82 LACCOPTEBIS. 



a specimen in the Whitby Museum (No. 2379) which was figured 

 inaccurately both by Young & Bird and by Phillips, and by the 

 latter referred to Zigno's genus Marzaria. The type-specimen of 

 Marzaria Simpsoni is in all probability a young frond of Laccopteris 

 polypodioides ; the linear pinnules of the adult leaf are represented 

 by irregular rounded crenulations on the margin of the pinnae, and 

 bear a resemblance to the small and partially developed ultimate 

 segments on a young frond of Matonia pectinata. 



There is a striking similarity between the Inferior Oolite species 

 L. polypodioides and the older species L. affinis, L. Muensteri, and 

 L. Ooepperti figured by Schenk and other authors. 1 The fern 

 described by Etheridge from the Ipswich Coal-measures, New 

 South Wales, as Phlelopteris alethopteroides may be compared 

 with Laccopteris polypodioides.' 2 ' It is evident that Brongniart's 

 type is a member of a family which in the Mesozoic period was 

 represented by numerous and closely allied forms with a wide 

 geographical range. At the present day Matonia pectinata survives 

 as one of two species which have persisted within narrow 

 geographical limits as tropical representatives of a once vigorous 

 and widely spread family of ferns. 



39.251. PL XII. Figs. 1 and la. 



This specimen illustrates very clearly the characteristic habit of 

 the frond; five pinna3 are shown converging towards a common 

 petiole. The form of the leaf is precisely similar to that in 

 Matonia pectinata and in Matonidium Goepperti (Ett.). Each 

 pinna has a broad central axis bearing fairly broad ultimate 

 segments with a midrib and anastomosing secondary veins. One 

 of the lower deltoid segments is slightly enlarged in Fig. la ; 

 this shows the forked and anastomosing secondary veins. The 

 longest pinnule measures 1/2 cm. in length. 



Scarborough. Sean Coll. 



39.252. PI. XII. Fig. 2. 



In this specimen there are portions of five or six pinna3 not 

 far from their common origin from the petiole ; these bear 



1 Schenk (67), pis. xiii., xxiii.-xxv. 



2 Etheridge (88), p. 1306, pi. xxxviii. figs. 1 and 2. 



