Mancliester Memoirs, I'^ol. xliv. (1900), No. 8. 13 



The specimens from Gristhorpe Bay fi<^ured by 

 Lindley and Mutton in their j)l. cl\'. were drawn and 

 described by Wilh'amson, who considered them to be 

 examples of the genus Giossopteris ; but the authors of 

 the bossil Flora considered the absence of a midrib indica- 

 tive of an affinity with their species Otof^teris Bcatiii. 



Fig. 2, pi. civ. of the Fossil Flora (refigured in 

 pi. iii., fig. 7) represents a specimen consisting of a stalk 

 I cm. in length, bearing two terminal leaflets i"4 cm. long. 

 The stalk is comparatively broad and winged, and the 

 lamina of the obcuneate leaflets is traversed by numerous 

 branched and anastomosing veins, which are rather fewer 

 in number than in Williamson's drawing. 



Although it is practicalK' impossible to decide the 

 question of identit}- of Sagoioptcris Phillipsi L. and H. 

 and Otopteris cuiieata L. and H., I am inclined to agree 

 with Bunbury that it is at least reasonable to suppose that 

 both forms of leaf were borne by the same species. Evi- 

 dence of the variation of leaf-form displayed by this genus 

 is furnished by the numerous specimens in the British 

 and other museums ; the leaflets vary in size, in the propor- 

 tion of length to breadth, and in the distinction or promi- 

 nence of a midrib. Again, in the series of figures of 

 the Rhaetic si^Qcxes^ Sagenoptcris rhoifolia (Presl),^ and in the 

 drawings published by Zigno- and Nathorst^ of species of 

 this genus, we have abundant proof of the variability 

 displa\-ed by the leaflet. It may he a convenience to refer 

 to such specimens as that shown in fig. 5, pi. i., as Sageuop- 

 teris Phillipsi \-ar. cnneata. 



PI. iii., fig. 8 (No. 310). This specimen represents an 

 imperfect leaf, 10 cm. in length, terminating distall}' in a 



1 Schenk (67). 

 Zigno (56). 

 Nathorst (7S-S6). 



