SPECIMENS OF FOSSIL WOODS IN NATAL MUSEUM. 345 



On Some Specimens of Fossil Woods in the 

 Natal Museum. 



By 

 Ernest l¥arreii, D.Sc.L<ond. 



With Plates XXV— XXVII and Text-figures. 



A number of samples of fossil woods from various parts of 

 Natal and Zululand have been received from time to time by 

 the Natal Museum, 



These specimens vary considerably in general appearance, 

 texture and specific gravity, and it was thought that it would 

 be of interest to ascertain, if possible, whether any of them 

 belonged to the Palaeozoic coniferous species, Dadoxylon 

 australe Arber,^ found in the Glossopteris Flora of 

 Australia. 



This question is of special interest since the Glossopteris 

 Flora of the Ecca Formations of South Africa is closely 

 similar to that of Australia and India ; and the similarity 

 points to a land connection in those times extending both 

 from Gondwanaland in India and from Australia to South 

 Africa and perhaps even to South America. 



A considerable series of sections had been prepared, and 

 some work had already been done on them, when Dr. F. 

 Hatch, in 1910, handed to the British Museum authorities a 

 specimen of silicified wood found by him in the Ecca 

 Formation near Ladysmith, Natal. 



Mr. Newell Arber kindly contributed a note on the 

 specimen to this Journal {Annals of the Natal Museum, vol. ii, 



1 Arber. E. A. Newell, ' Catalogiie of the Fossil Plants of the Glos- 

 sopteris Flora in the British Museum.' 1905. 



