yi4 Provcedinijs of the lioijal Sociefi/ of Victoria. 



cases, and the internodes vai-y in vertical lieiglit from 10 to 

 I 5 nun. The separate leaf-like tei'iiiinations of the sheaf have a 

 distinct mid-rib, characteristic of this genus. 



Fnictijication in Phyllotheca. — Arising from the base of what 

 appears to be an undoul)ted leaf-sheath of Phyllotheca australis, 

 wliich has been torn from the stem, is an extiemely interesting 

 example of a stout, sub-rotund strobilus, covered with numerous 

 ovate imbrications (PI. XXVIL, Fig. 7). The distal end of 

 this specimen was presumably flat, and the strobilus seems to 

 have been sheathed around the external margin with small bracts 

 or sporophylls. A somewhat similarly formed cone has been de- 

 .scribed by Kidston,^ undei- the name of Equisetites hemingwayi. 



Another remarkable specimen occurs along with the 

 Phyllotheca stems. It is conoidal and imbricated and strongly 

 resembles the conical group of sporophylls seen in some species of 

 Equisetum. Similar strobili have been described and figured by 

 R. Etheridge, Jun.,- found as terminal cones attached to actual 

 stems of Phyllotheca. Our specimen is cylindrically ovate and 

 terminates in a somewhat sharp apex. Its length, so far as 

 preserved, is 18 mm. One side of the strobilus has been ruptured, 

 and the surface spread out lengthwise. The imbricated scales 

 are set closely to one another, and terminate in blunt points. 

 They alternate, as in Etheridge's specimen.s, with the series above 

 and below. Where the surface has been flattened out, however, 

 there is evidence of long filamentous leaves, similar to those seen 

 in the strobili described by Etheridge, Jun. 



The recorded examples of fructification in Phyllotheca are few, 

 and until the discovery of the strobili by Messrs. J. Mitchell and 

 C Hedley in the Upper Coal Measures of Newcastle, New 

 .South Wales, and which Mr. Etheridge has descrilied and figured, 

 there was only one instance in which a supposed inflorescence 

 had been seen in Phyllotheca australis, which was described 

 many years ago by M'Coy^. That author figured a portion of a 

 fertile branch with closely set joints, having sheaths which bore 

 on their upper margin a fringe of " antliers," which he con\pared 



1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. ix., 1892, ]). 138. See also Seward's "Fossil 

 Plants," Cambridge, 1898, p. 262, fig. 57a. 



2 Rec. Austr. Mus., vol. iv., No. 1, 1901, pp. 1-4, pis. i., ii. 



3 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. .\.\., 1847, p. 155, pi. xi., fig. 1. 



