78 DE ROBERT KIDSTON ON THE 



Field, thirty years ago, some to whom I am much indebted for kind help have passed 

 away ; and I would specially wish to acknowledge the assistance I received from the 

 late Messrs Henry Johnson, sen., F.G.S., Henry Johnson, jun., and Charles Beale, 

 all of Dudley ; and from Mr John Ward, F.G.S., of Longton. 



To Sir Charles Holckoft, now of Kingswinford ; Mr D. Rodgers ; Mr Henry 

 Insley, Great Barr ; Mr W. J. Davis, Bilston ; Mr T. G. Latham, Dudley ; 

 Mr W. Madeley, Dudley; Mr W. Egginton, Sedgley ; Dr Wheelton Hind, F.G.S., 

 and Mr J. T. Stobbs, F.G.S., both of Stoke-upon-Trent, my thanks are also due for 

 much help ; but above all am I indebted to Mr H. W. Hughes, F.G.S., Dudley, who 

 during the whole of the long period in which I have studied the fossil plants of the 

 South Staffordshire Coal Field has availed himself of every opportunity for collecting 

 them, and through whose labours I am able to record here many of the species 

 included in this memoir. To him also we are indebted for the discovery of the seed of 

 Neuropteris heterophylla Brongt., and the microsporangia of Sphenopteris (Crossotheca) 

 Honinghausi Brongt. 



LIST OF SPECIES. 

 FERNS AND FERN-LIKE PLANTS. 



Sphenopteris Brongniart. 

 Sphenopteris obtusiloba Brongt. 



1829. Sphenopteris obtusiloba, Brongt., Hist. d. veget. foss., p. 204, pi. liii. fig. 2. 



1886. „ ,, Zeiller, Flore foss. bassin houil. d. Valen., p. 65, pi. iii. figs. 1-4; pi. iv. 



fig. 1 ; pi. v. figs. 1, 2. 



1911. „ ,, Kidston, Mem. Musee roy. d'hist. not. de Belgique, vol. iv. p. 9. 



1833. Sphenopteris irregularis, Sternb., Essai flore monde prim., vol. ii., fasc. v., vi., p. 63, pi. xvii. 



fig. 4. 

 1885. Diplothmema Schumanni, Stur, Die Fame : Carbon-Flora d. Schatz. Schichten, p. 352, pi. lxv. 



fig. 2. 

 1885. Diplothmema Schlotheimii, Stur (non Brongt.), ibid., p. 336, pi. xxv. fig. 4. 



1912. Sphenopteris Schumanni, Gothan, Verhandl. d. naturhist. Vereins d. preuss. Rheinl. u. Wesi- 



phalens, 69. Jahrg., p. 240, pi. iii. figs. 1, 2. 



Remarks.- — Some difference of opinion exists amongst botanists as to the specific 

 position of Diplothmema Schumanni Stur ; some regard it as a distinct species, and 

 others as synonymous with Sphenopteris obtusiloba Brongt., and this latter view is 

 that accepted here. 



Dr Gothan has recently figured specimens of Sphenopteris Schumanni Stur,* 

 and in a tabular form points out what he regards as the characters which separate it 

 from Sphenopteris obtusiloba Brongt. He also gives a column showing wherein 

 Sphenopteris trifoliolata Artis differs from these two species ; but the plant he has 



* Loc. cit. 



