Bd. III: 14) 
THE MESOZOIC FLORA. 
103 
are too poor or of a too unsatisfactorily settled stratigraphical position to be of much 
value for comparison, but there are certain indications of an affinity of the Hope 
Bay flora to the rich floras of the VVealden and the Lower Cretaceous. The most 
important identical species are Sphenoptcris {Riiffordiar) Goepperti DUNK., Spheno- 
pteris Fittoni Sew., Sphenoptcris Nauckhoffiatia (Hr.) and Pachypteris daimatica 
Fr. V. Kern. Sphenopteris Goepperti is one of the most characteristic plants of 
the Wealden, known from several of the areas of that formation in the Northern 
Hemisphere. It is very rare in the Hope Bay flora, and is only represented by 
one single specimen, which, however, is sufficiently well preserved to render the de- 
termination tolerably certain. Although the species is so common in the Wealden 
strata that it can be regarded as one of the characteristic forms of that formation, 
it seems to have been represented, though very rarely, already in the Middle 
Jurassic. It has been recorded by Seward (1900, p. 133) from the Inferior Oolite 
of England and by Ward (1905, p. 75), on a somewhat unconvincing material, 
from the Jurassic flora of Oregon. Sphenopteris Fittoni is only known from the 
Wealden; but it should be admitted that the specimens in the collection agree much 
less with the English type-specimens than with such from the Uitenhage formation 
of South Africa, of which the age is not so exactly settled. Sphenopteris Nauck- 
hoffiana is of particular importance, since the determination rests on very good evid- 
ence, the agreement with Heer’S specimens being as complete as could be desired. 
The species was hitherto known only from the Kome beds of Greenland, and its 
occurrence in the Flope Bay flora is very striking both because of the Cretaceous 
age assigned to the Kome series and in regard to the conection afforded by it 
between Arctic and Antarctic Mesozoic floras. Pachypteris daimatica was described 
from the Lower Cretaceous of the island Lésina off the coast of Dalmatia. It oc- 
curs there in association with dicotyledonous leaves and may therefore perhaps be 
regarded as the youngest element present in the Llope Bay flora. Of forms which 
have been more doubtfully compared with species younger than the Jurassic, there are 
only two to be mentioned, viz. Pagiophylluin cfr. crassifoliuni (ScHENK) and Pagio- 
phylliim cfr. Fleerianwn Sap. The material of these plants is very poor, however, 
and the types are such as also occur, with only slight modifications, in species of 
somewhat older age. — As a summary of the relations to Wealden and Cretaceous 
floras, it must be stated that these are not great, being expressed only by a few 
forms, of which the most important are Sphenopteris Nauckhoffiana and Pachypteris 
daimatica. 
The above comparison of the Hope Bay flora with floras of different age shows 
that its character is decidedly Jurassic. The closest affinity is to the Middle Jurassic 
floras, especially to the Lower Oolite flora of Yorkshire, but this may, to some ex- 
tent, be due to the fact that the Middle Jurassic floras are by far the richest and 
