3G2 O. Feistmantel — Contributions towards the [No. 4, 



Amongst fossils the non-fructificating frond can be compared, as I 

 have said, with some fronds of our Alethopteris indica, 0. M., from the 

 Rajmahal Hills. 



Alethopteeis comp. Whttbyensis, Gopp., PI. XXI, Figs. 6, 6«. 



Two pinnulae of a fern which I can only place with this species, as they 

 are so near that I do not think it advisable to separate them. 



Our pimrulse are more closly allied to Brongniart's Pecopteris tenuis* 

 from the Yorkshire Oolites ; but in my Kach Floraf I have shown all the 

 species which are synonymous with or related to this Aletlwpt. Whitby ensis, 

 Gopp., and amongst them Pecopt. tenuis, Bgt., is the first. There is 

 nothing peculiar in the occurrence of this species in our Raniganj Series, 

 since we know that the fossils of this group are more closely related to 

 one another than was formerly thought, and since SaportaJ has shown that 

 this Cladophlebis Whitbyensis, Gopp., and Cladophlebis Posserti, Schimp., 

 (a Rhastic form) are almost identical. To the Pecopt. Pbsserti (Clado- 

 phlebis) our Aletlwpt. indica, 0. M., from the Rajmahals is very closely 

 allied, and to this latter again the Aletlwpt. Lindleyana, Boyle sp., of tbe 

 Raniganj Series ; and now we have the Pecopt. tenuis, Bgt., identical 

 with the Aletlwpt. Whitby ensis, Gopp. 



Type Phegopteris, Mett. 



There is a very big specimen of a fern which from a palseontological 

 point of view is an Alethopteris. But a closer examination shows that 

 the specimen has a very close relation in the existing flora, and it is amongst 

 the Aspidiaceae with single secondary veins. 



There is the genus Phegopteris, which is in some forms almost identi- 

 cal with our fossil, our Alethopteris agreeing especially with Phegopteris 

 decussata, Mett. I could at once establish on this specimen this living 

 genus in the fossil flora, but in conformity with the palseontological 

 classification, I retain the generic name Alethopteris, using Phegopteris to 

 form the specific name, and placing this new species in the type Phegopteris. 

 This fossil is, therefore, especially of interest as so closely resembling a living 

 genus ; but there are some differences, as we shall see in discussing the 

 species. 



Alethopteeis Phegopteeoides, n. sp., PI. XVIII. 

 Fronde valida, bipinnata ; rhachide crassa, pimctulata ; pinnis sub 

 angulo subrecto e rhachide eggredientibus, rhachide earum crassiore ; pin- 

 nis mediis longissimis basin apicemque versus attenuantibus ; pinnulis oblon- 



* Hist. d. veget. foss. PI. 110. f. 3. 4. 



t Kach flora in Pal. Indica, Ser. XL 1. 1876, pp. 22—25. 



4: Veget. foss. Terr. Jur. de France, p. 298 et seqq. 



