674 



PROFESSOR A. C. SEWARD ON 



Aphlebia, Presl. 



Aphlebia sp. (Text-fig. 6.) 



The incomplete specimen represented in text-fig. 6 is the impression of a com- 

 paratively thick organ characterised by a stouter median portion and a torn or irregularly 

 lobed margin. The general appearance of the fossil suggests a strong fibrous scale 

 with several vascular bundles curving upwards and outwards from the median line. It 

 is impossible to speak with much confidence as to the nature of this specimen, but it 

 may be part of an Aphlebia leaf or stipule-like organ, possibly of a fern. It resembles 



Text-Fig. 6. — Aphlebia sp. (nat. size). (Gunn collection. ) 



to some extent the scale-like impressions described from the Wealden of England* 

 and South Africa t as Cycadolepis, but on the whole the resemblance to the fleshy 

 stipules of the recent fern Angiopteris evecta is closer than to a scale from a Cycadean stem. 



Rachises of Fern Fronds. 



The Gunn collection contains several impressions of branched rachises which in the 

 absence of pinnules cannot be determined with certainty. One of the larger specimens 

 shows a flat rachis 24 cm. long, with a uniform breadth of 1 cm., giving off a few pinna' 

 almost at right angles. This may be part of a large frond of Cladophlebis denticulata. 



Spiropteris sp. (PI. I. fig. 19A.) 



The spirally coiled rachis shown in fig. 19 A, PI. I., may be a young frond of 

 Gleichenites, but no pinnules are visible. 



* Seward (94). t Seward (03). 



