elvi Proceedings of the Asiatic Soc. of Bengal. [N.S., XVII, 
considerable detail ; and impressions of sporangiferous fronds 
will sometimes yield microscope preparations of sporangia 
and spores which go a long way towards establishing the iden- 
tity of otherwise unrecognizable fragments. It is needless to 
emphasize the value of such determinations both to the strati- 
graphical geologist and to those interested in the geographical 
distribution of the floras of the past. The investigation of 
fossil cuticles, although hitherto carried out in a relatively 
insignificant number of species, has already brought welcome 
additions to our knowledge of Indian fossil plants (Holden 
1915; Seward and Sahni 1920), and promises to vield a ric 
harvest of results 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS DURING FORMATION OF 
PLANT-BEARING DEPOSITS OF INDIA. 
Before I pass on to a treatment of the iossil floras of 
India, it may be of some interest to visualize the physical condi- 
tions, climatic and topographical, that obtained during the 
times when these floras lived and died. 
The great triangular peninsula of India, where the majori- 
ty of the known fossil plants were digcovered, is one of the 
most ancient land-surfaces of the globe. During the Mesozoic 
era it formed part of a vast continent which Siatichad from South 
America, through Africa to Australia. It thus covered the 
enormous area now occupied by the South Atlantic and Indian 
Oceans. This Southern Continent, which carries the Indian 
name of Gondwanaland was bounded on the north by an exten- 
sive ocean separating it from an eqaally vast northern land-mass 
which joined up the present continents of North America and 
Eurasia. With the dawn of the Tertiary era, however, there 
came earth-movements of a violent character. These resulted in 
of South America, Africa, India and a Malate and the Austra- 
lasian Archipelago with its island continent of Australia. 
hese are a few of the fundamental results of a critical 
examination of the rocks composing the scattered remnants o 
Gondwanaland; and paleobotany, it may be claimed, has contri- 
buted handsomely to their achievement. The testimony of the 
rocks points unmistakably to an analogy in the physical con- 
ditions in India, Australia and South Africa during Mesozoic 
times. 
part of the Upper Carboniferous age the Gondwana 
Gentinens was visited by glacial conditions which have left evi- 
dence of their wide-spread character. The extent of the area 
thus affected can be imagined from the fact that at a level in 
the stratigraphical scale corresponding to the Upper Carboni- 
ferous of Europe there occurs in Australia, India, South Africa 
