XII, f. 1. Pecopteris serrula, Schp., Paleont, veget., I, p. 525. Leaf of large size, lanceolate; lateral pinnae sessile, alternate, flexuous, inclined upwards or downwards, long, linear; borders cut in short obtuse obscurely tridentate lobes; veins oblique from the broad rachis, alternately forking or dichotomous. This species has a remarkable likeness to Pecopteris erosa. It especially differs by the great length of the flexuous pinnae, the lower ones ten centimeters long, the upper six centimeters; by the less acute teeth of the borders, (represented too sharply dentate upon the enlarged f. la), which are merely undulate, all equal, and by the dichotomous venation. In Pecopteris erosa, the lower divisions of the pinnae joining the main rachis are always longer and the teeth more acute. In this species they are all equal, merely gradually shorter toward the apex of the pinnae, the terminal pinnules being small taper-pointed. The pinnae are five millimeters broad in joining the rachis and only two millimeters near the apex.. The ultimate rachis is narrower than in Pecopteris erosa. As Schimper remarks it, the species is in close relation to Pecopteris angustissima, Brgt., whose pinnae are linear and equally narrow, but with entire lobes. Habitat— Shale of an old vein behind the hills east of Port Carbon, Pa., with Sigillaria Brardii. Not found elsewhere. |
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PECOPTERIS ANGUSTISSIMA ? Brgt., Plate XXX, Figs. 5, 5a.
Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 343, Pl. CXX, f. 5. Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 518. Aspidium angustissimum, St., Flor. d. Vorw., I, p. 29. 29, Pl. XXIII, f. 1. Leaf bipinnate; pinnae close, short, narrow, in right angle, or curving backward; borders pinnately lobed; divisions half way to the rachis, obtuse, entire; nerves curved at base to the rachis, forked once on each side near the top, with a separate branch passing in a curve from the base of the medial nerve to the acute sinuses. This fragment seems to represent Sternberg's plant, which is merely known by its figure l.c. and the reproduction of the same by Brongniart. The pinnae of the American plant have, in shape and size, the same characters as the European species, and are placed at the same distance; both the secondary and tertiary rachis also are of the same thickness. But the veins are generally forked near the borders and the lower ones curved outward toward the sinuses, with the medial vein curved downward and slightly decurring to the rachis. The figure given by Sternberg shows the primary veins only slightly oblique to the rachis and merely forking near its top, and Brongniart represents them simple, describing them from the figure of Sternberg who does not mention their characters, which, indeed, are ascertained with great difficulty in pinnules as small as are those of this species. The primary rachis of the European plant bears long filiform spines; no fragments of organs of this kind are preserved upon the only specimen I had for examination. The substance of the leaflets is apparently membranaceous, somewhat pellucid. Habitat—Helena mines, Ala. Collection of the State Geol. survey. The European plant is derived from the coal mines of Swina. |
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PECOPTERIS HALLII, Lesqx.
Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 394, Pl. X, f. 7, 8. Allethopteris Hallii, Lesqx. Leaf bipinnate; pinnae in right angle to the straight cylindrical rachis, linear, alternate, close, apparently short, merely undulately lobate on the borders, or with lobes truncate or marginate at the apex; primary veins curving to the rachis, forked once in the middle and once more near the borders, the branches reaching the middle of the sinuses. Species related to Pecopteris serrula, especially differing by the short pinnae and the disposition of the veins joining the border in the middle of the sinuses. I believe however that this last character which is an anomaly in the venation of the Ferns of this group is merely apparent. The borders appear inflated or incurved and probably the veins may tend to the reflexed point only touching the sinuses in passing up. The form of the divisions of the borders and also the end of the veins are obscure and uncertain. I remarked in describing this form that it might represent the sterile part of Pecopteris serrula, while the specimen described under this name might be that of a fertile pinna. The species is as yet uncertain, and possibly the three last described forms may be recognized as identical when more complete specimens are found. Habitat—Mazon Creek in nodules. The museum of Cambridge has a fine large specimen (Al. 145) which is more distinct, and far better preserved than the one from which the figure and description of the Ill. Rept. is made. |
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PECOPTERIS LYRATIFOLIA, Goepp., Plate XLVIII, Figs. 4-5b.
