PRB-OARBONIPBROUS PLANTS. 



47 





66. C. [NEPnnoPTERis] varia, Dn.— PI. XVII, Figs. 201, 202.)— J. 

 G. S., XVIII, 819 ; PI. XV, 84.— M. D., St. John, Now Brunswick. 



" Pinnate [or bipinnate]. Pinnae with a thick petiole. Pinnules decreas- 

 ing in size to the terminal one, which is ovate and lobed. Pinnules 

 oblique, and decurrent on one side. Nerves frequently dichoto- 

 mous." 



67. C. (Nbphroptbris) problbmatioa, S. N. — (PL XV, Figs. 178, 



174.) 



" Pinnse obliquely flabellate, with broad base and coarse nerves, much 

 curved and forking twice. — M. D., St. John." 



A number of detached pinnules belonging to this species have been 

 found. At first sight they resemble small specimens of C. Brownii, but 

 the general form and venation are different. 



The ferns referred to the genus Cyclopteris, are probably by no means 

 a natural assemblage. They resolve themselves somewhat roughly into 

 two groups ; — those which, like C. Jacksoni and its European representa- 

 tive C. Hibemica, have ovate pinnules decurrent on the rhachis, and those 

 which, like C. obtusa and C. Brownii, have flabellate leaves ; but no weU- 

 marked line of separation can be established between these two groups, or 

 between either and the Carboniferous Cyclopterids. 



Some of the species have been included in the genus Noeggerathia, but 

 this, as originally proposed by Sternberg, and subsequently employed by 

 Palaeo-botanists on the continent of Europe, is obviously intended for the 

 reception of very different plants. The genus Adiantites of Goeppert 

 would include many of the species ; but the characters of this genus are 

 not sufficient to distinguish it from Ci/dopteria, and there is no evidence 

 that any of the species were allied to the modern genus Adiantum. Goeppert 

 himself has consequently abandoned the genus as applied to those .plants, 

 and includes the whole under the provisional name of Cyclopterin. I may 

 add that this genus would be in no respect more objectionable than other 

 similar genera of Palaeozoic ferns, if a few species based on the round 

 basal pinnules of Neuropterids were removed from it. 



In Schimper's recent work on fossil plants, another attempt is made to 

 classify the Cyclopterids on the basis of Ettingshausen's method. He 

 restricts the genus Cyclopteris to a few flabellate species belonging to the 

 Carboniferous and Permian. The greater part of the Devonian species 

 he places in a new genus Paloeopteris, in which he includes the very 

 distinct types represented by C. Jacksoni and Q. obtusa. This arrange- 



