Vol. 59.] POSSIL PLANTS PKOM NEW SOUTH WALES. 25 



2. Remakes upon Mr. E. A. Newell Arber's Communication : On the 

 Claeee Collection of Fossil Plants from New South Wales. 

 By Dr. F. Kurtz, Professor of Botany in the University of 

 Cordoba, Argentine Republic. (Communicated by A. C. Seward, 

 Esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. Read November 5th, 1902.) 



The perusal of Mr. Arber's above-cited paper 1 has suggested to me 

 the following observations. 



I quite agree with Mr. Arber's identification of the specimens 

 figured in his pi. i, figs. 1 & 2, with Rhiptozamites Goepperti, Schmalh., 

 which I take to be a synonym of Noeggerathiopsis Hislopi (Bunb.) 

 Feistm., as I already stated in 1894 (I). 2 Podozamites elongatus 

 (Morr.), Feistm., however, I regard as quite different from Noeggerathi- 

 opsis Hislopi. In the first place, we have Morris's specimens from 

 the Jerusalem Beds, Tasmania (which I know only from Feist- 

 mantel's figures) : these represent an oblong-lanceolate, nearly 

 ribbon-shaped leaf, tapering towards the base, where it is constricted 

 in quite a Cycadean fashion — a feature never observed in our very 

 numerous specimens of Noeggerathiopsis — and traversed by a rather 

 restricted number of basally bifurcating nerves (about ten nerves are 

 to be seen at the base, and eighteen to twenty-two in the middle of the 

 leaflets), which occur as parallel and not as spreading veins, and unite 

 a short distance below the apex. With this plant {Zeugophyllites 

 elongatus, Morris), Szajnocha (2) identified a fossil from Cacheuta, 

 Mendoza ; and Feistmantel (3) afterwards instituted Podozamites 

 elongatus (from Cape specimens), a fact overlooked by Mr. R. 

 Etheridge, Jun. (4), as well as by Mr. Arber. Mr. Etheridge 

 distinguished very well the Mulubimba plant, and gave a rather 

 good description of Noeggerathiopsis Hislopi, Fstm. We possess 

 quite a series of leaves from Cacheuta, which prove, first, Szajnocha's 

 determination to be correct, and, secondly, that P. elongatus, Fstm., 

 is quite a different plant from Noeggerathiopsis Hislopi, Fstm. 

 ( — Rhiptozamites Goepperti, Schmalh.). There are some leaves of 

 Noeggerathiopsis, which present — at least in their upper part — 

 parallel margins like Podozamites, but are immediately distinguished 

 from the Cycadean plant by the comparatively much larger number 

 of spreading nerves (the spreading veins also serve in most cases 

 as a distinguishing feature from Cordaites), and by their texture, as 

 far as this can be ascertained. The leaves of Noeggerathiopsis seem 

 to have been rather delicate, thin, and membranaceous (more or less 

 decayed leaves are infrequently met with), comparable, for instance, 

 with the leaflets of the living Caryota mitis, Lour. ; while the pinnse 

 of Podozamites appear to present a more leathery texture, like those 

 of our Zamia media, Jacq., or Z. muricata, W. I cannot therefore 

 see any reason to alter the synonymy of Noeggerathiopsis, as 



1 Quart. Jonrn. Geol. Soc. vol. lviii (1902) p. 1. 



2 Numerals in parentheses refer to the Bibliography on p. 26 



