447 



rence of Equisetum either in the Permo-Carboniferous Coal 

 Measures, or Havvkesbury-Wianamatta Series of this Colony. 

 But two species are known from the Mesozoic plant-beds of 

 Queensland — E. rotiferum, Ten. Woods, and E. (?) latum, Ten. 

 Woods.* The balance of evidence, therefore, from this point of 

 view, would lead to the belief that our specimen is an Equisetum, 

 and, in such a case, it is the first reliable record of the presence of 

 this genus in our Hawkesbury Sandstone. 



With regard to the specimen itself, the general appearance 

 reminds one more of the finely costate Equisetums of the Conti- 

 nental Trias than of the coarser-ribbed Palseozoic Calamites ; 

 compare, for instance, the figure of Equisetum Mougeotti, given 

 by Schimper,t from the Gres-bigarre of the Vosges. I suspect, 

 however, that the nearest ally will be found in E. (?) latum, 

 Ten. Woods, from Rosewood, near Rockhampton. This plant is 

 described^ as having a finely-ribbed stem, with internodes three 

 inches high, and the ribs about twenty to the inch. The ribs in 

 our fossil are somewhat less, about fifteen. There is nothing to 

 prevent the internodes in the Hawkesbury fossil from lengthening 

 out to the measurement of E. (?) latum, judging from the rapid 

 increase which certainly takes place in this direction in the speci- 

 men under desci-iption. The Mining and Geological Museum 

 contains specimens of a large Equisetum, collected by Mr. Soutter, 

 from the Esk Valley, forty-six miles W.N.W. of Ipswich, 

 Queensland, and presented by him. In a specimen now before 

 me, two internodes measure seven and a-half inches in length, and 

 both imperfect, the upper being four and three-quarter inches 

 long. The greatest compressed breadth is three inches. The 

 riblets are finer than those of our Hawkesbury specimen, and 

 more niimerous in a given space. 



* Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1883, viii., pt. 1, pp. 66 and 87. 



+ Schimper, loc. cit., Atlas, t. 12, f. 4. 



J Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1883, viii., pt. 1, p. 87, t. 2, f. 1. 

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