EOCENE FERNS. 



41 



admit several other supposed species. It appears from the figure that the pinna is more 

 tapering, and therefore shorter, than those of G. sfiriaca, and all the veins more sinuous. 

 The indistinct specimen from Cape Lyell has the exact outline of this species. 



G. sfiriaca is supposed by linger and Heer to resemble G. proUfera ^ " of tropical 

 America,"^ which Eern, hovi'ever, it is well known, is a native of all the tropics except that 

 one. The venation is not uncommon among Ferns, and is met with in Acrostichum and 

 Nephrodium, as well as in Goniopteris, but the arrangement of the sori is more charac- 

 teristic of the latter. In the fossil state it has been found in France, Germany, Italy, &c., 

 and seems to characterise principally the Middle and Upper Eocenes, and Oligocene. 



It appears to have been of much larger growth than G. Bimburii, and possessed 

 more numerous and simply curved, instead of sinuous or angulated, veins. The original 

 specimens are too indistinct to be satisfactorily refigured, and we have, therefore, repro- 

 duced fig. 19 and part of fig. 20 from pi. v, 'Flora of Bovey,' and an unpublished 

 enlargement (fig. 21) by Mr. Fitch, of Kew, who has placed his original sketches for that 

 work at our disposal. 



WooDWARDiA ? VENOSA, Ett. and Gard. Plate X, fig. 5, 5 a. 



W. fronde pinnata, lacinis avtjuste lanceolatis, marline integerrhais ; nervatione 

 Dictyopteridis simplicis exappendiculafce ; nervo primario recto, proiiiiiienfe, nervis 

 isecimdariis hrevissimis tenuissiinis aiigulo acufo ecjredientibm ; macidis Dictyopteridis 

 pluriseriatis, incsqualibus. 



Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth. 



Although but one small and not very distinct fragment has been met with, the 

 character of the venation is very apparent. The frond may have either been simply 

 pinnate or bipinnate. There are a number of species of Pteris, as F. patens, P. decurrens, 

 P. denticulata, P. Woodwardioides, &c., with anastomosing venation and closely similar; 

 we cannot, therefore, be certain that it is really a Woodwardia. 



We have, however, placed it in that genus, because a very beautiful and undoubted 

 species of Woodwardia has been met with in the Eocene of Monte Promina, &c., and 

 the Aquitanian stage of Switzerland. This form, W. Boessneriana, Unger, resembles 

 W. radicans, and diff'ers from ours in the possession of a row of free veins between the 

 areolations and the margin. Our species would fall into the group of Lorinseria, Presl, 

 of which W. areolata, a native of the United States, from Massachusetts to Florida, is 

 the best known, and, with one exception, the only existing type. 



^ Ett., ' Farnkriluter,' pi. cix and ex. 

 2 • Flora of Bovey,' p. 28. 



