VON Etth^gsjiavbe's.- FussU Floni of Xfiv Zealaiul. -JsT 



strata of Dunstan, and also with a sterile fragment from the 

 strata of Shag Point, permit a supposition of a close relation- 

 ship of these species — yea, probably, a relation as regards 

 genus. The Chalk species is distinguished from the Tertiary 

 species by the lesser notches of the pinnio and the oviform 

 pointed lobes of same ; the diverging-angles of the secondary 

 nerves seem also to be more acute in the latter. I consider 

 Asjyidium fcecundiim, Heer, from the fossil liora of the Atanc 

 strata, as analogous to the Chalk species ; the former is dis- 

 tinguished by the deeper and the bluntly-rounded-off lobes of 

 the pinnffi. 



Dicksonia pterioides, \p. nov. 



Plate XXX., fig. i-G. 



D. fronde hi- vel tri-i)innata, p'lnnis alternis, rarias subojj- 

 positis, sessilibus, ovatis vel lanceolatis, supcrioriMis denticu- 

 latis obtusis, infcriorihus dentatis vel lobatis, dcntibus vel lobin 

 rotuiidato-obtusis ; ncrvatioiie Pecopteridis sphenopteridis, nervo 

 primario temii, sub angulis variis acutis e rliachi oricnte, sub 

 apice cvanescente ; nervis secimdariis sub angulis acutis exenii- 

 tibus ; nervis tertiariis furcatis. 



Locality : Pakawau, Nelson (Canterbury Museum). 



The remains of ferns before me betray a frond which is 

 more composite than the fern previously described. Fig. 4 is 

 probably the point of a pinna of the second order. The 

 small pinnae here often run together in lobes ; but in figs. 5 

 and 6 the pinnae are more developed, they adhere to elon- 

 gated, lanceolate pinnae of the second order; they are ovi- 

 lanceolate, serrated, or lobate, and close together. The 

 nervation, fig. 6a, is very delicate, and only visible if a favour- 

 able light can be brought to bear uj)on the object. The pri- 

 mary n&rve is very fine, and from it start secondary nerves at 

 acute angles, which are arranged anadromously. The tertiarx' 

 nerves, which are not numerous, are divided fork-like. By no 

 means is it possible to give here the related analogies with 

 such certainty as those of the ferns previously described, but 

 it seems as if these must be looked for in the divisions of the 

 Davalliacece and Cyatheaccce. The follow"ing show analogous 

 formation of the frond : Alsophila pruinata, Kaulf., an Ameri- 

 can fern ; Microlepia 2yinnata, Prcsl, indigenous in the East 

 Indies and Oceana; Balantiiim broicnianum, Presl, of the Aus- 

 tralian flora; but most of all Diclcsonia smitJiii, Hook., which 

 occurs in the Island of Luzon. 



Among fossil ferns, Dicksonia conferta, Heer, of the flora 

 from the Atane strata, approaches nearest to the species de- 

 scribed, but it is distinguisluulfrom it by the unbroken edge of 

 the small pinnae. 



