F. Chapman — Haliserites in Palceozoic RockSy Australia, 439 



Possibly the misleading sound of tlie term Haliserite^, named from its 

 original comparison with the seaweed Haliseris, had some influence in 

 determining the adoption of the later generic name. Nevertheless, in 

 scientific nomenclature names are but names, and should never be 

 regarded as accurate indices to the relationship of the organisms thus 

 designated. 



In a fully descriptive paper published in 1 894 by Professor Penhallow,' 

 who, by the way, does not notice Carruthers' previous work, both 

 Haliserites and Psilophyton are retained, and a third genus, Bictyotites, 

 is proposed. It seems evident, however, that the characters there 

 used in attempting to establish these genera may be found in one and 

 the same plant, according to its growth and preservation. For 

 instance, the dichotomous terminations of Bictyotites, the apparently 

 membranous fronds of that genus and Haliserites, and the spirally 

 arranged scaly leaves, together with the circinate terminations of the 

 branches in Fsilophyton^ may all be found associated, so as to suggest 

 their common reference to a single plant-genus. • 



Occurrence in Victoria. 



The Victorian Silurian specimens occur in a series of fine-grained 

 brown and grey sandstones and indurated shales, which lies above 

 the Yeringian strata comprising the fossiliferous conglomerates and 

 limestones, and attains a thickness, 'according to the geological 

 surveyors, of 10,000 feet in the Walhalla area. There is another 

 series, known as the '■'■ Monograptus dubius beds,"^ said to be below 

 the Yeringian coral limestones, which also contains the remains of 

 Haliserites, and this is of undoubted Silurian age. On the other hand, 

 the extensive beds of sandstones containing Haliserites, first referred to, 

 may represent a great development of a passage series linking the 

 Silurian with the Lower Devonian in this area of Eastern Victoria. 



Certain of our specimens from the newest Silurian rocks are in every 

 way comparable with the well-known examples from the Caithness 

 flagstones, figured by Hugh Miller ; ^ and the spinose and spirally 

 arranged leaflets and circinate terminals of the branches help to confirm 

 Miller's and Carruthers' conclusions as to their Lycopod affinities. 

 With regard to this relationship, Carruthers says (op. cit., p. 324) : 

 " From the various drawings and descriptions published by Miller, one 

 can see that this plant had stigmarioid roots, a slender Lycopod-like 

 stem, with the lower branches short, simple, or compound, and with 

 numerous short acuminate leaves, and with the upper branches regularly 

 dichotomising, with sharp edges produced by the absence of distinct 

 leaves, the ultimate divisions being short and slender, and sometimes 

 rolled up in a circinate manner at the tips. He also noticed the 

 slender vascular axis running along the centre of the upper branches." 



' " Notes on Erian (Devonian) Plants from New York and Pennsylvania " : Proc. 

 U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. xvi (1893), pp. 105-14, pis. ix-xiv. 



"^ This graptolite, determined for the Survey by Dr. T. S. Hall, M.A., is tj'pical 

 of the "Wenlock in England, but also ranges upwards into the Ludlows. 



3 "Testimony of the Rocks," 1857, pp. 428, 429, figs. 118, 119. Also 

 Carruthers in Journ. of Botany, vol. ii (1873), pi. 137 ; especially fig. 4, specimen 

 from the Isle of Stroma, off Caithness. 



