9 
B. The Rh/etic Flora of the Clent Hills (Canterbury). 
Locality .—The Clent Hills lie some distance to the west of Christchurch "(see 
map, fig. 1), hut not so far to the west as Mount Potts. The beds occurring there 
have been described by Haast(l). 
The Collections .—Fossil plants were first discovered in this locality by Haast(l), 
and his specimens are no doubt included in the large Survey collection from this 
locality. Another but smaller collection has been for many years in the British 
Museum (Natural History). The specimens, as a rule, however, are fragmentary, 
and but rarely clearly preserved. 
Previous Records .—The only previous records(2) from the Clent Hills, other than 
mere nomina nuda, are eight specimens figured by Hector(3) in 1886. The first of 
these, Asplenites rhomboides Hect., is a small fragment of Thinnfeldia sp., perhaps 
T. argentinica (Gein.). The Pecopteris acuta and P. linearis of Hector are fragments 
of fronds of Cladophlebis australis. The Vertebraria novce-zealandice Hect. is a wholly 
obscure fossil, presenting no similarity to any known species of Vertebraria. A small 
leaf-sheath of a Phyllotheca is, however, seen on the same specimen, and is also 
figured by Hector. The Taxites maitai of Hector is a small fragment of Elatocladus 
conferta (0. & M.). Further fragments of Cladophlebis are also figured under the 
names Pecopteris ovata Hect. and Pecopteris obtusata Hect. Hector’s Camptopteris 
incisa is Dictyophyllum acutilobum (Braun). 
Previous Opinions as to the Age of the Beds. —Haast’s(4) conclusions on this point 
have been already quoted on pages 6-7. 
Conclusions as to the Age of the Beds .—The following is a list of the determinations 
included here from the Clent Hills :— 
Equisetales—- 
Phyllotheca minuta sp. nov. 
Fern-like Plants— 
Thinnfeldia odontopteroides (Morr.). 
T. sp. cf. T. argentinica (Gein.). 
Cladophlebis australis (Morr.). 
Dictyophyllum acutilobum (Braun). 
Tceniopteris Daintreei McCoy. 
T. Thomsoniana sp. nov. 
CONIFERALES- 
Elatocladus conferta (0. & M.). 
It is obvious that this flora is closely related to that of the Mount Potts beds, 
the records of which are enumerated on page 8. The species Tceniopteris Daintreei 
McCoy is an essentially Jurassic plant, which may, however, also occur in the Rhsetic, 
while the doubtful attribution, Thinnfeldia argentinica (Gein.), is unknown from the 
Mount Potts beds(5). Otherwise all the Clent Hills fossils are identical with plants 
occurring at Mount Potts. At the Clent Hills, however, no trace of the genera Lingui- 
folium, Chiropteris, or Baiera has been found. Nevertheless I conclude that the age 
of the beds, as at Mount Potts, is Rhsetic, though the Clent Hills beds may be slightly 
younger in age than those of the former locality. 
Age. —Rhsetic. 
(1) Haast (1872 2 ), (1877). 
(2) Haast (1877), p. 4, recorded Pecopteris 
(two or three species), Camptopteris, 
Tceniopteris, Otopteris, Cyclopteris, 
Sphenopteris, and other genera from 
this locality. 
(3) Hector (1886 1 ), pp. 65-66, figs. 30-30a. 
Also Arber (1913), p. 126. 
(4) Haast (1877), p. 6. 
(5) Thinnfeldia odontopteroides (Morr.) is also at 
present unknown from the Mount Potts 
beds.—[P. G. M.] 
