478 | REPORT—1883. 
and, on corresponding grounds, we may conclude that the Carboniferous forms, 
Sphenopteris trichomanordes, S. Humboltii,’ and Hymenophyllum Weissit ,* belong to 
the same group, The fructification of the two latter leaves little room for doubting 
their position, whilst the foliage of some other species of Sphenopteris is sug- 
gestive of similar conclusions ; but until their fructification is discovered this cannot 
be determined. An elegant form of Sphenopteris (8. tenella Brone., S. lanceolata 
of Gutbier), recently described by Mr. Kidson of Stirling, abundantly justifies 
caution in dealing with these Sphenopterides. This plant possesses a true Sphenop- 
teroid foliage, but its fructification is that of a Marattiaceous Danatd. The sporangia 
are elongated vertically, and have the round terminal aperture of both the recent 
and fossil Danaie—a group of plants far removed from the Hymenophyllaceous 
type of Sphenopterid already referred to. 
Whether or not this Sphenopteris was really Marattiaceous in other features 
than its fructification is uncertain ; but I think that we have indisputably obtained 
stems and petioles of Marattiaceze from the Carboniferous strata. My friend 
M. Renault and I, without being aware of the fact, simultaneously studied 
the Medullosa elegans of Cotta. This plant was long regarded as the stem of a 
true Monocotyledon, a decision the accuracy of which was doubted, first by Brong- 
niart and afterwards by Binney. M. Renault’s memoir and my memoir, part vil. 
appeared almost simultaneously. We then found that we had alike determined 
the supposed Monocotyledon not only to be a fern, but to belong to the peculiarly 
aberrant group of the Marattiacee. As yet we know nothing of its foliage and 
fructification. 
M. Grand-Eury has figured * a remarkable series of ferns from the coal- 
measures of the basin of the Loire, the sporangia of which exhibit marked 
resemblances to those of the Marattiacesw. This is especially the case with his 
specimens of Asterotheca and Scolecopteris,s as also with his Pecopteris Marat- 
tietheca, P. Angiotheca, and P. Danaewtheca; but there is some doubt as to the 
dehiscence of the sporangia of these places; hence their Marattiaceous character is 
not absolutely established. 
That the coal-measures contain the remains of arborescent ferns has long been 
known, especially from their abundance at Autun. In Lancashire I have only 
met with the stems or petioles of one species preserving their internal organisation.> 
The Rey. H. H. Higgins obtained stems that appear to have been tree-ferns from 
Ravenhead, in Lancashire, and it is probable that most of the plants included in 
the genera Psaronius, Caulopteris, and Protopterts are also tree-ferns. 
There yet remains another remarkable group of ferns, the sporangia of which 
are known to us through the researches of M. Renault. In these the fertile 
pinnules are more or less completely transmuted into small clusters of oblong 
sporangia. In one case M. Renault believes that he has identified these organs 
with a stem or petiole of a type not uncommon at Oldham and Halifax, belonging 
to Corda’s genus Zygopteris. Renault has combined this with some others to 
constitute his group of Botryopteridées, an altogether extinct and generalised type. 
This review shows that whilst forms identifiable with the Hymenophyllacee and 
Marattiacee existed in the Carboniferous epoch, and we find here and there traces 
of affinities with some other more recent types, most of the Carboniferous ferns 
are generalised primzeval forms, which only became differentiated into later ones 
during the slow progress of time. 
Equisetacee and Asterophyllitee, Brong. Calamarie, Endlicher. Equisetinee, 
Schimper. 
Confusion culminates in the history of this variously-named group. Hence 
the subject is a most difficult one to treat in a concise way. The confusion began 
1 Schimper, vol. i. p. 408. 2 Thid. p. 415. 
3 Flore Carbonifere du Département de la Loire ct du centre de la France. 
4 Loe. cit. Tab. viii. figs. 1-5. 
5 Psaronius Renaultii, Memoir vii. p. 10, and Memoir xii. Pl. iv. fig.16. These and 
other similar references are to my series of Memoirs ‘On the Organisation of the 
Fossil Plants of the Coal-measures,’ published in the Philosophical Transactions. 
