21 



FILICITES DECURRENS. 

 DECURRENT FILIC1TE. 



Generic Character. 



Leaf, or, frond, forming a flat surface, the two sides of which are symmetric ; 

 secondary rib simple or forked. 



Specific Character. 



FILICITES decurrens. Leaf, or, frond, tri- or quadri-pinnate ; leaflets linear- 

 lanceolate, first leaflets decurrent ; ribs pinnate. 



Synonyms. 



This fossil fern does not seem to have been hitherto described or figured by 



authors. 



Description and Locality. 



Leaf, or, frond, very large, tripinnate or quadripinnate ? 



Stipes broad, wavy. 



Leaflets linear-lanceolate, sessile ; ribs pinnate, the secondary ribs perpendicular 

 to the main rib ; the first leaflet on the superior side of the pinnule adherent by its 

 side to the rachis. 



Found in great abundance in the shale at Alverthorpe near Wakefield, which is 

 about a yard thick, and 12 or 14 yards below the present surface of the ground. It 

 is also found in the coal mines belonging to the Marchioness of Hertford, near Leeds. 



Observation. 



This fossil plant, which is of a gigantic size, and of which the drawing exhibits 

 but a small part, was communicated by the Reverend Samuel Sharpe, Vicar of 

 Wakefield. 



