BY T. W. E. DAVID. 251 



from a similar horizon at Lord's Hill, New Town, Tasmania, under 

 the name of Glossopteris (?) moribunda* Mr. Johnston statesf 

 with regard to this fossil — " I have discovered two fragments of a 

 small species associated with the common Mesozoic forms at the 

 shaly beds at Lord's Hill, New Town, It is not certain that they 

 may yet prove to be a form of Sagenopteris, as their bases were 

 both imperfect. The largest fragment is 42 millimetres long, 13 

 millimetres at its broadest part near the top, and 9 millimetres at 

 the base of fragment, to which it gradually tapers ; mid-rib 

 distinct, from vvhich branch off at an acute angle about 12 princi- 

 pal nerves in the length of fragment. These nerves, after acutely 

 ascending from the mid rib, curve and branch outward dichoto- 

 mously and flexuously, forking two or three times before reaching 

 margin, anastomosing at each fork. The meshes, however, are 

 more open than in the larger forms of G. hrowniana from the 

 lower coal-measures, and the nerves appear to be more raised and 

 wrinkled. The frond itself appears to be more coriaceous and 

 fleshy, 



" As indicated by the measurements, the frond is somewhat 

 linear-spathulate in form. In the smaller specimens the spathu- 

 late appearance is far less pronounced. They are unlike any 

 descrijjtion given of Sagenopteris rhoifolia or S. Tasmanica, and 

 apart from the circumstance that their bases and mode of insertion 

 are unknown, they seem to me to be more akin to the genus 

 Glossopteris to which they have been provisionally referred. It 

 would appear, therefore, that these rare forms are the dwarfed or 

 degraded descendants of that genus which gave such a peculiar 

 character to the shales of the lower coal-measures by its wonderful 

 profusion, and are an indication of the fast approaching extinction 

 of the genus in Australian rocks." Mr. Johnston statesj that 

 Mr. VVintle informed him that he discovered some years previous 

 to 1886, near the same spot (Lord's Hill, New Town, Hobart), " a 



* Proc. R. Soc. Tas. for 1SS6 [1887], pp. 161 and 169-170. 



t Loc. cit. pp. 169-170. 



X Loc. cit. p. 162. 



