120 Mr. E. Kidston on Sphenopteris crassa. 



"But in the English plant the lobulation is different, the 

 lobes being much broader, and the divisions between them 

 appearing, on the contrary, less deep. 7 ' 



The inaccuracies in Lindley and Hutton's figure, to which 

 I have previously alluded, are sufficient to justify Stur in 

 describing his plant as a new species. 



In the second part of his i Culm-Flora,' the author removes 

 this fern from Sphenopteris , and places it in his new genus, 

 Caly mmotheca y the chief character of which is the many- 

 valved sporangium — one of his species (Caly mmotheca minor) 

 in fact being, as already pointed out by Mr. C. W. 

 Peach, probably a small specimen of Staphylopteris Peachii, 

 Balfour*. 



As the fruit of Sphenopteris crassa is unknown, there is no 

 evidence that it belongs to the genus Galy mmotheca, Star ; 

 hence I retain it in the genus Sphenopteris. 



From the examination of specimens of Sphenopteris crassa, 

 L. & H., which have come under my notice, I would propose 

 the following description of the species : — 



Loanhead {Mr. J. Gibson) ; and Kilmundy Limestone Quarry 

 near Burntisland (collected by Mr. J. Bennie, fossil-collector 

 to the Geological Survey of Scotland). 



My thanks are due to Prof. Archer, for permission to 

 describe and figure the specimen in the u Hugh-Miller Collec- 

 tion," Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh, and to Prof. 

 A. Geikie, Director General of the Geological Survey of Great 

 Britain, and Prof. J. Geikie, of the University of Edinburgh, 

 for the use of the specimens in their custody. 



* Peach, u On Fossil Plants from the Calciferous Sandstone around 

 Edinburgh/' Trans. Bot. Soc. vol. xiii. 1877. 





Sphenopteris crassa y L. & H. 



Main axis dichotomous, and marked with small transverse 

 scale-scars. Frond tripinnate (?) ; pinnae alternate, linear 

 lanceolate ; pinnules alternate, those towards the lower por- 

 tion of the frond cyclopteroid and sessile, more or less deeply 

 laciniate, the upper pinnules rhomboidal, broadest towards 

 their centre, and narrowing into a short stalk at their basal 

 extremity, apex truncate, margins more or less deeply notched ; 

 veins springing from the base of the pinnule and extending 

 to the margins, numerous and frequently dichotomizing. 



Position and Localities. From the Calciferous Sandstone 

 series : Burdiehouse, near Edinburgh ; Straiton Brickworks 



; t 



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