41 
Another similar specimen in the British Museum collection is shown on Plate VII, 
fig. 3 (natural size). The pinnules are here rather more oval in form. 
Two further examples, both in the British Museum collection, are shown on the same 
plate, figs. 5 and 9, both somewhat enlarged. These show bipinnate leaves, the p inn ae 
being alternate. In fig. 5 four pinnae are seen attached to the rachis, and the 
nervation of some of the pinnules is fairly clear. Fig. 9 is a similar but less distinct 
specimen. These two examples may eventually pi^ve to belong to a distinct species, 
though from the similarity in the nervation of the pinnules I am inclined for the 
present to attribute them to Microphyllopteris pectinata (Hect.). 
Remarks .-—This plant agrees well in habit with the Indian Microphyllopteris glei- 
chenoides (0. & M.), but the pinnules are at least twice as large. The nervation, 
however, corresponds with that of the Indian plant shown on plate xxv, fig. 1 a, 
of Oldham and Morris’s memoir. This is also the case as regards M. elegans (de Zigno), 
from the Jurassic of Italy, where, however, the habit is quite distinct, irregular 
dichotomies being a marked feature of the frond. 
The Waikato Heads specimens may be closely, compared with the Gleichenites 
obtusata of Heer(l), from the Cretaceous of Greenland, and with some of the other 
examples of the same genus from various parts of the world (see pp. 39, 40), especially 
from Cretaceous sediments. 
Types .— New Zealand Geological Survey collection. 
Occurrence .—Mataura Falls (Lower Jurassic) ; Waikato Heads (Neocomian). 
2. Microphyllopteris sp. Plate II, fig. 10. 
Description of the Specimen .—-A single badly preserved pinna of this genus, occurring 
in the Catlin’s River collection, is figured on Plate II, fig. 10, natural size. It 
measures 3-6 cm. in length. The form of the subcircular pinnules is seen, but the 
nervation is indistinct. 
Remarks .—It is possible that this specimen should be more correctly referred to 
the genus Thinnfeldia, though I am inclined to regard it as an example of Micro¬ 
phyllopteris, on account of the small size of the pinnules. 
Occurrence .— Owaka Creek, Catlin’s River (? Rhaetic). 
Genus SPHENOPTERIS Brongniart, 1822. 
( Sur. Class. Veget. Foss., p. 233.) 
1. Sphenopteris Currani 1 (Tenison-Woods). Plate II, figs. 7, 8. 
1883. Alethopteris Currani Tenison-Woods, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, vol. viii, p. 113, 
pi. vi, fig. 4. 
Diagnosis .—Frond bipinnate; pinnae alternate, lanceolate ; pinnules alternate, 
oblique, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, delicate, crenate, or roundly lobed. Median nerve 
impersistent at apex, lateral nerves forked. 
Description of the Specimens .—The single example of this plant in the Sedgwick 
Museum from Gore is figured on Plate II, fig. 7, natural size, and a single pinnule is 
shown 2^ times enlarged on fig. 8 of the same plate. The frond measures 9-7 cm. 
in length, and the pinnae are about 3-5 cm. long, or less. The whole texture of the 
lamina is very delicate. The higher pinnae are only lobed, the lower are divided into 
ovate pinnules with crenulate margins. 
(1) Heer (1882), p. 37, pf. xxx, figs. 7-16. 
