162 
Geology of Sydney. 
were inclined to think that they had to deal with some 
of the flat-leaved conifers, such as our own Phyllo- 
cladus, or celery-topped pine, which inhabits New 
Zealand, Tasmania, and Borneo. It would seem rather 
difficult to decide whether we are here dealing with a 
fern or pine, because the venation of the leaves of 
some conifers is so very like that of a fern ; and what 
makes it still more remarkable in the case of our 
common species is that, though we meet with large 
quantities of leaves in every stage of development, 
there has never yet been seen the least sign of fruit. 
Then the stipes are so enormously thick and woody, 
and the mode of insertion of the leaflets so peculiar. 
However, the best authorities have decided that it 
is a fern, and as such, for the present, we must 
regard it.” 
Another plant of very great interest is Tceniopteris 
a near relation of which, Macrotamiopteris , is shown in 
Fig 4. In the figure referred to the fronds do not 
resemble those of a fern, any more than the leaves of our 
common bird-nest fern are suggestive of ferns. Tceni- 
opteris , and its other closely-related forms, are ferns 
with simple fronds of one leaf, having a well-marked 
mid-rib, and numerous veins emerging from the mid- 
rib at an oblique angle* but almost immediately becom- 
ing horizontal. Some of the veins fork once, rarely 
twice, and all reach the margin. True Tceniopteris is 
confined to the Secondary rocks in Australia, and is a 
characteristic Mesozoic plant, so much so that a single 
specimen of Tceniopteris found in association with 
