32 



Annals of the South African Museum. 



with the fossil scale-leaves is presented by the sheathing stipules 

 of such recent ferns as Marattia, An(iiopteris, Todea ; among 

 Palgeozoic ferns we have the so-called Aphlchia, which, in some 

 cases at least, acted as protective scales to unexpanded fronds. It 

 may be that the fossils referred to Cycadolepis should rather be 

 described as fern leaves, but I incline to the view that they are 

 cycadean for the following reasons : They correspond fairly closely 



Text-figure 4. (J nat. size.) (British Museum Collection, No. V. 2799.) 

 Cycadolepis from tlie Wealden of England. 



with the English specimens which I have little or no hesitation 

 in referring to cycads ; they occur in almost constant association 

 with the fronds of Zamites recta in the Uitenhage beds. "We know 

 that Mesozoic cycads possessed more fern-like characters than are 

 found among their modern representatives, and it would not be sur- 

 prising to find that some types produced scale-leaves comparable 

 with the AiMohia of extinct species of ferns and the stipular 

 appendages of certain existing genera. 



