45 
2. Tasniopteris crassinervis (Feistmantel). Plate IX, fig. 4 ; Plate X, figs. 1-3, 5. 
1877. Macrotceniopteris crassinervis Feistmantel, Foss. Flora Gondw. Syst. (Pal. lndica), 
vol. i (2), p. 102 (50), pi. xxxviii, figs. 1, 2, 2a, 26, 3. 
1883. ? Macrotceniopteris crassinervis Fontaine, Monogr. vi, U.S. Geol. Surv., p. 22, pi. v 
fig. 5 ; ? pi. vi, figs. 1, 2. 
1886. Macrotceniopteris lata Hector, Det. Cat. db Guide, N. Zeal. Court, Ind. & Colon. Exhib. 
p. 66, fig. 30a(4). 
1892. Macrotceniopteris crassinervis ? Etheridge, in Jack and Etheridge, Geol. db Pal. 
Queensland, p. 376, pi. xvi, fig. 5. 
1898. Macrotceniopteris crassinervis JDun, Rep. Austr. Assoc. Adv. Sci. Sydney, vol. vii, 
p. 398. 
Diagnosis. Fronds with long petioles, very variable in size, from 8 cm. to 19 cm. 
or more in length, and 1-5 cm. to 8 cm. or more broad. Apex obtuse or obtusely 
pointed; base suddenly contracted, margins wavy; lamina coriaceous. Midrib stout, 
up to 1 cm. broad ; lateral nerves very stout, \ mm. across, about 8 to 12 in 1 cm. 
of length of frond, generally arising at right angles to the midrib, single or once 
forked. 
Description of the Specimens. —The very complete specimen figured on Plate X, 
fig. 1, about half natural size, gives a very good idea of the mature frond of this 
species. It is the type of Hector’s (not Oldham and Morris’s) Macrotceniopteris lata. 
The apex is not quite perfect, and not more than 3 cm. of the rachis is seen at the 
base. The length of the lamina is 19 cm., and its greatest breadth 6-6 cm. The 
midrib near the base is 4 mm. across, fairly smooth, at any rate not striated. The 
nerves are strong mm. across) and fairly distant, about 10 in each centimetre of 
length. The nerves are simple for the most part, with occasionally a single dichotomy, 
the limbs of the forks being widely separated. In the greater part of the lamina the 
lateral nerves arise at right angles to the midrib. At the apex they curve slightly 
upwards, and at the base downwards. 
The specimen figured on Plate X, fig. 2, is interesting, as showing what 1 take 
to be a young immature leaf of the same species. It measures 8 cm. in length, 
but neither the base nor the apex is seen. It has a maximum breadth of 1-5 cm. 
The apparently pointed termination above is deceptive. This portion of the leaf is in 
part folded on itself, and in part still covered by the rocky matrix. The nerves are 
slightly closer than in the previous specimen. 
The photograph on Plate X, fig. 3, shows the base of a frond, and the long 
petiole. This specimen is in the British Museum collection (V. 11679). Another 
specimen in the same collection (V. 11671), figured on Plate IX, fig. 4, shows the 
apex of a frond, and the more acute origin of the lateral nerves .in this region. On 
Plate X, fig. 5, part of another specimen (V. 11677) in the same collection is enlarged 
three times to show the nervation. 
There are many other examples of this plant in the New Zealand Survey collection, 
some of which are of very large size. The fronds may be as much as 8 cm. broad, 
the stout midrib 1 cm. across, and there may be only 8 or 9 veins in 1 cm. of length 
of the lamina. 
Remarks. —A comparison of the specimens seen on .Plate X, fig. 1 and fig. 2, is 
interesting as showing how little the supposed distinctions founded solely on the size 
of the frond are to be depended upon, and consequently the absence of any real 
difference between Macrotceniopteris and Tceniopteris. The young leaves of the former 
would certainly be included in the latter genus. 
