XXVIl] NEUROPTERIPIUM 519 



of the secondary veins suggest comparison with Glossopteris, 

 but in Lesleya there are no cross-connexions between the veins. 

 Nothing is known as to the fructification, a fact which naturally 

 evokes the opinion that the genus is a Pteridosperm^ and not a 

 true fern. Some years before the discovery of Pteridosperms, 

 Grand'Eury^ suggested that Lesleya might be a Gymnosperm ; 

 his opinion being based on the woody nature of the rachis and 

 on the simple venation of Lesleya simplicinervis. 



Neuropteridium. 



In their monograph of fossil plants from the Bunter Series 

 of the Vosges, Schimper and Mougeot' described some pinnate 

 leaves of ferns as species of the genus Neuropteris. In 1869 

 Schimper* placed these in a new sub-genus Neuropteridium, in 

 order to draw attention to the fact that their fronds appear 

 to be simply pinnate and not bipinnate or tripinnate as in 

 Neuropteris. The type-species of Neuropteridium is N. grandi- 

 folia Sch. and Moug. from the Bunter Sandstones of the Vosges. 

 The genus includes Triassic European species and the widely 

 distributed Permo-Carboniferous species from Brazil ^ originally 

 described by Carruthers as Odontopteris Plantiana. It is 

 probable that some Carboniferous plants, particularly species 

 from the lower members of the formation, referred to the genus 

 Cardiopteris, are not generically distinct from the Indian and 

 southern hemisphere type Neuropteridium validum (= Odon- 

 topteris Plantiana). 



Fronds pinnate, linear ; a broad rachis bears pinnules which may be 

 either semicircular or broadly linear with an entire or lobed margin. The 

 longer pinnules may exceed 6 cm. in length. The pinnules agree with 

 those of Neuropteris in being attached by the median portion of the lamina 

 and not by the whole base, which is more or less auriculate. In some 

 cases the repeatedly forked veins diverge from the centre of the pinnule 

 base ; in others there is a midrib which persists for a short distance only, 

 and in some species the more persistent median vein gives the segments a 

 closer resemblance to those of Neuropteris. Fructification unknown, with 

 the exception of obscure indications of sporangia (?) on the fertile leaves of 

 a Triassic species. 



1 White (052) p_ 391. 2 Grand'Eury (90) A. p. 305. 



' Schimper and Mougeot (44) A. * Schimper (69) A. p. 447. 



5 Carruthers (69^). 



