Dr. 0. Feistmantel — The Flora of E. Australia. 485 



and may fairly be described as an indurated banded slate. Although 

 highly altered, the mass is less perfectly crystallized than in the 

 schist, and has more the character of a spotted slate ; minute red 

 granules and flakes of brown mica being grouped in clusters and 

 straggling lines. A very thin slice examined with a quarter-inch 

 objective shows that the mass is in a crystalline state, and crowded 

 with minute flakes of white mica. This difference in the condition 

 of the two adjacent beds is common in the Cornish rocks, and is 

 doubtless due to original differences of composition or texture in the 

 sedimentary deposits. 



II. — Notes on the Fossil Flora op Eastern Australia and 



Tasmania. 



By Dr. Ottokab. Feistmantel, 



of the Geological Survey of India, Calcutta. 



THROUGH the kindness of the late Eev. W. B. Clarke, of Sydney, 

 I had the opportunity of examining two collections of fossil 

 plants from Australia, which that gentleman had kindly placed at my 

 disposal, together with explanatory notes, which he communicated 

 to me in private letters. 



My own remarks upon the plants contained in the first collection 

 (which I obtained three years ago) were published in the 4th edition 

 of Mr. Clarke's " Remarks on the Sedimentary Rocks of New 

 South Wales," 1S78, but they require a few corrections now. The 

 descriptions of the plants and figures were published by me in the 

 " Pakeontographica," 1878-79. 



The second collection sent by Mr. Clarke contained also numerous 

 new forms ; besides this, Mr. C. S. Wilkinson, another Australian 

 geologist, has recently contributed some specimens from the Hawkes- 

 bury beds (see further on), and as in the mean time Mr. Clarke's 

 above-mentioned work was published, and also Mr. R. Etheridge's 

 "Catalogue of Australian Fossils," I was enabled to write a supple- 

 mental memoir (with several plates), on the fossil Flora in Australia. 



Before it can, however, be published, I may be permitted to give 

 a short account of the present state of our knowledge of this Flora ; 

 but the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic forms only are here taken into 

 consideration. 



I shall first indicate the stratigraphical classification of the beds 

 containing the plants, based upon the observations of the most 

 trustworthy authors, and shall then proceed to a short systematic 

 discussion of the Flora (with addition of the few fish remains). 



I. Queensland. 



The best account of the Geology is found in Daintree : Geology 

 of Queensland, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1872, vol. xxviii. The 

 plants are described by Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S. 



The following classification is given : 



1. Carbonaceous (Mesozoic sti'ata) (see I.e. pp. 273, 283). Tceniop- 

 teris Coal-measures (I.e. p. 288 and p. 325). Localities : Brisbane, 

 Tivoli Mines, near Ipswich, etc. 



