244 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 16, 



The specimen was procured from Glodwick Colliery, near Oldham, 

 in Lancashire, and formed part of a set of fossils sent to me by Mr. 

 Wright, at the request of Mr. Horner. The material is a dark- 

 coloured, hardened, ferruginous clay, very slightly schistose. The 

 frond in question is unfortunately (as almost always happens) incom- 

 plete, the lower part of the stalk being broken away ; but otherwise 

 its state of preservation appears to be as perfect as that of any speci- 

 men of the kind hitherto noticed. We see the rhachis or main stalk 

 of the frond exhibiting the graceful crosier-like curve so characteristic 

 of the young fronds of Ferns ; and the leaflets, regularly ranged 

 along its concave side, successively overlapping one another from below 

 upwards, and becoming progressively smaller and more crowded 

 towards the extremity of the fragment. Their veins, which are well 

 preserved, and as much as can be seen of their outline, in particular the 

 shape of their base, agree with those of the numerous leaflets of 

 Neuropteris which are scattered through the same stone. The 

 species appears to be Neuropteris gigantea, Ad. Br., or a variety of 

 it. The N. gig ant ea, indeed, in the most complete specimens, shows 

 a doubly pinnated frond, whereas this fragment is merely once pin- 

 nated ; but it may be only a portion of a frond ; and, besides, it is 

 not very uncommon to find the same Fern varying with pinnate and 

 bipinnate fronds, as is the case for instance with Pteris kastata, Swartz, 

 Gymnogramme tomentosa, and some Adiantums. The rhachis of the 

 specimen is not so well preserved as the leaflets, but appears to have 

 been hairy. This specimen is, I think, interesting, as affording a 

 strong confirmation of the opinion that the fossil Neuropterides were 

 true Ferns. Some have been tempted to doubt this, because of the 

 constant absence of their fructification, — a fact certainly remarkable, 

 when we consider the abundance of their fronds in many coal-fields. 

 But, in addition to their venation and form, which are truly those of 

 Ferns, we now find that they have the very remarkable and charac- 

 teristic vernation of that order. Let the specimen here described be 

 compared, in particular, with the young frond of Nephrolepis exal- 

 tata, Presl (Aspidium exaltatum, Swartz) ; it will be found that the 

 position of the young leaflets relatively to one another and to the 

 stalk is almost precisely the same. 



This character shows, I think, conclusively, that Neuropteris has 

 nothing to do with the Coniferous order, in which there is never any 

 approach to a circinate vernation. Even in Salisburia, the leaves of 

 which are in form and veining so much like those of Ferns, their 

 arrangement in the young state is quite different : their lobes are 

 folded together, and somewhat rolled inwards ; but they are erect 

 from the first, without the least curvature of the stalk. The only 

 phanerogamous plants that resemble Ferns* in the vernation of their 

 leaves, are some Cycadecef ; and in the absence of fructification it is 



* Perhaps I ought to except the genus Drosera, in which also the leaves are 

 truly circinate in vernation ; but, as they are otherwise totally unlike Ferns, and 

 can never be confounded with them, they do not enter into this comparison. 



t The Cycadea are described, at least, as having circinate vernation ; but Dr. 

 Hooker informs me that this character is not constant in the family. I have not 

 myself had much opportunity of observing them in a living state. 



