hs ses hoe oy core ee Ses FLPUSSeeess= zie = coos ae. per segseivizize = “3 aanasey rSz Hgcisuezi sreenes hori mas fasiny Dn bg F » ui er it 1 Pedigree rs rs SS RSV Set Ste 3 = *e = bes = iS taue Seeeiags : Saeee “SUES SP MUE- Ve YyE, Wee aEE EGE ayy et he TTS) SE DD 2D 3) DDD». > DD» DY» >>: “DD. D BS WM Spa: 2p>2 Bw? yo DDD? Lp DDD - DPY DDD? DP Ss Spy > ois D> > py. D> DD 0 28 > SS 3 oe eS. ehh eg DD. ei wy) ¥ ; dy nea r B WY We Me wt guy" © wy y YY Vy, re\° Wee’ ~ WWW oo Wey 8 ¥ | ve 3 ue Ys WE¥s~ Y uw v \ ve es ¥ 3D yD DD IP DI II» D. IID PDS D2) Dp »>2D S> » D- \ e AAD y V U y v \d ¥ > D 2D» > DD Dy» DD .> D2 > DD D> PD. al DID LD ch Me AN UY vy iy Wu vy vu 4 WY Sg On Se ee > J =" ath chaps ae a - { “a A) beh ‘3 a ” im 4 ey KUN : fant ae ‘aed Aeci) % Ze! pas a eT i wis why he Saree ‘, Ce Sete ie ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM. VOLUME IV. ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM VOLUME IV DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PALA ONTOLOGICAL MATERIAL COLLECTED BY THE OFFICERS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CAPE COLONY AND OTHERS PRINTED FOR THE TRUSTEES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM BY West, NEwmMan & Co., LONDON 1908 if ities —— 7 + & 7 " ‘ s ‘ ’ “4 . ; i 7 “ : i ” Li - cn < ~ 7 : % ve hos = 7] — Spee me — i = “ood w TRUSTEES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM. The Hon. JoHN XavieR MeErRRimAN, M.L.A. THomas Morr, C.M.G., LL.D., M.A., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., Superintendent- General of Eiducation. Harry Botuvs, D.Sc., F.L.S. SCIENTIFIC STAFF OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM. Louis ALBERT PrRincuEy, D.Sc., F.Z.S., F.E.S., &c., Director. Wicwt1am FREDERICK Purceiy, B.A., Ph.D., Keeper of Land Invertebrates, except Insects. JoHN Dow FisHer Gincurist, M.A., D.Sc., Ph.D., Keeper of Marine Inverte- brates and Fishes. ArrHuR WriLiAM Rocrers, M.A., Hon. Keeper of the Geological Collection. Henry Harotp Wetcu Pearson, M.A., F.L.S., Keeper of the Herbarium. Puinuip, Assistant in charge of the Herbarium. Miss Maria WiMan, Assistant in charge of the Geological Collections. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. R. Broom, M.D., D.Sc. PAGE On an almost Perfect Skeleton of Pareiasaurus sides Ow. Plates DUE Ole si Moc plavi., ey 0. 1894. Onychiopsis elongata Yokoyama, Journ. Coll. Sci. Univ. Japan, vols vil. pu. ti, p. Jil; pljxx: fig. 8); pl. xx. figs. 1, 4. 1894. Sphenopteris (Davallia) Mantelli Saporta, Flor. Portugal, pl Xil), HSs.70, 0. plyxxil., figs, 1 2); ple xxvii. nig. 2) xxi en Canl le xxx sees. OO splxxxie tesa ea. 1895. Sphenopteris Mantelli Ward, Potomac Form. p. 392. 1896. Onychiopsis Mantelli Ward, Lower Cret. Europe and America, p. 483. 1896. Onychiopsis elongata Ward, ibid. The following definition of Onychiopsis mantelli is quoted from the first part of the Catalogue of Wealden Plants in the British Museum.* The fertile segments represented in the English specimens have not so far been found in the South African material. ‘‘ Frond tripinnate, ovate lanceolate, rachis winged and prominent; pinne lanceolate, alternate, approximate, given off from the main rachis at an acute angle. Pinnules alternate, narrow, lanceolate acuminate, uninerved, of nervation type Cenopteridis ; the larger ones serrate and gradu- ally passing into pinnz, with narrow ultimate segments.” [“‘ Fructification in the form of sessile or shortly stalked linear ovate segments with rugose surfaces, and terminating usually in a very short awn-like apical prolongation.’’] The name Sphenopteris mantelli was substituted by Brongniart + * Seward (94), p. 43. + Brongniart (28), p. 50; (287) p. 170. Fossil Floras of Cape Colony. i for Hymenopteris psilotoides, formerly used by Stokes and Webb * for fragments of a fern from the English Wealden. In 1894 the discovery of several fertile pinne demonstrated the close relationship of the species to the Japanese fern described by Yokoyama as Onychiopsis elongata (Gey.). The material from South Africa is unfortunately represented solely by sterile fronds, and we are there- fore unable to found a complete specific diagnosis on the Uitenhage specimens. It is as a rule inadvisable to employ a generic name implying relationship with existing types