58 
Genus ELATOCLADUS Halle, 1913. 
(Wissensch. Ergeb. Schwed. Siidpolar-Exped., vol. iii, pt. xiv, p. 82.) 
Hr. Halle(l) has recently proposed the term Elatocladus for “ sterile Coniferous branches 
of the radial or the dorsi-ventral type, which do not show any characters which permit 
them to be included in one of the genera instituted for more peculiar forms.” It is 
a common experience, when dealing with Mesozoic Conifers, to find difficulty in deciding 
as to which genus certain sterile shoots should be referred, the genera in question being 
chiefly characterized by the form of their cones. In other words, one can among 
these sterile shoots easily determine the species, whereas the generic attribution is a 
matter of greater difficulty. Dr. Halle’s suggestion is that in such cases one should 
not attempt, in the absence of the cones, to refer the fossils to such genera as 
Palissya, Taxites, &c., but place them in a special genus Elatocladus. This suggestion 
is a good one, and will be adopted here. 
1. Elatocladus conferta (Oldham and Morris). Plate I, figs. 1, 3 ; Plate VI, 
fig. 4 ; Plate VIII, fig. 6. 
1863. Cunninghamites confertus Oldham and Morris, Foss. Flora Gondw. System (Pal. Indica), 
vol. i, pt. i, pi. xxxii, fig. 10. 
1877. Palissya conjerta Feistmantel, ibid., vol. i, pt. ii, pp. 85-137, pi. xlv, figs. 4-8; 
pi. xlviii, fig. 4. 
1877. Palissya conjerta Feistmantel, ibid., vol. i, pt. iii, pp. 21-183, pi. v, fig. 3 ; pi. viii, 
figs. 1-6. 
1879. Palissya conjerta Feistmantel, ibid., vol. i, pt. iv, pp. 216-26, pi. xiv, fig. 3; pi. xv, 
%• 14 . 
1900. Palissya australis McCoy, in Stirling, Rep. on Victorian Coalfields, No. 7, p. 6, pi. iii, 
figs. 8, 9. 
1913. Palissya conjerta Arber, Proc. Roy. Soc. London, ser. B, vol. lxxxvi, p. 346, pi. viii, 
fig. 5. 
1913. Elatocladus conjerta Halle, Wissen. Ergeb. Schwed. Siidpolar-Exped., vol. iii, Lief. 14, 
p. 86, pi. viii, figs. 26-40. 
Diagnosis. —Shoots freely branched, branches with dorsi-ventral symmetry, arising 
at a wide angle. Leaves spirally arranged, but twisted into two rows, falsely distichous, 
sessile, decurrent, usually making a very open angle with the axis. Lamina oblong- 
linear, about 6 mm. long and 1 mm. across, slightly contracted at the base, uninerved ; 
apex obtuse. 
Description of the Specimens.—Elatocladus conferta (0. & M.) appears to be widely 
distributed in New Zealand, and is a very variable type. A branched specimen from 
the Rhsetic of Mount Potts is figured, twice enlarged, on Plate VI, fig. 4, associated 
with Tceniopteris Thomsoniana. This appears to be identical with the Indian Gondwana 
specimens, and also with those recently figured from Grahamland by Halle. 
A drawing of similarly branched fragments from the Clent Hills is shown on 
Plate I, fig. 1, natural size. 
Another specimen from the Jurassic of the Malvern Hills is seen, natural size, 
on the same plate, fig. 3. The leaves here are distinctly broader than in the previous 
examples. This type is, however, known elsewhere, and has been included under 
E. conferta by both Feistmantel and Halle(2). These specimens very closely resemble 
some described from the Jurassic rocks of India by Feistmantel(3) in 1877. A drawing 
of a fragment of a leafy shoot from Gore is reproduced on Plate VIII, fig. 6, natural 
size. 
1) Halfe (1913 1 ), p. 83. 
(2) Halle (1913 1 ), pi. viii, tig. 35. 
(3) Feistmantel (1877 2 ), pi. viii, figs. 1-6. 
