prof, a. c. seward : contribtjtiok to [March 1913, 



supply such evidence as is needed to establish definitely the affinity 

 of the plant. The specimens which first attracted my attention are 

 those represented in PI. XII, fig. 12 a and in text-fig. 4 (p. 93), and a 

 search through the Rufford Collection led to the discovery of the 

 larger specimens of the same type reproduced in text-fig. 3, below. 

 As all the examples are clearly of the same type, a single diagnosis 

 may serve for genus and species. 



Fertile fronds, with little or no sterile lamina, consisting of a 

 slender main axis giving off lateral branches at an acute angle which 

 bifurcate repeatedly, the ultimate ramifications being very thin and 

 divergent (text-fig. 3 B). At the tips of the fertile branches are 

 borne more or less spherical carbonized bodies, approximately 2 mm. 

 long, enclosing a very large number of tetrahedral spores 60 to 

 70 /j, in diameter, and characterized by well-defined surface-ridges 



(PI. XIV, fig. 5 & text- 

 Pig. 3. — Pelletieria valdensis : A, B, B' fig. 2 B), and a form of 

 —pieces of fertile fronds ; C = two sculpturing met with in 

 spore-masses. recent species of Schiza?- 



^ > u aceae and in the tropical 



water-fern Geratopteris. 



There is no conclusive 

 evidence in regard to the 

 nature of the sterile pin- 

 nules, but the juxtaposi- 

 tion of some narrow 

 cuneate segments 1 (text- 

 fig. 4 G, p. 93) may be 

 an indication of their 

 form. Xo sporangia have 

 been recognized. 



The imperfect and bro- 

 ken specimen represented 

 of the natural size in 

 text-fig. 3 B, affords the 

 best example of the habit of the fertile frond ; at the apices of 

 a few of the branchlets are portions of the spore-masses. A 

 piece of the upper part of the specimen is shown twice the natural 

 size in fig. 3 B'. The occurrence of the fertile segments or spore- 

 masses in connexion with the slender branches is shown more 

 clearly in PI. XII, fig. 12 a, and in text-fig. 3 A. One of the 

 spore-masses with its carbonized covering is enlarged in fig. 12 b ; 

 and in text-fig. 4 (p. 93) an attempt is made to show the forms 

 assumed by these bodies, many of which are scattered through the 

 shale. They are often strongly convex (text-fig. 3 C), and in a few 

 examples, as, for instance, the upper of the two shown in fig. 3 C, 

 there appears to be a continuation of the short stalk as a median 

 line or rib over the convex back of the spore-enclosing body. In 



[A &B are of the natural 



by 2 diameters, and C by 9.] 



gnified 



Compare the segments of Sphenopteris fontainei 



Seward (94) pi. \i 



