﻿Vol. 64.] FOSSIL PLANTS PROM SOUTH AFRICA. 97 



has also figured a portion of a similar type of leaf as Banceopsis 

 rajmahalensis ^ from rocks referred to the Jurassic System ; it 

 is, however, difficult to say how nearly allied to the older species 

 this very imperfect specimen from the Rajmahal Hills may be. 

 D. Hughesi has been recorded by Dr. Xrasser ^ from China, and 

 from the Ehaetic rocks of Tongking Prof. Zeiller figures the same 

 species.^ The portions of pinna? of which the latter author speaks 

 as TceniojQteris cf. MacGlellandi ^ also exhibit a close resemblance to 

 the African fossil ; but the type-specimens of this species, described 

 originally by Oldham & Morris ' as Stangerites MacClellandi, are 

 certainly distinct from the specimens represented in PL VI & text- 

 fig. 5. The specimen described by Mr. Shirley as Neuropteris 

 punctata,^ from the Ipswich Beds of Queensland, may well be 

 identical with Danceopsis Hughesi. Though perhaps not specifically 

 identical, there is a striking likeness between D. Hughesi and 

 D. marantacea, described by Dr. Leuthardt and by Heer ^ from the 

 Keuper of Basel, and recorded also from Stuttgart.^ Fertile pinnae 

 of the European type point to its affinity with the Marattiaceae ; 

 but no evidence is available as to the fructification of the southern 

 type. 



Genus Odontopteeis. 



Odontopteris Browni, sp. nov. (PI. VII.) 



The specimen from the Burghersdorp Beds of Aliwal North, 

 represented in PI. VII (three-quarters of the natural size), consists 

 of a portion of a frond 19 centimetres long ; the rachis is indicated 

 by a shallow groove, 4 millimetres wide. The lamina of the 

 alternate pinnae has the form of an irregularly-lobed expansion, 

 divided in places into distinct pinnules attached by broad bases 

 and provided with a midrib. The widest part of the left-hand 

 pinna is 3-7 centimetres broad. The rachis is flanked by a lobed 

 wing representing the decurrent bases of lateral branches. It is 

 not possible to make out the venation-characters. 



It is among Permian species that we find the closest resemblance 

 to the species which I have named Odontopteris Browni, after 

 Mr. Alfred Brown, to whom the South African Museum is indebted 

 for this and several other interesting specimens from Aliwal North. 

 The frond described by Ad. Brongniart from the Permian of Eussia 

 .as 0. Fischeri,^ is also characterized by the inequality of the ultimate 

 segments ; 0. obtusa as figured by Weiss,^° and Neuropteris ohliqua, 



^ Feistmantel (77) pis. xxxviii & xlviii. 

 ^ Krasser (00) p. 145 & pi. ii, fig. 4. 



3 Zeiller (02) pi. ix. figs. 1 & 1 a. 



4 Ibid. pi. ix, figs. 3-5. 



^ Oldham & Morris (63) pp. 33-34 & pi. xxiii. 



6 Shirley (98) pi. xiv, fig. 2. 



'' Leuthardt (04) vol. xxxi, pi. xiii ; Heer (76*) pi. xxiv, fig. 1 . 



8 Schimper (74) pi. xxxvii ; Saporta (73) pi. Ixv. 



" Brongniart, in Murchison's ' Eussia ' (45) p. 7 & pi. A, fig. 4. 



^° Weiss (69) p. 36 & pis, ii-iii, vi. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 253. h 



