398 
Miscellanea. 
ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS OF THE CARBONACEOUS STRATA NEAR 
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA ; BY PROFESSOR SEDGWICK. 
The cliffs on the coast near Sydney exhibit a series of strata 
which have been compared with the Devonian rocks of England ; 
they dip from the north, and from the south, towards Sydney, 
where, in the central and newest portion of the section, beds of 
coal and numerous fossil plants have been found ; the carbona¬ 
ceous beds are not separated from those below by want of con¬ 
formity, or any great change of mineral character. A large series 
of the fossil plants has been transmitted to the Cambridge 
Museum, by the Rev. W. B. Clarke, and these have been ex¬ 
amined by Mr. M’Coy, and the results reviewed by Dr. Hooker. 
It appears that out of fifteen species, ten are new and five have 
been already described. With the exception of one species, all are 
peculiar to Australia: this one is the Glossopteris Browniana, 
of the Indian coal fields. Of the genera, some are common to 
the European oolites and coal formations ( Pecopteris , &c.); but 
none of the genera peculiar to the coal (such as Stigmaria) have 
been found. One most remarkable genus, Vertebraria, is com¬ 
mon to the Australian and Indian strata. The whole group, and 
especially the genera Gleichenites and Phyllotheca, are more 
nearly related to the existing Flora of New Holland than the 
plants of any other portion of the world .—Proceedings of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science, 28 th June, 
1847, as reported in the Athenceum. 
SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE SKULL OF PIIASCOLOMYS VOMBATUS. 
BY J. E. GRAY, ESQ., F.R.S., &C., &C. 
In the collection at the British Museum there are three skulls 
which agree with Prof. Owen’s character of Phascolomgs Vom- 
batus, as described in vol. iii. of the Zool. Soc. Transactions: 
that is to say, they have only slightly curved upper cutting teeth, 
short noses, &c. Two were sent from Van Diemen’s Land by 
