114 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETT. [May 4, 



all respects to those which are isolated) united, together on a very 

 long common leaf-stalk, and forming thus a digitate frond, as in the 

 Sagenopteris. 



The two middle leaves are obovate-spathulate, like those of 

 Glossopteris Browniana, while the lateral leaves are ovate-lanceo- 

 late and a little oblique. The largest leaves which I have found in 

 our neighbourhood are middle leaves, having a length of 11 centi- 

 metres, and a diameter (in the broadest part, which is towards the 

 extremity) of 4 centimetres and a half. The specimens from Italy, 

 like those of India and Australia (although I am not yet certain 

 of the identity of the species), have precisely the same disposition 

 of the veins (all of equal size) as the Sagenopteris, which also has 

 been observed by Mr. Morris in specimens from New South "Wales. 

 (See Strzelecki's ' Physical Description of New South Wales and Van 

 Diemen's Land,' p. 247.) 



Mr. Bunbury, to whom I have communicated these observations, 

 is inclined to agree with me on the point. He has also recognized in 

 specimens of the Glossopteris of India the venation belonging to the 

 Sagenopteris ; and, in his answer to my letter, he announces to me 

 that the Glossopteris from the Indian strata has been lately found 

 with a frond digitated in the same manner as that of Sagenopteris* . 

 It remains to be ascertained whether the fructification of the 

 Sagenopteris is like that of the Glossopteris, such as Brongniart and 

 Goeppert have represented it in their plates. Some scattered dots on 

 the fronds of the Venetian specimens lead me to suspect it ; but 

 these are too rare, and too slightly indicated, to authorize one to 

 consider them with any certainty as traces of fructification. 



The Oolitic beds of the Venetian Alps contain a great many re- 

 mains of Ferns, but the number of species is as yet very restricted. 

 Among these the forms are most of them new. The preservation of 

 the specimens is surprising, and some of them show fructification in 

 the most evident manner. Simple immersion in water saturated 

 with nitric acid is sometimes sufficient to separate the epidermis of 

 the two surfaces of the pinnules, and thus to observe the tissue 

 easily through a microscope. The abun dance of Cycadece surpasses 

 that of Ferns ; there are a greater variety of species, and several of 

 these species seem nearly allied in form to those found in Yorkshire. 

 The Coniferai, though pretty numerous, do not present many species. 

 The BrachypTiylla are the most common. Some very long leaves, 

 with parallel veins and amplexicaul base, present the characters of 

 the Poacites, which Brongniart has now placed in his new genus 

 PycJinophyllum ; and they seem to me to indicate, together with the 

 allied forms of Glossopteris Browniana (of which I have just been 

 speaking) and those that I refer to PhyllotJieca, a certain relation 

 between the Oolitic flora of this part of Europe and that of the 

 Jurassic (?) beds of India and Australia. 



But these approximations which I advance here as simple conjec- 

 tures require to be submitted to a profounder and more extensive 



* See Mr. Banbury's Note in the sequel. 



