PHYLLOPTERIS 143 
notes the absence of anastomosing venation as a departure from 
the Glossopteris leaf, and the oblique course of the secondary 
veins as a means of distinguishing it from Zeniopteris. Saporta’s 
diagnosis differs but little from the earlier description by 
Brongniart :— 
‘«Frondes vel pinne frondium plus minusve lanceolate, margine 
integerrime, nervo medio sursum attenuato instructe; nervis 
secundariis costa media egredientibus, oblique decurrentibus, 
curvatis, pluries furcato-ramosis nec inter se anastomosatis.”’ 
Phyllopteris acutifolia, sp. nov. 
Type. Imperfect leaflets. In the British Museum. PI. IX. Fig. 6. 
Leaflets linear- or ovate-lanceolate, tapering at the lower end 
into a short stalk; midrib very distinct in the lower half, but 
gradually becoming less conspicuous towards the apical portion; 
lateral veins given off obliquely, and frequently dichotomizing 
as they curve towards the entire margin of the leaflet. 
In the best specimen of this species shown in Pl. IX. Fig. 6, 
we have an imperfect example of a single leaflet, which in shape 
agrees fairly closely with Phyllopteris Phillipsii, Brong., from the 
Middle Sandstone and Shale of East Yorkshire. Phillips described 
this Yorkshire fossil as having anastomosing veins, but, as already 
noted, Brongniart does not admit such anastomosis and places 
the specimens in a genus characterized by the absence of reticulate 
veins." 
Nathorst has recorded certain leaflets from Sweden which may 
be compared, as regards shape and venation, with the present 
species, e.g. Zhinnfeldia rhomboidalis, Ett.,? Sagenopteris undulata, 
Nath., as represented in pl. xix. fig. 2 of the ‘‘ Floran vid Bjuf”’? 
and in pl. ii. fig. 8 of the ‘‘Floran vid Hoganas.’’* This latter 
species should be compared with S. angustifolia, Zig. Nathorst’s* 
fig. 2, pl. xix. and Zigno’s figs. in pl. xx. Flor. foss. Oolit. are 
1 See remarks on Glossopteris Phillipsii by Bunbury, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 
vol, vii. 1851, p. 184. 
2 Sver. Geol. Undersokn. 4to. 1878. 
3 Ibid. 1878. 
4 Ibid. 1886. 
