122 



VASCULAR CRYPTOGAMS 



The edges of the pinnules are slightly serrate from the numerous dicho- 

 tomising veins ; the lower part of the stipe is clothed with scales. Spo- 

 ranges with the characteristic oblique annulus of the Hymenophyllaceae 

 have also been found in the coal measures by Carruthers ('Geol. Mag.,' 



Feb. 1872). 



Remains which can be 

 referred with certainty to the 

 MARATTIACE^E are not unfre- 

 quent. In Scolecopteris (Stur) 

 we have a true synange ; the 

 separate sporanges, arranged 

 on a common elevated re- 

 ceptacle, are linear-ovate with 

 a long free apex, and open by 

 a fissure on the inner side 

 without any trace of an an- 

 nulus. In Asterotheca (Presl) 

 the circular sorus usually con- 

 sists of six exannulate spo- 

 ranges closely adnate to one 

 another, the sori are sessile, 

 and are arranged in a single 

 row on each side' of the mid- 

 rib of the pinna. In Renaultia 

 (Stur) a group of cells occurs 

 in the outer wall of the spo- 

 range similar to that in Angi- 

 opteris, which may be the 

 rudiment of an annulus. 

 Seftenbergia (Cord.) presents 

 important differences. The 

 sporanges are not collected 

 into sori, but are scattered 

 along the veins of the third 

 order ; each sporange has at 

 its apex a cap-like annulus. 

 It appears to be a connecting 

 link between the Marattiaceae 

 and Schizaeaceae. Other types of Marattiaceae are presented by Danaeites 

 (Gopp.) and Botryopteris (Ren.). 



The remaining types of ferns of the Devonian and Carboniferous, 

 and especially those of more recent periods, present the greatest resem- 



FIG. 94. Fructifications of fossil Marattiaceae. A, 

 Seftenbergia ophidermatica ; B, Haulea Miltoni; 

 C, Oligocarpia Lindsceoides ; D, Scolecopteris poly- 

 morpha; , Asterotheca. Sternbergii. (After Solms- 

 Laubach.) 



