The Medals of Creation, Volumes 1 and 2 / First Lessons in Geology and the Study of Organic Remains

by Gideon Algernon Mantell

Lign. 29.

Fig.	1.—	Phlebopteris[87] Phillipsii. Oolite, Scorborough.
	2.—	Phlebopteris propinqua, showing fructification.

[87] Comptopteris of M. Ad. Brongniart.

Phlebopteris (veined-leaf). Lign. 29.—Leaves pinnated; leaflets with the margin entire, or crenulated, the midrib strong; secondary veins anastomosing by arches, with large angular spaces, often unequally disposed; the finer veins are simple or divided; the apex sometimes free. The fructification is punctiform, and placed at the apices of the veins.

The foliage of these remarkable ferns has been mistaken for the leaves of dicotyledonous plants; but M. Brongniart has demonstrated that they belong to the present family. Six species have been found in the Oolite and Lias.

Lign. 30. Clathropteris meniscoides.
Portion of a leaflet: the original 1¹/₂ ft. long.
Wealden? Scania.

FOSSIL FERNS. CLATHROPTERIS.

Clathropteris (latticed-leaf). [Lign. 30.]—Leaf deeply pinnatifid; leaflets elongated, traversed by a strong midrib extending to the apex; secondary veins numerous, simple, parallel, almost perpendicular to the midrib, united by transverse branches, which, with the finer veins, produce on the surface of the leaf a net-work of quadrangular meshes.