Sphenopteris lyratifolia, Geopp., Gatt., III, IV, p. 71, Pl. XIII. Weiss Foss. fl., p. 48, P1. 7, f. 2. Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 376. Frond tripinnate; prance linear-lanceolate, with a broad rachis inflated in the middle, flattened on the borders; lateral divisions oblique, linear, p innately lobed; lobes short, oblong, obtuse, inclined outward, connate to near the middle; medial nerve narrow, subdecurrent at base, pinnately forked in simple branches; fructifications in round sori of five to six small globular sporanges placed upon the branches of the veins close to the borders. Though the fragment Plate XLVIII, f. 5, is only part of a tripinnate frond, as seen from the beautiful specimens figured by Goeppert and Weiss, its reference to the European species is evident. The essential characters of the Fern, the thickness of the rachis, and its divisions, inflated in the middle; the shape of the lobes, their relative position, the thick epidermis, the mode of decurrence of the secondary rachis etc., are the same. The lower pinnules of the inferior side are generally attached to the main rachis; the others, averaging five millimeters long, are disposed in five to six pairs, and either opposite or alternate, according to their angle of divergence, generally oblong-obtuse, sometimes slightly contracted in the middle. The venation is rendered obsolete by the thick epidermis, which appears somewhat scaly as seen Plate XLVIII, f. 5a, and the veins are distinct only upon the impression of the lower surface. The medial nerve, inclined at base in joining the rachis, ascends to the upper border, alternately forking twice on each side. That the fragment Plate XLVIII, f. 4 represents a fructified pinna of this species is quite evident from the structure of the rachis, its mode of division and the shape of the lobes. The sori Plate XLVIII, f. 4a, 4b, 4c, are round, placed upon the apex of the lateral veinlets, close to the borders; the sporanges like small points when seen with the naked eye, are represented enlarged Plate XLVIII, f. 4. By its fructifications this species is referable to the Cyatheites rather than to Cheilantes. Habitat—Nodules of Mazon Creek, the fertile specimen, Presented by Mr. S. S. Strong; the sterile, from Morris shale, is (S.S. 158), in the collection of the Museum Comp. Zool. of Cambridge. |
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PECOPTERIS STELLATA, Lesqx., Plate XLVIII, Figs. 7-7b.
Alethopteris stellata, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., II, p. 440, Pl. XXXVII, f. 4-4b. Fragment of a pinna, pinnately divided; segments oblique, linear, alternate, obtuse or subtruncate at the apex, decurring to the main rachis or the midrib, bordered by a broad wing undulate on the borders; primary and secondary veins pinnately branching; ultimate divisions simple, oblique, alternate, slightly arched, each bearing at the apex a round six-stellate sporange, placed on the slightly recurred borders. The small fragment figured represents all that is known of this species. The main lamina of the pinna formed by the decurring base of the segments, is five millimeters broad; that of the segments about three millimeters; the main nerve or partial radius is thin, as are also its divisions. The substance of the Fern is somewhat thick, the fragments showing the under surface with borders a little reflexed. The sori are formed of six round sporanges around a broad central flat surface, Plate XLVIII, f. 7b. Though this species is far different in its facies front most of the Pecopteris, the fructifications are of the same type as those of Asterocarpus. The segments have a likeness also to those of Pecopteris cristata. Habitat—Mazon Creek in Nodules. |
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PECOPTERIS SOLIDA, Lesqx., Plate XLVIII, Figs. 6-6b.
