so 
The Queensland Naturalist October, 19 3 0 
clerful knowledge of the trees that compose it. Southern 
botanists may be inclined to 1 criticise the lack of informa- 
tion regarding some of the more temperate rain-forest 
species. For instance there seems no reason why Fagus 
Moorei should receive two and a half pages while its 
relative, F. Cunninghamii should receive only a few lines. 
Ceratopetalum apetalum, the coach wood, receives but 
scant notice compared with some of its allies, yet in New 
South Wales it is the dominating species in many of the 
rain-forests, and commercially ranks hardly second to 
an y. The term rain-forest is perhaps rather a vague one, 
but one would fancy that Tasmanian botanists would look 
lor such important species as Phyllocladus rhomboidalis 
(Celery Top Pine), Dacrydium Franklinii (Huon Pine), 
•etc. 
The descriptions and illustrations of the species are 
preceded by a synoptical account of the families and a 
table or key to enable identifications to be made. In this 
latter the first arrangement into groups is rather 
good, but the subsequent arrangement within the groups 
is rather misleading, giving the impression that the work 
was done rather hurriedly. 
A pleasing feature of the work is that the descrip- 
tions have all been drawn up from ample material, and 
in a very large number of cases from living specimens. 
This is in marked contrast to most Australian works on 
the region where the authors have been content to use 
Bentham’s descriptions from the “ Flora Australiensis” 
with little or no modification. 
Most of the spee : es are illustrated by a picture of 
the tree in the field, and of a plate showing the leaves, 
flowers and fruits. 
o 
THE PROGRESS AND THE PRESENT NEEDS 
OF QUEENSLAND PALAEONTOLOGY. 
By Dr. F. W. Whitehouse, Dept, of Geology, 
Queensland University. 
{ Presidential Address delivered before the Queensland 
Naturalists ’ Club. Monday, 17th, February, 1930.) 
Fossils in the sedimentary rocks of what is now the 
State of Queensland were first discovered in the early 
days of settlement and inland exploration. Settlement in 
Queensland dates from 1824. In 1826 the important coal 
seams of the Ipswich district were discovered. Consider- 
ing how rich those coal measures are in fossil plants such 
fossils must have attracted attention in those very early 
years • but there does not appear to be any reference m 
