78 LACCOPTERIS. 



Laccopteris elegans (Presl) from Bayreuth, in the British Museum 

 Collection (No. 500), shows anastomosing veins in some of the 

 more perfectly preserved pinnules. 1 The Laccopteris venation may 

 be compared with that of Matonia pectinata, but in the latter fern 

 the anastomes between the lateral veins are rather less numerous 

 than in Laccopteris. The close agreement between Laccopteris 

 and Matonia as regards the form of the frond, the structure of 

 the sori and sporangia, and the venation characters afford sufficient 

 evidence for the inclusion of the genus in the Matoninese. "We 

 may define the genus Laccopteris as follows : 



Fronds pedate, in habit like those of Matonia pectinata, R. Br., 

 with pinnate or pinnatifid pinnao ; ultimate segments linear in 

 form, with a well-marked midrib giving off numerous secondary 

 veins which branch dichotomously, and are in places connected by 

 short lateral anastomoses. Sori circular, forming a single row 

 on each side of the midrib ; the sporangia are usually few in 

 number, from five to fourteen, with an oblique annulus and 

 tetrahedral spores. 



1. Laccopteris polypodioides, Brongniart. 



[Hist. veg. foss. p. 372, pi. Ixxxiii. fig. 1, 1828.] 



(PI. XII. and PI. XIII, Figs. 1 and 2; Text-figs. 8, 9, 10, 11s, 



and lie.) 



1828. Phlebopteris polypodioides, Brongniart, Hist. veg. foss. p. 372, 



pi. Ixxxiii. fig. 1. 



P. propinqua, ibid. p. 373, pi. cxxxii. fig. 1 ; pi. cxxxiii. fig. 2. 

 Pecopteris polypodioides, Brongniart, Prodrome, p. 57. 



1829. Pecopteris caspitosa, Phillips, Geol. Yorks. p. 148, pi. viii. fig. 10. 

 P. crenifolia, ibid. p. 148, pi. viii. figs. 11 and 11. 



P. ligata, ibid. pi. viii. fig. 14. 

 1832. Pecopteris polypodioides, Lindley & Hutton, Foss. Flor. pi. Ix. 



1834. Pecopteris propinqua, ibid. pi. cxix. 



1835. Phlebopteris contigua, ibid. pi. cxliv. 



1836. Hemitelitcs polypodioides, Goppert, Foss. Farm. p. 336, pi. xv. 



figs. 8 and 9. 



Polypodites Lindleyi, ibid. p. 342, pi. xxxviii. figs. 5 and 6. 

 Hemitelites Brownii, ibid. p. 334, pi. xxxviii. fig. 1. 

 Polypodites crcnifolius, ibid. p. 343. 



1 Seward (99), p. 195, fig. 8. 



