*286 Transactio7is.-- Geology. 



^.—DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES OF THE 

 CHALK FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 



CKYPTOGAM^. 



FILICES. 

 Blechnum priscum, sp. nov. 



Plate XXX., figs. 1, I;;. 



B.fronde subcoriacea ijinnata, pinnis rhachidem sub angula 

 ucuto iiisertis, confertis, alter nan tih us, linear i-lanceolatis, integer - 

 rimis ; nervatione Neuropteridis ; nervo inimario inominente, 

 versus apicem sensim attenuato, recto ; nervis sccimdariis angu- 

 lis acutis egredientibus, approximatis, inferioribus dichotonm, 

 reliquis furcatis, ramis elongatis, marginem versus arcKato- 

 divergcntibus. 



Locality : Pakawau, Nelson (Canterbury Museuui). 



The remainder of a fern shown in fig. 1 is pinuatifitl, 

 linear, lanceohite, and approximate ; the edges are not broken 

 or notched ; the pinnae are joined to a comparatively thin 

 petiole at acute angles ; the base is towards top and bottom 

 •drawn forward. The secondary nerves start at acute angles, 

 and run with their fork-like branches diverging towards the 

 edge (see the enlargement of the nervation, fig. la). The 

 position, the mode of joining, and the nervation of the pinnaB, 

 as well as the whole habit of the fossil, speak for the genus 

 Blechnum. The most nearly related living species is B. 

 occidontale, Linn., indigenous to tropic America (see Ettingsh., 

 Ferns, pi. Ixxv., tigs. 4 and 13). By analogy the fossil may 

 be considered as a fragment of the whole frond, which is only 

 simply pinnate. Of fossil ferns, B. atavium, Sap., from the 

 fossil flora of Sezanne, is the most nearly related ; it is only 

 distinguished by somcwdiat wider pinnse, and secondary 

 nerves which are less close together. 



Aspidium cretaceo-zeelandicum, sp. nov. 



Plate XXX., figs. 2, 3. 



A. pinnis kuiceolato-lincaribus, lobatis, lobis abbreviato- 

 ovatis ac2itis, integerrimis ; nervatione Gonioptcridis (?) ; nervo 

 primario proinincnte, recto ; vervls secundariis sub angulis 

 65'^-7d° orientibus., distinctis, rectis vel marginem versits 

 arcioatis ; nervis tertiariis tenuissimis, vix conspicuis. 



Locality : Pakawau, Nelson (Canterbury Museum). 



The pinnate fragments of a fern shown in figs. 2 and 3 a^gree 

 best with Aspidium ; the comparison of these with the small 

 fructifying fragment, figs. 4, 4a, PI. XXIV., from the Tertiary 



