SAGENOPTERIS. 163 



Type-specimens. Brongniart's type in the Paris Museum (?) ; that 

 of Otopteris cuneata of Linclley & Hutton in the Manchester 

 Museum. The specimens figured by Phillips (pi. viii. fig. 8) and 

 by Lindley & Hutton (pi. Ixiii.) are in the York and British 

 Museums respectively. 



Frond very variable, petiolate ; in some forms the petiole bears 

 four linear lanceolate leaflets having a distinct midrib and oblique 

 anastomosing lateral veins ; in other forms a shelter winged petiole 

 bears one or two shorter and broader, somewhat obcuneate leaflets 

 without a midrib and traversed by spreading anastomosing veins. 



The figures published by Brongniart of this species represent 

 the leaves with dichotomous but not anastomosing secondary 

 veins ; one of the drawings was communicated to him by Professor 

 Phillips and another was drawn from a specimen supplied by 

 Dr. Murray. At a later date Brongniart instituted a new genus 

 Phyllopteris l to include the leaves previously identified as 

 Glossopteris Phillipsii ; the specimens figured by Lindley & 

 Hutton under the latter name are referred by the French author 

 to Sagenopteris. This separation of the Yorkshire fossils into 

 two genera, Phyllopteris and Sagenopteris, was the result of 

 incorrect representation of the venation in some of the earlier 

 figures ; there is, however, no doubt as to the identity of the 

 plants figured by Brongniart and Lindley & Hutton. 



In plate civ. of the Fossil Flora a smaller form of leaf with 

 anastomosing venation is represented under the name Otopteris 

 cuneata ; these specimens agree as regards the anastomosing veins 

 with the longer and narrower leaves which the authors referred 

 to Glossopteris Phillipsii, but differ in the absence of a midrib and 

 in having fewer leaflets on each frond. The original specimen 

 of one of the drawings in plate civ. of the Fossil Flora is now in 

 the Manchester Museum. 2 



In 1851 Bunbury discussed at some length the affinities of 

 Otopteris cuneata, L. & H. ; he considered that this species "is 

 merely an imperfect or abnormal state probably a seedling of 

 Sagenopteris Phillipsii Speaking of a specimen in Mr. Bean's 

 collection, which is in all probability No. 39,311 in the British 



1 Brongniart (49), p. 22. 



2 Refigured, Seward (00), pi. iii. figs. 7 and 8. 



