114 WEICHSELIA. 
least doubt the same, or some nearly allied plant, as the smaller 
examples named by Brongniart Lonchopteris Mantelli. When the 
term Weichselia was proposed it was in ignorance of the fact that 
the pinnules of the species to which the new name was applied 
possessed reticulate venation, and would, therefore, come under the 
older venation genus Lonchopteris. Now that we know more as 
to the characters of these Weichselia fronds it is seen that, in spite 
of the resemblance founded on venation alone, there is a well- 
marked divergence from those species which Brongniart’s defini- 
tion of Lonchopteris correctly describes. The generic characters 
may be stated briefly thus :— 
Frond bipinnate, rachis broad and rigid, pinne long and with 
prominent axes, pinnules entire with obtuse apex, attached by the 
whole of their bases, distinct; venation of the Zonchopteris type. 
In the absence of what we may regard as satisfactory evidence 
for the existence of other species than W. Mantelli, I have included 
all the Weichselia forms under a single species. 
1.—Weichselia Mantelli (Brong.). 
1824. Pecopteris reticulata, Stokes and Webb, Trans. Geol. Soc. vol. i. 
ser. ii, p. 423, pl. xlvi. fig. 5; pl. xlvii. fig. 3. 
1825. Pecopteris reticulata, Sternberg, Flor. Vorwelt. iv. p. xx. 
1827. Pecopteris reticulata, Mantell, Illust. Geol. Sussex, p. 56, pl. iii. 
fig. 5; pl. iii*. fig. 3. 
1828. Lonchopteris Mantelli, Brongniart, Prodrome, p. 60. 
Lonchopteris Mantelli, Brongniart, Hist. vég. foss. p. 369, pl. cxxxi. 
figs. 4 and 5. 
1832. Pecopteris reticulata, Passy, Départ. Seine-inférieure, p. 340, pl. xv. 
figs. 9 and 10. 
1833. Lonchopteris Mantelli, Mantell, Geol. S.E. England, p. 244, pl. i. 
fig. 3. 
1836. Polypodites Mantelli, Goppert, Foss. Farrnkrt. p. 341. 
1837. Lonchopteris Mantelli, Lindley and Hutton, Foss. Flor. pl. clxxi. 
1838. Lonchopteris Mantelli, Sternberg, Flor. Vorwelt. vii. p. 167. 
1839. Lonchopteris Mantelli, Mantell, Wonders of Geology, vol. i. edit. iii. 
p- 371. 
1844. Pecopteris sp., Auerbach, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mose. 1844, pt. i. 
vol. xvii. p. 146, pl. v. figs. 10-11. 
1845. Pterophyllwum Murchisonianum, Goppert, in Murchison’s Geol. Russia, 
vol. ii. p. 501, pl. G, figs. 4-6. 
Pterophyllum filicium, Goppert, loc. cit. pl. G, fig. 4. 
