ONrcHiopsis. 45 



S. Gopperti is most probably a piece of a pinna of 0. 

 I have little doubt that tbe specimens figured by Heer from 

 Almargem, Portugal, as Sphenopteris valdensis are fragments of 

 0. Mantelli ; they correspond very closely with the coarser pinnas 

 of the latter species. Cf. e.g. Heer's figs. 9 and 10, pi. xv.' 

 with the large frond from Ecclesbourne, PI. II. Fig. 1. Possibly 

 fig. 11 of Heer represents another species, Ruffordia Gopperti. 



In 1883 Tenison- Woods' published an account of the fossil flora 

 of the Coal deposits of Australia ; in his list of ferns are included 

 two new species, Trichomanites laxum and T. spinifoUum, both of 

 which, so far as it is possible to judge from the poor figures, may 

 in all probability be referred to OnycMopsis Mantelli. 



Messrs Jack and Etheridge, in their recent work on " The 

 Geology and Palaeontology of Queensland and New Guinea,"' have 

 referred a fern from the Burrum beds of Queensland to Tenison- 

 Woods' species, T. laxum ; the figure of this plant leads me to 

 refer it, with very little hesitation, to the characteristic species of 

 the European Wealden beds. The age of the Burrum beds is not 

 precisely defined; "newer than the Permo-Carboniferous, and 

 older than the Upper Cretaceous." * 



Fontaine, in his Monograph on the Potomac Flora, has instituted 

 several new species of Kunze's isolated genus Thyrsopteris. On 

 examining his figures of the various types, one cannot help feeling 

 that the grounds on which the genus has been chosen are some- 

 what insufiGloient. After speaking of Heer's description of 

 Thyrsopteris, he notes a close resemblance between some of 

 the Potomac forms and the sterile fronds of Kunze's genus, and 

 goes on to say : ° " These {i.e. the Potomac specimens) I place 

 provisionally in the genus Thyrsopteris, on account of the great 

 resemblance that the shape of the pinnules, the lobing, and the 

 nervation show to the sterile forms of the various species deter- 

 mined to be Thyrsopteris by their fructification. As, however, no 

 fructification is found in the Potomac species, the placing of these 

 plants in the genus must be regarded as provisional." Finally, we 

 read : "It should be noted that a number of the species of Thyrso- 



1 Secc. Trab. Geol. Portugal, 1881. 



2 Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, vol. viii. pt. i. 1883, p. 37. 

 s Ibid. p. 315. 



1 Ibid. p. 301. 



6 Potomac Flora, p. 120. 



