Mesozoic.} PALAONTOLOGY OF VICTORIA. [ Plante. 
dilated at base, so as to adhere by the whole width to the rachis, and slightly to each 
other; edges usually simple, or slightly undulated, rarely slightly serrated minutely 
at apex; “midrib thin, slightly flexuous, nearly obsolete at tip; secondary veins 
oblique, forking once near base, and occasionally a second time near the margin; 
the ordinary length of pinnules is about 9 lines ; and width at base, 8 lines. 
Rerexence.—Mor. in Stral. N.S.W. , p. 248, t. 7, figs. 1-2. 
I can in no way distinguish by any satisfactory character this 
species from one in the Oolitic coal shales of Scarborough to which 
the late Mr. Bean of that place gave the manuscript name of 
Neuropteris Scarburgensis, and which Mr. Leckenby, the most 
experienced living ete tecity ou the Yorkshire Oolitic Ferns, 
considers intermediate between the Pecopteris insignis and the 
P. ligata of the same beds. ‘The slightly more distinct serration 
or jagging of the apex of the pinnules in the English than in the 
Australian (as represented in our magnified figure) is the only 
difference I see on careful comparison of specimens from both 
rocks. The hastata, ligata, recentior, and Whitbiensis of the York- 
shire beds, to some of which this and the allied Pecopteris Indica 
(Old. and Mor.) have been compared by various authors, have 
shorter, broader, more falcate, and more pointed pinnules; but 
any one even comparing our plate with Lindley and Hutton’s one 
of Pecopteris insignis, and taking Mr. Leckenby’s view of Scarbur- 
gensis being intermediate between it and Pecopteris ligata, and our 
Australian plant having actually the same length and proportion of 
pinnules as this intermediate smaller form (Scarburgensis), will see 
the difficulty of separating the Australian plant from it, particularly 
when I state that the veins are much more commonly forked only 
once in the Australian plant, as I figure it, than with the second 
marginal branching as given by Morris, and which I have occa- 
sionally seen in the English Oolitic plant also. 
This species, which is common in the Jerusalem Basin of Tas- 
mania, is here figured from the light-grey fine clays associated 
with thin coal seams at Bellerine, near Geelong, the beautiful 
specimen figured having been presented to the Museum by Dr. 
King of that place. 
EXPLANATION OF FicurEs. 
Plate XIV.—Fig. 3, pinnate frond, natural size. Fig. 3a, three pinnules magnified, showing 
form, attachment, venation, and slight serration sometimes seen near tip. 
Freperick McCoy. 
tee al G 
