﻿1861.] 



BENBERY FOSSIL PLANTS, NAGPER. 



329 



Polypodiece or of Aspidiece ; but no recent genns of either of those 

 groups has the same venation. In this latter respect some of the 

 Acrostichece approach nearer to Glossopteris ; but the reticulation of 

 their veins is always more uniform. 



Among fragments of fossil plants from Bloemkop, South Africa, 

 collected by Dr. Bubidge, and exhibited before the Geological Society 

 Nov. 17, 1858, there are two forms which appear allied to Olosso- 

 pteris, — one a narrow, somewhat lanceolate frond, with veins nume- 

 rous and very fine, resembling in direction those of G. Browniana, 

 not very evidently anastomosing (but this was perhaps rendered ob- 

 scure by the bad state of the specimen) ; the other consisting of 

 mere fragments, with veins forming a lax and regular network — 

 perhaps more like the venation of Dictyopteris than of Olossopteris. 



1 (b). Glossopteris Browntana, var. Australasica, Ad. Br. Hist. 



Veg. Foss. pi. 62. fig. 1. PI. VIII. fig. 5. 

 I find two specimens which have the form usual in the Australian 

 specimens and considered by Brongniart as typical of the species — 

 namely, tongue-shaped or subspathulate, with an obtuse apex. Both 

 are small : the larger, in fine reddish- white sandstone from Bharat- 

 waYZa, is 5| in. long, 1| in. in maximum breadth ; the other (in a 

 coarse, blackish, micaceous sandstone from the foot of the Mahadewa 

 Hills) 3| in. by 1 in. Venation rather ill preserved and indistinct in 

 both, but apparently agreeing with the Australian specimens. 



2. Glossopteris mes^folia, n. sp.? PI. VIII. fig. 6. 



Several specimens of a Glossopteris, both from Silewarfa and from 

 Kampti, appear to belong to a different species from that first 

 described, though none of them are complete enough to be quite 

 satisfactory. The direction of the veins, which (unless very near 

 their base) are straight, and almost perpendicular both to the midrib 

 and to the margin, might cause the plant to be taken for a Tcenio- 

 pteris ; but these veins are in fact dichotomous, and anastomose 

 repeatedly near the midrib. They are extremely numerous, very 

 fine and close, and for the greater part of their length quite parallel. 

 Besides, the frond is much broader than in O. Browniana (3 to 4 

 in. broad), and appears to have been quite rounded at the apex ; the 

 actual apex however is not perfect in any specimen that I have seen, 

 nor do any show the form of the base. The frond appears to have 

 been of thin substance, and apt to split or tear transversely in the 

 direction of the veins, like the leaves of the Banana (Musa). One 

 specimen shows remains of fructification in round spots, arranged 

 as in G. Browniana. 



Perns are so variable that I feel some doubt whether this may 

 not hereafter prove, when better known, to be a variety of G. 

 Browniana. I think I see in some specimens a tendency to inter- 

 mediate gradations of character; yet in living Perns, as far as I 

 have been able to observe, the direction of the veins appears to be 

 very constant in each species, even in such variable plants as Scolo- 

 pendriwn officinarum and Asplenium nidus. As the characters of 



