﻿112 PKOF. A. C. SEWAHD AND MB. T. N^. LESLIE ON [Peb. I908, 



from the Tete coal-beds : — PecojHeris, Callipteridium^ Alethojpteris, 

 Annularia, Sphenophyllum, Cordaites, and Ccdamites. 



jS'oiie of the Tete species have been proved to occur in the South 

 African rocks, unless we make an exception in the case of Cordaites 

 horassifoliiis, which bears a fairly close resemblance to Nmggera- 

 thiojosis Hislopi ; we do not, however, think that the similarity 

 amounts to specific identity. The genus Sphenopliyllum has been 

 recorded from Natal,^ but the identification is based on a small 

 fragment ; this genus occurs in the Glossopteris-^oTSi, oi India. We 

 have referred with some hesitation one of the recently-discovered 

 specimens from Vereeniging to Ccdlipteridium, but the evidence is 

 by no means satisfactory. Granting the occurrence of one or two 

 of the Tete plants in more southern latitudes, the fact is clear that 

 Prof. Zeiller's list of plants denotes a flora distinct from the 

 Glossopteris-^OTdL of Gondwanaland. ]Vrany years ago George Grey^ 

 described some northern plants from Cape Colony which have often 

 been quoted as pointing to the existence of the European and North 

 American facies in the Cape rocks ; but, as one of us ^ has elsewhere 

 pointed out, there is strong reason to believe that these species were 

 recorded in error as South African fossils, and that they were 

 imported into the country with European or American coal. So far, 

 we have no grounds for asserting the existence of the Glossopteris- 

 flora in Africa north of Rhodesia ; on the other hand, it is clear 

 that the European Upper Carboniferous flora extended as far south 

 as the Zambesi, thus demonstrating the occurrence of two distinct 

 floras in Africa towards the close of the Palaeozoic Period.^ It is 

 important to bear in mind how few species have been recorded 

 from South Africa ; this is in all probability due, not merely to our 

 ignorance through lack of material, but in part at least to the 

 nature of the Glossoptei^is-^ora, which, though rich in certain species, 

 was poor in the number of its members — a fact probably associated 

 with the glacial conditions of which abundant evidence exists. 

 This is, at least, a familiar explanation which obviously suggests 

 itself as a reasonable hypothesis. The small number and the 

 imperfect state of preservation of the plants obtained from pre- 

 Carboniferous rocks in South Africa^ make it impossible to attempt 

 to draw a comparison between the Glossop>teris-^ora, and the flora 

 which preceded it. The occurrence in Australia of older rocks 

 with plant-remains tempts one to express the opinion that the 

 Glossopteris--Q.OTai succeeded a flora comparable with the Lower 

 Carboniferous or Devonian flora in the I^orthern Hemisphere. The 

 fragmentary remains described from the Witteberg Series of Cape 

 Colony are not inconsistent with this view. 



AVe have long suspected that the distinction between the Glos- 

 sopteris-^oia and the Upper Carboniferous and Permian floras of 

 the Xorthern Hemisphere has been exaggerated ; although it is 

 undoubtedly true that a striking difference exists, not only in the 



1 Arber (05*) p. 36. - Grey (71). "" Seward (03) p. 88. 



* Arber (05*) pp. xvii-xviii & map ; Seward (03*) p. 833 ; Zeiller (97). 

 ° Seward (03) p. 102 ; Schwarz (06). 



