317 
MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS ON FOSSILS. 
By Frederick Chapman , A.L.S., F.R.M.S., Palaeontologist to the 
National Museum , Melbourne. 
Samples from Bores at Wonthaggi. 
Collected by Z. H. Ower. 
Specimen Nos. 11626 and 11627. Bore No. 175. Depth, 760 feet. State 
Coal Mine Area. 
This core (the two opposite faces of one block), contains a very interest¬ 
ing organic structure in the form of a nearly straight series of elongate- 
ovate to sub-circular segments, joined end to end like a string of sausages, 
and of almost equal diameter throughout. At the node between the 
second and third perfect segment from one end, there is a bulbous shoot 
at right angles to the main series, almost circular in outline; whilst on the 
opposite side is a single, slender internode, distinctly grooved longitudinally. 
The tuberous series measures 86mm. in length. The tubers of the main 
series are 8 to 15mm. long and about 8mm. wide. The internode is 
8.5mm. in length, and 4.25mm. in width. (See Plate LXII.) 
This fossil specimen is undoubtedly referable to a tuberous under¬ 
ground shoot of an equisetalean, and similar to the structure found in 
living examples of the genus Equisetum. 
The nodal diaphragms of an Equisetites have already been described 
from the Jurassic of South Gippsland, at Kongwak, by Mr. A. C. 
Seward 1 2 ; and a fluted stem with node, by the writer, from KilcundaZ 
The present occurrence of this particular morphological structure in the 
equisetales appears to be the first recorded for Australia. It may be 
possible, eventually, to correlate the previously described occurrences of 
Equisetites in the Jurassic of South Gippsland with this portion of the 
plant; and for convenience, we may refer to the present specimen as 
Equisetites wonthaggiensis , sp. nov. 
In other countries fossil plant remains referred to the tuberous shoots 
of Equisetites are perhaps most commonly found in the Wealden, 
as in E. Bur char dti Dunker, from Westphalia, and Hastings, Sussex, 
England; as well as in E. Yokoyamae Seward, also from Sussex. 3 In 
the Trias these tubers occur in E. arenaceus Bronn sp., in Europe 4 ; in 
the Jurassic, in E. Burejensis Heer, from Siberia 5 ; and in the Tertiary, 
in E. Pqrlatori Heer, from Switzerland 6 , E. arcticuni Heer, from Spitz- 
bergen 7 , and E. Winkleri Heer, from Iceland 8 . 
There can be little question that the present core comes from Jurassic 
strata. The shale is horizontally bedded, and is of a dark bluish grey, 
and similar to other samples from the same area with typical Jurassic 
plant-remains. 
[75.5.77.] 
1. Rec. Geol. Surv Vic., vol. I., pt. 3, 1904, p. 160. 
2. Ibid. vol. IIT., pt. 1, 1909, p. 105. 
3. Vide Seward’s Fossil Plants , vol. I., 1893, pp. 279 and 280, figs. 65 and 66. 
4. Vide Schimper, Traite Pal. V6g. 1874, pi. X., figs. 8 and 9. 
5. Heer. Flora fossilis Arctica, 1877, vol. V., p. 89. pi. XXII. 
6. Heer. Flora Tertiaria Helvetiae, Winterthur, 1855, vol. III., p. J58, pi. CXLV. 
7. Heer. Flora fossilis Arctica, vol. II 1870 (Die Miocene Flora und Fauna Spitzbergens), p. 31, nl I ’ 
figs. 1, 2, 5, 6, 12 and 13. 
8. Flora fossilis Arctica, vol. I., 1868, p. 140, pi. XXIV., fig. 6. 
