6 PERMIAN FOSSILS. 



Neuropteris Huttoniana, King. Plate I, Fig. 4. 



(?) One of the " Two species of Ferns" cited by Sedgwick. Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 



2d series, vol. iii, p. 120, 1829. 

 Neuropteris Huttoniana, King. Catalogue, p. 5, 1848. 



It is impossible to draw up a diagnosis of this Fern from the imperfect state in 

 which it is generally found. The pinnules, of which only single or isolated examples 

 appear to have been noticed, display the venation rather imperfectly : they resemble 

 tlie pinnules of Neuropteris gigantea in form, at least, such as they are represented by 

 Sternberg in the ' Flora der Vorwelt.' pi. xxii ; but the veins are wider apart, some- 

 what as in N. heterophylla. The form of the pinnules is somewhat oblong : they have 

 an indistinct midrib : and the veins, several of which apparently rise from the base, 

 become forked as they approach the margin. 



Professor Sedgwick notices two Ferns in his paper, but it is suspected that the one 

 not cited in the synonomy under the present head, and which has not yet occurred to 

 the writer, is the Caulerpa (?) selaginoides, a view apparently sanctioned by what has 

 already been stated under this species. 



Neuropteris Huttoniana occurs sparingly at Thrislington Gap, Midderidge, Brussleton, 

 and East Thickley, in the Marl-slate.^ 



Sub-class Lycopodales, Lindley. 



Diagnosis. — " Vascular acrogens, with axillary or radical one- or many-celled 

 spore-cases, and spores of two sorts."^ (Lindley.) 



This group comprises the two orders LycopodiaceoB and Marsilacea, to which it is 

 proposed to add another, Lepidodendracea, which is represented by several palaeozoic 

 forms. 



Order Lepidodendrace.1;, Sternberg.^ 



LepidodendrejE, Vnger. 

 SAGENARiACEyE, Corda. 



Diagnosis. — Arborescent plants having a stem, with a rather large pith, consisting of 

 perpendicularly elongated parenchyma, and surrounded by a narrow, completely- 

 closed cylinder (medullary sheath ?), composed of irregularly-arranged, striated vessels. 

 Encircling the cylinder is a broad zone of spheroidal parenchyma, surrounded by 



' A remarkable Fern (?), figured and described in the 'Fossil Flora,' vol. iii, p. 201, under the name of 

 Dictyophyllum crassinervum, has been found in the (Permian or Trias?) New Red Sandstone, near 

 Liverpool. 



^ The Vegetable Kingdom, p. 69, 1847. 



^ Sternberg considered this a "Family" group, which he named " Lepidodendron." 



