208 OTOZAMITES. 



1870. Otopteris Meant, ibid. vol. ii. p. 176. 



1875. Otopteris Beani, Phillips, Geol. Yorks. p. 220, lign. 45. 



0. Beani, Saporta, Pal. Fran9. yol. ii. p. 128, pi. xxv. fig. 2. 



0. marginatus, ibid. p. 168, pi. cix. fig. 1. 

 1881. Otopteris Beani, Zigno, Flor. foss. Oolit. vol. ii. p. 104. 

 ? 0. Cwrnossai, ibid. p. 95, pi. xxxvii. figs. 3 and 4. 



Sphenozamites medianus, ibid. p. 109. 

 1892. Otozamites Beani, Fox-Strangways, Tab. Fobs. p. 139. 



Type-specimens. Type of Cydopteris Beani, L. & H., in the- 

 Scarborough. Museum ; type of Otopteris mediana, Leokenby, in 

 the "Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge (No. 235). 



Prond pinnate, long, narrow, and of uniform breadth, tapering 

 gradually towards the slender apex. Pinnse short and broad, 

 varying in shape from broadly oval with bluntly rounded apices tO' 

 deltoid or suborbicular in the lower part of the frond (PI. I. Fig. 4), 

 and narrower, longer, and more lanceolate in the distal portion of 

 the frond (PI. I. Fig. 3). The pinnae are alternate and in part 

 imbricate, attached by the lower part of the auriculate base to 

 the upper face of the rachis, which is usually hidden by the 

 overlapping auriculate bases of the pinnae. Veins numerous, 

 repeatedly forked and spreading from the base. 



The specimen which Leokenby referred to a distinct species,. 

 Otopteris mediana (ITo. 235 ia the Leckenby Collection, Cambridge), 

 is, I believe, specifically identical with 0. Beani, L. & H. In 

 a note written on a specimen in the Leckenby Collection Nathorst 

 also expresses this opinion. A somewhat similar type of Oto%am,ites 

 is represented by the "Wealden species, 0. Klipsteini (Dunk.), of 

 which the British Museum possesses a fine series.^ 



This is one of the most striking species among the Yorkshire 

 plants ; it is usually placed among the Cycads, but in the absence 

 of any information as to either stems or flowers we have no 

 proof of its Cycadean nature. It is in all probability correctly 

 included in the Cycadales ; the form of the leaves recalls that 

 of recent Cycads, but there is no living species of which the 

 pinnse bear more than a distant resemblance to those of Oto%amites 

 Beani. It is interesting to find a close agreement between the 

 fronds of this fossil form and those of a recent fern, Anemia 

 rotundifolia, Schrad. ; the habit of the leaf, the shape and venation 



' Vide Seward (95), pi. vii. 



