-^j^^'s] Chapman, The PalcBozoic Flora. \^-j 



equisetalean, Phvllotlieca, was an important plant in the Aus- 

 tralian flora of this and later (Triassic) times ; in its foliage it 

 shows some strong affinities to Annularia and Calamocladns. 

 A fine specimen of a stem with attached leaves, collected at 

 Stockton, New South Wales, by a former member, Mr. 

 A. E. Kitson, I have identified with Calamocladus. Not the 

 least interesting botanical fossils obtained from the Australian 

 Carbo-Permian are the silicified tree-trunks which I have else- 

 where determined as Arancarioxyloh. Sections of these woods 

 were figured in 1833 by W. Nicol,* and similar wood was named, 

 but not described, as Araucarioxylon Nicholi by Carruthers,t 

 subsequently referred to by R. Etheridge, jun.J In 1904 the 

 writer prepared a series of micro-slides from a well-preserved 

 tree-trunk from the Carbo-Permian of the Barron River, 

 ■Queensland, and gave a detailed description of Araucarioxylon 

 Dainty eei. I Newell Arber,|| in writing his " Catalogue of the 

 Glossopteris Flora " in 1904, refers to the above genus and 

 species in his historical sketch (p. 57) and footnote 4 (same 

 page), but in the body of the work has renamed this species 

 Dadoxylon aitstrale.^ As regards the genus, it was shown in 

 the description of A. Daintreei, and borne out by a subsequent 

 examination of other specimens, that the structure of the pith- 

 bundle must be compared with Araucaria rather than with 

 Cordaites. Dadoxylon was originally founded on wood of 

 dubious characters, where the pith was usually large, fistular, 

 or solid. Our Australian specimens, being decidedly coniferous 

 and not dubiously cordaitalean, are therefore placed in the 

 genus Araucarioxylon. It is extremely interesting, in view of 

 these facts, to witness the early development of one of our 

 best-known types of coniferous trees in Austraha so far back 

 as at least Permian times. 



Besides abundant remains of ferns in Carbo-Permian times, 

 there is plentiful evidence of spore deposits, as seen in the 

 " white coal " of Tasmania and the kerosene shale of Hartley 

 and other places in New South Wales. The white coal (so-called) 

 is grey to fawn-colour, and has as much claim to albinism as 

 a white elephant. It is a spore-bearing sandstone rock or 

 shale, the spores being very thickly scattered through the mass, 

 producing a laminated structure in the rock. The spores are 

 uniform in character, and were named Tasmanites puuctatus 



* '• Edin. New Fhil. Journ.," vol. xiv. , 1833, p. 155. 

 t '• Proc R. Phys. Soc. Edin.," vol. v., 1880, p. 32S 

 X '■ Geol. and Pnl. Queensland," 1S92, p 198. 



§ " Pioc. R. Soc. Vict.," vol. xvi. (N.S.), pt. ii., 1904, pp. 31S-322, yU. 

 x,Nviii.-xxx. 



II '-Cat. Foss Plants, Glosscpteris Flora " (Brit. Mus.). 1905. 

 IT Op. tit., p. 191. 



