82 DR ROBERT KIDSTON ON THE 



Horizons and Localities. — 



Blue Measures, six feet above Brooch Coal: Hamstead Colliery, Great Barr, 



near Birmingham. Collected by Mr H. Insley. 

 ? Roof of Thick Coal : Tipton. Specimen in the Collection of the Geological 



Department, British Museum, No. 52,543. 

 Ten foot Ironstone Measures : Clayscroft Openwork, Coseley. 



Sphenopteris Laurenti Andrae. 



1869. Sjyhenopteris Laurenti, Andrae, Vorwelt. Pflan?:en, p. 39, pi. xiii. figs. 1-3. 



1886. „ ,, Zeiller, Flore foss. bassin houil. d. Valen., p. 85, pi. vi. fig. 3, pi. ix. fig. 4. 



1883. Hapalopteris Laurenti, Stur, Morph. u. Syst. d. Culm- u. Carbon-Fame, p. 32. 



1869. Sphenopteris stipulata, Andrae (non Gutbier), ibid., p. 40, pi. xiii. fig. 4. 



Horizon and Locality. — Roof of Fireclay Coal : Doulton's Clay Pit, Netherton, 

 near Dudley. 



Sphenopteris Schillingsi Andrae. 

 PI. I. figs. 2 and 2a. 



1866. Sphenopteris Schillingsii, Andrae, Vonoelt. Pflanzen, p. 22, pi. vii. figs. 1, la, lb. 

 1899. ,, „ Zeiller, F-tude sur la florefossile du bassin d'Heraclee, p. 5. 



Description. — Frond tripinnate, rachis slender. Primary pinnae ascending, 

 alternate, subtriangular, obtuse ; secondary pinnae ascending, touching each other 

 laterally or slightly distant, alternate ; the lower narrow-deltoid, obtuse, and bearing 

 two to three pairs of pinnules. 



Pinnules ascending, slightly decurrent, sometimes inequilateral, alternate or 

 opposite, ovate-rotund, with two to three blunt lobes and obtuse apices, the lower 

 ones shortly stalked, the upper sessile ; uppermost pinnules sometimes confluent, 

 oblong, slightly lobed, more commonly entire, obtuse ; terminal pinnule rotund-cunate. 



Central vein scarcely stronger than the others, and from a short distance above its 

 base gives off lateral dichotomous veinlets. Frequently on each side of the central 

 veinlet is a lateral veinlet which unites with the central vein at its extreme base or 

 joins directly on to the rachis ; all the lateral veinlets arise at an acute angle. 



Remarks. — Although the specimen I refer to this species is a very fragmentary 

 one, the size and form of the pinnules agree so well with the corresponding part of 

 Andrae's figure that I have little doubt in referring it to Sphenopteris Schillingsi. 

 The nervation also shows in one of the pinnules the peculiar character of a lateral vein 

 next the mid-rib running directly into the rachis ; while in another pinnule two veins 

 of equal strength seem to unite at the extreme base of the pinnule, where it joins 

 on to the rachis. 



The small specimen is seen natural size on Plate V. fig. 2, and enlarged two 

 times at fig. 2a. 



