23 
Ohs. — A fruiting cone (Plate I, fig. 15), and leaves demonstrate tlie 
occurrence of tlie genus Alnus in the Tertiary Flora of Australia. The first 
was recognised by me in the British Museum, among the collection of fossil 
plants from Bisdon, near ITohart, Tasmania. According to its diameter at 
the middle, it occupies a position between the cones of A Inns Kefersteinii, 
Goepp., sp., and A. sporadum, Ung., on the one hand — and between those of 
A. gracilis, Ung., and A. cycladum, Ung., on the other hand. With reference 
to the character of the scales, it approaches the two last named, which have 
thin and often somewhat incurved scales. Our species is, however, dis- 
tinguished from these species by somewhat more robust and more incurved 
scales. 
The leaf shown in Fig. 16 is derived from the Tertiary strata near the 
mouth of the Fiver Derwent, in Tasmania. It also approaches closely the 
form of the leaves of A. gracilis and A. cycladum. As regards the more 
prominent connective tertiary veins it approximates most closely the leaves of 
A. cycladum , from the Fossil Flora of Kumi (compare Unger, loc. cit., PL 
III, figs. 18 and 19). 
The leaf shown in PI. I, fig. 17, from a ferruginous sandstone from 
Dalton, near Gunning, appears to me to belong to A. Mueller i, although the 
tertiary veins are wanting, owing to the composition of the embedding rock 
being unfavourable to preservation. 
I dedicated this species to Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, the Govern- 
ment Botanist in Melbourne. 
As its nearest analogues in the Tertiary Flora of Europe (inclusive of 
the Arctic zone) we may regard Alnus gracilis, Ung., and in the Tertiary Flora 
of North America, A. americana, Ett. 
As regards the extent of the former, and the study of the latter species, 
I may be permitted to make the following remarks : — 
In the “ Miocene Flora of the Baltic ” (page 67), Dr. O. Ileer has 
given an elaborate review of those fossil alder leaves which he regards as 
belonging to Alnus Kefersteinii, Ung. On the other hand, he has failed to 
find in that flora any leaves corresponding to the A. gracilis, Ung., whose 
independence will be conceded on account of the discovered cones, although 
the fruiting cones of both species occur, and it is therefore most probable 
that the leaves of both species have also been preserved among the great 
