72 ON THE FOSSIL FLORA OF THE COAL DEPOSITS OF AUSTRALIA, 



are partial sheaths, and the leaves are somewhat short (rarely 

 exceeding two-thirds of an inch), but generally longer than 

 the sheaths, at first erect, then spreading out, and at last 

 renexed. The sheaths are furrowed, the furrows corresponding 

 with the leaflets, and therefore numerous, but no specimen has 

 been found complete enough to determine the exact number. This 

 species is more worthy of attention as it closely resembles the 

 Australian plant. The second Indian one, P. robusta Feistm., is 

 entirely different, with short spathulate leaves * 



All the Indian and Australian species of Phyllotheca and some 

 of the Siberian ones have one important character in common, and 

 that is that the stems are ribbed, aud the ribs and furrows are not 

 alternating but in juxta-position. In this they differ from 

 Catamites. 



Three species of Phyllotheca have been described, viz. : — P. 

 australis, Brongniart, P. ramosa, M'Coy, P. hookeri, M'Coy. 

 All these apparently are reduced to one by Feistmantel,f but I 

 shall give the diagnosis of all. 



P. australis, Brongniart, Prodr. p. 152 and 175. Stem erect, 

 simple or branched, joints somewhat approximate, leaflets twice as 

 long as the sheaths, narrow, erect, or reflected. 



See M'Coy loc. cit., p. 156; Morris in Strzelecki, p. 250; 

 Dana, United S, Explor. Exp. Geol., p. 710. 



The observations of Brongniart on this plant, refer to the genus 

 which he created to receive it. He pointed out at the time, the 

 close affinity between the fossils and those of Equisetum, from 

 which it was always to be distinguished by the foliaceous 

 appendages to the sheaths. 



* See Nagpur Plants, Quart. Jour. Geolog. Soc., London, vol. XVII 

 (1862), p. 355, PI. 10 and 11. Ramiganj Plants, Feistmantel, Jour. 

 Asiatic Soc., Bengal, vol. 45, p. 346-347- Paleontologia Indica, fossil flora 

 of the Gondwana Syst , vol. 3. Flora of the Damuda and Panchet divisions, 

 pp. 65 to 69, plate 12a. 



t Notes on ths Fossil Flora of E. Australia, Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, 

 1880. Sydney, Govt. Printing Office. 



