1876.] Knowledge of the Fossil Flora in India. 351 



We should therefore have Vertebraria as rhizome, Phyllotheca* (those 

 stems which are called by this name) as stalks, and Schizoncura as the 

 leaved branches of one and the same plant. 



5. But I think Vertebraria could have belonged as rhizome also to 

 some other plants of other genera or species, and in the Raniganj field it 

 coidd have belonged also to Sphenophyllum, in the Kamthis to the 

 FhyUotheca indica (the real FhyUotheca) . 



6. In Australia, in the upper coal- strata, this genus belonged certainly 

 to FhyUotheca too, as it is always associated with it, and no other 

 Equisetaceous plant has hitherto been found with it. 



7. But in some localities we do not find it associated with any plant 

 to which it could be referred j which, however, is no proof against the 

 suppositions I have just made. 



Besides these complete specimens of Vertebraria, a specimen is in 

 Mr. Wood-Mason's collection which more resembles that described by Sir 

 Charles Bunbury : it is a branching specimen, which in reality seems to 

 be a rootlet, as Sir Ch. Bunbury explained it ; I have given a figure of 

 it on pi. xv, fig. 4. 



From other places we have better specimens of the same kind, in 

 which the branching agrees exactly with Sir Charles Bunbury' s description ; 

 and I will describe them hereafter. 



The following table is given to illustrate the occurrence of Equisetacese 

 in the Raniganj field : — 



* The real PliyUotheca with a closed leaf-spathe is a peculiar genus. 



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