Alethopteris solida, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Ill., IV, p. 397, Pl. XI, f. 5-7. Fragment simply pinnate; rachis very thick; divisions or pinnules in right angle, attached by the enlarged base of the thick midrib, linear or oblong obtuse, rounded at the base and there slightly enlarged, very entire, coriaceous; veins totally obsolete; fructifications in round distant sori placed in rows near the margins; sporanges of the same form and in the same position as in the former species. The rachis is flat, comparatively very broad, half a centimeter at least, smooth; the pinnules two to two and a half centimeters long, are gradually shorter towards the upper part of the pinna, about five millimeters broad in the middle, enlarged and rounded on both sides of the equilateral base. The position, shape and constitution of the sori are much the same as in the former species, but no trace of lateral veins is discernible. The midrib is thick and broad and the leaflets seem attached to the rachis merely by its enlarged base. By the position of the sori and the shape of the leaves this species is comparable to a Polypodium, resembling by these characters Phlebopteris Polypodioides, Brgt., Hist. d. veg. foss., p. 372. Pl. LXXXIII, f. 1. The analogy is equally marked with some Dicksoniae, or the Genus Sphaeropteris. Habitat—Mazon Creek in concretions. |
| PECOPTERIS OF UNCERTAIN RELATION. |
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Frond tripinnatifid; rachis broad, flattened on the borders; primary pinnae narrowly lanceolate, rigid, slightly oblique; secondary divisions close, alternate, short, linear-lanceolate, obtuse, with a flexous narrow rachis; pinnules oblong, obtuse or half round, connate to the middle; medial veins of the same thickness as the lateral ones which are oblique, alternate, scarcely curved, forking once above the middle. This Fern is remarkable for its rigid, coriaceous consistence, the pinnules being convex on the upper surface and their impressions deeply carved into the stone, thus exposing its characters very distinctly. The primary pinnae, ten centimeters long, are straight, rigid, with a narrow radius, flattened on the borders, and narrowly grooved in the middle. The ultimate pinnae are short, the lowest, one and a half centimeters long, close, exactly parallel and gradually narrowed toward the apex, where the upper ones become simple and confluent to a very small half round terminal pinnule; the rachis of the lateral pinnae is flexuous or in zigzag, bending to the base of each bundle of lateral veins; the pinnules small, the largest scarcely three millimeters long and two broad, alternate, connate to the middle, oblong and very obtuse. The veins are not very thick, but deeply marked, the middle one slightly stronger and flexuous near the base. Habitat—Mount Hope Coal mines, Rhode Island, Mr. J. H. Clark. Only one good specimen found. Another from the nodules of Mazon Creek seems to represent the same species. It is too fragmentary. |
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PECOPTERIS NOTATA, Lesqx.
Boston Jour. S. N. H., v. VI, p. 424. Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 866, Plate XVIII, f. 4. Frond tripinnatifid; divisions all nearly in right angle, the primary ones long, linear; secondary pinnae narrow, parallel, sublinear, obtuse, with a thick flexuous rachis; pinnules slightly oblique, oblong-obtuse, connate to the middle; midrib thin, lateral veins open, the lower ones nearly in right angle, all slightly curved upwards toward the borders, and forking once in the middle; surface of the pinnules punctate. Besides its large size, this species differs from the former by its thin (at least not coriaceous) substance, by the more open direction of the secondary veins, curved upwards in passing to the borders, and by the punctate surface. The rachis is much stronger, not winged, and the terminal pinnules comparatively larger. The lateral pinnae are twice as long, nearly exactly linear, the pinnules averaging half a centimeter long and four millimeters broad, being quite as large near the apex as near the base of the pinnae excepting however the lower pair which is slightly longer. The dots marked upon the surface are intermediate to the veins and their divisons, but not in regular rows. They are very small too small, it seems, to represent sori. They may be points marking the base of scattered scales or hairs. In my first description I considered them as fruit dots. Compared to Pecopteris oreopteridis, Brgt., this species differs by the thick flexuous ultimate divisions of the rachis, the pinnules or lobes connate to the middle and the thin lateral veins curving upwards in passing to the borders. Habitat—Gate vein, near Pottsville. I have not seen another specimen of the same character. The original, from which the plant is described and figured, was in the cabinet of Prof. H. D. Rogers. |
