179 



Following is the 1S83 species: — 



DESCRIPTION. 



CCCXIV. E. Delftii Eltingshausen (1883). 



(Ante, p. 177.) 



Dalton, near Gunning, New South Wales, in hard siliceous grit, reposing on 

 Silurian rocks. 



He compares it with his own E. teretiuscula " and others " (Ettingshausen, 

 Blattskelete der Dicotyledonen, PL lxxxv.. fig. 17). 



Here is the original description : — 



Sp. Char. — E. foliis ligide coriaccis lanceolato-oblongis obtusiusculis, integerrimis ; nervatione 

 camptodroma ; nervo primario apicem versus subflexuoso; nervis secundariis subangulis 30-40° 

 orieutibus, tenuibus marginem adseendentibus, cum nervo marginali ahastomosantibus (?); neivis 

 tertiariis obsoletis. 



Obs. — A leaf whose strong, somewhat recurved margin indicates a remarkably rigid texture. 

 At the base it can be restored into an oblong, almost lanceolate leaf, which is narrowed towards 

 both ends and obtuse at the apex. The midrib is somewhat flexuous towards the apex, and not 

 prominent on the upper surface of the fossil, whilst the under side is covered by the rock material. 



Owing to this unfavourable circumstance, even the course of the fine and remarkably acute-angled 

 secondary veins, but more especially their behaviour at the margin, cannot be observed with sufficient 

 accuracy. In one place near the margin I thought I could perceive an indication of the marginal vein, 

 with which the secondary veins are connected. Tertiary veins and reticulation have not been 

 preserved. The form of leaf, texture, and venation just described are found in Eucalyptus, viz., in 

 E. teretiuscula, and others. As the assumption that Eucalyptus was not wanting in the Tertiary of 

 Australia is, at all events, more probable than the contrary, so much the more as this genus occurs even 

 in the Tertiary Flora of Europe, I believe the Eucalyptus-like leaf remains found amongst the plant fossils 

 from Dalton miy for the present be set down as in all probability a representative of Eucalyptus. A more 

 detailed comparison of the species with hitherto described fossil species of Eucalyptus can only be 

 undertaken when more perfect material has been obtained. 



I named this species after the Dutchman, Van Delft, who in the eighteenth [seventeanth. — J.H.M.] 

 century made important exploring journeys in Australia. 



