288 ME. E. A. NEWELL AEBEE ON [May I903, 



Appendix III. 



Notes on some Fossil Plants collected by Mr. Molyneux in 

 Rhodesta. By E. A. Newell Aebee, Esq., M.A., F.G.S., 

 Demonstrator in Paleobotany in the University of Cambridge. 



The fossil plants from Rhodesia collected by Mr. Molynenx, and 

 presented by him to the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), are, so far as 

 I am aware, the first specimens to be described from this region. 

 They w^ere obtained from three different localities. The most note- 

 worthy are those from a small area of fine horizontal sedimentary 

 beds, resting on nearly vertical metamorphic rocks., at the Si si 

 siding on the Bechuanaland Railway. Two of the specimens 

 [V 7592-93] 1 from this locality contain fairly well-preserved fronds 

 of the fern-like plant Glossopteris Browniana, Brongt., and of some 

 of its varieties. 



Some of these fronds are remarkable, as showing what I think 

 may possibly prove to be the imprints of the sori or the sporangia. 

 Our present knowledge of the reproductive organs of Glossopteris 

 is very unsatisfactory. Nothing whatever is known as to the 

 structural features of the sporangium. The position of the sori 

 or of the sporangia on the frond is still doubtful, for the 

 markings exhibited by certain fronds of this plant, which were 

 regarded by Bunbury and Eeistmantel, 2 and more recently by 

 Prof. Zeiller, 3 as indicating the position of the sori, may have had 

 no real connection with the fructification. The markings consist 

 of fairly-large, circular, or oval spots or holes, usually lying in two 

 or more longitudinal series on either side of the midrib. As has 

 been pointed out by several authors, 4 these certainly suggest that 

 the position of the sori may have been similar to that of certain 

 recent Polypodiaceous ferns. In the absence, however, of any 

 evidence connecting these holes with the occurrence of sporangia, 

 their origin may possibly be accounted for in other ways. 



Several months ago, while examining some specimens of 

 Glossopteris from the Lower Gondwanas near Bhuwan (India) in 

 the Geological Department of the British Museum, I was struck by 

 the peculiar appearance of some of the fronds. Along the 

 midrib, and usually arranged in four or more parallel lines, there 

 occur longitudinal series of quite small protuberances or pits. The 

 latter are considerably smaller than a pin's head. When I came to 

 examine the specimens from Rhodesia, I was surprised to find 

 almost exactly the same appearance as in the Indian specimens. 

 The rows of small, circular, or oval protuberances or minute knobs 

 (or, in the majority of the Rhodesian specimens, small dot-like pits), 

 are confined entirely to the region of the midrib, or to an area 

 slightly broader than the midrib. I have not so far succeeded in 



1 Registered numbers of specimens in the Geological Department of the 

 British Museum (Natural History), South Kensington. 



2 Feistmantel, Pal. Indica, ser. 12, 1881, 'Fossil Flora of the Gondwana 

 System ' vol. iii, pt. 3, p. 97, pi. xxvi a, figs. 1-4, & pi. xxvii a, figs. 1, 2, 5. 



'3 Bull. Soc.Geol. France, ser. 3, vol. xxiv (1896) p. 370 & pi. xviii, figs. 3-3' 4 

 -1 Seward, Quart. Journ. Geol. Snc. yol. liii (1897) p. 319. 



