OCCURRENCE OF LEPIDODENDRON. 335 



believe this is merely a local change, but it agrees with the 

 character of the beds at Rydal. The total rise from the 

 valley to the top of the upper fall is over 1000 feet. 



I have personally no doubt that the Lepidodendron came 

 from one of the beds at the side of the short valley, as they 

 are of almost precisely similar character to the matrix of the 

 fossil, and in them I found faint indications of vegetable 

 remains, but not sufficiently definite to admit of identification, 

 while the fossil itself has not been rolled. 



Now, as to its geological significance. There are two 

 species of Lepidodendron mentioned in Dr. Feistmantel's 

 woi'k^ on the fossil plants of Austraha as occurring in rocks 

 of Lower Carboniferous or Devonian Age. These are 

 Lepidodendron tiothum (linger) and Lepidodendron australe 

 (M'Coy). The former is stated to occur at several localities 

 in Queensland ; also at Goonoo-Goonoo, Cowra, Cano- 

 windra, and Mount Lambie, near Rydal, New South Wales. 

 It is a European Devonian species, and the beds in which it 

 occurs are classed by Dr. Feistmantel as also Devonian. 

 L. australe, on the other hand, is a Victorian species and is 

 classed as Lower Carboniferoiis. 



In connection with the account of L. nothum, however, a 

 notice is inserted by Mr. R. Etheridge, jun., in which he 

 questions the occurrence of that fossil in Australia, his words 

 being : " The evidence at present existing of the latter (L. 

 nothum) having existed in Australia in bygone times is of 

 the weakest." He considers that the fossils identified by Mr. 

 Carruthers, of the British Museum, as L. nothum to be 

 probably identical with L. australe. In this view he states 

 that Professor M'Coy and Mr. R. Kidston agree with him, 

 so that it appears there is a difference of opinion on the 

 matter — Mr. Carruthers and Dr. Feistmantel, who agrees 

 with him, on the one side, and Messrs. Etheridge, M'Coy, 

 and Kidston on the other. 



As to whetlier our fossil should be called Lepidodendron 

 nothum or L. australe I do not pretend to say. When 

 such able palaeontologists differ it would be presumption for 

 me to express an opinion. Nor do I think the exact name 

 of the species is of much importance, although its strati- 

 graphical position is, I consider^ very important. For if L. 



' Geological and Palseontological relations of the Coal and Plant-bearing 

 Beds of Palceozoic and Mesozoic Age in Eastern Australia and Tasmania : by 

 Ottokar Feistmantel, M.D,, &c. Sydney : C. Potter, Government Printer, 

 1890. 



