THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND, 395 
distinctly dichotomous, but gradually separating, imperceptibly, as the pinne widen 
from the base, without any obviously marked point of divergence.” Schimper * also 
takes the view that the leaves are pinnatisect, with cuneiform segments. 
There are specimens in all the three museums above mentioned, both of attached and 
detached leaves. They all occur on slabs of shale of a characteristic slate-colour; but 
there is, as a rule, very little contrast between the fossil and the rock on which the 
impression occurs, which tends to make any description of them difficult. Almost all 
the specimens have also undergone hard usage before the incrustations were made, many 
of the leaves being obviously torn and imperfect. The film of carbon is often badly 
cracked or even absent here and there (see Pl. 42. fig. 3). These facts, again, may prove 
a source of error in determination. 
With regard to the detached leaves, probably the most perfect example we have is that 
in the British Museum + (text-fig. 1). It somewhat resembles that figured on pl. 29 of 
Lindley and Hutton’s ‘Fossil Flora. It is 15:1 cm. long, and no doubt exceeded 
Fig. 1. 
Lindl. & Hutt., No. 40,578 in the British Museum 
The outline of a leaf of Psyqmophyllum flabellatum, 
Rent Sr hore LL ^ One-half natural size. 
(Nat. Hist.), from Durham! 
ting on the left-hand side. The elongated 
e that the upper extremity is not the true 
in the shale. There is a deep slit 
11 em. in breadth, part of the apex being wan 
broad base is well seen, but it is highly Mesi iod 
apex, which is either not present or is in part burie : En 
in the upper part of the ical on the left-hand side, which may be qais nang 
fact is not beyond dispute. The irregular lobing at the extreme apex 1 Aa a 
bad preservation. So far as I am aware, there is no T Cae ids to whether 
complete apex, and therefore we remain in doubt as to its characters, and as to w 
40,578. 
* Schimper (°70), p. 198. t No 
