428 OPHIOGLOSSALES [CH. 



are wholly inadequate. The species R. paniculifera Stur^ is 

 characterised by a stout rachis bearing two rows of laterally 

 attached rhomboidal or subtriangular segments with a more or 

 less deeply lobed margin and spreading veins. The rachis 

 branches distally into two arms, and these are again symme- 

 trically subdivided into fertile axes bearing clusters of small 

 spherical bodies 1 mm. broad, which Stur speaks of as ex- 

 annulate sporangia similar to those of Botrychium. He includes 

 the species in the Ophioglossaceae. As Zeiller^ pertinently 

 remarks, Rhacopteris differs essentially in habit from any recent 

 member of this family. Rhacopteris also includes species charac- 

 terised by leaflets deeply dissected into linear segments; an 

 example of this form is represented by Rhacopteris fiabellata 

 (Tate) recorded by Kidston' from rocks of Calciferous Sand- 

 stone age in Flintshire. 



The specimen described by Eenault^ from the Carboniferous 

 rocks of Autun as Ophioglossites antiqua is equally unconvincing : 

 it consists of a carbonised fragment, 7 cm. x 1"5 cm., regarded as 

 part of a fertile lamina characterised by a vertical series of 

 transversely elongated slits, 7 mm. wide, some of which, on 

 slight magnification, are seen to contain a mass of small orange- 

 yellow granulations. The slits are compared with the surface- 

 openings of the sunken sporangia of Ophioglosswm, and the 

 yellow bodies are identified as spores. The material is too 

 imperfect to justify the use of the name Ophioglossites. 



Noeggerathia. 



This genus of uncertain position may be briefly described 

 here, though it has little claim to recognition as a represen- 

 tative of the Ophioglossales. It is characteristic of Lower 

 Carboniferous rocks and is compared by Stur^ with recent 

 Ophioglossaceae. Noeggerathia foliosa Stemb. (fig. 302) may 

 be cited as a typical example of the genus. It consists of an 



1 Stur (75) A. PI. VIII. = Zeiller (00) p. 55. 



3 Kidston (89^), Pis. i. ii. For other figures of Rhacopteris see also Stur 

 (75) A. 



* Kenault (96) A. p. 30, PI. lxxxii. figs. 7—9. 

 « Stur (75) A. 



