6 ALGITES. 



The "Wealden fossils previously classed as AlgcB are not of sucli im- 

 portance as to require serious attention. Bunker's Confervites flssus^ 

 is definitely stated by Schenk,^ after a careful examination of the 

 type specimen, to be a rachis fragment of Onychiopsis (Sphenopteris) 

 MantelU (Brong.). The curious marking figured by Heer' from 

 Almargem in Portugal as Tanidium lusitanioum, Hr., has little 

 claim to be accepted as a fossil plant, so far at least as it is possible 

 to judge from the plate. Ettingshausen * figures three species 

 from the Wealden of Austria, Bphmroeoeeites ehondriceformis, Ett., 

 Confervites setaceus, Ett., and Sargassites Partschii, Ett., but these 

 do not afiord trustworthy evidence as to the existence of any 

 particular family oi Algm. 



In the case of the English specimens there is an obvious objection 

 to their reference to seaweeds in the fact that they are found in a 

 supposed fresh-water rock ; this, however, does not appear to me at 

 all a fatal objection. Marine algse are abundant enough at a 

 river's mouth, and, indeed, extend some distance from the place 

 where the fresh water flows into the sea. In the delta deposits of 

 the Wealden rivers there might easily be embedded the fronds of 

 shallow-water seaweeds. 



There is a striking resemblance, too close to be entirely ignored, 

 between some forms of the liverwort Behoulia hemisphwrica (L.), 

 E.add., and the fossil which I have described as an alga. 



V. 2857. PL I. Figs. 1 and 2. 



One large and fairly perfect specimen of Algites valdensis ; on 

 the same slab is a smaller example of this species. The ends of 

 the branches are in some cases more or less torn, but appear to 

 have originally terminated bluntly. Pragments of Algites eatenel- 

 loides, sp. nov., scattered over the rock surface, as small branched 

 structures. 



In addition to the species already mentioned, cf . Caulerpa arouata,^ 

 Schimp., from the Plysch. Near Hastings. Becltles Coll. 



v. 2857a. The reverse piece of the previous specimen. 



' Wealdenbildung, p. 1, pi. i. fig 1. 



^ Palseontographioa, yol. xix. p. 208. 



= Secc. Trab. Geol. Portugal, 1881, pi. ix. 



* Abh. k.-k. geol. Reichs. vol. i. Abtb. iii. No. 2, pi. iii. figs. 1-3 and 12. 



' Trait, pal. veg. Atlas, pi. iii. fig. 6. 



