Cephalotheca.
This genus was proposed by Nathorst[1429] for some peculiar bipinnate fertile fronds from the Upper Devonian rocks of Bear Island. The pinnae bear slender forked ultimate segments represented by a few detached fragments ([fig. 355], B), associated with the rachises. The fertile pinnae are given off in opposite pairs from the main axis over which they are concrescent ([fig. 355], A). A mop-like cluster of sporangia is borne on the lower surface and close to the base of a fertile pinna: the exannulate sporangia are compared with those of Scolecopteris. Nathorst compares Cephalotheca with a Belgian species of Upper Devonian age described by Crépin[1430] as Rhacophyton condrusorum and by Gilkinet[1431] as Sphenopteris condrusorum. A similar fossil is also described by Baily[1432] as Filicites lineatus from the Kitorkan Grits of Ireland.
The position of Cephalotheca cannot be definitely determined from the available data, but it is more probable that it was a seed-bearing Pteridosperm and not a true fern. Zeiller[1433] has recently expressed the same opinion.