370 
Family— PECOPTEEIDiE. 
Genus — ALETHOPTI}BIS, Sternlerg, 1826. 
(Flora der Vorwelt, Heft 4, p. xxi.) 
Alethopteeis AUSTEAIIS, Ilorris, sp., PL 16, fig. 1. 
Ohs. For description of the species, see “ Burrum Beds.” 
hoc. New Chum, Bundanba, Ipswich Basin, fifty feet above the second seam 
(JR. Archihald ') ; Gray’s Seam, Ipswich (JR. Archibald) ; Ivilcoy Eange, above Creswick • 
(JF. Souttar) j Colinton, Upper Brisbane Eiver, PI. 16, fig. 1 (Hon. A. C. Gregory) ; 
six miles north of Esk, forty-six miles west-north- west of Ipswich (W. Souttar^ 
Mining and Geol. Museum, Sydney); Eosewood, near Ipswich; Peak Mountain, 
Moreton District ; and Fassifern (The late Bev. JT. E. Tenison Woods — Macleay 
Museum, University of Sydney) ; Stewart’s Creek, Stanwell (The late ' James 
Smith). 
The plant bed at the last locality consists of a decomposed earthy ironstone, 
chiefly composed of Tceniopteris and the pinnules of a Pecopteroid fern. Several of 
these have the precise venation of Alethopteris australis, and I think we must accept 
this as an additional locality for this species. Alethopteris australis occurs also in the 
Burrum Coal Measures. 
Alethopieeis Lindeexajta (Bogle) Eeistmantel, PL 17, figs. 3 and 4. 
Alethopteris Lindlepana Peistmantel, Palacontographica, Suppl. Bd. iii., 1878, Lief 3, Heft 3, 1. 18, f. 10. 
„ Lindleyana, Feistmantel, Fal. Indica (Gondwana Flora), 1S81, iii.. Ft. 3, p. 80, t. 18a, f. 2 and 
2a, t, 13a, f. 3 and 4, t. 2.Sa, f. 11, t. 39a, f. 10 and 11. 
Ohs. The small specimen figured (PL 17, figs. 3 and 4) is believed both by Mr. 
Kidston and myself to be identical with Feistmantel’s representation of Alethopteris 
Lindleyana, Eoyle ; at any rate it is indistinguishable from his earlier figure. Further- 
more, there is a considerable general resemblance to Tenison AV^oods’ representation of 
Merianopteris major, Feistmantel, but in the specimens before me the basal secondary 
veins do not diverge from the primary vein or midrib in any way different from that 
usually met with in Alethopteris, and certainly not possessing the outward sweep charac- 
teristic of ALerianopteris. It naturally follows that in many Alethopteroid ferns there 
must be a greater or less resemblance to the vein-arrangement of Merianopteris. The 
resemblance will much depend on the degree to which the pinnules are incised, or cut up. 
In some cases, and even in the same specimens, the pinnules may be divided almost to 
the pinna rachis, leaving only so much of their surface confluent as to constitute one 
of the generic characters. This is apparent in the above figure. When, however, the 
division between the pinnules is only marginal, or but partial, some of the basal veinlets 
of contiguous lobes appear in apposition, and in such cases the fern is likely to be 
mistaken for a Merianopteris. Such an appearance is, in reality, widely different from the 
structure represented in Feistmautel’s figures of AT. major ^ where the two lower 
veinlets on each side a pinnule are arched oulwai-ds, and in an otherwise clear space 
doA oid of veins, the latter being crowded together, towards the apices. 
Loc. Eedbank, near Mount Esk, Brisbane Eiver, north of Laidley 
(W. Souttar). 
* Determined by Mr. R. Kidston. 
+ Pal. Indica (Gondwana Flora), 1881, iii., Pt. 3, t. 19a, f. 9-11. 
