Oti the Ajfi/iiities 0/ Arclireopteris liibernica, Forbes. 519 



Cydopterishibernica eiud its generic associates, as Falmopteris, 

 Schimper, is inadmissible, the name having been previously 

 used by Geinitz for a different group of plants. 



Among the Canadian species described by Dawson the 

 point of chief interest to us is tlie figure and description of 

 the fruit of Archccopteris gaspiensis, a very closely allied 

 species, if really distinct from Arclimopteris hibernica, Forbes, 

 sp. His description of the fruit is as follows : — " Fertile 

 pinna3 with about twelve pinnules, each liaving a long mid- 

 rib with about seven pairs of crowded oblong spore-cases 

 about 3 millim. in length, pointed or somewhat obtuse at 

 top, straight at the sides, and apparently dehiscent at the 

 apex. The midrib projects some distance beyond the spore- 

 cases," It is further mentioned that Arc/iceopteris gaspiensis 

 " differs from A. hibernica in the arrang^ement and form of 

 the spore-cases and in its shorter pinnae, with fewer and less 

 obtuse pinnules." ^ 



Since examining the specimens of Archmopteris hibernica 

 in the British Museum, I have doubted the accuracy of the 

 description of the fruit of this fern as given by Schimper 

 and Carruthers, but refrained from expressing any opinion 

 till I had an opportunity of examining the specimens of this 

 plant in the collections of the Science and Art Museum, 

 Dublin, and of the Geological Survey of Ireland. I have 

 now examined these specimens, and feel convinced that the 

 description of the fruit as given by Schimper and Carruthers 

 is inaccurate. I have entirely failed to observe the presence 

 of a keel on the sporangia, as figured by Schimper, or the 

 occurrence of a ''slit passing one-third of the way down the 

 sorus," or any of the other Hymenophyllaceous characters 

 mentioned by Mr Carruthers. The sporangia (so far as my 

 observations have gone, and I have examined minutely the 

 specimens in the British Museum, as well as those in the 

 two collections in Dublin, the finest of which are in the 

 collection of the Geological Survey of Ireland,) are narrow- 

 oval, sessile, or very shortly stalked, as a rule pointed at 

 both extremities, though occasionally blunt ; they are usually 

 developed singly, though occasionally in pairs, and are 



^ Dawson, I. c, p. 99. 

 VOL. IX. 2 M 



