292 Systematic Paleontology 



genus Angiopteridium, which it has seemed best to refer to Tceniopteris 

 in the absence of all traces of fructification and the consequent lack of 

 certainty regarding their taxonomic position. Species also occur in the 

 Shasta beds of California, and probably in the Kootanie of Montana and 

 British Columbia. It is also a common type in the European Wealden. 



Eegarding the botanical afiinity of the various forms of Tceniopteris, 

 it seems very probable that the bulk of them are closely related to the 

 Marattiaceje, a family with which they are allied by nearly all of the 

 authors mentioned. In fact most authors ally them directly with living 

 genera; thus Schimper^ positively refers the Eha3tic species Tceniopteris 

 Miinsteri to the modern genus Marattia, a conclusion which it is difl[icult 

 to dispute after seeing the magnificent fruiting specimens figured by this 

 author. Schenk/ on the other hand, thinks this species is closest to 

 Angiopteris, while Eaciborski, from the study of fruiting specimens from 

 Poland, which he identifies with this same species, is equally sure of the 

 correctness of Schimper's conclusions. To mention one or two other in- 

 stances, Schenk' is sure that Danceopsis marantacea (Presl) Heer from 

 the Keuper is a true Danoea, and it would be equally difficult to point 

 out the differences between the modern species alid the forms of Dancea 

 which Zigno describes from the Jurassic of northern Italy.* 



Zeiller has suggested that Tceniopteris fronds grew in tufts from a 

 creeping rhizome as does the modern Scolopendrium. In a measure 

 confirming this suggestion Chapman ^ has recently furnished grounds for 

 identifying Bliizomopteris Etheridgei Seward from the Jurassic of 

 Australia as the rhizome of one of the abundantly associated species of 

 Tceniopteris. Organic connection cannot be made out but these two fos- 

 sils greatly exceed all other plant remains in the deposits, and certain 

 specimens show the basal parts o| Tceniopteris fronds crushed in various 

 positions along the rhizomes. 



^ Schimper in Zittel's Handbuch, 1890, p. 85. 



' Sclienk, Die foss. Pflanzenreste, 1888, p. 30. 



^ Idem, p. 35. 



* Flora fossilis formationis Oolithicee, Padova, 1856-1885. 



^ Chapman, Records Geol. Surv., Victoria, vol. iii, pt. i, 1909, p. 105. 



