178 LYCOPODIALES [CH. 



published by Zeiller^ it is clear that Carruthers' species is a 

 true Lepidodendron ; an examination of the type-specimens in 

 the British Museum confirms this determination. The con- 

 tiguous leaf-cushions have rounded angles similar in form 

 to those of Lepidodendron Veliheimianum and L. dichotomum, 

 but it is not unlikely that the Brazilian plant is specifically 

 distinct from European species. A figure of one of the specimens 

 on which Carruthers founded the species is given by Arber^ in 

 his Olossopteris Flora. The Brazilian plant is chiefly interesting 

 as affording proof of the existence of Lepidodendron in the 

 southern hemisphere ; the species has also been recognised 

 in South Africa from material collected by Mr Leslie at 

 Vereeniging'. 



As Zeiller'' has suggested, it is not improbable that the 

 fossils described by Renault" from Brazil as Lycopodiopsis 

 Derhyi may be the petrified stems of Lepidodendron Pedro- 

 anum. The structure of the central cylinder of Renault's 

 species is of the type represented by L. Harcourtii; the 

 xylem forms a continuous ring and does not consist of separate 

 strands of tracheae as Renault believed. 



10. Lepidodendron australe (M'Coy). Figs. 187, A — C. 



Specimens described under this name are interesting rather 

 on account of their extended geographical range and geological 

 antiquity than on botanical grounds. The drawings reproduced 

 in fig. 187 illustrate the characteristic appearance of this Lower 

 Carboniferous and Upper Devonian type, as represented by a 

 specimen recently described' from the Lower Karroo (Dwyka) 

 series, which is probably of Carboniferous age, near Orange 

 River Station, South Africa. The surface is divided into polj'- 

 gonal or rhomboidal areas (figs. A and B) 8 — 9 mm. long and 

 7 — 8 mm. broad, arranged in regular series and representing 

 leaf-scars, comparable with those of Sigillaria Brardi and other 

 species, or possibly partially decorticated leaf-cushions. A short 



1 Zeiller (95). See also White (08) p. 447. 



2 Arber (05) PI. i. fig. 2. s Seward and Leslie (08). 

 * Zeiller (98). " Eenault (90). 



« Seward (07=). 



