BY A. B. WALKOM 19 
age, and the presence of a number of dictyledonous remains 
is sufficient to indicate that it is newer than the flora of 
the Burrum Series. 
QUEENSLAND CaINozo1c FLORA. 
Remains of plants in rocks of Cainozoic age are not 
uncommon in Queensland. They consist mainly of 
isolated dicotyledonous leaves, associated with which are 
stems and occasionally fern-fragments. As regards our 
present method of dealing with these remains they form, 
perhaps, the most unsatisfactory part of paleobotany. 
It is well known that in recent floras it is impossible to 
determine dicotyledons with anything like accuracy by 
merely studying isolated leaves, the same type of leaf in 
many cases occurring in widely-different familes. 
Attempts have been made to compare these Tertiary 
leaves with present-day genera, but often the comparisons 
have been carried further than was justified, and this 
partly accounts for the hostile attitude of some botanists 
towards paleobotany. 
There is no reason to suppose that these remains would 
not prove of some value in separating horizons within the 
Cainozoic, but it would seem necessary to adopt some 
arbitrary method of naming them. It is suggested that for 
purely stratigraphical purposes it might be worth while 
devising a conventional scheme for these remains, based on 
such characters as the type of venation, general dimensions 
of the leaf, nature of the margin, etc. The names used 
should not, in general, indicate relation to recent genera, 
and it would be clearly understood that such a scheme 
would be of no value botanically. 
In addition to the plant remains already mentioned, 
there are abundant diatoms in the diatomaceous earths 
among the Cainozoic strata of Queensland. 
From this account it will be seen that there is no lack 
of evidence as to the vegetation which has flourished in 
this part of the world during different geological periods ; 
it will also be observed that we have still much to learn 
before our knowledge of these floras is complete. I cannot 
conclude this address without expressing my appreciation 
