Mr R. Kidston on Pecopteris in Circinate Vernation. 125 



Several very interesting examples of Spiropteris have been 

 already described. 



In 1828 Brongniart ^ figured a S^piropteris-condiiiioTi. of Pec. 

 Miltoni (Artis), which shows a few of the pinnae spirally 

 coiled. 



Goppert gives a figure of circinate vernation of Pec. 

 JdgeriP- It exhibits a very young condition of probably a 

 whole frond. He also gives another specimen of Spiropteris 

 on his PL xxxvi., Fig. 8. 



Probably the most interesting figures of Spiropteris are 

 those given by Germar,^ which he named Selaginites Erdmanni. 

 These, as Schimper has pointed out, are not Lycopods, 

 but young ferns,* and referable to Spiroj^teris. Though the 

 specimens are of considerable size, they show merely tlie 

 early condition of a large frond. The dense covering of 

 scales with which they are bedecked, gave rise to the 

 mistaken opinion that the fossils were Lycopods and the 

 scales their leaves. 



A small specimen of Pec. arhorescens (Schl. sp.) in circinate 

 vernation has been figured by Geinitz in his " Yerst. d. Stein- 

 kohlenform. in Sachen." ^ 



Sir C. J. P. Bunbury described a very curious fossil fern 

 from the Sydney Coal-field, Cape Breton,^ which showed 

 portions of a frond in circination. 



This specimen beautifully exhibits numerous long scales 

 on the rachis. Some of the lateral pinnae are fully expanded; 

 but these, unfortunately, are not sufficiently well preserved 

 to enable one to determine the species to which the fern 

 belongs. Bunbury regarded it as a Pecopteris standing in the 

 neighbourhood of P. plumosa (Brongn.). 



Prom the scales on the rachis Mr E. Brown, who found 

 the specimen, " supposed it to belong to a peculiar species 



1 Hist. d. Veget. Foss., p. 334, pi. cxiv., fig. 1. 



2 Die fossilen Farrnkrauter, p. 368, pi. xxii,, fig. 6a (1836). 



^ Die Yerst. d. Steinkohlengebirges v. Wettin u. Lobejiin, p. 61, pi. 

 xxvi. (1844). 



4 Schimper, Traite d. Pal. V^g., vol. i., p. 689. 



5 P. 24, pi. xxviii., fig. 10 (1855). 



^ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. viii., p. 31, pi. 1. (1852). 



