558 
specimens now under description agree entirely witli tie Indian species, but seem to be 
rather smaller than the European, the general width of a pinna being tvvo-sixteentbs of 
an inch. 
The figures of Oldham and Morris* * * § represent p irtions of fronds as long as seven 
inches, and two and a-half inches wide, hut the largest of our specimens is four inches 
long and one and a-quarter wide. The pinnae are certainly narrower than D. gleiclienioides, 
but as this point may entirely depend on the position occupied by the specimen in the 
frond, it cannot he taken a.-? a point of much importance. 
As no fructification has been seen, it would perhaps he more advisable to place 
the Croydon fos.sils, “ cliaraeteri.sed by the slenderness of the w'hole leaf, and by the 
delicate linear form of the joinnse” (Eeistmantel), in Gleichenites, as Oldham and 
Morri.s have done with their species; althongli, be it noted, they refer to the general 
resemblance of the latter to Didymosorus. On the other hand, so close a resemblance 
can hardly liave existed without some corresponding affinity in the productive state, and 
I shall therefore veuture to place GlcioJionites gleiclienioides in Didgmosorns, and pro- 
visionally refer the Australian form to it. 
The general relations of this peculiar fern have been ably discussed by the late 
Messrs. Oldham and Morris ; hut in their deseriptiou Ihey slate the piunse are alternate. 
Their figures, how'ever, show as much variation from alternate to opposite as do our 
specimens. At the same time the pinnro are apparently closer in the Indian fossils. 
The small ovatelj -pointed pinnules, eutirelj'’ deeurrent as they are, give to the 
pinnas a fret-saw-like appearance, and are evidently a very characteristic feature of the 
fern. In consequence of the gritty nature of the matrix the venation is obscure, hut 
Oldham and IMorris say generally — “The nervation of the pinnules is very indistinct, 
hut seems to consist of a small floxuous midrib becoming nearly obsolete at the end of 
the pinnules, and from which secondary veins pass off obliquely at irregular intervals.’ t 
Loc. and Horizon. True Blue Hill, Croynlon Gold Eield, North Queensland 
(R. L. Jack). 
Family— DICTYOTAHNIOPTERIDA:. 
Genus — GLOSSOFTERI8, Brongniart, 1828. 
(Prodrome Hist. V^g. Poss., p. 54.) 
Ohs. The discovery of this genus by Mr. AY. H. Itands, in beds believed to be of 
the age of the Desert Sandstone, has already been referred to.J That the plant-remains 
so discovered are portions of the fronds of Glossopleris is unquestionable. The majority 
I am simply unable to distinguish from G. Broieniana, Brong., two at least possessing 
the broad striated midrib represented in some of Dr. 0. Fcistmantel’s figure8.§ AVith 
these are portions of two other very large fronds, with fine close veins, which stream 
out at a very low angle from the midrib, producing a long, narrow mesh, and recall to 
mind the appearance of G. icBniopteroides, Eeist.,|| and G. ampla, Dana.^ The large 
size that these leaves unquestionably attained indicate the latter species as that to 
which they are more nearly allied It wnll be remembered that both O. Broivniana and 
O. ampla. occur in the Bowen Eiver Series of the Fermo-Qarhoniferous.** 
* Pal. Indica (Gondvvana Flora), 1860, i., Pt. 1, fas. 6, p. 46, t. 25, t. 26, f. 2 and 3. 
t Loc. cit., p. 46. 
X See pp. 169 and 193. 
§ Mem. Geol. Survey IST. S. Wales, Pal. No. 3, 1890, t. 17, f. 1, 1«. 
II Ibid., t. 18, f. 1, la. 
IT Ibid., t. 19, f. 1 and 2. 
** See pp. 193 and 195, 
