Palaeontologie. 475 



of India, Glossopteris has been found in extraordinary abiin- 

 dance in the same Company with which it occurs in Aiistra- 

 lia. In South Africa an identical flora is met with which 

 extends to the Argentine and to other regions of South 

 America. It is clear that from South America, 

 through South Africa and India to Australia, 

 there existed a Vegetation of uniform character which flouri- 

 shed over a vast southern continent at approximately the same 

 period as that which, in the northern hemisphere and in China, 

 witnessed the growth of the forests whose trees formed the 

 source of our coal-supply. 



In Brazil, Professor Z eil! e r has recorded the occurrence 

 of a flora including Lepidophloios, a well-known European 

 member of the Lycopods, associated with such characteristic 

 southern types as Gangamopteris and Noeggerathiopsis. Simi- 

 larly from the Transvaal a European species of Sigillariay 

 with a Lepidodendroid plant, and another northern genus, 

 Psy gmophylliim , have been found in beds containing Glossop- 

 teris, Gangamopteris, Noeggerathiopsis, Neiiropteridiiim, and 

 other members of the so-called Glossopteris flora. In India, 

 the Glossopteris flora exhibits an entire absence of Lepidoden- 

 dron, Calamites, Sigillaria, and other common northern genera, 

 while Sphenopliylliim is represented by a single species. The 

 Australian Permo-Carboniferous flora is also characterised by 

 the absence of the great majority of the northern types. Until 

 a few years ago the genus Glossopteris had not been disco- 

 vered in Europe, but in 1897 Professor A mal i tzky recorded 

 the occurrence of this genus in association with Gangamopteris 

 in Permian strata in northern Russia. We see, then, that in 

 Brazil and South Africa the Glossopteris flora and the 

 northern flora overlapped, but the former was the dominant 

 partner. On the other band, in rocks belonging to a somewhat 

 higher horizon in Russia, we meet with a northern extension 

 of the Glossopteris flora. 



There seems good reason for assuming that the Glossopteris 

 flora originated in the South and before the close of the Permian 

 period, as well as in the succeeding Triassic era, pushed north- 

 ward over a portion of the area previously occupied by the 

 northern flora. This northward extension is shown by the 

 existence of Glossopteris in Upper Permian rocks of Russia, 

 by the occurrence of several southern types in plant-bearing 

 beds of the Altai mountains, and by the existence in Western 

 Europe during the early stages of the Triassic era of such 

 southern genera as Neuropteridiiim and Schizoneiira. 



Triassic, Jurassic, and Wealden Flora s. 



One of the few floras of early Triassic age of which satis- 

 factory relics have been preserved is that from the Bunter 

 Sandstones of the Vosges. The genus Neuropteridiiim, a plant 

 v/hich may be a true fern, or possibly a surviving member of 



