94 Dr Arber and Mr Goode, On some fossil 
Uerer DEvonIAN PLANTS. 
Sphenopteridium rigidum (Ludw.). 
Plate IV, fig. 12; Plate V, figs: 1) 3) @ 
1869. Sphenopteris rigida Ludwig, Paleontogr. Vol. Xvit, 
pt 3) p: HZ epl xt shes, Ih loth: 
1897. Rhodea Schimperi Potonié (pars), Lehrb. Pflanzenpal. 
p. 135. 
1899. Sphenopteridium rigidum Potonié, ibid. p. 364, 
fig. 344, 
1901. Sphenopteridium rigidum Potonié, Abhand. K. Preuss. 
Geol. Landesanst. N. F. Heft. 36, p. 16, fig. 2 on p. 18. 
In the photograph reproduced on Plate V, fig. 1, which is 
slightly below natural size, several pinnules are seen, three of 
which are fairly complete. One is still attached to a broad axis, | 
45 mm. across. This specimen, which is in the Hall collection 
in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) V. 3562, was derived from 
Sloly Quarry, and is the most perfect example of this frond yet 
obtained from Devonshire. It appears to be identical with 
Sphenopteridium rigidum (Ludw.) from the Devonian of Germany. 
As compared with Ludwig’s original figures (see above) the agree- 
ment is perhaps not very close. The pinnules, which are 2 cm. 
in length, are more widely separated, somewhat less lobed and 
toothed, and the ultimate segments less pointed. Potonié’s 
figures of the same specimens, especially fig. 2¢ (see above), appear 
to agree better, though here again the ultimate lobes or teeth 
are longer and more pointed. On the whole, however, we think 
there is little doubt as to the specific identity of the English and 
German fossils. 
Several examples of the same plant have also been obtained 
by one of us from Baggy Point. They are all however more 
fragmentary than the British Museum specimen. One of them 
is figured on Plate V, fig. 6 (three times enlarged) showing 
some of the incomplete lobes of a pinnule. The terminations of 
a pinnule are also seen on fig. 3 of the same plate. In only one 
of our specimens is there any indication of the nervation (Plate IV, 
fig. 12). The nerves in each lobe are fairly close, several in 
number, and branched repeatedly. 
These specimens we should also be inclined to attribute to 
Sphenopteridium rigidum (Ludw.). There is also some resem- 
blance to Sphenopteris devonica Unger* from the Devonian of 
Saalfeld, Thuringia, though this plant is probably a distinct 
species. 
* Unger, Denksch. K. Akad. Wissen. Wien (Math.-Nat. Cl.), Vol. x1. 1856, 
p. 163, pl. vi. fig. 21. 
