PLATE 10. 
boards, or thin beds of indurated clay, which separate the 
dilferent strata of coal and gritstone. The original of this 
fossil seems to have been a very large species : I have never 
yet met with an entire frond ; but nodules are not uncom- 
mon in which a part of the main stem or stipe is preserved. 
These specimens, in some degree, enable an attentive ob- 
server to ascertain the size of the plant in its recent state; 
and, as they frequently contain small portions of the pinnas 
adhering to the stipe, they also determine its bipinhate 
structure. 
This Filicites has been considered as one of those which 
owe their form to the American ferns; but it does not 
appear, as far as I am enabled to judge, that the recent 
species has been satisfactorily pointed out by any of the 
writers on these subjects. 
Fig. 1. A nodule of Ironstone holding a pinna or leaflet. 
2. A smaller nodule holding a similar pinna. 
3 . A small nodule holding a single pinnule or segment. 
Nodules of this kind frequent. 
4. A nodule containing part of the stipe or stem. 
