74 Anncds of the South African Museum. 



look now with eagerness to South America 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 Austraha, New Zealand, India, Tonquin, China, 

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

 in South x\merica we shall see it reaching as a girdle around the 

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

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

 Laubach, and Kurtz have made further contributions towards the 

 ■completion of this girdle of Ehffitic 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 w^orld. 



Schdzoneura 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. 



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

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

 Ehsetic 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. 



Gallipteridium stormhergensc. — 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. 



TcBiiioptcris carruthcrsi. — The genus Tcsiiiopteris is so abundantly 

 represented in strata ranging from Triassic to Wealden in various 

 parts of the world 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 Ehtetic species from other 

 regions. 



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

 such evidence as it atfords as to geological age points to a Ehtetic 

 horizon. 



Baiera stormhcrgensis. — 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. 



Utachypitijs. — This fragmentary fossil cannot be determined with 



