A FERN FORMING A NEW GENUS— ETHERIDGE. 
141 
both by Zeiller and Seward* * * § ; by the latter in examples from the 
Newcastle or Upper Coal Measures. These secondary fronds 
present a scale like appearance, with an upper convex surface, and 
slightly spreading and anastomosing veins, but no mid rib ; the 
first two characters accord well with the appearance of the “scales” 
in the present plant. Instances of other recent Ferns possessing 
two kinds of simple fronds are given by Mr. Seward, in the paper 
referred to below. 
No very satisfactory alliance amongst recent Ferns can be 
mentioned. All I can do is, as suggested by Mr. Thomas White- 
legge, to call attention to the shrub-like Oleandra neriiforviis , Oav., 
in which the fronds are simple-linear-lanceolate, as in our form, 
subverticillate, and the short stipes articulated with erect frutes- 
cent stems, f Except that the fronds here are spiral, and not 
verticillate at all, there is otherwise a general resemblance between 
the two. 0. neriiformis is said by the late Mr. John Smith, for- 
merly of Kew, to be the “only representative of a shrub among 
Ferns.”;j; I believe that some Botanists do not recognise Oleandra 
but merge it in Aspidinm ; I am, however, content to speak of 
the plant as referred to by Mr. Smith. 
I have been similarly unable to find any near relative of this 
extraordinary little plant amongst extinct species. The venation 
is to some extent Pecopteroid, as may be seen by a comparison 
with the many excellent figures of Pe cop ter is species given by 
Brongniart in his “Histoire,” particularly P. aquilina , P. nervosa , 
or P. cistii.§ 
There is a superficial resemblance in the form and venation of the 
fronds to those of Marzaria , Zigno|| ; but in the latter the frond is 
pinnate, and the pinnules are described as digito-radiatc. Indeed 
it is the linear-lanceolate form of the pinnules in Marzaria paro- 
liniana , and their often radiate arrangement, that first strikes the 
eye as resembling the fronds of the Australian fossil, especially 
when the former are pressed from above downwards, in a similar 
manner to some of those of the latter. The venation of the two 
forms is almost identical. 
Mr. Seward has called my attention to the figures of a Taxo- 
dinaceous Conifer, Cyclopitys nordenskioldi , Schml.,11 from the 
Russian Permian. In a letter recently received, Mr. Seward 
remarks : — “ In the Russian plant there are apparently no lateral 
* Quart. tTourn. Geol. Soc., liii., 1897, p. 218, pi. xxiii., fig. 1. 
f Lowe — Ferns : British and Exotic, 1808, p. 44, pi. xvi. ; Beddome — 
Ferns of Brit. India, ii., p. 264, pi. cclxiv. 
J Hiatoria Fiiieium, 1875, p. 81. 
§ Hist. Veg. Foss., i., 1828, pis. xc., xciv., and cvi. 
|| Flora Foss. Form. Oolithicoo, i., p. 108, pi. xix., figs. 3-17. 
IF Beitriige zur Jura-Flora Kusslands, 1879, pi. xiv., figs. 6-8. 
