LYCOPODITES. 15 



The species Naiaiea acuminata, which, is no doubt the plant 

 named by Brodie N. lanceolata, is defined as follows: — "Upper 

 leaves ovate lanceolate, lower ones much acuminated. A small 

 plant, having a great resemblance to our recent species of 

 Callitriche." 



Buekman's list of plants in the appendix to Murchison's volume 

 includes two other species under the generic name JVaiadea, 

 JV. oMusa and iV. ovata ; ^ the species so named are from the Stones- 

 field Slate, and have no family or generic affinity with the species 

 from "Wainlode Cliff. The Stonesfield fossils are referred to in the 

 sequel as leaflets of a Gymnospermous plant, probably Podoiamites. 

 "We are here concerned only with the species Naiadea lanoeolata. 

 In 1886 Mr. Starkie Gardner'' examined some specimens in 

 Mr. Brodie' s collection which are now in the British Museum, and 

 suggested that they represented fragments of a moss comparable 

 with the recent fresh-water Fontinalis. In this opinion he was 

 supported by Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Murray of the British 

 Museum. In a footnote to his paper Gardner mentions a moss- 

 capsule received from Mr. Brodie from the same beds which had 

 afforded the specimens of the slender stems and leaves. As I have 

 already stated,^ the supposed moss-capsule is too obscure to 

 determine. The specimen (V. 3684) has the form of an oval 

 brown stain on the surface of the rock, with a suggestion of 

 a stalk at one end, but there are no adequate grounds for regarding 

 it as a capsule. 



In a paper communicated to the Geological Society in 1901, 

 Miss Igerna SoUas gave an account of a detailed investigation 

 of several specimens of Naiaiita from different localities in the 

 Severn Valley. The best material obtained in recent years has 

 been collected by Mr. "W". H. Wickes of Bristol, to whom I am 

 indebted for the loan of numerous specimens. The plant occurs in 

 a fi-agmentary state, and monopolises the surface of fairly large 

 fslabs of rock. Miss Sollas accurately describes it as " delicate, 

 slender, and moss-like in habit .... some of the strata 

 contain loose leaves and disconnected pieces of stem only, while in 



' Murchi8on (45), pp. 93, 94, pi. i. fig. 2 ; pi. ii. fig. 1. 

 - Gardner (86), p. 203. See also Seward (98), p. 240. 

 ' Seward, loc. cit. 



