29 
King ; and in Yorkshire we find the same associated in the 
Wakefield and Barnsley pits. The first genus of true ferns, 
Pachypteris, contains but two species, lanceolata and ovata, 
which occur in the Oolitic shale near Whitby, and which is, 
I believe, the only known locality. Of the extensive genus 
Sphenopteris, we do not appear to possess many species. 
I have only detected nine; Sphenopteris trifoliatia, lati- 
folia, and linearis, from Elsecar and Barnsley; fragilis, 
affinis, and dilatata, from Gildersome; obliqua, crenata, 
and obtusilobia, from Wakefield; to which may be added 
six species, Sphenopteris arguta, crenulata, denticulata, 
muscoides, hymenophylloides, and serrata, from the Oolitic 
series. There are still ten species which occur in the New- 
castle coal field, which I have not recognised in Yorkshire. 
Of Cyclopteris, which have been creeping ferns, and perhaps 
approach nearer than any other to the existing genera, 
Hymenophyllum or Trichomanes, or some of the foreign 
Polypodiums, of which its species were gigantic representa- 
tives in the ancient flora, we have some good examples in 
this district. From the iron stone at Shelf, near Bradford, 
I have obtained Cyclopteris obliqua and orbicularis, two 
of the largest known species; the latter also occurs near 
Rotherham. The specimens found in the iron stone nodules 
are almost invariably single leaflets; but when we examine 
the Oolitic shales near Scarbro', portions of fronds eighteen 
inches in length, with the flexuose stem and leaflets, in 
situ of Cyclopteris Beanii, the characteristic features of 
the genus are very apparent. From the same locality may 
also be obtained Cyclopteris digitata and Huttoni, Glossop- 
teris Phillipsii, Otopteris acuminata, and cuneata. The 
genera Neuropteris and Pecopteris, although both containing 
a large number of species, do not appear to be extensively 
distributed in Yorkshire. Those, however, that have been 
recognised, are tolerably plentiful in the particular localities 
