716 APPENDIX LI 
The leaflets are obtuse ovate, mostly with 3 rounded lobes on either side; length of a 
leaflet 4 lines, breadth a little over 2 lines, The branchlets in our specimen are from 
to 2 of an inch apart. 
Sphenopteris lobifolia, J. Morris, loc. cit., p. 246, pl. 7, fig. 3; loc. Newcastle. 
—————._ Moy, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., xx. 149; loc. Mulubimba, from which 
place four other species, also, are described by M’Coy. 
GuossorTeris Browniana (Brongniart).—Plate 12, fig. 18, different fronds, natural 
size ; 13 a, part of a frond, magnified two diameters, showing venation ; 0, cast of under (?) 
surface of a smaller part, magnified six diameters; c, a clump of fronds, as they grew 
together. 
Newcastle and Illawarra, very abundant. 
From the description of the Browniana by Brongniart, a species instituted from Aus- 
tralian specimens, it appears that this common fern of the Australian coal fields was 
referred to by him. It is very abundant, constituting more than nine-tenths, and perhaps 
ninety-nine hundredths, of all the fossil leaves of these regions; and much of the clay at 
Newcastle and in Illawarra owes its thin foliation to the close packing of its leaves. But 
although our species is, in all probability, the Brownzana, we should hardly recognise it 
from Brongniart’s figures, (Veg. Foss., pl. 62, fig. 1,) as the venation in our specimens 
is quite unlike that represented by him. We speak with some confidence on this point, 
as the specimens collected by the writer have been very numerous. On account of this 
difference, we have suspected that the figures were made from a different species, although 
the size and form seem to correspond well with the common fern of the coal beds. The 
spaces in the reticulation in two of the fronds, in Brongniart’s figure 1, average more than 
half a line in breadth, or 10-12 to half an inch. The enlarged view, in fig. 1 A, 
approximates more nearly to our specimen, as it indicates (allowing it to be magnified 3 
diameters), that there were 18 spaces (in breadth) in the reticulation, to half an inch. In 
the specimens obtained by the writer, the venation is very close, and except in specimens 
partly worn, it requires close attention clearly to distinguish it. The number of spaces 
in breadth in half an inch is 20 to 24, We have fronds of all sizes, from a length of 12 
inches and width of 5 lines, to a length of 6 and width of 14 inches, the largest from 
Australia figured by Brongniart ; and in all, the venation is about equally close, showing 
that there is little variation with age. In the smallest specimen, on figure 13 c, the num- 
ber is 5-6 in a line and a half (20 to 24 in half an inch ;) and in the largest frond of this 
figure, the number is the same. The cross-lines in the reticulation are few and distant, 
the spaces being long linear, in many cases even half an inch, although but a quarter of 
a line broad, At the margin, the closeness is not greater than elsewhere, and the anas- 
tomosings are scarcely less numerous than towards the midrib. 
Figure 13 c¢ is one of great interest, as it exhibits the mode of growth of the plant, 
showing that the fronds formed a clump, as is common now with numerous ferns, espe- 
cially those of warmer climates. The footstalk into which the frond tapers is very 
long, quite equalling, in the young individual, the length of the frond, and probably not 
much shorter in the older frond. The base of one in view in the specimen is 3 inches 
long, and another is nearly 32 inches, At least 20 fronds were clustered together in the 
clump, and probably others, which now lie concealed between the unexposed layers of the 
shale. 
