PART 3.] 
Feist-mantel : Fossil Floras in India-. 
75 
On liis Plates (1. c.) XXXVI &c, several species are figured, of which Neuropteris gravdi- 
folia (XXXVI. f. 1) is the largest. Prom the Kurhurbari coal-field our Museum received 
some time since a splendid specimen of the shale aceompanyingothe coal seams. This speci¬ 
men exhibited three very important genera and species, some of them represented by several 
specimens. One I have already mentioned, Gangamopteris cyclupteroi-des, Fstm.; another 
belongs to the genus now under discussion, Neuropteris, Brgt. 
When I saw the specimen, I at once recognized several fronds of a well developed fern 
with single pinnm, one being complete. At first I was astonished to see such a form ; 
but soon I saw another fossil on the same specimen, Yoltzia, Brgt., which left me no longer 
in doubt about the simply pinnate leaves. From the nervature of the leaflets and from 
the singly pinnate nature of the whole frond, I was sure that the specimens represented a 
Neuropteris, belonging to the group found in the Grbs bigarre by Sehimper, or, in short, that 
the specimens represent a lower triassic (Buntsandstein) Neuropteris, Brgt. As no 
palmozoic species of this character is known, I could not longer be in doubt about this, as the 
occurrence of the genus already mentioned { Schizoneura, Schiinp. and Moug., also a triassic 
genus) and of Yoltzia, Brgt., strongly supported my views. The nearest ally of our specimen 
appears to be Neuropteris grandifolia, Schimp. and Moug., but the Indian fern differs in the 
following particulars .-— 
a. —The leaflets in our specimen are wider apart. 
5.—They begin, it is true, with entire or only slightly lobate leaflets, but the upper 
leaflets become larger and deeply lobate or pinnatifid. 
The strong stalk both forms have in common. Our plant seems still larger than that 
figured by Sehimper. The simply pinnate character is well seen, the lowest leaflets are 
nearly entire and small, the middle are the largest and nearly pinnatifid, and the uppermost 
again like the lower. I will call this fern— 
Neuropteris valida, Fstm. 
Fronde simplici (pinnata), rhaeUde valida, striata; pinnulis imis minimis, oblongis, 
totafere Iasi adnatis, margine sinuosis, mediis magnis, lubatis aut pinnatis, media parte 
basis pedicello latiusculo brevi adnatis, summis imos adcequantilus; nervis creberrimis 
nervo primario basilari, vix distincto, secundariis e basi radiatim ascendentibus, dichoto- 
mis. 
Further description and discussion may he reserved until I can figure this very in¬ 
teresting species, which affords a strong evidence of the triassic age of the Damuda, and, 
as it happens, of the lower portion (Barakars). 
f — Actinopteeis, Schenk. 
I had already occasion, when discussing the Kach fossil flora, to mention this peculiar 
fossil plant, which formerly was united with Cyclopteris, Brgt., Professor Guppert bariim 
described the only known species as Cydopteris peltata, Gbpp. On account of its relation 
with some living ferns, Schenk called it Actinopteris peltata, and showed that the horizon 
at which it was found was Ithsetic. I found similar forms amongst the Kach fossil plants. 
Sehimper, however, had some doubts about the nature of these fossils, and was disposed to 
consider them merely infiltrations of hydrated peroxide of iron. From the Raniganj coal¬ 
field we have a very well preserved specimen of a real fern, which I cannot refer to any 
other genus than Actinopteris. 
