116 Scientific Proceedings, Royal DtMin Society. 



specimen in Breslau of a pinnule of a species' different, he says, from 

 C. Jiihernica. 



In 1861 W. H. Baily (3) gave a fiirtlier account of tlie Killsenny deposits, 

 and figui'ed for the first time the fertile portion of tlie " detached fronds of 

 one of tlie most ancient tree-ferns, AcUantites Sibernicus." 



Baily's figures do not show clearly the overlapping of the pinnules, one 

 of which (op. cit., fig. lb) is shown with a distinct stalk and a non-decurrent 

 base of attachment, suggestive of 0. Roenierianu. 



No more specimens appear to have been sent to Brongniart, and despite 

 the discovery of the fertile fronds, quite different from those of Adiantuni, 

 the new genus suggested as probably necessary by Brongniart was not 

 founded until 1869, when Schimper(lO) gave it tlie name of Palseopteris. 



Schimper's illustrated account of Palieopteris hihernica (Forbes, sp.) is based 

 on specimens sent by tlie Greologieal Survey of Ireland to the Museum in 

 Strasburg. His description and illustrations have since been frequently, in 

 whole or in part, utilized in illustrations of Archseopteris. Schimper's diagnosis 

 is evidently influenced by the impression that the plant may be one of the 

 Hymenophyllaceee. In the diagnosis of the genus he says " sori claviformes, 

 bivalves (?)" and in that of Arc/iceopteiis hibernica (oj). cit., -p- 476) " soris 

 (sporangiis ?) clavatis, costulatis " is the expression used. Spheiiopieris laxa, 

 Hall, and Noeggerathia obtnsa, Lesqx. are included in the synonyms. The 

 representation of the fertile pinnule is unsatisfactory, since the sporangia are 

 shown, erroneously, as arranged in racemose tufts.^ 



Carruthers (11), writing in 1872, argues strongly in favour of the 

 Hymenophyllaceous affinities of Archseopteris, illustrating his remarks by a 

 figure of a sorus with a bivalve indusium. Carruthers sees on the slabs 

 suggestions of creeping rhizomes, possibly connected with Archseopteris 

 fronds, and was the first to observe that the ovate-oblong "sori" are 

 generally single and not clustered as Schimper shows them. Both err, 

 however, in describing the fertile pinnule as reduced to a midrib, which 

 they admit is not observable in the sterile pinnule. 



Dawson's illustrated account (12) of the Fossil Plants of tlie Devonian 

 and Upper Silurian Formations of Canada was published in 1871. In addition 

 to recording several species allied to the Kilkenny plant, he changed the 



1 This specimen, I learn from local inquiry, has been misplacerl during- the transference of tlie 

 geological collections to new buildings in Breslau. 



- Stur (7b) gives a list of some eleven species of Arohgeopteris, and includes A. hiherinca, strange 

 to say, with some hesitation. He has not, he mentions, seen a good sample of it, and thinks the 

 published description of the fertile pinnules tends to exclude it from the genus. As the figures in 

 this paper show, the fertile portion of A. hihernica is normal and characLeristic of the genus, 



