Mesozoic Floras of New Zealand. 123 
to be widely held that a typical Glossopteris flora would one day 
be forthcoming in this locality. This is really a matter of great 
Importance, for we have long been uncertain whether New Zealand, 
in Permo-Carboniferous times, did, or did not, form part of the 
great Southern continent of “Gondwana-land.” If, as now seems 
almost certainly the case, New Zealand formed no part of that 
continent, then we are face to face with a fact of far-reaching 
geological interest. 
Mr Lillie’s collections from Mount Potts show that the age 
of the flora is either late Triassic (Rhetic) or very early Jurassic. 
Glossopteris itself does not occur, though a fern-like frond of 
somewhat similar habit, but without a reticulate lateral nervation, 
is present. This plant which has in the past been mistaken for 
Glossopteris is a member of a new genus. The other plants 
associated are all of the Mesophytic type, such as Thinnfeldia, 
Cladophlebis and Baiera, and no typical Permo-Carboniferous 
species are represented. 
So far no Paleozoic plants of any kind are known from New 
Zealand ; which is a most remarkable fact. A Geological Survey 
of the islands has been in existence for nearly half a century, and 
there is little doubt that by this time the main features of the 
geology of the islands are pretty well known. It is thus unlikely, 
though not of course beyond the range of probability, that any 
great series of Palzeozoic plant-bearing beds remains to be dis- 
covered, and, bearing in mind the very wide extent of the 
Glossopteris beds in Australia and other parts of Gondwana-land, 
it is still more unlikely now that such rocks remain undiscovered 
in New Zealand. Many new localities for fossil plants will doubt- 
less be discovered in the future, but at present it seems likely 
that they will only furnish Mesozoic or Tertiary plants. 
A Review of our present knowledge of the earlier 
Mesozoic floras of New Zealand. 
At the present time our knowledge of the fossil floras of New 
Zealand remains in an extremely unsatisfactory condition. It is 
true that a number of Tertiary plants, and possibly also some of 
Cretaceous age, were described and figured by Ettingshausen* 
many years ago. From this evidence Ettingshausen drew several 
startling conclusions with regard to the origin of the present flora 
of New Zealand, conclusions which are now generally discredited, 
and which tended at one time to throw considerable doubt on the 
value of the study of fossil plants. The systematic portion of this 
* Hitingshausen, Denkschr. K. Akad. Wissen., Wien (Math.-Natur. Klasse), 
Vol. nr. Pt. 1. p. 143, 1887; see also Geol. Mag., Dec. 3, Vol. 1v. p. 363, 1887, and 
Trans. N. Zealand Inst. Vol. xx. p. 237, 1887. 
