Vol. 59.] FOSSIL PLANTS FEOM RHODESIA. 289 



finding any trace of a sporangium, and it is by no means certain 

 at present that these small protuberances, or the pits which 

 probably result from the removal of the protuberance, are at all 

 connected with the fructification. These characters do, however, 

 recall the position and type of sori met with among certain recent 

 ferns, especially the Polypodiaceous genus Blechnum, and the 

 provisional suggestion, that these markings really indicate the 

 position of the sori on the frond, is not open to some of 

 the objections that can be raised against the specimens which 

 have previously been described as showing the position of the 

 fructification. I hope to undertake a further examination, and to 

 give a fuller account of these interesting specimens, before very 

 long. 



The occurrence of Glossopteris in Rhodesia is interesting, but not 

 perhaps very remarkable, for the Glossopteris-^ora has already been 

 described from regions both to the north and the south of that 

 province. Prom the neighbourhood of Johannesburg, Prof. Zeiller 1 

 and Mr. Seward 2 have examined a most interesting flora of this 

 type, and Prof. Potonie 3 has shown that Glossopteris occurs as far 

 north as German East Africa. The evidence of the plants from Sisi 

 helps to fill in a gap between these two distant regions, and would 

 tend to confirm the impression that there may be a considerable 

 development and a wide distribution of Glossopteris-bQ&vmg rocks in 

 Southern Africa, as in Australasia. 4 The age of the beds in which 

 the Glossojiteris-fLora, is typically developed in India, Australia, and 

 elsewhere is usually regarded as Permo-Carboniferous, While 

 it would be unwise to attempt to determine definitely the horizon 

 of the beds at Sisi from the evidence of a single plant, there is at 

 least some probability that they may eventually prove to be of 

 similar age. It would be a matter of great interest if further 

 specimens could be obtained to determine this point, and also 

 whether the remarkable association of northern and southern plant- 

 types, found in the beds near Johannesburg, occurs also in Rhodesia. 



The Tuli Coalfield, lying some distance to the south of 

 Bulawayo, is represented in Mr. Molyneux's collection by a single 

 plant-remain [V 7597] found between two seams of coal. This is 

 a pith-cast of a plant somewhat closely resembling a European 

 Carboniferous calamite, such as Ccdamites (Calamitina) approximata, 

 Brongt. The structural features of the surface of the cast are, 

 however, hidden by a layer of coal, and the preservation is not 

 perhaps sufficiently good to warrant more than a reference to 

 Catamites as the probable genus to which the specimen belongs. 



The three remaining specimens are from the Sengwe Coalfield, 

 about 150 miles from Bulawayo in Northern Matabeleland, and 

 belong to a horizon termed by Mr. Molyneuxthe Matobola Beds. 



1 Bull. Soc. Geol. France, ser. 3, vol. xxiv (1896) p. 349. 



2 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. liii (1897) p. 315. 



3 Sit7Aingsbei\ Gesellsch. Naturf. Freuncle zu Berlin, 1899, p 27. 



4 T. W. E. David, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, ser. 2, vol. ix (1894) p. 249. 



