Geological researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan, during the years 1862-1865.

122 APPENDIX.
SPHENOPTERIS ORIENTALIS, Newb.
PLATE IX, Figs. 1 and 1 a.
S. fronde tripinnata, rachide longitudinater sulcata, pinnis lanceolatis vel linearibus, acutis, pinnulis sessilibus
summis lobatis, inferioribus laciniatis, laciniis rotundatis, apice ssepe emarginatis nervis tenuis, in lobis
dichotomis.
This species is more largely represented in the collection than any other, and yet all the specimens
consist of comparatively small fragments of a frond of considerable size.
In nearly all of these specimens a remarkable inequality is observable between the pinnules of the
upper and under side of the rachis of each pinna-the upper ones being shorter, broader, and more
upright; the lower ones elongated, narrow, and more oblique to the rachis.
Probably this is a constant character in the plant, as examples of similar diversity of form are not
wanting among living ferns; but I have seen instances of distortion not unlike this in ferns imbedded
in rocks which had been much disturbed.
In general aspect this species is not dissimilar to some Carboniferous ferns, such as Sph. Schlotheimi, Sph. tridactylites, &c., but it still more resembles the Oolitic species Sph. denticulata and
Sph. hymenophylloides, and the Triassic species Sph. dichotoma, Alth. It is also considerably like
a Triassic species not yet described, found near Baltimore, Md. From all these, however, it is apparently distinguished by the dissimilarity of form in the pinnules of the upper and lower side of the
pinnae, and by the shape of the lobes of the pinnules. In the upper pinnules the lobes are spatulate;
in the lower, fan-shaped. Some of the lobes are straightly emarginate at the summit, but generally
they have the appearance of being rounded and entire.
Locality.-Sanyi Chaitang basin, west of Peking, China.
PECOPTERIS WHITBIENSIS Brong.
PLATE IX, Fig. 6.
From "PiyUnsz', west of Peking," in a coarse shale charged with the bitumen driven off from the
associated coal seam-now anthracite-is a fragment including several pinnae of the frond of a large
fern, which bears a marked resemblance to P. Whitbiensis; so much so, that if the nervation, which
is obliterated in the specimen before us, were found to be similar, I should have no hesitation in
referring it to that species, as no Carboniferous ferns exhibit that peculiar falcate outline of the
pinnules, so marked in P. Whitbiensis, P. dentata, Lind. (P- denticulata, Brong.), etc.
P. Whitbiensis is in Europe found both in the Lias and Oolite, according to Brongniart, but is
regarded as distinctly a Jurassic species. It has been supposed to occur in the Richmond coal basin
in this country; but some of the specimens thought to represent the plant, have been found by Prof.
Heer to have a reticulated nervation, and therefore to be, both specifically and generically, distinct
from P. Whitbiensis. A careful examination of all the specimens collected in this country, supposed
to belong to P. Whitbiensis, will be necessary before we can decide whether it has indeed been found
in the so-called Triassic strata of America; and unfortunately we must wait till other specimens, and
such as are in a better state of preservation, shall be brought from China before we can positively
affirm that it occurs in the coal strata of that country.
Locality.-Shale over anthracite coal, at Piyiinsz', west of Peking, China.
HYMENOPHYLLITES TENELLUS, Newb.
PLATE IX, Fig. 5.
H. fronde bipinnata, parva, delicatula; pinnis lineari-lanceolatis, pinnulis laciniatis; laciniis filiformis vel spatulatis acutis; sori subrotundi laciniarum apicibus insidentes.
In the plumbaginous schist brought from " Piyiinsz', west of Peking," are numerous fragments of a
frond of a species of Hymenophyllites, which seems to be undescribed. These fragments are so
small that no clear idea can be gained from them of the magnitude or form of the frond; but it was