540 CYCADOPHYTAN FRONDS [CH. 



Bechei: in it Brongniart included a specimen from the Lias of 

 Axminster (Dorsetshire) previously figured by De la Beche as 

 a fossil Fern. It was on the Axminster specimen that Lindley 

 and Hutton founded the species Otopteris obtusa 1 , and as there is 

 no doubt as to the specific identity of their type-specimen (fig. 

 603, B) and De la Beche's fossil, Brongniart's designation has 

 prior claim 2 . Otozamites Bechei is, perhaps, best regarded as a 

 comprehensive type or a group-species in which numerous Oto- 

 zamites fronds described by authors, on inadequate grounds, as 

 distinct species may well be included. Fronds agreeing generally 

 with 0. Bechei were very widely spread in Rhaetic and Jurassic 

 floras. 



Specimens from the Middle Jurassic rocks of Yorkshire have 

 been described as Otozamites obtusus var. ooliticus 3 to denote a 

 slight difference in the form of the pinnae from the Liassic fronds 

 from Dorsetshire; but the distinctive features of the variety 

 ooliticus are unimportant and hardly worthy of consideration in 

 a general account of the species interpreted in a wide sense. 



Fronds pinnate ; pinnae usually, more or less falcate, occasion- 

 ally straight and with parallel sides, attached obliquely to the 

 upper side of the rachis; imbricate or separate, the upper edge 

 of the base of the lamina strongly auriculate, the lower edge 

 rounded; apex obtuse; veins strongly divergent especially in 

 the lobed base and extending obliquely to the upper and lower 

 edge of the lamina. 



The specimen, from the Lias of Lyme Regis, drawn in outline 

 in fig. 605, is an almost perfect frond: the pinnae are obtusely 

 pointed, slightly falcate, and there is a prominent lobe on the 

 upper edge of the base of the laminae. 



The Jurassic species Otozamites graphicus* (Leek, ex Bean 

 MS.), 0. vicetinus Zig. 5 , 0. Hennocquei 6 (Pom.), 0. recurrens Sap., 

 0. Terquemi 7 Sap., 0. linearis 8 Halle, are some of many examples 

 of fronds agreeing closely with 0. Bechei, or in the case of 0. 

 Terquemi with 0. graphicus. The fronds described by Halle 



Lindley and Hutton (34) A. PL cxxvm. 



Zeiller (12) p. 6; Halle (13 2 ) p. 63 (footnote). 3 Seward (00) B. p. 218. 



Leckenby (64) A. PL vm. fig. 5; Seward (00) B. p. 213, Pis. i., n. 

 Zigno (81) PL xxxm. figs. 3, 4. 6 Saporta (75) A. PL 101. 



Ibid. PL 99. s Halle (13 2 ) PL vn. 



