16 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 



that on the former. The remains of the petioles are so rarely 

 found in the root-felt that it is probable that they either fell off 

 with a clean scar, or rotted away before the root-coating had 

 extended over the leaf-bearing surface of the stem." The 

 interesting restoration published in text-fig. 5 is kindly pro- 

 vided by Dr. Kidston & Prof. Gwynne-Vaughan, based on their 

 Itussian species and hitherto unpublished. 



As Kidston & Gwynne-Vaughan point out, the strict dorsi- 

 ventrality of the individual stems in such a complex is a 

 matter for surprise ; they explain it as a vestigial character 

 recording a primitively creeping habit. 



Fructifications in organic continuity are unknown, as also is 

 the external form of the foliage. Boodle (1895) described a 

 specimen from Hastings in which there is a group of spores 

 amid the badly preserved rootlets. He figures these spores 

 (1895, p. 138, figs. 1-4), and the figures, as well as the descrip- 

 tion, show that they are most probably fern -spores. There is 

 nothing more than the association, however, to prove that the 

 spores belonged to Tcmpikya, and this is too uncertain to allow 

 of deductions from their structure regarding the affinities of 

 the genus. 



AFFINITIES. The affinities of 7Ywy>.s7,7/ are left quite un- 

 certain, even by Kidston & Gwynne-Vaughan. The older view, 

 that the plant belonged to the Ma rat tia cere, seems to bo dis- 

 posed of now that its anatomical structure is known ; but it 

 may lie in any family of the Leptosporangiate ferns. Soleno- 

 steles with horse-shoe meristeles occur in widely separated 

 families. The likeness in external habit to the one other 

 known plant with a similar peculiarity, Uentiii'lia cr< mtJata, is 

 not confirmed by the internal anatomy, which differs widely in 

 the two plants. 



It is therefore wiser to assign no definite place to Tetnpskijii 

 within the Leptosporangiate ferns. 



Tempskya erosa, Stokes, Webb & Mantell, comb. nov. 



1822. ''Arborescent fern," Mantell, Illustr. Gt'ol. Sussex. Foss. S. 



Downs, p. 4 

 1824. Endw/emte* erosa, Stokes. Webb & Mantel)*, Trans. (ieol. 



* !See p. ID below. 



