VI] 



PTEROPSIDA 



81 



Several attempts have been recently made to determine 

 whether Archaeopteris was a member of the Primofilices or a 

 Pteridosperm, Kidston^ and others think the latter the more 

 probable. We, however, agree with Johnson ^ that there is 

 absolutely no evidence that this very completely known type 

 (at any rate in the case of A. hibernica) bore seeds. It is much 

 more probably a Primofilix. The evidence of Rhacopteris, so far 

 as it goes, agrees with this conclusion. On the other hand at 

 least one Adiantites (Fig. 43) was a seed-bearing plant, but here 

 the seeds clearly arose by the metamor- 

 phosis of a segment of the frond. No 

 fructifications are yet known in the case 

 of Cardiopteris. 



Another very common type of frond 

 evolution is seen in Sphenojjteridium (Figs. 

 34, p. 61, 35, p. 62 and 44), beautifully fore- 

 shadowed in the Psilophyton flora by Pseudo- 

 sporochnus (Fig. 16, p. 34) and perhaps P/i7o- 

 phyton (Fig. 13, p. 32), and fully developed 

 in the Archaeopteris flora. 



Here the ends of large branches frequently 

 divide, usually dichotomously, to form a tuft 

 of very narrow forked, nerved segments^. 

 This type of frond persisted long after the 

 Devonian period. It is very common in 

 Lower Carboniferous rocks, e.g. Sphenopteris 

 qffinis (Fig. 45, p. 82) and S. bifida (Fig. 

 46, p. 82) among many others, and it is 

 also met with in Upper Carboniferous times. 

 The genus Eremopteris simply represents a 

 somewhat peculiar modification of this tjq^e. 



Between Sphenopteridium and Sphenopteris it is not jiossible 

 to draw any really satisfactory line.' The latter type possesses 

 broader and more rounded segments as a rule, with a pinnate 

 nervation. The term Sphenopteridiujn is in fact chiefly retained 



1 Kidston (1906), p. 435. 2 Johnson (1911i). 



* A similar type of leaf also occurs where the division of an Archaeopteris 

 or Rhacopteris type of pinnule is at its maximum. 



Fig. 44. Sphenopterid- 

 ium moravicum , ( Ett . ) , 

 from the Lower Car- 

 boniferous of Austria, 

 Thalloid foliage (re- 

 duced to I nat. size). 

 After Stur, Culm- 

 Flora (1875). 



