38 



BRITISH EOCENE ELORA. 



Phegopteris Bunburii, Heer. Plates V and X. 



Lastr^a. Bunbtjbii, Heer. Flora of Bovey Tracey, p. 28, pi. xii, fig. 1 h. 



Ph. fronde pinnata, pinnis breve petiolatis, lanceolatis, basi 

 acutis, apicem versus angustatis, serratis, marline arguta ; nerva- 

 tione Goiiiupteridis Aspidii ; nervo prmiario prominente, recto ; nervis 

 secundariis sub angulis 50 — 60° orientibus^ tenuibus, flexuosis, 

 pinnatis ; nervis tertiariis utrinque 2 — 4, sub angulis acutis egredien- 

 tibus, flexuosis curvatisque ; radiis perviis. 



Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth. 



To Heer we are indebted for pointing out the identity of the 

 Bournemouth form with that of Bovey Tracey. 



In this Eern the fronds were pinnate, the piimae usually rounded 

 at the base and probably acuminate at the apex, and with lightly 

 toothed margin. The pinnae are wide apart towards the base of the 

 frond and confluent towards the apex. The venation is of the type 

 of Goniopteris Aspidii. All the ternary veins anastomose among 

 themselves, and the venules proceeding from them are excurrent. 

 The midrib is not thick, yet several times more prominent than 

 the secondary veins, which are themselves slender, sinuous, and 

 shortly forked at the extremities. The ternary veins are fewer, only 

 two on each side, they part at a less acute angle than the secondary 

 ones, and form a sharp curve, which unites them with the next above 

 of the same order. It rather resembles some existing species of 

 Asplenium, sub-genus Diplazium, chiefly A. expansum and A. Ottonis 

 of Tropical America. It agrees closely in its characters with P. 

 CEningensis, Heer,^ which differs from ours only in the stipitate pinnae, 

 rather closer secondary veins, and in the possession of three or four 

 ternary veins on each side of the secondary. Stur sees a resemblance 

 ^^^^^^ rather to Osmunda, as 0. Claytoniana and 0. cinnamomea. 



The specimens were found in the fourth bed of the series, under 

 Fig. 15.— Phegopteris cus- ^j^^ Coast-Guard Station at Bournemouth; and no fragments have 

 elsewhere been met with, except at Bovey Tracey, where it is also extremely rare. It 

 appears to have been a slender, graceful plant, growing under the shade of the trees 

 with whose leaves it is found associated. That figured in Plate V is evidently a young, 

 perhaps sterile plant. In Plate X is shown a perfect pinna. 



1 Loc. cit. p. 32, PI. VI, fig. 3. 



