128 THE OLDER MESOZOIC FLORA OF VIRGINIA. 



forms than to any others. It may be compared with Podozamites lanceolatus 

 minor, Heer, "Flor. Foss. Arctica," vol. iv, plate xxvii, figs. 7 and 8. 



European authors, and especially Schimper, often call attention to the 

 strong resemblance between the Rhsetic and Lower Jurassic floras, the like- 

 ness to the flora of the Lower Oolite of England being especially striking. 

 In accordance with this fact, the presence of a marked Jurassic element in 

 the flora of these Mesozoic beds, both in North Carolina and Virginia, is of 

 itself an evidence that they cannot be older than Rhsetic. We are, then, 

 I think, entitled to consider that the older Mesozoic flora of North Car- 

 olina and Virginia is most probably Rhsetic in age, and certainly not older. 



Some authors hold that the Rhsetic beds form the uppermost of the 

 Triassic strata. Others think that they are transition beds, having more 

 affinity with the Lower Lias. The 'latter view will, I think, be justified by 

 a study of the flora, and I have, in this memoir, assumed its correctness. 



