OTOZA5IITES. 



and lower view of the same plant. I am inclined to regard some 

 of the examples referred by Saporta to 0. latior as identical with 

 Heer's 0. august if oli us, Heer; cf. Saporta, pi. xcvii. fig. 2, and 

 Heer, pi. ix. fig. 12, etc. The plant figured by Bartholni, 1 as 

 Otozamites latior, closely resembles the present species. A some- 

 what similar habit is also seen in Leckenby's Otopteris lanceolata : 

 the type specimen of this species appears to be identical with 

 some other examples which have been assigned to Ctenophyllum 

 pectinata ; the base of the pinnae may be very slightly auriculate, 

 but the specimens do not afford satisfactory evidence of this. 



It will be seen from the two specimens (V. 2123 and V. 2360) 

 figured in PL I. Figs. 1 and 2, that the frond presents a very 

 different appearance in the lower and upper portions. The graceful 

 and tapering pinnte, with their slightly but distinctly auriculate 

 base (Fig. 4), and the grooved broad rachis are perhaps the most 

 striking specific characteristics. The inclusion of these specimens 

 in Dunker's species may, perhaps, be an error of judgment, but 

 I have endeavoured to show on what grounds this course has been 

 taken. The institution of a new species would have been in some 

 respects more satisfactory than defining afresh an old species 

 founded on specimens much less perfect than those now before us, 

 but, having recognized the strong probability that the apparent 

 differences between Dunker's type and the English examples is 

 due to accidents of fossilization, the original name has been 

 retained. We may thus define Otozamites Goppertianus : 



Frond pinnate, deciduous; rachis broad, with a surface marked by 

 irregular longitudinal lines ; pinnae alternate, articulate, attached 

 by a slightly auriculate base to the middle of the upper surface 

 of the rachis ; towards the base of the frond the pinnae are very 

 narrow and short, and farther apart than those attached to the 

 middle and upper portion of the frond axis; in certain parts of 

 a frond the pinnae are approximate and almost imbricate. Lower 

 pinnae very obliquely attached to the rachis, the upper gradually 

 becoming inclined at a greater angle to the axis in passing towards 

 the apex of the frond. Pinnae linear-lanceolate, very gradually 

 tapering from the base to the apex, occasionally somewhat falcate, 

 apices acute and slightly symmetrical, the lower margin of a 

 segment being sometimes decidedly curved in an upward direction, 



1 Bartholni, pi. iii. fig. 1. 



