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PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Mar. 20, 



appears nearly, if not quite, that of Glossopteris. Midrib narrow but 

 sharply marked; side-veins numerous, fine, oblique, but scarcely 

 arched, sparingly dichotomous ; and I think they occasionally anasto- 

 mose ; but this is not very distinct. Texture of the frond seemingly 

 thin. 



This may possibly be a genuine Glossopteris, but differs remarkably 

 from those hitherto described in the composition of its frond. It 

 certainly cannot be a state either of G. Browniana, or of any of the 

 other species described in this memoir. Even supposing the appa- 

 rently simple fronds of these species to be leaflets of a compound 

 frond (which is very improbable), they are constantly characterized 

 by a form much narrowed towards the base, and tapering very gradu- 

 ally into a petiole of some length ; whereas in this, the leaflets 

 neither taper gradually to the base, nor have any partial stalk, but 

 are attached at once by a broadish base to the main stalk. 



10. NcEGGERATHIA ? (CrCLOPTERIS ?) HlSLOPII, n. Sp. PI. X. fig. 5. 



The leaves, or (as is perhaps more probable) detached leaflets, 

 which occur in several pieces of stone from BharatwaYM, and which 

 Mr. Hislop has marked as " Cyclopteris" appear to me to belong 

 rather to the genus Nceggeraihia, or at least to the family of Nceg- 

 gerathiece of M. Brongniart. None of the specimens are nearly com- 

 plete ; but by a comparison of different fragments we see that tho 

 leaf was of a narrow wedge-shape, widening gradually upwards from 

 a narrow base — not however quite symmetrical, but very slightly 

 oblique ; the terminal portion, which is well seen in one fragment, 

 very conspicuously oblique, rounded at the actual apex, and from 

 thence sloping away with a gentle curve, and forming a very obtuse 

 and rounded angle with the other (lower) margin. The leaf (as far 

 as can be judged from mere impressions) appears to have been of a 

 firm and rather rigid texture, with a smooth surface. The largest 

 fragment I have seen is about 5£ inches long ; the breadth in no 

 part seemingly much exceeding 1 inch. Veins numerous, all equal 

 and uniform, with no appearance of a midrib, strong and rather 

 coarse, radiating from the base, but spreading very gradually and 

 forming very small angles with one another, so that for any short 

 distance they appear nearly parallel ; they are once or twice forked, 

 but very sparingly, the branches diverging very gradually, and all 

 end in the terminal margin. 



This plant may very possibly be a Fern ; but the same reasons 

 which led M. Brongniart to consider the NceggeratJiia as allied to 

 the Cycads induce me to think that this also is rather to be 

 ranked with that family than with the Ferns. The forked veins, 

 indeed, are unusual in Cycadece, but in Ceratozamia Mexicana the 

 veins are occasionally forked, and in Stangeria paradoxa they are 

 constantly so. In the genus Otopteris or Otozamites, which M. 

 Brongniart refers without doubt to Cycadece, the veins are regularly 

 and repeatedly forked ; at least, such is the case in Otozam. acumi- 

 natus and 0. obtusus. The breadth and coarseness of the veins in our 

 Nagpur plant, and a certain appearance of rigidity about the leaf, 