unless the comparison is supported by the evidence of fructification characters. It must be admitted that so long as we have only sterile examples before us there necessarily remains an element of doubt as to the correct- ness of our interpretation of the specimens. In the present case there is so close a resemblance as regards the habit of the fronds and in the form of the ultimate segments between the Uitenhage plant and such European species as Onychiopsis mantelli (Brongn.),+ O. capsulifera (Vel.),t and the Japanese type, O. elongata (Gey.),§ that I have ventured to adopt Yokoyama’s generic name Onychiopsis. The fern figured by Tate as Sphenopteris antipodum has been referred to in a previous work as apparently identical with the European specimens of Onychiopsis mantelli.|| The drawing of ‘Tate’s type-specimen,‘’ reproduced in pl. v., fig. 1, shows rather more clearly than the figure published in 1867 the identity of Sphenopteris antipodum, at least as regards sterile pinne, with Onychiopsis mantelli. In Part I. of the Catalogue of Wealden plants in the British Museum I figured a fragment of a frond as Onychiopsis elongata, retaining Geyler’s specific name as charac- terising a type of frond with pinnules of slightly greater breadth than those of Onychiopsis mantellc ; the separation of the two species was, however, made with some hesitation and with the admission that both forms might eventually have to be included under one term.*** Since the publication of the Catalogue a much larger and more complete specimen of Onychiopsis has been obtained from the Wealden beds of Sussex with pinnules of slightly broader type, which confirms my suspicion that the recognition of two distinct species was based on insufficient evidence. The plant figured by Geyler in 1877 as Thyrsopteris elongata, and * Stokes and Webb (24), p. 423. + Seward (94), p. 41, pl. ii. + Velenovsky (88), pl. i., figs. 6-12. § Geyler (77), pl. xxx., xxxi. || Seward (94), p. 44. Museum of the Geological Society of London, No. 11,114. ** Seward (94), p. 55, pl. i1., fig. 2. 8 Annals of the South African Museum. afterwards described and illustrated more fully by Yokoyama as Onychiopsis elongata, is spoken of by the latter author as the chief characteristic fossil of the Japanese Flora of Kaga, Hida, and Echizen, which is referred to the Bathonian stage of the Inferior Oolite. Fragments of the same type are figured by Yokoyama, also from the plant-beds of Kozuke, Ki, Awa, and Tosa referred to the Neocomian series.* The Japanese type differs from the HKuropean Onychiopsis mantelli in its slightly broader segments, but the difference is hardly enough to warrant a specific separation. The fact that both forms possessed the same type of fertile pinne demonstrates their close relationship, and such small differences as are exhibited by the sterile fronds are not greater than analogous variations met with in species of existing ferns. The specimens figured by Nathorst + from the province of Tosa, in Japan, are undoubtedly specifically identical with Geyler’s species, and I believe also with the Uitenhage plant. Reference is made in the synonomy to the figures of Onychiopsis mantelli, published by Schenk and other authors from Huropean Wealden rocks; it is unnecessary therefore to do more than draw attention to the abundance of this well-marked type in Wealden floras. The same species is recorded also by Fontaine | and Ward § from the Potomac formation of North America; some of the ferns referred by the former author to Thyrsopteris, without a fragment. of a fertile pinna to justify the assumed relationship with the recent. genus of Cyatheacee, are in all probability identical with Onychiopsis mantel. We may quote Thyrsopteris rarinervis, T. imsigius, T. nicrophylla as examples of Fontaine’s species which bear a close resemblance to Onychiopsis mantelli.|| A fern described by Heer as Aspleniwm dicksonmanum 4 from the Kome beds of Greenland, if not identical with the Uitenhage species, is probably a closely allied type. In the late Marquis of Saporta’s monograph on the Mesozoic Floras of Portugal,** Onychiopsis mantells is recorded from several localities as Sphenopteris (Davallia) mantelli, but the evidence on which a relationship to Davallia is founded seems to me inadequate ; Saporta speaks of the species as a characteristic Wealden fern, but fragments found in somewhat older beds point to the existence of * Yokoyama (94), p. 215, pl. xx., xxi. + Nathorst (90), pl. ii., fig. 6; pl. v., fig. 3; pl. vi., fig. 5. t Fontaine (89), pl. i. § Ward (95), p. 392; (96), p. 483. || Fontaine (89), pl. xlii., xliii., xliv., xlv. “| Heer (75'), pl. i., figs. 1-5. ** Saporta (94), pl. xiii., xxiii., xxviii.