94 Annals of tlie South African Museum. 



Two specimens of Psygmophyllum fiabcllatum in the British 

 Museum from the Coal-Measures of Newcastle (England) bear so close 

 a resemblance to the South African plant that I am unable to detect 

 any well-marked differences. One of these specimens (40578) is a 

 large leaf tapering gradually to a narrow basal region with a lamina 

 15 cm. long and 11-5 cm. broad, agreeing in size and shape with the 

 example shown in pi. xih. The other specimen (38927) shows an 

 axis like that represented in pi. xiii. bearing portions of two long 

 wedge-shaped leaves. The collection includes a similar specimen, 

 but less clearly preserved, from the Province of Perm, in Eussia, 

 referred to Psijgmopliyllum expansum Brongn.,* a type which is 

 probably closely related to the species of Lindley and Hutton.f 

 Nathorst's [: Psygmopkyllum wilUanisonl from Spitzbergen bears a 

 resemblance to P. hidstoni, and is of interest as coming from 

 a lower horizon than the other examples of the genus. Several 

 fossils have been figured by Schmalhausen from the Permian of 

 Eussia under the generic name Psygmophyllum, and some of these 

 undoubtedly represent species bearing a close resemblance l^oth to 

 P. flabellatum (L. and H.) of the English Coal-Measures and to the 

 Vereeniging plant ; this is the case with some at least of the speci- 

 mens referred by Schmalhausen to Brongniart's species Psygmo- 

 p)hyllum expansum.ii On the other hand, such forms as that 

 represented in his fig. 11, pi. iii. — referred to P. cuncifolmm (Bvongn.) 

 — can hardly be accepted as species of this genus. The specimen 

 named by Schmalhausen Baiera gigas \\ is in all probability a leaf of 

 Psygmophyllum, and may indeed be identical with the African plant. 



The leaves from Eussia described by Schmalhausen as Rhipidopsis 

 ginkoides *! differ from those of the African plant in being compound, 

 but the individual leaflets are very similar to the leaves represented 

 in pi. xiii. Under the name Archceopteris archetypus the same author 

 has figured leaves from Upper Devonian age in Eussia ''"'' which may 

 be compared with Psygmophyllum hidstoni ; the habit of the branch 

 as shown in one of Schmalhausen's figures (pi. ii.) appears to be 

 identical with that of the African plant. Nosggcrathia foliosa Sternb., 

 a species characteristic of the Eadnitz Coal-Measures, Bohemia, and 

 described by Feistmantel from Silesia, ft also bears a resemblance to 



* Brongniart in Murchison (4-5), pi. E. 



t Lindley and Hutton (32), pi. xxviii.-xxix. 



+ Nathorst (94), pi. ii., figs. 1, '2. 



§ Schmalhausen (87), pi. ill., fig. 10; pi. iv., figs. 1-6. 



II Op. cit., pi. v., fig. 10. •: Schmalhausen (79), pi. vi. 



** Ibid. (94), p. 28, pi. ii. ft Feistmantel (75), pi. v., fig. 1. 



