SAGENOPTERIS. 93- 



SPHENOPTBRIS, sp. h. 



[Cf. Coniopteris hymenophylloides (Brongn.), Hist. ¥eg. foss. p. 189, pi. Ivi.- 



fig. 4, 1828.] 



1871. Sphenopteris plumosa, Phillips, Geol. Oxford, p. 168, Diag. xxviii.- 

 figs. 3-4. 



Feeopteris approximata, ibid. Diag. xxviii. fig. 2. 



F. incisa, ibid. Diag. xxviii. figs. 5-6. 

 1894. Sphenopteris plumosa, Woodward, Lower Ool. p. 600. 



Feeopteris approximata, ibid. 



F. incisa, ibid. 



The fragment named by Phillips Sphenopteris plumosa probably 

 belongs to Coniopteris hymenophylloides (Brongn.),' an abundant 

 and variable fern in the Inferior Oolite strata of the Yorkshire 

 coast ; but in the absence of evidence as to the fertile pinnae it is^ 

 safer to adopt the provisional genus Sphenopteris. 



It should be noted that McCoy has described an Australian fern 

 under the name S. plumosa. The type of PhiUips' Feeopteris 

 approximata is also a fragment too small to be identified ; it may 

 perhaps be a portion of a Coniopteris pinna. The type-specimen 

 of Feeopteris ineisa in the Oxford Museum is a badly preserved 

 imperfect fragment, probably specifically identical with the other 

 specimens named by PhUKps. Sternberg also made use of the 

 name F. ineisa for a species from the Coal-measures. 



v. 3437. A very indistinct specimen which is probably identical 

 specifically with Sphenopteris, sp. h. 



Eyeford, Stonesfield Slate. Brodie Coll.^ 



Genus SAGENOPTERIS, Presl. 



[Sternberg, Flor. Vorwelt, vii. p. 164, 1838.] 



We have not as yet obtained sufficiently good evidence to justify 

 the inclusion of this genus among the Marsiliaoeae, and I prefer, 

 therefore, to regard Sagenopteris as a fern. Its position is by no 

 means settled, and the discovery of well-preserved fertile leaves or 

 sporangia may demonstrate the correctness of Nathorst's view that 

 this Ehsetic and Jurassic type is closely allied to the recent Marsilia. 



' Seward (00), p. 99, pis. xvi., xvii., xx., xxi. 



