1858.] MORRIS FOSSIL FERN. 81 



of Lobejun. This species has the general habit of Neuro;pteris ; the 

 pinnulae appear to bef ree, the midrib is distinct, and the venation 

 reticulate. 



"WooDWARDiTES, Gocppcrt, 1836. 



Frond pinnatifid ; midrib distinct ; veins areolate ; reticulate, 

 dichotomous towards the margins ; areolae irregular, those near the 

 midrib larger in proportion. Pinnulae strongly decurrent to the 

 rachis. 



This genus, established by Goeppertfor two fossil ferns {W. ohtu- 

 siloha and W. acutiloha) from Waldenburg, Silesia, is closely allied 

 to, and difficult to separate from, Lonchopteris ; the second species 

 (W. acutiloha) presents, in its regular reticulate venation, an analogy 

 to Lonchopteris Bricei, Brongn. pi. 131. f. 2, 3, and differs from the 

 W. obtusiloba, which, according to Brongniart, should not be placed 

 in this genus. Brongniart* has, however, arranged two other 

 species under Woodwardites, — the W. Muensterianus, Stemb. sp. 

 (Flor. der Yorwelt, ii. t. 36. f. 2), and the W. Boemerianus, Unger 

 (Chlor. Protog. t. 37. f. 4), the latter from the Tertiary strata, 

 and resembling the recent Woodwardia radicans. 



The genera Lonchojpteris and Woodwardites have been considered 

 by Brongniart and Goeppert to be allied to Lonchitis and Wood- 

 wardia; they differ, however, in not having the regular areolae, 

 parallel to the midrib, which exist in those recent genera, more 

 especially in the latter. 



DiCTTOPTERis, Gutbier, 1835. (Linojpteris, Presl.) 



Frond pinnate or pinnatifid ? ; pinnulae oblong, straight, sessile ; 

 veins reticulate ; areolae hexagonal, elongate in the centre, and some- 

 what parallel to the margins of the pinnulae, afterwards oblique and 

 then free near the margin ; no midrib. 



This remarkable genus was established by Gutbier for those fossil 

 ferns possessing the general habit of Neuropteris, but differing from 

 it in having a somewhat radiate reticulate venation and no distinct 

 midrib, in which latter character it differs from both Lonchopteris and 

 Woodwardites. Four species are described, — the type, Dictyopteris 

 Brongniartii, Gutbier (Yerst. der Zwickauer Schwartz-Kohle, p. 63, 

 pi. 2. f. 7, 9, 10), from the coal-schists of Saxony ; D. Muensteri, 

 Eichwald, sp., very frequent in the coal-measures of Southern 

 Russia ; D. obliqua, Bunbury (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. iii. p. 427), 

 from the coal-measures of Nova Scotia ; and M. Brongniart men- 

 tions a fourth species from the eastern part of Egyptf. 



Presl subsequently established a recent genus, Dictyopteris:^, for 

 certain species of Polypodium having a reticulate venation and no 

 free veins, as P. attenuatum. Brown, and changed the name of the 

 fossil genus to Linopteris; but the right of priority appears to 



* Tableau des genres des Vegetaux Fossiles, 1849. t Ibid. 



I Tentamen Pteridographiae, 1836. 

 VOL. XV. PART I. & 



