512 Description of the Fossil Plants 



iiim — Asplcnium erosiim, etc., — that I shall be surprised 

 if on the discovery of its fructification it is not found to 

 belong to that genus. 



Formation and Locality. Cretaceous ? rocks. Point 

 Doughty, Orcas Island. 



T^NioPTERis GiBBsii. Newb. 



Desc. Frond simple, petiolate, oblong, elliptical in out- 

 line, rounder at base and summit ; margins entire, midrib 

 strong, straight, smooth ; lateral nerves leaving the midrib 

 nearly at a right angle, simple, fine, parallel, numerous. 



The form and nervation of this leaf are so well given in 

 the accompanying figures, that no lengthy description of 

 it seems necessary. The fructification is not visible on 

 the specimens contained in the collection, and its relation 

 to living ferns must therefore remain for the present some- 

 what in doubt. It however falls clearly within the fossil 

 genus Tceniopteris, and may be permitted to remain there 

 until such time as its fructification shall be discovered, and 

 its affinities with recent genera demonstrated. By its sim- 

 ple frond, strong midrib, and simple, parallel nerves, nearly 

 horizontal, it resembles some oY the species of Olfersia 

 Presl ; perhaps as much also the living Oleandra neriifolia 

 and other species of the same genus. 



Among described fossil ferns, there is none for which 

 this need be mistaken. Three species only which have 

 been referred to this genus have been described from rocks 

 of Tertiary age, viz. : T. Bcrtrandi, Brongn. (Hist. Veget. 

 Foss. I. p. 266, T. 82, F. 5,) from the Miocene of Lom- 

 bardy, T. dentata Sternb. (Vers. 2, S. 141. Gopp. Syst. 

 Fil. Foss. S. 355, T. 21, F. 7, 8,) and T. Eocenica Ung. 

 (Gen. et Spec. p. 527,) from the Schists of Radoboj in 

 Croatia, formerly regarded as Eocene, now as Lower Mio- 

 cene. Another species is mentioned by Brongniart from 

 the Italian Tertiaries, (Tab. des Gen. p. 21,) but it is 

 not yet described. From the three species enumerated 