—xxxi. Fossil Floras of Cape Colony. Si: the same type before the close of the Jurassic period. It is note- worthy, however, that the specimens from the Jurassic localities are very small, and several of them can hardly be referred with con- fidence to Onychiopsis mantelli, which is represented by many undoubted examples from the Wealden of Portugal as demonstrated by the figures of Heer * and Saporta. Plate I., fig. 1 (428c). Portion of a large frond, approximately 17 cm. in length, with long spreading pinne. The slender rachis shows narrow lateral wings, and in places a prominent woody axis; the pinn are decurrent on the rachis, and the upper branches of the frond are given off at a smaller angle than the lower. Longest pinnz 8 cm. long, tapering gradually to a serrate acuminate apex. Veins obscure. Specimen 434a is the reverse of 428c. Plate I., fig. 2 (391c), 14 nat. size. A single pinna bearing in the lower part linear serrate pinnules, and in the apical region shorter entire segments. The specimen from which the drawing was made differs from the frond repre- sented in fig. 1 in its slightly narrower and more delicate pinnules, and is identical with the typical European examples of the species. Plate I., fig. 3 (407c), x 2. The complete specimen of which a small portion is represented in the figure, twice natural size, is 8 em. in length, and agrees in all respects with the English and German form of Onychiopsis mantelli. The single pinna shows the entire and shorter segments charac- teristic of the apical region of a frond. Plate I., fig. 4 (401c), x 2. A portion of the rachis and the base of two pinne illustrating the broader type of lobed pinnules. This fragment shows very clearly the winged character of the rachis and the prominent woody axis. Plate V., fig. 1. (Type-specimen of Tate’s Sphenopteris antipodum ; Museum of Geological Society of London, No. 11,114.) This specimen from Geelhoutboom is, I believe, clearly identical with Onychiopsis mantelli (Brongn.), at least as regards the vegeta- tive characters of the frond. The rachis is traversed by a narrow * Heer (81), pl. xi., xii. 10 Annals of the South African Musewm. woody axis with lateral wings, and gives off spreading pinne bearing slender linear segments the lamina of which is divided into acuminate teeth. Other Specimens : 433¢c.—This specimen shows very clearly the narrow pinne with entire segments (cf. fig. 3) in the apical region of the frond; also the gradual transition from the narrow oval segments to larger segments with a serrate margin. 140c, 320c (on the reverse side is a good impression of a Cycadolepis jenkinsiana), 389c, 390¢ (with seeds of Araucarites rogerst), 892c, 411c, 429c, 430c. Genus CLADOPHLEBIS Brongniart. (Of doubtful Family-position.) | Brongniart proposed this generic name in 1849 * for certain forms of Pecopteris, previously included in the group Neuropterides. The genus is founded on sterile fronds only, and is applied to ferns which cannot be referred to a particular family ; the name Cladophlebis is usually made use of for Mesozoic species which agree in habit with Paleozoic representatives of Pecopteris. Numerous fossil ferns have been described by authors as species of Aspidiwm, which, in the absence of sori or sporangia, have no claim to be designated by the name of a recent genus. CLADOPHLEBIS BROWNIANA (Dunk.). Plate II., figs. 1-4, 6. 1846. Pecopteris Browniana Dunker, Wealdenbildung, p. 5, pl. viii., ier 1849. Pecopteris Browniana Brongniart, Tableau, p. 107. 1852. Alethopteris Reichiana Ettingshausen, Abh. k.-k. geol. Reichs., volsa., Abth.in.,; No: 2). 17. 1871. Pecopteris Browniana Schenk, Paleontographica, vol. xix., p. 2ilo, ple xxvi., figs. 2, 2a. 1877. Pecopteris exiliformis Geyler, Paleontographica, vol. xxiv., Da 220 spl xx, ones ll, 1889. ? Pecopteris Browniana Fontaine, Potomac Flora, pl. xxiii., figs. 2-7. * Brongniart (49), p. 25. Fossil Floras of Cape Colony. at 1890. Pecopteris Geyleriana Nathorst, Denkschr. k. Ak. Wiss. math.