FERNS— SPIIENOPTERIDE.^E—SPHENOPTEEIS. 63 



Zeill., illustrated in figs. 4 and 4«, pi. iv, of the magnificent atlas to the 

 A^alenciemies Flora. In a few examples the surface of the pinnules when 

 exposed is shown to be barred pinnately on either side of the midrib so as 

 to resemble some of the figures of fertile pinnules of Banmtes Goepp.^ 

 This feature, shown in both the Coal Flora and in Zeiller's figures, is regarded 

 by the latter as corresponding to lobation of the lamina. 



The genus Sorocladm of Lesquereux^ was presented as a substitute for 

 Sht})hjh])tens Presl, to include "all agglomerations of sporanges of various 

 forms, either borne upon separate segments of a fern, like those of BotnjcMum 

 without visible remains of leaves, or whose connection to frond-bearing 

 leaves can not be traced and is unknown;" or "for the description of ferns 

 of the coal represented by fructificatious whose relation is unknown." 

 Naturally the fructifications included in the genus may be, and actually 

 are, of widely different relations. Thus Soroclaclus stellatus Lx., placed by 

 Lesquereux at the head of the list of species in this genus, is quite 

 equivocal, while Soroclaclus asferoides Lx., which follows it, would seem 

 to belong to the genus Calymraotheca Stur.^ Sorodadus sagittatus and 

 Sorodadus ojjMoglossoides fall within the genus Crossotheca of Zeiller,* and 

 Sorodadus Wortlieni represents a fertile type perhaps included in Hawlea 

 Corda^ or Asterotheca Presl.^ 



The differences between the sterile portions of S2:)lienopteris ophioglos- 

 soides and Si)henopteris Boidayi or S. Crepini may readily be learned from a 

 comparison of the descriptions and figui'es.'' 



The fertile pinnules of the American form are not so large nor so 

 pedicellate as in Sphenopteris Boidayi Zeill. Sorodadus opMoglossoides 

 differs from Sorodadus sagittatus by the narrower arid more slender form 

 of the fertile pinnules of the former, which are not dilated at the base 

 nor distinctly and broadly pedicellate. The forms included in the genus 



' Cf. Dana-ites sarwjionianus Stur, Morph. Syst. Culm- ii. Carbon-Farue, p. 146 ; or Danmites Enter- 



soni Lesquereux, Coal Flora, pi. xsviii, fig. 2. 



= Coal Flora, Atlas, 1879, p. 8, pi. xlviii; text, toI. 1, 1880, p. 327. 



3 Culm-Flora, vol. ii, 1877, p. 255. Zeiller, Fl. foss. liouill. Valenciennes, 18S8 p 34 iil xii fios 9 

 2a-J. '±- .1 • . .,-•-, 



■■Ann. Sci. Nat., bot., (6) vol. xvi, August, 1883, p. 180=Sorotheca Star, Morph. Syst. Culm- ii. 

 CarboD-Farne, December, 1883, p. 175. See Zeiller, Fl. foss. houill. Valenciennes p 34 

 » Fl. d. Vorwelt, 1845, p. 89. ' 



^ In Corda : op. cit., p. 89. 

 ' Zeiller, Fl. foss. houill. Valencienues, p. 11.5, pi. iv, figs. 4a-c; p. 112, pi. xiii fio-s. 1-3. 



