548 E. A. N. Arher — Fosdl Plants from India. 



Indian specimens. Although it is highly probable that all these 

 species are the remains of the rhizome of one and the same plant, 

 Glossopteris Browniana, Brongt, yet it would not seem possible to 

 unite them, on account of the variation in structure ' which they 

 present. 



Macrot^niopteris DANiEoiDEs (Eoyle). [V. 4,191.] 



1839. Glossopteris danceoides, Eoyle : ibid., p. xxix*, pi. ii, fig. 9. 

 1881. Macrotccniopteris danceoides, Feistmantel : ibid., p. 88, pis. xx«, xxiff, 

 figs. 1, 2. 



This specimen, which is beautifully preserved, measures 5\ inches, 

 and nearly 2^ inches across. The midrib (-3% inch across) gives 

 off at right angles parallel veins, which are distant (-jA- inch), and 

 simple, or occasionally dichotomizing. There is no regular alternation 

 between the simple and branched veins. The leaf is oval-lanceolate, 

 and the margin entire or undulate. 



The generic value of Macrotceniopteris is a doubtful one. It 

 would perhaps have been better, in the present state of our 

 knowledge, to have included such forms under the broad definition 

 which Mr. Seward '^ has adopted in dealing with similar remains. 

 The chief distinctions between Macrotceniopteris and Tceniopteris 

 are apparently the simple frond of large size — a point of doubtful 

 value — and the distant secondary nerves, in the former case. It is 

 therefore open to question whether a generic distinction based only 

 on such characters will eventually be found to hold good. 



Cladophlebis Roylei, Arber. [V. 4,192.] 



1839. Pecopteris Lindleyana, Royle : ibid., p. xxix*, pi. ii, fig. 4. 

 1881. Alethopteris Lindleyana, Feistmantel: ibid., p. 80, pi. xviiia, figs. 2, 2a; 

 pi. xix«, figs. 3, 4. 



Koyle's specimen is a large bipinnate frond, the main axis of 

 which is nearly 7 inches long, and some of the pinnae are of a similar 

 length. The pinnules, which are badly preserved, are somewhat 

 oblong in shape, and attached by a broad base. The apex is rounded. 

 They average ^ inch long, by --^ inch broad. There is a strong 

 median nerve, from which dichotomizing secondary nerves are given 

 off. Feistmantel's figures show the nervation accurately, but those 

 of Royle, and especially of McClelland,^ are somewhat misleading. 



The general habit and the nervation recall certain fronds of 

 a British Jurassic fern, Todites Williamsoni (Brongt.) ; so much so 

 that Feistmantel * originally placed the Indian species in a group 

 with Alethopteris Whithyensis, Heer, a plant very possibly identical 

 with T. Williamsoni (Brongt.).^ The fructification of Roy le's plant 

 is known, and is of the Polypodiaceous type, and thus differs from 

 that of Heer's plant, as Feistmantel "^ later admitted. It would seem 



1 Etheridge: Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. "Wales, 1894, ser. 11, vol. Lx. 



2 Seward: Brit. Mus. Cat., " The Wealden Flora," 1894, pt. i, p. 124. 



3 McClelland: Eep. Geol. Surv. ludia, 1849-50, pi. xiii, figs. lOfl-, lOJ, 10c, 11. 

 * Feistmantel: Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1876, vol. xlv, p. 360. 



5 Seward: Brit. Mus. Cat., "The Jurassic Flora": I. The Yorkshire Coast, 

 p. 88 ; London, 1900. 

 ^ Feistmantel : ibid., p. 80. 