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Frond small; primary pinnae lanceolate; lateral divisions open, linear lanceolate; tertiary pinnae or pinnules small, somewhat inclined outside, pinnately lobed; medial veins of the lobes distinct, divisions obsolete. The leaf which I refer to this species is tripinnatifid, the primary pinnae lanceolate, ten centimeters long, four and a half centimeters broad, linear to the upper part where the specimen is broken; secondary pinnae linear-lanceolate, close, alternate; tertiary divisions sessile, oblique, even slighly decurring to the rachis, linear, five to six millimeters long, two millimeters broad, pinnately divided into four pairs of lobes in the largest pinnules, passing to three, then to two pairs towards the upper part of the pinnae where the pinnules become entire at the apex and confluent to a small obtuse leaflet; lobes half round. The only difference between this Fern and that described by Brongniart is in the lobes, less deeply cut in the American specimen and in the slightly decurring base of die tertiary divisions. Habitat—Communicated in one specimen only by Mr. Tyler McWorther, of Aledo, Ill., low coal measures, locality not mentioned. |
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Leaf bipinnatifid; pinnae oblique, curved upwards, narrowly linear-lanceolate; pinnules alternate, oblong, very obtuse, connate near the base, somewhat decurring or much inclined upwards, the upper ones very small on both sides of the rachis, which pass beyond into a naked linear blunt lacinia; medial veins scarcely distinct. I should have omitted the description of this too small fragment, the characters being too indefinite for a reliable specification. I find, however, a species described as Sphenopteris coarctata, in Roehl, Paleont., XVIII, p. 61, Pl. XIV, f. 5, which is very similar to this, especially by the prolongation of the radius into a linear band, taking the place of a terminal pinnule. In the American species this terminal prolongation of the rachis is longer, five millimeters, one millimeter broad, in its whole length, and obtuse; in the European form, the upper pinnules seem abruptly narrowed into a short linear-acuminate apex. The lower pinnules are also shorter in our fragment, more obtuse, very entire; while in Roehl's figure the lower pinnules are lobate at the top, and longer. In these also the medial nerve forks into two branches at the base, while it is simple as far as can be seen in ours. Notwithstanding these differences, the relation of these fragments is very close. Habitat—Gate vein near Pottsville. |
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PECOPTERIS CONCINNA, Lesqx.
Boston Journ. S. N. H., v. VI, p. 424. Geol. of Penn'a, p. 867, Pl. XI, f. 5. Schp., Paleont. veget., I, p. 507. Leaf bipinnate; pinnae alternate, linear-lanceolate, open, distant, with a narrow, flexuous rachis; pinnules distant, oblong, narrowed upwards to an obtuse apex, rounded to the point of attachment; borders pinnately undulate or lobate; medial nerve alternately branching; veins dichotomous. The fragment does not show the lateral pinnae in their whole. They appear linear, lanceolate toward the apex, the pinnules becoming gradually shorter upwards, their length, one centimeter near the base of the pinnae, being eight millimeters at a distance of two and a half centimeters from the main rachis, where the pinnae are broken. The pinnules are oblong or narrowly oval, equally narrowed at both ends, and regularly pinnately undulate or rather lobate, as each secondary division of the veins constitutes a group of veinlets for each lobe, by a medial vein pinnately divided into four or five alternate branches. Habitat—Gate vein, near Pottsville. The fragment is on the same shale as Pseudopecopteris decurrens, and is unique. |
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Fronds bipinnate or tripinnatifid; primary pinnae oblong-lanceolate; secondary divisions open, linear, pinnately divided in oblong or half round lobes or leaflets, connate at the base, crenulate; primary and secondary veins nearly of the same size, thin, but distinct; lateral veins curved to the borders, simple or forked. This genus, leaving out the characters of fructification, from which its name is derived, but which have not yet been observed on any American specimens clearly enough for microscopical anatomy, is intermediate between the Pecopterids and the Sphenopterids. The division of the pinnae, the shape and position of the pinnules, refer the species described here to Pecopteris, while the thin nervation and the crenulatIons of the borders indicate their affinity to Sphenopteris. |
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OLIGOCARPIA ALABAMENSIS, Lesqx, Plate XLVII, Figs. 1-1b.
