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John Day Fossil Beds National Monument View of the Painted Hills (Photo by Sue Anderson)

SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES.


Family POLYPODIACEÆ.

ASPLENIUM SUBSIMPLEX (Lesq.) Knowlton.

ASPLENIUM SUBSIMPLEX (Lesq.) Knowlton, Cat. Cret. and Tert. Pl. N. A., p. 45, 1898.

Pteris subsimplex Lesq., Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XI, p. 24, 1888.

There are fragments of several fronds in the collection that should probably be referred to this species, yet they do not quite agree in all particulars. Thus the example secured by Bendire (U. S. Nat. Mus., No, 2634) has the frond from 4.5 cm. to nearly 5 cm. in width, while a specimen obtained by the University of California (No. 170, counterpart 171) is only 2.5 cm. in width. These measurements are larger and smaller respectively than the usual examples of A. subsimplex from Colorado, and the nervation arises at a less angle in the Oregon specimen, but these differences are slight and probably not sufficient to exclude them from this species.

Locality.—Cherry Creek, Crook County, Oregon. Collected by Maj. Charles E. Bendire (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 2634), by Merriam's party in 1900 (Mus. Univ. Cal., Nos. 170, 174), and by Knowlton and Merriam, 1901 (U. S. Nat. Mus., Nos. 9068—9074).

PTERIS PSEUDO-PINNAEFORMIS ? Lesq.

PTERIS PSEUDO-PINNAEFORMIS Lesq., Tert. Fl., p. 52, Pl. IV, figs. 3, 4, 1878.

Pteris pinnœformis Heer. Newberry, Later Extinct Floras, p. 7, Pl. XLVIII, fig. 5, 1898.

This species appears to have been found but once. The specimen is now in the United States National Museum and is preserved in matrix which closely resembles that at Cherry Creek.

Locality.—Currant Creek, Oregon. Collected by Rev. Thomas Condon (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 8098).

LASTREA (GONIOPTERIS) FISCHERI ? Heer.

LASTREA (GONIOPTERIS) FISCHERI Heer, Fl. Tert. Helv., Vol. I, p. 34; Pl. IX, figs. 3a—3e, 1855; Newberry, Later Extinct Floras, p. 10, Pl. XLVIII, fig. 6, 1898.

Lastrea Knightiana Newb., Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. V, p. 503, 1883.

The specimen upon which this determination was based is in the United States National Museum, and so far as known no others have since been obtained.

Locality.—Currant Creek, Oregon. Collected by Rev. Thomas Condon (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 7097).

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