'74 Annals of the South African Museum. 



look now with eagerness to South x\merica for the identification 

 there of this Mesozoic flora, which we have found in full development 

 in Virginia, New Mexico, Sonora, and now in Honduras. It has 

 been recognised in Australia, New Zealand, India, Tonquin, China, 

 Turkestan, and various parts of Europe. Hence with its discovery 

 in South America we shall see it reaching as a girdle around the 

 entire globe." Before this was written Geinitz had recorded Ehaetic 

 plants from the Argentine, and more recently Szajnocha, Solms- 

 Laubach, and Kurtz have made further contributions towards the 

 completion of this girdle of Ehaetic floras. 



The facts of greatest interests as regards the vegetation of this 

 period are — the striking departure, as regards the general facies of 

 the floras, from the type represented by the Palaeozoic floras, and, 

 secondly, its uniform character in almost all parts of the world. 



Scliizoneura krasseri sp. nov. — This type of Equisetaceous plant 

 closely resembles forms recorded from Scania, Tongking, Persia, and 

 India, but the accurate determination of fragments of vegetative stem- 

 casts is an impossible task without the evidence of reproductive 

 organs and the study of anatomical characters, 



Thinnfelclia. — This generic type— very closely allied to Ptilozamites 

 and other genera — is one of the most characteristic and widely spread 

 Ehaetic plants. It occurs in Europe (Scania, Germany, Italy, Poland, 

 and elsewhere), Australia, South America, and India. In North 

 America a very similar type of plant is recorded from rocks assigned 

 to a Permian horizon. 



Callipteridiuvi stormhergense. — This type does not afford much 

 assistance in solving the question of geological age ; ferns of similar 

 external form occur both in Permian and Liassic strata. 



TcBuiopteris carruthersi. — The genus TcBniopteris is so abundantly 

 represented in strata ranging from Triassic to Wealden in various 

 parts of the w^orld that we cannot with safety base conclusions on 

 fragments of sterile fronds, but so far as the evidence goes it favours 

 the identification of the African form with Ehstic species from other 

 regions. 



Chiropteris. — This appears to be a comparatively rare type, but 

 such evidence as it afi"ords as to geological age points to a Eh^tic 

 horizon. 



Baiera storinhcrgensis. — This unusual form of leaf appears to be a 

 distinct species, but such Ginkgoales species as resemble it most 

 closely are recorded from Australian strata that may probably be 

 regarded as Ehaetic. 



Stachypitys. — This fragmentary fossil cannot be determined with 



