[MATTHEW] FLORA OF THE LITTLE RIVER GROUP NO. II 93 



weight, as he has never seen the two merge into each other, and the 

 frmting spikes of the two species as Sir William has remarked are de- 

 cidedly" different from each other. What may have given rise to this 

 suspicion in Sir William's mind is that A. latifoUa exhibits a narrow 

 strap-shaped leaf in some examples, which perhaps was an aquatic or 

 submerged form, scarcely showing a mid-rib and apparently of succulent 

 substance, that may easily be confused with A. acicularis if one did not 

 observe that the leaves of the latter were thick and strongly ribbed, 

 though narrow, while the narrow leaves of A. latifolia are thin and 



flexible. 



SPHENOPHYLLUM. 



Sphe^tophyllum latum n. sp. Plate VI, Pig. 5. 



Among the rare forms of plants found at the Fern Ledges is a 

 species of Sphenophyllum remarkable for the breadth of the leaf. 



Stem and fructification unknown. Leaf broadly cuneate, somewhat 

 widened in the lower part like a Whittleseya. Base of the leaf not pre- 

 served, the veins appear to spring from about three main veins in the 

 lower part of the leaf; in the mid-length of the leaf they have divided 

 into about nine or ten, each ultimate vein ending in a mucronate point, 

 of which there are fourteen (or fifteen?), the ends of the mucros are in 

 a straight line across the end of the leaf; nine central points are stouter 

 than the marginal ones. 



Width, 16 mm. Length, about 18 mm. 



Horizon.— Lo^xeY Cordaite shale. Locality.— Yern Ledges, Lancas- 

 ter, N.B. The type is in the author's cabinet. 



The leaf in this species may be compared with S. emarginatum v. 

 Brogniartianum, as figured by Cœmans and Kickx,i but it is larger and 

 wider, and has more numerous points at the extremity. The form of 

 this leaf and its unusual width for a Sphenophyllum might tempt one 

 to think a Whittleseya, but the thin lamina and the forking veins forbid 

 a reference to that genus. 



Sphenophyllum latum var. minus n. var. Plate VI, Fig. 6. 



Stem and fructification unknown. Blade of the leaf triangular 

 with numerous forked veins, or nerves. Traces of three nerves near the 

 base; these divide dichotomously making about twelve at the anterior 

 margin ; there are about six nerves at the middle of the leaf ; the mu- 

 cronate points are not conspicuous. 



Leaf poorly preserved, rather thick at the front. 



iZittel's Palœont. Til, (Plants), p. 174, f.g. 135, 5. 



