Bulletin 3. The flora of the Raritan Formation, 1911 - State of New ...

2a2 THE RARITAN FLORA.
this nucleus three membraneous wings are usually attached.
These wings usually diverge from each other at angles of about
45°; they are broadly linear, obovate OF ovate in outline, with
broadly rounded, almost truncate tips and narrowed somewhat
toward the base, the lateral wings being usually somewhat unsymmetrical;
the), are marked by fine parallel longitudinal veins
converging toward the base and anastomoslng at intervals. In
size they range from 0. 5 era. to -0.5 cm'. in length by 2 mm. to io
ram. in width. Both Holliek and Newberry call attention to the
somewhat greater length of the middle wing, whid_ is, however,
far from being a constant character since some specimens fail
to show it, all of the ubngs being of similar size, or the central
wing may even be mucb smaller, as it is in som.e of the Alabama
material, where, along with the normal forms, there occur others
with all of the wings directed upward and the central one ouly
about half the size o.f the laterals.
The botanical relation of these curious objects remains unknown,
although they are probably comparable to the bracts so
largely developed in some of the Juglandaceae and Betulaceae,
" or to certain of the winged fruits to be found among the modern
Sapindacem or Dipterocarpacea:. In the abundant remains from
"rottenville, Staten Island; Gay I-read and Nashaquitsa, Marthas
Vineyard, and Gleu Cove, Long Island, D_r.Hollick has described
another species, Tricalycites major* based on forms which are
usually two winged and with a larger nucleus, the wings reaching
a length of 4 _n. and a width of z.3 cmv _he same author has
described similar but smaller remai_s from Marthas Vineyard
as Calycites oboz,atus'- and still sn*aller remains from Montauk
Point as Ca_¥citeg alctus a. \x,qlile perhaps from' the standpoint
of the paleobotanist these segregations are permissible or even
desirable, it may be doubted if they express real specific distinctions
and not merely individual variations. T,here is certainly a
suggestion in the forms from, the Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama,
which occur with the normal Tricalycites papyraceor_s, that
Ho/lick, Mon. U. S. Geol. Surv., vol. 50, i9o7, p. io8, pl. l7, _gs. I3-22.
2Ibid., p. Io9, /d. P', rbg. 23.
Ibld., p. _09, pl. K, _g. 24.
NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY