240 COBDAITBAB [CH. 



S. America, also in the Rhaetic floras of Tonkin^ and Mexico^. 

 The fragments from Devonian strata at Iguana Creek, AustraHa, 

 named by McCoy* Cordaites australis are probably .pieces of the 

 rachis of some large frond. 



Wieland* recently discovered Cordaitean leaves exhibiting 

 a wide range in size and shape in the Mixteca flora of Mexico 

 in the lower members of a series which extends from the 'upper 

 borders of the Rhaetic' through the Liassic to the lower beds of 

 the Inferior Oolite. These leaves are referred to Noeggerathiopsis 

 Hislopi, and it is clear from an examination of photographs 

 received from Dr Wieland, one of which is reproduced in fig. 470, 

 that the Mexican Cordaites cannot be specifically distinguished 

 from Bunbury's type as represented by specimens described from 

 India, South Africa, Siberia, Tonkin, and elsewhere. 



The occurrence of Noeggerathiopsis is also recorded by New- 

 berry from the Rhaetic series of Honduras^. 



Noeggerathiofsis. This genus was founded by Feistmantel* for 

 some leaves from Lower Gondwana rocks in India originally 

 described by Bunbury' as Noeggerathia (Cyclopteris'^) Hislopi 

 (figs. 470 — 472) and regarded by him as probably Cycadean. 

 Several authors have added to our knowledge of this widely 

 spread southern type and in many localities the leaves occur 

 in association with platyspermic seeds of the Samaropsis or 

 Cordaicarpus type, pieces of stems with Cordaitean leaf-scars, 

 and petrified wood agreeing in the structure of the secondary 

 xylem with that of European species of Cordaites. In some 

 Permo-Carboniferous sandstones at Vereeniging, South Africa, 

 stumps and spreading roots (fig. 478) resembhng those described 

 from France by Grand'Eury (cf. fig. 468, A) have also been 

 discovered. A remarkable occurrence of roots and prostrate 

 stems of some forest-tree was recorded some years ago in the 

 bed of the Vaal river near Vereeniging where the surface of a seam 

 of coal was exposed over an area of more than two acres*. Large 



1 Zeiller (03) B. For other references see Seward (14). 



2 Wieland (13). » McCoy (74) B. Decade iv. p. 22. 

 * Wieland (13). 6 Newberry (88) p. 350. 



« Feistmantel (79^) p. 23; (80^). ' Bunbury (61) B. p. 334. 



" Mellor and LesHe (06) B. 



