— 405 — 
The synonymy of the older Gondwana species, which is compli- 
cated in but few instances, is repeated in many of the papers by Feis- 
tmantel and more fully elaborated as the result of critical revisions 
or examinations of types by Zeiller, Seward, and Arber, and more 
particularly by the last named paleobotanist, who has collocated the 
literature of the entire flora in a work that is so accessible to stu- 
dents as hardly to justify synonymic repetition at so early a date. 
I have therefore in many cases confined my citations to the origi- 
nal or type publications and to publications in which the species are 
illustrated, together with the citation of some additional works in 
which copious, if not all, references for the species are given. 
At the outset it was my intention to confine the systematic 
treatment to the species represented in the collections in my hands. 
Later, however, the number of exceptional or remaining Brazilian 
species was found to be so small thatit was thought best to include 
these as well. The data as to the repository of the types of the 
latter are taken from Professor Arber’s catalogue. For the benefit of 
Brazilian students who may not have access to the foreign litera- 
ture on the lower Godwana or Gangamopteris fiora,I have in most 
cases given short generic characterizations as well as the descriptions 
of the species. 
The small addition to the known types of the Brazilian coal 
fiora here recorded offers but an earnest of the palaeobotanical wealth 
that is to be gained from this great and as yet almost unexplored 
region of the earth. It is hoped that the deficiencies here exposed 
and the palaeobotanical problems outlined will draw the attention of 
Brazilian students to the need of systematic and thorough palaeo- 
botanical research in the Permo-Carboniferous as well as other for- 
mations of the Republic. 
