1.—DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW OR LITTLE-KNOWN VICTORIAN 
PALAEOZOIC AND MESOZOIC FOSSILS.—No. III.* * * § 
(.By R. Etheridge , Junr ., Curator of the Australian Museum , Sydney .) 
1.—INTRODUCTION. 
The following Notes refer to the better-preserved specimens in a collection 
of very fragmentary plant remains from the following localities :—Parish of 
Kongwak ; Outtrim railway bridge ; Welshpool ; Skene’s Creek ; Irvine’s 
Creek ; and Jumbunna East. 
With the exception of a few known forms, I have not attempted to attach 
specific names to the specimens, hut have simply indicated the possible 
generic relationship of the few that exhibit characters of a determinable 
nature. The indiscriminate showering down of specific names on the strength 
of indefinite material is the cause of endless trouble to the palaeontologist, 
and should always he avoided unless there appears to be a reasonable chance 
of future recognition at the hands of subsequent workers. The annals of 
Australian palaeontology exhibit some glaring instances of this practice. 
The plants are wholly of Mesozoic age, and may be referred to under the 
comprehensive term employed by Dr. R. L. Jack in relation to similar 
deposits in Queensland, that of Trias-Jura.f They are so far of interest that 
some of the specimens seem to foreshadow the occurrence of at least two 
genera not hitherto known to occur in Australia. 
2.—DESCRIPTIVE NOTES. 
Equisetaceous stem. 
(No. 263.) 
Ohs. —Although only a fragment, this specimen is of interest, for, so far 
as published references enable one to judge, equisetaceous stem fragments 
do not appear to be common in Victorian Mesozoic beds. 
The stem fragment is inches long by f of an inch wide, and exhibits 
one entire node and two half nodes ; the former is 1 j inches long, and beyond 
a. coarse fluting and ridging no other structure is visible. 
It may be either Phyllotheca or Schizoneura , but as neither foliage nor 
sheaths are jDreserved it is impossible to determine the fragment accurately. 
Phyllotheca is recorded by Selwyn,t from the Cape Patterson Coal-field 
(.Phyllotheca australis, according to Smyth,§ as determined by McCoy) ; 
* For Nos. I. and II. see Progress Report of the Geological Survey of Victoria, No. XI. j 
p. 30, and Monthly Progress Report of Geological Survey of Victoria, No. XI., p. 22. 
t In a later communication, dated 26/6/01, Mr. Etheridge says—“ I am of opinion that it 
is in accordance with our present knowledge to speak of the Cape Otway and South Gippsland 
beds as Trias-Jura, rather than as Jurassic simply. I believe the Mesozoic plant beds of the 
entire continent to form only portions of one great period homotaxial with strata developed in 
other parts of the world at the close of the Triassic and beginning of the Jurassic periods. The 
exact relations of the beds forming the various isolated areas in Australia to one another has, 
however, still to be worked out.” 
+ Selwyn, Phys. Geogr. Geol. and Min. Viet., 1866, p. 20. 
§ Smyth, Geol. Survey Viet., Report of Progress, 1874, I., pp. 24 and 35. 
