THE JURASSIC FLORA OF SUTHERLAND. 663 



of this fern. Lester Ward # has revived Dunker's original name on the ground of 

 strict priority. 



The two specimens shown in figs. 25, 26, PI. II., though imperfectly preserved, bear 

 so close a resemblance to the Jurassic and Wealden type Matonidium Goepperti, as also 

 to the pinnae of the recent species Matonia pectinata, that I venture to regard them as 

 pieces of a Matonidium frond. The ultimate segments are falcate, with blunt apices 

 aud a prominent midrib ; the lateral veins are only slightly indicated. In herbarium 

 specimens of Matonia the prominence of the midrib is a striking feature, and it is easy 

 to realise the possibility that an impression of a pinna on a coarse matrix might well 

 lack any traces of the lateral veins. 



3. Gleicheniaceae. 



Gleichenites, Goeppert. 



Gleichenites Boodlei sp. nov. (PL III. figs. 42, 42A, 43, 43 A.) 



Though it is impossible to give an adequate diagnosis of the fragment which I have 

 named after Mr Boodle of the Jodrell Laboratory, Kew, who has considerably extended 

 our knowledge of the anatomical features of the recent Gleicheniaceae, it is convenient to 

 adopt a specific name. The fragment reproduced natural size in fig. 42, PI. III., consists 

 of two prominent carbonised rods, enclosed in fibrous tissue, converging and slightly 

 increasing in diameter towards the lower edge of the specimen. A section of the two 

 axes along the line ah is shown in fig. 4 2 A. Each axis consists of a central rod of 

 xylem, X, fig. 43, partially surrounded by patches of more delicate tissue, P, probably 

 representing the remains of phloem and pericyclic tissue. Separated from the xylem- 

 rod or protostele by a space occupied by crystalline material is a broad cylinder of 

 cortical tissue ; the inner portion of the cortex, c', is almost opaque and is composed of 

 very thick cells ; this is succeeded by a zone of well-preserved and fairly thick- walled 

 cells, c", which are crushed in the peripheral region, c'" . The portion of the stele enclosed 

 in the loop a, fig. 43, is shown on a larger scale in fig. 43A. The group of small elements 

 at Px may safely be identified as protoxylem ; the main mass of the stele is composed 

 of scalariform metaxylem tracheids, Mx, with occasional islands of parenchyma. At P, 

 fig. 43A, a portion of the smaller and thinner phloem elements is shown. A few of the 

 patches of protoxylem can be made out in the two steles, occupying a position slightly 

 internal to the outer edge of the xylem. The structure of the protosteles in the axes 

 appears to be identical with that of some recent species of Gleichenia. The convergence 

 of the two axes suggests dichotomous branching, presumably of a rhizome, as the 

 vascular structure agrees with that in the stem rather than with that of the rachis of 

 recent species. 



* Ward (99), p. 653. 



