cii PROCEP^DiyGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [vol. lxxix, 



Mountain Series is the Bokkeveld Series, in which older Devonian 

 marine fossils have heen discovered, and, in the upper part, some 

 remains of Lepidodendroid plants. Several specimens of similar 

 Lepidodendroid plant-fragments are recorded from the overlying 

 Witteberg Series, some of them closely resembling stems of 

 Cyclostigma from the Upper Devonian flora of Bear Island and 

 other regions. In the Witteberg Beds of Cape Colony the proble- 

 matical fossil Spirophyton is a characteristic feature : as Dr. A. 

 W. Ilogers & Dr. A. L. du Toit say, — ' whether a true fossil or 

 not, Spirophyton has been found of great service in enabling the 

 Witteberg Beds to be recognized '. The type-species, Spirophyton 

 cauda- g alii, first described from Devonian rocks in [North America, 

 occurs under various forms in strata ranging in age from Silurian 

 to Tertiary. I have elsewhere discussed its nature, and expressed 

 the opinion that it is of inorganic origin. Specimens recently 

 shown to me by Dr. B. Kidston, which were obtained from Lower 

 Carboniferous strata in Scotland, differ from the great majority of 

 previously discovered examples in having the surface covered with 

 a thick film of coal : while it is possible that the carbonaceous 

 matter came from some other source, it affords an argument 

 favourable to the view of several authors that SpiropJiyton owes 

 its occurrence. to some large marine Alga. 



Various fossil plants have been described from Australian rocks 

 assigned by some geologists to an Upper Devonian age, but by 

 others classed as Carboniferous. From certain localities Devonian 

 plants have undoubtedly been obtained. The species usually 

 known as Lepidodendron australe M'Coy occurs in both Devonian 

 and Carboniferous rocks : it is closely allied to some of the Upper 

 Palaeozoic Lepidodendra of the Northern Hemisphere. 



Time does not admit of a consideration of the oldest Australian 

 flora ; but I would draw attention to a close resemblance between 

 some plant-remains described by W. S. Dun from strata in New 

 South Wales said to be Upper Devonian as Pecopteris (/) obscura, 

 and the Upper Devonian plant from Maine named by Dr. David 

 White Barinophyton richardsoni. There is no doubt that, before 

 the close of the Devonian Period, plants which appear to be 

 generically identical had spread from well within the Arctic circle 

 to the latitude of Southern Australia. 



A remarkable feature of the Upper Devonian floras is the high 



