ANNULARIA. 



31 



with Annularia stellata, Schl. The whorls in these specimens are 

 on an average 2 cm. apart, and most of them are twelve-leaved, 

 but one or two have as many as twenty-four. The leaves 

 are elongately lanceolate, and vary in length from 12 to 16 mm. 

 Other specimens consisting of naked branched stems, articulated, 

 and with longitudinal ridges on the internodes, are also figured. 



Although Zeiller J has maintained the view that Feistmantel is 

 correct in assigning this plant to the genus Annularia, it does not 

 seem to me that this conclusion is free from doubt. It may be 

 pointed out that the adoption of this genus, on what appears to 

 be insufficient evidence, is a matter of some importance, since the 

 presence of Annularia, a definite type of Calamitean foliage, with 

 Phyllotheca, Glossojrferis, and Noeggerathiopsis, in New South 



Fig. 10. — [Annularia (?)] australis, Feist. After Feistmantel. Nat. size. 



Wales, implies that we have here an association of northern and 

 southern types of Permo-Carboniferous plants. The absence, so 

 far, of any trace of a Calamitean stem in these rocks is somewhat 

 remarkable if the species in question is really the foliage of 

 a Calamite. Judging by the figures published, the free lanceolate 

 segments approximate more closely to leaf -whorls of certain Indian 

 species of Phyllotheca (cf. P. robusta) than to Annularia. It is, 

 however, difficult to come to any definite decision as to the genus 

 to which the Australian species should be referred without seeing 

 actual specimens, and these are unfortunately not represented in 

 any British collection. I have, therefore, retained Feistmantel's 

 generic name within square brackets, thus indicating that, while it 



1 Zeiller (86-), p. 483. 



