8b ON THE FOSSIL FLORA OF THE COAL DEPOSITS OF AUSTRALIA, 



1828.* According to this system (Ettmgshausen's)-);, there are 

 five orders of extinct ferns namely: — 1. Sphenopteride^e ; 2. 

 Neuropteride.e ; 3. Pecopteride^e ; 4. T.eniopteride^ ; 5. 



DlCTYOPTERIDEiE. 



Sphenopteride.e. 



Including Sphenopteris Hymenophyllum, Uremopteris, Goniop- 

 teris, Steffensia. 



Fronds petiolate, simple or divided, pinnate, bi-tri-pinnatifid, 

 Pinnules connate or lobate. Lobes dentate or subdivided. Costa 

 fine and delicate, often bifid or free at the top, veins diverging 

 above, or produced to the sinus of the lobes or teeth. Venules 

 either indistinct or only proceeding from the lower part of the 

 secondary nerves. 



Sphenopteris, Brongniart. 



As the species of this genus are over a hundred it has been found 

 convenient to divide them into families according as they approach 

 to such living forms as Cheilanthes, Davallia, Dichsonia, &c. The 

 most of the Australian specimens belong to the family Sphenohy- 

 menophyllece or Sphenopteris, approximating to the living 

 Hymenophyllum which is thus described. Rachis winged ; leaves 

 finely membranaceous, veins pinnate, single in each segment, 

 branches dichotomous. Sori indusiate at the apex of the lobes. 



Sphenopteris lobifolia. Morris in Strzel. p. 246, pi. 7, fig 3 

 and 3a. Frond bi-pinnate, pinna? somewhat linear, elongate, alter- 

 nate. Pinnules membranaceous, those of the lower pinnae equal, 

 ovate, oblong, contracted at the base, approximate, with three 

 nearly equal rounded lobes on each side, and a terminal obtuse 

 one. Veins proceeding into each to be divided near the midrib, 

 upper one furcate. The pinnules towards the apex of the frond 

 are rather sharply three-lobed and decurrent, the veins becoming 

 forked in each lobe. 



* Histoire des vegetaux fossiles, vol. I , p. 148 : Also Tableaux des 

 gen. de vegetaux fossiles, 1849. 



+ Die Farnkrauter der felzwelt zur Untersuehung und Bestimmung der 

 in der Formation du Erdrinde eingeschlossenen Ueberreste von vorwelt- 

 lichen Arten dieser Ordnung. Wien, 1865. By M. Const. d'Ettingshausen. 

 With 180 beautifully executed plates, giving the neuration of many 

 hundred species. 