Sphenopteris Alabamensis, Lesqx., Geol. Rept. of Alabama, 1875, p. 76. Leaf tripinnatifid, large, slender; primary divisions sub-opposite, distant, open; secondary pinnae sessile, in right angle, slightly flexuous, alternately pinnately lobed; lobes or pinnules oblong, obtuse, subcrenulate, connate near the base; medial nerve gradually effaced towards the apex by division; veins oblique, curving to the borders, simple or forking above the middle. The primary and secondary rachis of this species are cylindrical, solid, but not rigid; the primary pinnae pedicelled, long, sixteen to seventeen centimeters, are broader in the middle, where the secondary divisions measure three and a half centimeters or more, while those of the base are only half as long, also gradually shorter from the middle to the apex. The lobes of the ultimate pinnae, also slightly larger in the middle, there four millimeters long, half as broad, become very gradually shorter up to the terminal, oblong, small, distinct pinnule. The substance of the leaflets is thin, membranaceous; the veins are distinctly traced upon the yellowish epidermis. Comparing this and the following species, the relation of the plants is evident. Habitat—Helena coal mines, Shelby county, Alabama. Prof. Eug. A. Smith. |
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OLIGOCARPIA GUTBIERI, Goepp., Plate XLVIII, Figs. 1-3b.
Goepp,, Gatt. I, II, p. 3, Pl. IV, f. 1, 2. Gein., Verst., p. 30, Pl. XXXIII, f. 6, 7. Pl. XXXV, f. 9. Schp., Paleont., Veget., I, p. 586. Pinnae oval-oblong; lateral divisions nearly in right angle, alternate, longer in the middle, lineal, obtuse; pinnules half round, connate to the middle, crenulate; primary veins slightly flexuous, thin, pinnately forking, the lateral forking once again. Plate XLVIII, f. 3a, 3b, showing in detail the fructifications, are copied from Geinitz's splendid illustration of this species. Some of our specimens are fruiting; but none of them have the fructifications distinct enough to show by anatomy the details of their characters. Per contra, the branch Plate XLVIII, f. 1, of our plate, is the only one of this species seen until now in its integrity. It has more distinctly an ovel shape than the pinnae of the former species. Its lateral divisions two and a half centimeters long in the middle, not even half as long at the base, more rapidly shorter to the obtuse apex, have the lobes short, half round. The nervation has the same character as seen Plate XLVIII, f. 2a, made from American specimens, and still more Plate XLVIII, f. 3a, copied from Geinitz, which has the lobes somewhat longer and cut to near the base. The substance of the pinnules is thin, pale-colored, membranaceous. Habitat—A few fragmentary specimens have been communicated from Morris, on clay shale, and from Mazon Creek, in nodules. The best one, part of which is figured here, comes from Vandalia shaft, Ill., 366 feet below the surface, communicated by Prof. A. H. Worthen. |
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OLIGOCARPIA FLAGELLARIS, Lesqx.
Sphenopteris flagellaris, Lesqx., Boston Journ., S. N. H., v. VI, p. 420, Geol. of Penn'a, 1858, p. 862, Plate XVIII, f. 1, la. Fragment of leaf bipinnatifid; main rachis cylindrical; pinnae oblique, long, flexuous, sessile; pinnules deltoid-ovate, crenulate, connate to the middle and decurring, the lower ones half attached to the main rachis; medial veins flexuous, divisions simple or forked once. The flexuous pinnae, seven centimeters long, are narrow, linear; the pinnules slightly short towards the base, and also towards the terminal small obtuse pinnules, are three to four millimeters long and as broad below the middle, where they become decurring or turned downwards and connate. The nervation and the substance of the leaflets is thin, the veins distinct and slender as in the species described above. The lobes are rather blunt or somewhat acute than obtuse, deltoid. Habitat—South Salem vein, Tunnel of Sharp mountain, near Pottsville. No other specimens have been found but the one figured. |
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