srnENOPTEKis. 133 



a later period he concluded that they were on the whole distinct. 

 It would, however, he impossible to adopt M'Clelland's specific 

 name, since, though his plant is undoubtedly a Sphenopteris, 

 the name Sphenopteris affinis had been applied earlier to a Lower 

 Carboniferous frond by Lindley & Hutton. 



Feistmantel ' has also figured under the name Cyathea cf . 

 TcMhatcheffi, Schnial., some fronds from the Talchir Coalfield, 

 which he originally included with Sphenopteris polymorpha. The 

 characters of these leaves are not described, nor is the nervation 

 very clear from Lis figures. It is therefore difficult to decide how 

 far they differ from the latter species, to which in some cases 

 (cf. Feistmantel (80), pi. xvi a bis, fig. 1) they bear a close 

 resemblance. For the present they may, perhaps, be best regarded 

 as one of the varieties of the fronds included here under this specific 

 name. It may be also pointed out that Schmalhausen's species 

 is now known in all probability to be identical with Pecopteris 

 leptophylla, Bunbury, from the Lower Permian of Portugal. 2 



Sphenopteris polymorpha is known from the Barakar and 

 Raniganj Groups of the Damuda division in India, and from the 

 Newcastle Series in New South Wales. 



Not represented in the British Museum collection. 



2. Sphenopteris Hughesi (Feistmantel). 



(Text-fig. 32.) 



1877- Dicksonia cf. eoncinna, Feistmantel, Eec. Geol. Surv. India, vol. x, 

 pt. 4, p. 198, figs. 10, 11 of plate. 



1881. I>. Bughexi, Feistmantel, Flora Gondw. Syst., vol. iii, pts. 2, 3, p. 78, 



pi. xxiiiA, figs. 1, 3, 12, Via, 13. 



1882. B. HugJu-si, Feistmantel, ibid., vol. iv, pt. 1, p. 28, pi. xii, 



figs. 3, 3a, U. 

 1902. Sphenopteris (Dieksonites) Bughesi, Zeiller, Pal. Indica, n.s., vol. ii, 

 p. 6, pi. iv, figs. 1, 2, 2a-'ld. 



Type. ? No. 5207, Mus. Geol. Surv. India, Calcutta. 

 Frond tripinnate or tripinnatifid, ultimate pinnse sub-alternate, 

 elongate, somewhat flexuous, set at almost a right augle to the 



1 Feistmantel (80), p. 75, pi. xvi a, figs. 1, 2, 4. 



2 Zeiller (9G-), pp. 473, 174. 



