BY THE REY. J. E. TENISOX-WOODS, F.G.S. 343 



some places and suggest the idea o£ fruits, but there are no 

 known fruits of this character, either living or fossil. A little 

 attention to the plant impressions by which they are always 

 accompanied will explain their origin. These might easily be 

 mistaken for JBliyllotlieca a closely allied plant, but they are not 

 of that genus. The whorls of leaves at the free ends of the 

 sheaths are never present. Instead of them we have the toothed 

 closely ad2)ressed sheath of Eciuisetum, which shows us that this 

 is the genus with which we have to deal. Now Equisetum is a 

 plant in which the stem is fistular and with one or two rings of 

 longitudinal cavities in its circumference. At intervals the stem 

 is divided by transverse disks, which have this single or double 

 ring of cavities. The outside ring is seldom seen as this is the 

 portion where the disks break away. As they contain a good 

 deal of silica they are easily preserved, they are always found 

 abundantly in the soft marshy ground on which Equisetum grows. 

 We have no such plants existing in Australia, but they occur in 

 all other portions of the globe except New Zealand. Eormerly 

 they played a most important part in the world's vegetation, and 

 many believe that Calamites, SplienopliylJum, and Annulariu 

 belonged to the same family of Equisetacecs. 



Disks somewhat resembling the present have been found in the 

 Oolitic Coal of England, and in the Upper Trias of France and 

 Grermany. At one time they excited some little controversy as 

 to their nature, but there seems now to be no doubt of their 

 cryptogamic character. 



Equisetum is not previously recorded from our Australian plant 

 formations. One species is described from the Gondwana beds 

 in India, by Oldham and Feistmantel — E. rajmahalensis. This 

 plant somewhat resembles our species, but the differences in the 

 diaphragmata are great. 



In a paper I am preparing on the whole of our coal flora in 

 Australia, I shall deal with this species. In the meantime in the 



