THE FOSSIL FLORA OF THE YORKSHIRE COAL FIELD. 209 



Zeiller, in 1883,* in remarking on the polymorphic nature of Pecopteris dentata, 

 points out that the Pecopteris plumosa, Brongt.,t was only a form of Pecopteris dentata, 

 and that he was inclined to unite to the same species the Pecopteris delicatula, Brongt.J 

 That Brongniart was correct in identifying and figuring the plants he named Pec. 

 plumosa as Artis' species is beyond all doubt, and the union of Brongniart's figures of 

 Pecopteris plumosa with the same author's Pecopteris dentata must carry the Filicites 

 plumosus, Artis, along with it. Mons. Zeiller, however, appears to have had some doubt 

 as to the correctness of Brongniart's identification of his specimens with Artis' plant. 



Zeiller gives, under the name of Pecopteris (Dactylotheca) dentata, some excellent 

 figures of Filicites plumosus, Artis, in his Flore foss. Bassin houil. d. Valenciennes. His 

 fig. 2, pi. xxvi., is typical of the form originally described by Artis. His fig. 2, pi. xxvii., 

 is also an excellent rendering of the same form, as also are his figs. 3-4 of the same 

 plate. His fig. 2, pi. xxvii., corresponds to my fig. 1, pi. i. 



Sphenopteris caudata, L. and H. Fossil Flora, pis. xlviii. and cxxxviii. 



This species is only one of the many forms of Dactylotheca plumosa. I give an 

 illustration of the same form on pi. i. fig. 3, from a specimen communicated to me by 

 Mr John Ward, Longton, from below the New Mine Coal, the uppermost seam of the 

 Lower Coal Measures, Adderley Green, Staffordshire. I possess an identical form (No. 

 2108) from the Middle Coal Measures of Yorkshire, collected by Mr W. Hemingway 

 from the Thick Coal at Monckton Main Colliery, near Barnsley. 



The other specimen of Sphenopteris caudata which forms the subject of Lindley 

 and Hutton's pi. cxxxviii., is preserved in the Hutton Collection, Newcastle-on-Tyne. It 

 is not in a good state of preservation, but is evidently the plant named Pecopteris 

 dentata by Brongniart. The locality given for this specimen is subject to much doubt ; 

 it more probably came from the Somerset Coal Field, as the shale on which the fossil 

 occurs agrees with that found in Somerset, but not with the shales which are found at 

 Jarrow Colliery, from which the specimen is stated to have come. 



Pecopteris serra (?), L. and H. Illustrations of Fossil Plants. 

 Edited by G. A. Lebour. PL xxiii. 



The fossil shown here is a small fragment of Dactylotheca plumosa, with which 

 Pecopteris silesiaca, Gopp., sp., the name inscribed in pencil on the original drawing, is 

 synonymous. § 



Cyatheites dentatus, Geinitz. Vers. d. Steinkf. in Sachsen, p. 26. 



Of the various figures given by this author, some appear to be doubtfully referable 

 to this species. On his pi. xxv. fig. 11, he shows a specimen with Aphlebia attached 



* Bull. Soc. GM. d. France, 3 e ser., vol. xii. p. 201. 



t Hist. d. ve'get. foss., pis. cxxi., cxxii. J Ibid., p. 349, pi. cxvi., fig. 6. 



§ See also Crepin, Bull. Soc. Boy. Bot. Belgique, vol. xx. part ii. p. 25, 1881. 



