part 3] jUEASSic plants teom cetlon. 271 



8. JuEASsic Plants from Ceylon. By Prof. Albert Chaeles 

 Sewaed, Sc.D., F.R.S., Pres.G.S., and Richaed Eetc 

 HoLTTUM, B.A. (Eead Januaiy 18th, 1922.) 



[Plate XII.] 



The plants described in this paper were collected by Mr. E. J. 

 Wayland, Government Geologist of Uganda, in the course of a 

 mineral survey of Ceylon : they are the first fossil plants recorded 

 from the island. Several small though well-defined impressions 

 of plants were discovered at Tabbowa in the North-West Province 

 (lat. 8° S., long. 80° E.) in a pale-yellow shale resting ' directly on 

 Archa?an rocks and folded in with them.' In writing to Dr. A. 

 Morle}^ Davies, from whom we received the collection, Mr. Wayland 

 speaks of the discovery of the plant-beds as the result of ' the 

 most arduous work ' that he has ever done : — 



' dense jungle and lateritic earth masked exposures, and mosquitoes were 

 dreadful. The monsoon was late, and one by one men fell sick, and the day 

 came when all the men (and headman) were down. Then, after doctoring- 

 them to the best of my ability, I proceeded to carry on the work alone, 

 cutting my own path through the jungle and doing everything myself.' 



The results obtained b}^ Mr. Wayland are of considerable 

 importance from a phytogeographical and a stratigraphical point 

 of view. 



PTEEIDOPHYTA : Filicales. Fam. ? Osmundace^. 



Cladophlebis eeteesa (Feistmantel) [=?Todites William- 

 SONI (Brongniart)]. (PI. XII, figs. 13, 15 «, 15 I, & 16.) 



The three imperfect pinnse referred to this species are character- 

 ized by the relatively broad axis and the Cladophlebis type of 

 venation. The venation is most clearly seen in fig. 15 h, which 

 represents a crushed fragment with short and broadly rounded 

 pinnules attached by the whole base. These and the more linear 

 pinnules shown in fig. 16 agree very closel}^ with examples of 

 Todites Williamsoni figured from the Jurassic rocks of 

 Yorkshire,^ Graham Land ^ on the borders of Antarctica, and 

 many other regions. The smaller specimen shown in fig. 13 may 

 belong to the same species, but the venation is invisible. In the 

 absence of fertile pinnules we cannot with complete confidence 

 refer the specimens to the Osmundacese, although, in view of the 

 occurrence of fertile pinnules in the Graham-Land beds and their 

 close agreement in habit with the Ceylon fragments, an Osmund- 

 aceous affinity is probable. 



^ Seward (00) pi. xv, fig. 1. Numerals in parentheses refer to the Biblio- 

 graphy, p. 276. 



2 Halle (13) pi. iii, figs. 1-5. 



