ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS OF THE TERTIARY AND SECONDARY BEDS. 403 
the lowest stage of the Lignitic of America. It is not uncommon in the 
‘ Bournemouth beds, both at Bournemouth and at Branksea Island, but had 
Us never previously been found fossil in any of our Lower EHocenes, so that its 
4 discovery at Reading is important. It seems not to have extended beyond the 
} Middle Eocenes, to have always been a relatively northern form, and to be 
now extinct. 
4 PLATE II. 
Fig. 1, Fragment of a feather-veined Fern from the Woolwich beds of Croydon. 
i The form is new to our HKocenes, but too fragmentary to be determined. It 
may be an Acrostichwm or Pteris. 
‘Fig, 2. Lygodiwm Prestwichii, Et. and Gard. sp—From the Woolwich beds, Croydon ; 
: figs. 3 and 4 from Woolwich. A small fragment of this was originally 
: figured by Professor Prestwich in the ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. x. p. 156, 
a pl. IIL. fig. 6. We thought it might be a Pteris, not having examined any 
original specimen, but did not make any definite determination, beyond the 
* opinion that ‘there is no particular reason to suppose it to be a Pteris; but 
a in the absence of contradictory generic characters we have thought it con- 
venient to consider it as belonging to that genus.’ (‘ Brit. Eocene Flora,’ 
vol. i. p. 53.) I have since examined Professor Prestwich’s specimens, and 
obtained others myself from Croydon and from Woolwich. The pinna was 
simple or cleft into two or more lobes. The veins are free, and diverge at a 
sharp angle from the midrib, are crowded, and fork once or twice. The 
margin is irregularly toothed, the teeth being the bases of fertile sezments of 
the frond, which look as if easily removable by rubbing or maceration. It is 
perfectly indistingnishable from Lygodiwm japonicum, Sw., an inhabitant of 
Japan and Hong Kong, Ceylon, Java, the Philippines, &c., of the section 
Eulygodium. It is quite distinct from the Bournemouth Z. Kaulfussii, and 
its determination is a great acquisition to our flora. It is undoubtedly the 
Pteris pseudopenneformis, Lesq., from the first stage of the American Lignitic, 
and may be identifiable with other European ‘species. 
_ Fig. 3 represents some venation enlarged. 
Figs. 5 to 12 represent specimens from Reading in Professor Prestwich’s collection. 
The hard striated stipes, and the cutting and venation of the leaf, are very 
fern-like, the latter suggesting segments of Aspleniwm Thunbergii; but the 
straggling growth is rare among Ferns, though possessed by some species of 
Acrostichum, Anemia, and others. I have met with nothing living resembling 
: it, and if a Fern, it is now completely extinct. 
Figs. 5a, 6a, 8a, 9, 10 are enlargements, and the rest natural size. 
‘he 
PLATE III, 
igs. 1 and 2. Small fragments of a Gleichenia from the insect beds of Gurnet Bay. 
The venation is very obscure, the mid-rib strong, the texture coriaceous. The 
specimens are interesting as marking the first appearance in the English 
Eocenes of a type of Fern that abounded in the Cretaceous beds of Europe and 
the Eocenes of Antrim and Greenland. 
la and 2a are enlarged. 
3 and 4 seem fragments of dicotyledonous leaves, shrivelled, and perhaps eaten 
{ by insects, but superficially resembling the Gleichenia. 
Pig. 5. Specimen of Chrysodiwm Lanzeanwn from Gurnet Bay. This Fern first appears 
in the Lower Bagshot of Studland, and maintains its ground through the 
whole of the Bournemouth series. It again appears in diminished size in the 
‘ Hordwell beds and the Bembridge beds, and is identical with a still living and 
widely distributed tropical Fern, C. awrewm. 
Fig. 6. Fragment of Fern from Gurnet Bay. The pinnules are very minute, and are 
like those of Gymnogramma flexwosa, Desv., as well as species of Lindsaya, 
Microlepia, kc. Itis too small for determination. All the above are lent by 
Mr. A’Court Smith. 
Fig. 7. Phymatodes polypodioides, Ett. and Gard., from Bournemouth. This appears an 
undoubted Polypodium belonging to the section Phymatodes. The fronds are far 
longer and more linear than those of P. polypodioides of Bournemouth, yet 
it seems hardly possible to separate it as a distinct species. The bases of 
attachment are, most unfortunately, absent in all, but their disposition almost 
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