30 
T. G. HALLE, 
(Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 
scribed above. It seems, however, to come nearer still to Cladophlebis Brozvniana, 
which, according to Seward’s (1903) figures, is sometimes very difficult to distin- 
guish from Sphenopteris Fittoni. The venation of the latter species is, as is evident 
from the text-figures, rather variable and not always very typically .sphenopteroid. 
Sphenopteris Fittoni^ as delimited by Seward, is a very wide and polymorphic 
species, the extreme forms of which have little in common. This is well seen by a 
comparison of the type-specimen (Seward, 1894; pi. 6, fig. 2) and another form 
from the Wealden of Belgium (Seward, 1900 b\ pi. 3, fig. 48). On account of the 
existence of apparently transitional forms, Seward’s classification has been followed 
here on the whole. Only forms like the one last mentioned from Belgium and the 
specimens in text-fig. to and pi. 7, fig. i, of the English Wealden Flora (1894) are, 
I think, better kept separate, like the specimens described below under the name 
Sphenopteris antarctica. 
In the sense defined above, Sphenopteris Fittoni has been recorded only from 
England, northern France, and South Africa. If Seward’s attribution to the same 
species of Unger’s (1865, p. 3; pi. i, fig. 4) Asplénium palœopteris is correct, which 
does not seem probable, it would also be known from New Zealand. The species 
is compared by Seward (1903, p. 18) with some forms of Scleropteris, mainly from 
France and North America, but a definite identification is not possible. These spe- 
cies have all more or less the shape characteristic of the type-specimen of Spheno- 
pteris Fittoni, but shov/ no parallels to the forms with more dissected pinnules such 
as most of the specimens described above. In all the regions from which this spe- 
cies has hitherto been recorded with certainty, it occurs in strata of Wealden age. 
Sphenopteris antarctica n. sp. 
PI. 3, figs. 19, 21; text-fig. 7 iz'. 
The specimens figured in pi. 3, figs. 19, 21, and some few more of the same kind, 
have been brought here to a separate species, instead of being included in Spheno- 
pteris Fittoni, which seems to represent the nearest analogy in the Hope Bay flora. 
Frond bipinnate; rachis ver}^ slender, narrowly winged. Pinnae alternate, narrow, 
linear. Pinnules at a comparatively open angle to the rachis of the pinna, retreciated 
at the base, lanceolate to linear, pointed and pinnatipartite. The lobes of the pin- 
nules narrowly triangular, bent forward and sharply acute. The notches between the 
lobes wide and mostly obtuse. Only the midrib of the pinnules seen. 
Characteristic of this plant, as compared with Sphenopteris Fittoni, is the more 
open and spreading habit, but above all the peculiar form of the incision of the pin- 
nules (text-fig. 7 d). In typical specimens of that species the pinnules are generally 
much less dissected. Some of Seward’s illustrations show a deep incision of the 
