BUNBURY ON THE COAL FORMATION OP CAPE BRETON. 425 



3. Neuropteris ingens? (Foss. Fl. t. 91. A.?) 



Of this, I find in tlie collection only a part of a single leaflet, the 

 extremity being broken off; the fragment is 2^ inches long and 2 

 inches broad. It appears to have been of a much thinner and more 

 flexible and membranous texture than N. cordata, for it is much and 

 irregularly wrinkled and puckered, like the Cycloptej'is ohlata of the 

 * Fossil Flora.' It differs moreover from N. cordata in its more el- 

 liptical outline, the greatest breadth being not at the base, but nearer 

 to the middle. 



4. Neuropteris flexuosa. 



The specimens agree well with those brought by Mr. Lyell from 

 the anthracite mines of Pottsvilie, Pennsylvania, and with one from 

 Somersetshire in the museum of the Geological Society. One of 

 them is a small-leaved variety, (of which I have also seen specimens 

 from Pottsvilie,) the leaflets not exceeding -^(jths of an inch in length ; 

 whereas in the ordinary state of the plant their length is from i%ths to 

 ^ths of an inch. In another of the Cape Breton specimens, the 

 leaflets, instead of overlapping, do not even touch one another at the 

 edges, and so far it agrees with the distinctive character assigned to 

 N. gigantea ; but in everything else it corresponds entirely with 

 jlexuosa. The Pottsvilie specimens vary in the same way. Although 

 M. Brongniart lays much stress on this character, I believe it is not 

 to be relied on. 



5. Neuropteris gigantea, var. 



A single pinna of a frond, in a beautiful state of preservation, and 

 exactly intermediate in character between N. gigantea and Jlexuosa. 

 The shape of the leaflets is the same as in the latter species, but they 

 equal in size the largest of those of N. gigantea ; they are contiguous 

 for the most part, but not imbricated, and the stalk is scarcely at all 

 wavy. The whole pinna is about 7 inches long, with above 30 leaf- 

 lets ; the terminal one of the shape usual in N. jlexuosa. 



I have seen a specimen perfectly agreeing with this, from the Man- 

 chester coal-field, in the collection of Prof. lienslow. 



I am much inclined to believe that Neuropteris gigantea and 

 Jlexuosa are not specifically distinct; and probably N. rotundifolia 

 might be added to them. 



6. Neuropteris rarinervis (n. sp.). 



Spec. Char. N. fronde 1)ipinnata, i^iunulis contiguis obliquis oblongis apice rotun- 

 datis, basi oblique subcordatis subauriculatis, margine subundulatis ; terminali 

 majore liastato-deltoidea subtrilobata ; veiiis remotis arcuatis bis fiu-catis. 



I can find no description or figure agreeing with this plant, of 

 which Mr. Brown has sent me very complete specimens, some of 

 them above a foot long. In the general form of the frond and in the 

 outline of the leaflets it so much resembles N. Jlexuosa, that on a 

 hasty view it might easily be taken for that species, but it differs 

 essentially in venation. The veins are farther apart than in any 

 other Neuropteris that I know, and though arched in the manner 



