82 lACCOPIERIS. 



a specimen in the "Whitby Museum (No. 2379) which was figured 

 inaccurately both by Young & Bird, and by Phillips, and by the 

 latter referred to Zigno's genus Marzaria. The type-specimen of 

 Marzaria Simpsoni is in all probability a young frond of Laccopteris 

 polypodioides ; the linear pinnules of the adult leaf are represented 

 by irregular roimded crenulations on the margin of the pinnse, and 

 bear a resemblance to the small and partially developed ultimate 

 segments on a young frond of Matonia peotinata. 



There is a striking similarity between the Inferior Oolite species 

 Z. polypodioides and the older species Z. affinis, Z. Muensteri, and 

 Z. Goepperti figured by Schenk and other authors.' The fern 

 described by Etheridge from the Ipswich Coal-measures, New 

 South Wales, as Phlelopteris alethopter aides' may be compared 

 with Laccopteris polypodioides? It is evident that Brongniart's 

 type is a member of a family which in the Mesozoic period was 

 represented by numerous and closely allied forms with a wide 

 geographical range. At the present day Matonia peotinata survives 

 as one of two species which have persisted within narrow 

 geographical limits as tropical representatives of a once vigorous 

 and widely spread family of ferns. 



39.251. PI. XII. Figs. 1 and \a. 



This specimen illustrates very clearly the characteristic habit of 

 the frond; five pinnse are shown converging towards a common 

 petiole. The form of the leaf is precisely similar to that in 

 Matonia peotinata and in Matonidium Goepperti (Ett.). Each 

 pinna has a broad central axis bearing fairly broad ultimate 

 segments with a midrib and anastomosing secondary veins, One 

 of the lower deltoid segments is slightly enlarged in Eig. la; 

 this shows the forked and anastomosing secondary veins. The 

 longest pinnule measures 1'2 cm. in length. 



Scarborough. Bean Coll. 



39.252. PI. XII. Fig. 2. 



In this Specimen there are portions of five or six pinnae not 

 far from their common origin from the petiole ; these bear 



' Schenk (67), pis. xiii., xxiii.-xxv. 



2 Etheridge (88), p. 1306, pi. xxxviii. figs. 1 and 2. 



