OF LOWER GREENSAXD PLANTS. 7 



matrix, which is most unfavourable for the preservation of 

 delicate green lamina). 



In Fittou's detailed account of the Atherfield section (see 

 Fitton 1847, p. 308) he records the plant as follows : " The 

 vegetable remains in [beds] Nos. 36 and 37 have a glistening 

 surface like that of plumbago. They were found by Mr. Morris 

 to be distinctly portions of Lonchopteris Maniellii, a fern of the 

 Wealden hitherto found in that deposit only, but which seems 

 to be diffused in fragments nearly throughout the whole of the 

 lower greensand. Its occurrence amidst shells exclusively 

 marine makes it probable that, when these remains were de- 

 posited in the detritus which now forms the lower greensand, 

 some portion of the Wealden land was still above the sea ; but 

 the fragments of Lonchopteris found here are very small, and 

 so confusedly mixed together, that they may have been trans- 

 ported from great distances." 



Regarding the habitat of the species, Gothan (1910, p. 11) 

 makes a most interesting suggestion : according to his view 

 Weicliselia was a strand plant, possibly growing on sand-dunes. 

 Its generally xerophytic habit and thick leaves accord well with 

 this view, as does its occurrence in marine sandstones. In the 

 present connection, it is interesting to note that it is the only 

 fern -foliage (so far as I can discover) of which we have un- 

 doubted records in the British Lower Greensand, an essentially 

 sea-shore and marine deposit. 



The internal anatomy of the stem and petioles was recently 

 described for continental specimens by Bommer (1911), to whose 

 paper reference should be made. Such details cannot well be 

 discussed here, as the few Lower Greensand fragments of the 

 fern are only carbonised foliage-impressions. 



Neumann (1907, pi. i) figures the sori of a Neocomian speci- 

 men from Peru, but unfortunately none of the English Lower 

 Greensand fragments show any signs of fructification, so that 

 comparison between the forms is impossible. 



The nomenclature of this species has been considered ex- 

 haustively by Gothan (1910) ; he confirms and establishes 

 Ward's (1899) use of the name Weicliselia reticulata, tStokes 

 & Webb, for the species called W. AlanfaUi by Brongniart. 

 Seward, who follows Brongniart in this, does not dispute the 

 priority of the former name, but prefers to use the latter because 



