98 
Sp. Char. — “ Frond pinnate, pinnae subimbricate, spreading very 
much, inequilateral, upper side broadly rounded, truncate at tlie base at a 
right angle ; petiole short, straight, decurrent ; veins united at the base, 
spreading widely and dichotomously divided.” 
Ohs . — From the specimens at my disposal, and which are represented 
by the above figures, there appears to be little doubt that they represent the 
above species from the European (Silesia) Mountain Limestone, as far as the 
figures in Prof. Goppcrt’s work can be used for final comparison. 
The specimens represent the fern in various sizes, and all of them 
show the single leaf. The racliis varies, but in no case is it very thick, 
showing generally a longitudinal middle line. To this racliis the leaflets 
are attached with variously long and thick petioles, in an alternating order. 
The most distinct petioles arc seen in PI. VII, Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 on the same plate 
resembles mostly Prof. Goppert’s original figures of Cyclopteris ineequilatera . 
The leaflets show on the outer rounded margin generally a more or less 
pronounced indentation, but there is a specimen, PI. IV, Fig. 2, which shows 
the leaflets somewhat deeper incised, but which I also think belongs to the 
same species. The venation is, as can be seen in PI. VII, Figs, la, lb, la, 
repeatedly forked. 
The specimens figured on PI. IV, Fig. 3, and PI. YI, Fig. 1, are from 
Arowa, from which locality Prof. M‘Coy described his Otopteris ovata, 
together with Glossopteris linearis, on account of which latter species 
lie considered the said locality to belong to the upper horizon of the Coal 
Measures. The late Lev. W. B. Clarke forwarded to me the said two speci- 
mens as representing Prof. M'Coy’s Otopteris ovata ; but from comparison 
with the other figures of Rhacopteris ineequilatera, it will be seen that the 
former must be joined with the latter. This is in so far of importance as 
the locality Arowa lias, in consequence of this identification, to be placed on 
the same horizon as Smith’s Creek and Port Stephens, from whence Rhacop- 
teris ineequilatera is known, and which, as shown before, belong to the Lower 
Carboniferous Series. 
But this identification has a further important bearing. If it can lie 
accepted as certain that Glossopteris linearis occurred together with the said 
Otopteris ovata, now to be considered as Rhacopteris ineequilatera , then it 
has to be relegated to the same horizon of Lower Carboniferous beds ; and 
this occurrence would thus bo the oldest known, because the Lower Coal 
