42 



AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION AND ITS OEOLOOICAL DKVELOPMENT 



than at present, that the greater internal heat of the earth uiade 

 climate far more equable than in our era, and that with this 

 equable climate there was far less liability lo winds and storms 

 than that now prevailing. Under these conditions, plants of 

 delicate texture could grow to a considerable height, and had 

 not the necessity to strengthen their stems to resist wind pressure, 

 as our modern plants have. 



The fern remains of the period belong mainly t(^ a family 

 possessing enormous fronds, with ovate or lanceolate pinnji'. 

 This is the typical fern of the coal-measures, the Glossopteris 

 family. The modern ferns of Queensland which resemble them 

 in outer aspect are the genera Marattia and Angiopteris ; but 

 it is not intended to infer that these are in any sense allied. 



Some very doubtful remains referred to Cycfidew, and 

 believed to be alli( s of our Cycads and Macro/.amias, were found 

 by the Rev. J. E. Tenison Woods in the Star beds of the 

 Drummond Eange ; but, until a much greater qviantity of 

 material has been collected, determination must be reserved. 



Specimens of a fossil wood, found by Mr. R. L. (now ])r.) 

 Jack at the Bowen River coal field, were examined by Mr. 

 Carruthers, and its internal structure, as revealed by the micro- 

 scope, proved it to belong to an ally of our biinyas and hoop- 

 pines. 



Trias-Jura Period. 



After the Permo-Carboniferous period the luxuriance of 

 vegetation, geologically considered, began to diminish. In the 

 Burrum beds which form the lower half of the Trias- Jura 

 system, no further advance in type is made, but the most 

 complex in structure, the cycads and conifers, are r.ow richly 

 represented. 



. The Ipswich beds, the upper portion of the Trias- Jura, form 

 a mine of botanical wealth. They have been most carefully 

 examined, near Ipswich and Brisbane, by Mr. J. H. Simmonds, 

 who possesses a private collection of fossil plants from this for- 

 mation of the very greatest value. No true flowering plants have 

 been found in these beds, but the advance in type is most marked. 

 Equisetums and Calamites are few in number, but there is an 

 enormous wealth of ferns, cycads and conifex's. Among ferns 

 Glossopteris has disappeared, the most common forms are 

 Alethopteris and Thinnfeldia. Cycads of the Zauiia family are 

 also richly represented ; and cone-bearing trees akin to the 



