402 MR EOBERT KIDSTON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS IN THE 



FlLICACE^E. 



Sphyropteris, Stur, 1883. 



Sphyrqpteris, Stur, Morph. u. Syst. d. Culm. u. Carbon Fame, p. 23 (in lxxxviii. vol. Sitzb. d. k. Akad. 



d. Wissensch., 1 Abth.). 

 Sphyropteris, Stur, Carbon Flora, vol. i. p. 16. 

 Sphyropteris, Zeiller, Flore foss. d.u. bassin houiller de Valenciennes, p. 31, fig. 17. 



Description. — Sporangia free, exannulate, globular or hemispherical, placed in rows 

 on oblique, levated bands, which are borne on a narrow membranous expansion, ter- 

 minating the pinnae and pinnules, and placed at right angles to them. Sporangia walls 

 composed of elongated cells, which diverge from a terminal depression (pore V). 



Remarks. — This peculiar genus is represented in the Eavenhead Collection by a 

 single, but fortunately well-preserved specimen, of Sphyropteris obliqua, Marrat, sp. 

 ( = Sphyropteris Crepini, Stur). This example gives some additional information in 

 regard to the structure of the sporangia. These are globular or perhaps hemispherical, 

 as they seem to be attached by a base whose width is equal to the diameter of the 

 sporangia, the cells of whose w r alls radiate from a central depression (PL I. figs. 3c and 

 3d). This central depression is too constant to be accidental, and I can only explain 

 it by supposing it to be an apical pore for the dissemination of the spores, similar to 

 what occurs in the fossil genus Urnatopteris and in the recent genus Dancea. 



Sphyropteris obliqua, Marrat, sp. 



PL I. figs. 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d. 



Sphenopteris obliqua, Marrat, Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc, Session 13, 1871-72, p. 99, pi. ix. fig. 3, 1872. 

 Sphyropteris Crepini, Stur, Morph. u. Syst. d. Culm. u. Carbon Fame, p. 24, fig. 6c, 1883. 

 Sphyropteris Crepini, Stur, Carbon Flora, vol. i. p. 18, pi. xxxix. figs. 1, la.; text, fig. 6c, p. 16, 1885. 



Description. — Frond tripinnate, pinna alternate, lanceolate ; pinnules broadly oval, 

 uppermost almost simple or slightly dentate, lower divided into 4-6 truncate lobes, which 

 are occasionally notched ; veins indistinct, but apparently one enters each lobe. 

 Sporangia as described above, and placed on obliquely elevated bands, which are situated 

 on linear membranous expansions placed at right angles to the extremities of the 

 pinnules or terminating the pinnae. 



Remarks. — PI. I. fig. 3a, gives an enlarged view of an ultimate pinna, magnified five 

 times. Two of the pinnules and the apex of the pinna each bear one of the linear sporangial 

 expansions. At fig. 3b, one of these sporangial bands is shown enlarged 7\ times. The 

 left half of the band was not so well preserved as the right half, and on it the sporangia 

 were a good deal displaced, but on the right and better preserved portion three elevated 

 ridges are clearly i=jhown, on two of which are borne three sporangia each, and on the 

 terminal one two have been developed. Their number may, however, vary. 



