﻿100 PEOF. A. C. SEWARD ON [Feb. I908, 



it resembles also B. tcuniata, figured by Schenk ^ from the Rhaetic of 

 Germany. 



Among other species with which the Dordrecht specimen may be 

 compared, the following may be named : — Ginkgo sihirica. a Jurassic 

 species, of which the smaller forms were figured by Heer - from the 

 Arctic regions, and by Mr. Fontaine ^ from the Jurassic flora of 

 Oregon ; G. flabellata, Heer, from the Jurassic of China ' ; 

 G. Sclimidtiana^ Heer, n. f. parvifolia, described by Dr. Krasser,' 

 also from the Jurassic of China; an Australian Jurassic species 

 figured by Mr. Stirling ^ and by myself ' as Baiera australis, M.'Coy ; 

 also B. Guilhaumati, Zeill.,^ from the Ehaetic of Tongking ; and 

 Gingho Muensteriana, Heer, recorded by Schenk ^ from the Rhaetic 

 of Persia. 



CONIFERALES (?). 



Genus Stigmatodendron. 



SlIGMATODENDROX DUBIUM, Sp. nOV. (PI. Ill, fig. 3.) 



At first sight the concave mould from Aliwal Xorth, reproduced 

 rather less than half the natural size in PI. Ill, fig. 3, suggests a 

 comparison with Stigmarirx or with a Lepidodendroid stem ; it is 

 this superficial resemblance which accounts for the statement that 

 Lepidodendron-stems have been obtained in the Burghersdorp Beds of 

 Aliwal Xorth. The length of the specimen is 30 centimetres, and its 

 greatest breadth 7 cm. The preservation is too imperfect to admit 

 of a satisfactory diagnosis ; the specimen probably represents a plant 

 bearing spirally-disposed prominences, to which leaves were attached. 

 In some places the rounded prominences show a central depression 

 which gives them an appearance Kke that of the rootlet-scars of a 

 StigmaAa ; the lower part of the specimen, as shown in the photo- 

 graph, is characterized by numerous slightly-elongated pits, which 

 may mark the position of leaf-cushions. The contrast presented 

 by the surface of the fossil at difi^erent parts is no doubt the result 

 of different degrees of decortication. 



The Carboniferous plant described by Mr. D. "White from Missouri 

 as Omphalophloios cyclostigma " presents some resemblance to the 

 Aliwal-Xorth specimen ; but, so far as it is possible to found an 

 opinion on so imperfect a specimen, I am inclined to regard the 

 plant as more closely allied to a Gymnospermous than to a Lyco- 

 podiaceous genus. A comparison may be made with Eichwald's 

 Stigmatodendron Ledebourii^^ from the Carboniferous of Russia ; this 



1 Schenk (67) pi. v, figs. 1-4. 



2 Heer (71) pi. xi. 



3 Ward (05) pi. xxxiii, fig. 8. 



■* Yokoyaaia (06) pp. 27-28 & pi. vii, figs. 6-9. 



5 Krasser (05) pp. 604-605 & pi. ii, figs. 4-5. 



'^ Stirling (00) pi. i, fig. -3. 



■^ Seward (04) pi. xviii. figs. 36 & 37. 



=* Zeiller (02) pi. 1, figs. 16-19. 



a Schenk (87) pi. viii. fig. 44. 

 10 White (98) pis. xx-xxni. 

 " Eichwald (60) p. 208 & pi. xviii, fig. 5. 



