THE PERMIAN PERIOD. 



645 



It had small bract-like leaves closely and thickly attached to the 

 limbs, giving it a scrawny appearance. Voltzia (Fig. 298, h) is inter- 

 esting as a supposed forerunner of the group (Cryptomeria) to which 

 the giant sequoia and the bald cypress belong. The abbreviated 



I r ' h 



Fig. 298 — Representative types of the Glossopteris Flora: a, Glossopteris 

 communis, Fstm.; b, G. angustifolia, Bgt.; c, Gangamopteris cyclopteroides , Fstm.; 

 d, Noeggerathiopsis hislop, Bunb.; e, Neuropteris valida, Fstm.; /, Schizoneura 

 gondwanensis , Fstm. ; g, Phyllotheca indica, Bunb. ; h, Voltzia heterophylla, Bgt. 



leaves and pauperitic aspect of both Walchia and Voltzia will be 

 noted. 



The Glossopteris flora. — The most remarkable vegetal event of 

 the period was the evolution of the Glossopteris (tongue-fern) flora 

 in the southern hemisphere, and its migration into the northern. The 

 representative members of this flora were the ferns Glossopteris, Gan- 



