TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 701 



from some coal-bearing beds in Tonquin. 1 This flora is very extraordinary in every 

 respect. It consists of 22 species, and contains only two peculiar forms ; ten, or 

 nearly one-half, are European species found in the lower Lias or Rhaetic ; whilst of the 

 remaining ten, five are Damuda forms — Noeggerathiopsis hislopi, Maerotarnopteris 

 feddeni, Palaovittaria kurzi, Glossopteris brovmiana, and Phyllotheca indica, one 

 species being common to the Newcastle beds and Carboniferous flora of Australia, and 

 two others closely allied to the forms there occurring. The other five are said to be 

 Rajmahal forms, four Tceniopteris or Angiopteridium and an Otozamites. M. Zeiller 

 unhesitatingly classes the Tonquin beds as Rhfetic. It is most singular that these 

 coal-beds, although more distant from Europe by 18° of longitude than either the 

 Damuda or Rajmahal beds of India, contain a larger proportion of European fossil 

 species than any known Indian plant-beds ; whilst the association in the same strata 

 of upper and lower Gondwana forms, if well ascertained, shows bow hopeless is 

 the attempt to classify these deposits by plant evidence alone. 



Australian Coal- Measures and Associated Beds. — In the notice of the lower 

 Gondwana floras of India it was observed that there was a great resemblance 

 between some of them and those found in certain beds of Australia. These latter 

 present even a more remarkable instance of homotaxial perversity than do the 

 Indian rocks. The Australian plant-bearing beds are found in Eastern and 

 Southern Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania. For a knowledge of the geology 

 of the country we are chiefly indebted to the writings of the late Mr. Clarke,'- 

 ■whilst the flora has been worked out by McCoy, Dana, Carruthers, and Feistmantel, 

 the last having recently published a much more complete account than was 

 previously available. 3 



The following are the fresh-water or subaerial beds of Australia, according 

 to the latest classification : — 



6. Clarence River beds, New South "Wales (Mesozoic carbonaceous of 



Queensland, Victoria, and Tasmania.) 

 5, Wianamatta beds, N.S. Wales. 



4. Hawkesbury beds, N.S. Wales (Bacchus Marsh sandstones, Victoria). 

 3. Newcastle beds, N.S. Wales. 



2. Lower Coal-Measures with marine layers interstratified, N.S. Wales. 

 1. Lower Carboniferous beds, N.S. Wales. 



To a still lower horizon probably belong some beds in Queensland, containing 

 Lepidodmdron nothum and Cyclostigma. They are considered Devonian by 

 Carruthers, and there are some ancient plant-beds in Victoria that may be of the 

 same period. 



1. Loicer Carboniferous Beds. — These underlie the beds with a Carboniferous 

 marine fauna. The localities given are Smith's Creek, near Stroud, Port Stephens, 

 and Arowa. The following plants are enumerated : — 



Ltcopodiace^:. — Cyclostigma, 1 sp. ; Lepidodendron, 2 or 3; Knorria, 1. 

 Filicks. — Rhacopteris, 4; Archaopteris, 2 (?) ; Glossoj)teris, 1. 

 Equisetaceje. — Calamites, 2; Sphenophyllum, 1. 



This flora contains several species identical with those in the Lower Carboniferous 

 (Bernician) of Europe, corresponding to the Mountain Limestone. The agreement 

 both in homotaxis and position is the more remarkable because of the startling 

 contrast in the next stage. The only peculiarity is the presence of a Glossopteris. 

 This comes from a different locality — Arowa — from most of the fossils, and the 

 species is identical with one found in a much higher series. Under these circum- 

 stances it is impossible to feel satisfied that the specimen was really from this 

 horizon. The evidence is not so clear as is desirable. 



1 Bull. Soc. Giol. ser. iii. vol. xi. p. 456. 



- Q. J. G. S. 1861, p. 354, and Bemarhs on the Sedimentary Formations of New 

 South Wales, 1878, besides numerous other works. 



3 BalcBontographica. — Pal it. mes. flora des bstl. Australien 1878-79. 



