1306 ADDITION'S TO THE FOSSIL FLORA OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA, 
to five-sixteenths wide, and are separated from one another by 
intei-spaces of about a quarter their width. A good deal of irre- 
gularity exists in the manner in which the mid-ribs of the pinnules 
are given off from opposite sides of the rachis. Some are oppo- 
site, others are regularly alternate, many ar« sub-alternate, and 
others are even intermediate between these positions. 
The veins are very regular, and given off at an angle which 
.slightly varies from a right angle with the mid-rib, to one more 
acute. They bifurcate .shortly after leaving the reticulation, and 
proceed direct to the margin. Along the rachis, on the confluent 
portions of the pinnules the veins are longer, and much wuder 
apart. 
The rachis is always broad and well-marked, being ridged anfl 
fluted ; and it may not be uninteresting to note a segmentation of 
the stem in some of the specimens, and always at the base of the 
pinnules, but arising only from fracture. 
The regularity and .stoutness of the rachis and pinnules, give to 
this fern, especially when not too well preserve 1, almo.st the aspect 
of a Cycad. 
The following are the abbreviated specific characters, which will 
serve to distinguish it : — /j 
^Phlebopteris alethopteroides, sp.nov. 
(PI. XXXVIII. figs. 1-2.) 
Sp. Char. — Pinnse large, probably elongate. Racliis strong, 
moderately thick or wide, and longitudinally grooved and ridged. 
Pinnules lingual-strap-shaped, narrow, very long, parallel-sided, 
alternate, sub-alternate, or opposite, very regular in appearance, 
and equidistant, markedly confluent. INIid-ribs strong, tapering 
gradually, and extending to the apices of the pinnules ; reticula- 
tion small, consisting of elongate, rather irregular, scale-like 
vesicles ; veins almost at right angles to the mid-rib, bifurcating 
immediately after leaving the reticulation. 
Loc. and Horizon. — Darling Downs, near Toowoomba ( Auatra- 
Uan Museum) ) Ipswich Coal Measures, Lower Mesozoic. 