- nat. Cl., vol. lvii., p. 48, pl. iv., figs. 2-6. 1890. Pecopteris cf. Browniana, ibid., pl. v., fig. 5. Frond bipinnate, passing in the lower part of the frond to tri- pinnate. Rachis comparatively broad and strong, from which linear pinne, tapering to an acuminate apex, are given off at a wide angle. Pinnules short and broad, attached by the whole broad base to the axis of the pinna; the lower margin strongly arched, the upper face almost straight or slightly concave. A well-marked midrib from which spring a small number of secondary veins at a wide angle. The pinnules are for the most part entire, passing in the lower pinne into lobed or even pinnate segments. The Uitenhage specimens include numerous examples of bi- pinnate and tripinnate fronds which were referred by Tate in his paper of 1867 * to a species previously figured by Oldham +} from the Rajmahal Hills of Bengal as Pecopteris (?) lobata. A comparison of the fragments represented in pl. i, figs. 1-4 and 6, with the specimen figured by Oldham reveals a very close resemblance, which, as Tate suggested, may amount to specific identity. On the other hand, there is, I think, an even closer agreement between the Uitenhage fern and that described from European Wealden strata as Cladophlebis dunkert (Schimp),} a form originally named by Dunker in 1846 Pecopteris polymorpha.§ The fern named by Dunker Pecopteris browniana || differs in no essential features from Cladophlebis duwnkeri, and a re-examination of specimens from the Wealden beds of the Sussex coast leads me to give up my previously expressed opinion that both specific names should be retained. The difference between the fragment represented in pl. vu., fig. 4, of my ‘ Wealden Flora,’ Part I., and that shown in pl. vii., fig, 3,4 is, I think, not more than may be found on a single frond of the same species. Seeing that the name browniana was established before the specific name dunkeri, it should be employed in preference to Schimper’s designation. The accurate separation of sterile fronds of the type represented in pl. ii, figs. 1-4, 6, is a hopeless task; among recent ferns this form of leaf recurs in several genera, and in the absence of fertile * Tate (67), p. 146. + Oldham and Morris (63), pl. xxviii.-xxx.; Feistmantel (77), pl. xxxvi., fig. 3. + Seward (94), p. 101, pl. vii., fig. 3. § Dunker (46), pl. vii., fig. 5. || Tbid., pl. viii., fig. 7. “| Seward (94). 12 Annals of the South African Musewm. examples it might well be impossible to arrive at a generic much less specific determination. So far as vegetative characters are concerned, the fern described by Yokoyama from Japan as Pecopteris browniana* appears to be identical with the South African plant; a frond of very similar if not identical form is figured by the same author from a somewhat lower horizon as Pecopteris exilis Phill.,} an Inferior Oolite species since placed in the genus AKlukia.| Nathorst has also figured portions of fronds from Japan which he regards as probably identical with his species Pecopteris geyleriana. It is, however, not improbable that the specimens represented in his pl. iv., figs. 2, 6, are specifically distinct from the type-specimen of P. geyleriana;§ be that as it may, I am unable to distinguish the two examples shown in Nathorst’s figs. 2 and 5 from the Uitenhage fern. In addition to the records of ferns believed to be identical with Cladophlebis browniana mentioned in the above synonomy, there are others which may be referred to as presenting a close resemblance possibly amounting in some cases to specific identity. Reference has already been made to Oldham’s Indian species Pecopteris lobata, as a fern with the same form of frond as that of Cladophlebis browniana ; the specimen figured by Feistmantel as Dicksonia (Sphenopteris) bindrabunensis || may perhaps represent the fertile form of Pecopteris lobata. Dicksonia coriacea, a Chinese species recorded by Schenk affords another example of the C. Browmana form of frond.’ Some of the fragments figured by the African plant, and a comparison may also be made with Aspidium heterophyllum and Cladophlebis distans ++ described by Fontaine from the Potomac beds.