84 CATALOGUE OP FOSSIL PLANTS 



The fronds, or it may be primary pinnse, judging from portions 

 of imperfect specimens, were of great size and were probably the 

 foliage of tree-ferns. This and the following are the only species 

 that I have seen from the Northumberland and Durham Coal- 

 field, but Mr. Kidston records an example of what is called 

 Alethopteris Sternlergii from the Bishop Auckland district, pre- 

 served in the British Museum. A fine example of A. lonchitica 

 in vernation, from the Collection of the Natural History Society, 

 is figured on Plate 2, f. 2. 



Alethopteris Serlii, Brongniart. 



Type — Pecopteris Serlii, Brongt., Hist.Veg. Poss., pi. 85. 



Pecopteris Serlii, L. et PL, Poss. Plora, pi. 202. 



Neuropteris oblongata, Sternb., "Vers., pi. 22, f. lA, 1b. 

 Alethopteris Serlii, Lesqx., Coal Plor. Penn., pi. 29, 



f. 1-5. 

 ,, ,, Zeiller, Veg. Poss. Terr. Houil., 



pi. 163, f. 1, 2. 

 ,, Davreuxi, Kidston, Trans. Boy. Soc. Edinb., 



Vol. 33, pi. 24, f . 1 

 (non Brongt.) 



154.— Pecopteris Serlii, L. et H. Type specimen, F. F., pi. 220. 



Remains of four pinna? rather well preserved in fine shale, 

 ' with the nervation distinct. Hutton's label, " Somersetshire." 

 Loc. — Somersetshire Coal-field. (H. C. 294). 



Remarks. — The Lindley-PIutton drawing of this species was 

 made from a Somersetshire specimen, and is of the variety with 

 rounded or obtusely-terminated pinnules. This handsome fern 

 has not been recorded, so far as I am aware, in the Northumber- 

 land cr Newcastle districts of the Northern Coal-field. In the 

 lower seams of the Bishop Auckland district it has been collected 

 of considerable size and in a fine state of preservation, by the 

 late Joseph Duff and others, and these are the only well-authen- 

 ticated specimens that I have seen. On these South Durham 

 specimens both the obtuse and the acutely-terminated pinnules 

 occur on the same slab of shale. Notwithstanding the peculiarity 

 pointed out in the veining of the lobes of the pinnules, I think 

 Alethopteris Davreuxi, Kidston, non Brongt., is merely an exu- 

 berant growth or " sport" of A. Serlii and not a true species. 



