part 3] fossil plants from the Falkland islands. 331 



is (in our opinion) based on the misleading appearance of the incom- 

 plete specimen which he described. We believe that his fragment 

 -is part of a leaf of Glossopteris Broioniana. We are, however, 

 •disposed to think that the type of leaf from the North Arm beds, 

 which we have called G. indica cf. G. decipiens, may indicate a 

 geological age rather earlier than that of the beds from which 

 the more typical Glossojiteris indica leaves were obtained, as, for 

 •example, Speedwell Island, George Island, Dos Lomas. Data 

 supplied by a comparison of Glossopteris and Gangamopteris 

 leaves from Lower Gkmdwana rocks, considered in connexion with 

 inferences drawn from a comparative study of recent Ferns, some 

 genera of which have fronds that bear a striking resemblance to 

 those of Glossopteris (a genus which was probably not a true 

 fern), warrant the conclusion that the earlier forms of frond 

 •lacked the clear differentiation of midrib and lateral veins 

 Avhich characterizes the later-developed species. 



In a word, we are disposed to assign the beds at Cygnet 

 Harbour and Egg Harbour to a slightly higher position in the 

 <londwana System than the other plant-bearing strata, on the 

 ground of the strong resemblance of the Equisetaceous stems 

 found there to Triassic examples of Neocalamites. The beds 

 •containing the more typical forms of Glossopteris indica, also 

 G. Broioniana, and the Equisetaceous stems compared with 

 PJiyllotheca, we regard as homotaxial with the Damuda and 

 Beaufort Series of India and South Africa respectively, and with 

 Permian rocks in the Northern Hemisphere, while the beds at 

 North Arm may be somewhat older. The wood described as 

 Dadoxylon Bakeri does not in itself furnish a trustworthy 

 criterion of geological age, as stems of the same general type 

 range from Devonian to Upper Triassic horizons ; but, in our 

 opinion, it bears the closest resemblance to stems from the Barakar 

 (Damuda) Beds of India and the Ecca Series of South Africa. 



Bibliography. 



Aeber, E. A. N. (05) 'Catalogue of the Fossil Plants of the Glossopteris Flora 



in the Department of Geology, British Museum (Natural 



History ' London, 1905. 

 Aeber, E. A. N. (10) ' A Note on a Fossil Wood from Intombi Camp, Ladysmith ' 



Ann. Natal Gov. Mus. vol. ii (1909-13) London, 1916, p. 233. 

 Bancroft, N. (13) ' Bhexoxylon africanum, a New Medullosean Stem ' Trans. 



Linn. Soc. vol. viii, pt. 2 (1913) p. 87. 

 Brehmer, W. von. (14) ' Ueber eiue Glossopteris-Ylorn am Ulugurugebirge 



(Deutsch-Ostafrika) ' Engler's Bot. Jahrb. vol. Ii, pts. 3 & 4 



(1914) p. 399. 

 Elkinb, Marion G., & G. R. Wieland. (14) 'Cordaitean Wood from the 



Indiana Black Shale ' Amer. Journ. Sci. ser. 4, vol. xxxviii 



(1914) p. 65. 

 Feistmantel, 0. (79) ' The Flora of the Talchir-Karharbari Beds ' Mem. Geol. 



Surv. India, Pal. Indica, vol. iii, 1879. 

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Geol. Surv. India, Pal. Indica. vol. iii, pt. 2, 1881. 

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Australia & Tasmania ' Mem. Geol. Surv. N.S.W. Palaeont. 



No. 3, Sydney, 1890. 



