XXXIII] PELOTJRDEA 277 



pre-Carboniferous floras. The strata in New Brunswick from 

 which Dawson recorded his supposed Devonian Cordaites have 

 been shown to be Upper Carboniferous in age 1 . As regards the 

 length of time during which the Cordaitales existed we have no 

 decisive evidence. In recent years the tendency has been to 

 extend their range into the Mesozoic era, and there are several 

 pieces of evidence in favour of this. There is no doubt that 

 considerations of age based on the arbitrary divisions of the 

 geological scale sometimes insinuate themselves too thoroughly 

 into questions connected with the duration of plant-types whether 

 represented by families or genera. We have been accustomed to 

 regard Cordaites as a genus confined to the Palaeozoic period, 

 a type which with many others carried on the tradition of Upper 

 Carboniferous forests to the Permian floras and then made way 

 for the precursors of Mesozoic types. There is, however, no 

 valid reason for supposing that Cordaites and other Palaeozoic 

 genera did not survive as less prominent members in succeeding 

 floras. It must be admitted that evidence in support of Mesozoic 

 Cordaitales is not above suspicion, though the probability is that 

 Cordaites or some allied genera still flourished in the earlier stages 

 of the Mesozoic era. The data on which this opinion is based 

 cannot be fully discussed in a general treatise, but a few of the 

 facts may be briefly considered. Zeiller 2 and other authors 

 have expressed the view that the Cordaitales were not exclusively 

 Palaeozoic. In addition to Cordaites (Noeggerathiopsis) Hislopi 

 recorded from Rhaetic floras, other possible representatives of 

 the group are illustrated by specimens included in such genera 

 as Yuccites, Bambusium and Krammera. 



Pelourdea gen. nov. 



The name Yuccites 3 was given to some detached, broad, linear 

 leaves from the Bunter sandstone of the Vosges which were com- 

 pared with the foliage of Yucca and classed among Monocotyledons. 

 The authors of the genus also described a cylindrical cast as a 

 Yuccites stem, including both stem and leaves in Yuccites vogesiacus. 



1 Stopes (14); Kidston (02) B. p. 363. 2 Zeiller (OO 2 ) B. p. 213. 



3 Schimper and Mougeot (44) A. p. 42, PL xxi. 



