306 



FOSSIL FLORA 



one locality at Budle, in a red argillaceous shale, associated with 

 other plants and marine shells, among which is Posidonia tubercu- 

 lata. This interesting deposit, which is about 30 feet thick, contains 

 in the lower part many marine remains ; but as we ascend upward, a 

 fragment of a land plant, which had been floated into this ancient 

 estuary, here and there appears ; and in the uppermost part, the 

 marine fossils are almost entirely gone, while considerable numbers 

 of land plants are spread out between the layers of shale. 



Genus Sphenopteris (Brongn.). 



Frond bi-tripinnate ; pinnules contracted at the base, not adherent 

 to the rachis, lobed, the lower larger and diverging ; veins bipinnate, 

 somewhat radiating from the base. 



Sphenopteris Johnstoniana (Tate). Figs. 1 & 2. 



Frond bipinnate ; pinnae linear-lanceolate ; rachis of the pinnse 

 winged and longitudinally striated; pinnules alternate, cuneate or 

 palmate, the lower deeply cut into five or six bifid or trifid segments, 

 the upper into three or four bifid segments ; veins bipinnate, each 

 lobe having one central vein. 



Kg. 1. 



"^"■W 



Fig. 1. Pinna of Sphenopteris Johnstoniana. 

 Fig. 1 . a. A detached pinnule more divided from the lower part 

 of a pinna. 



