148 Mr. F. M'Coy on the Fossil Botany and Zoology 



three lines wide and two inches long ; pinnules alternate, ob- 

 lique, slightly connate at the base, obtusely elliptical, their 

 length only equalling the width of their base ; no midrib, 

 secondary neuration indistinct. 



The only Odontopteris approaching this elegant species by its 

 alternate pinnae and very short connected pinnules is the O. 

 Schlotheimii (Br.), from which it is distinguished by the smaller 

 size, much narrower and more oblique pinnae, and by the pin- 

 nules being proportionally smaller and elliptical instead of broadly 

 rounded. The latter character also separates it from the so-called 

 Pecopteris Desnoyersii (Br.) of the ' Oolithe a Fougeres * of Ma- 

 mers, Sarthe. 



Common in the fine sandstone of Clark's Hill, N. S. Wales. 



OtopteriSj Lind. and Hut. 



With Messrs. Lindley and Hutton I use this term for those 

 pinnated plants, the leaves of which agree with Cyclopteris in 

 their neuration. Some of these forms were originally described 

 by Lindley and Hutton (Fossil Flora) as Cyclopteris, under the 

 impression that the rachis was a rhizoma; Brongniart (Prodrome 

 and Hist, des Vegetaux Foss.) gives several of them as Neu- 

 ropteris, apparently neglecting the important character of want 

 of midrib. Goppert confounds both the simple and compound 

 fronds in his Adiantites (Syst. Fil. Foss. in Nova Acta Acad. Cses. 

 Leop. Cur. Nat.), and Unger does the same under the head Cy- 

 clopteris (Chloris Protogaea) . I have however thought it desirable 

 to use the term for the pinnate species for which it was proposed, 

 and thus retain Cyclopteris for the simple, entire fronds, in 

 accordance with the original view of Brongniart. 



Otopteris ovata (M'Coy). PI. IX. fig. 2. 



Sp. Char. Frond pinnate ; rachis very thick, slightly flexuous ; 

 leaflets little longer than wide, ovate, pointed ; upper lobe of 

 the base nearly twice the size of the under, the contracted, 

 thickened base set obliquely on the rachis ; veins fine, divari- 

 cating, very frequently dichotomizing, nearly equal, but fasci- 

 culated at the base. 



The fasciculation of the nerves at the base resembles that of 

 the Cyclopteris flabellata. The regular, short, semi-elliptical form 

 of the leaflets distinguishes this from the other species of the 

 genus. The average length of the leaflets in the examples I have 

 seen is about 8 lines, width 7 lines, width of rachis 1^ line. 

 Occurs in the hard siliceous flags of Arowa, N. S. Wales. 



Cyclopteris angustifolia (M'Coy). PI. IX. fig. 3 & 3 a. 

 Sp. Char. Leaf linear, lanceolate, eight or nine times longer than 



