6o 
Sedimentary Formations 
"Whilst discoveries such as this arc being made from time to 
time, what obstinate pertinacity is it to continue to maintain 
that even the stereotyped determinations of palaeontologists are 
incapable of amendment. (For Dr. Waagan’s description and 
figures, sec “ Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India vol. ix, 
part 2, p. 351. See also Lyell’s “ Elements 1SG5, p,. 436, and 
u Student's Edition 1871, p. 35S.) 
No where in New South Wales has there yet been found in 
association with the plant-beds any Marine fauna but one which 
M‘Coy and all other Paheontologists admit to be Palaeozoic. 
The opposition to G lossoptei'is claiming its descent from 
Palaeozoic times arose from a misinterpretation of facts connected 
with its appearance in strata from which Marine fossils that 
prove the ago are missing; and thus it got condemned to bo 
Oolitic only, because it is found in company with other plants of 
whose pedigree no notice is taken. The manner in which such 
association is sometimes used is anything but logical — “A,” it 
is said, belongs to “13,” and “ B ” belongs to “ C,” and, there¬ 
fore, “ C ” belongs to “ A.” “ D ” is not found with “ C,” there¬ 
fore, it belongs to neither “ A ” nor “ B.” 
Moreover, unless it can be proved that every given plant found 
in different parts of the world had the same instant of existence 
in all, there must be always uncertainty as to when we may date 
its epoch. There is also too often a neglect of the conditions 
of the Strata in which fossils occur, when they are compared 
with similar fossils in widely separated regions. Wo know that 
Coal-plants did not grow in the sea, and if they are found bedded 
among Marine strata it is clear that there we have a guide as to 
the age, which is only guessed at elsewhere. It would be of use 
to keep in mind what Oscar Fraas teaches us in his 
ct Comparison of the Jura Formations with those of German j 
and England f 1850, as given by Professor Eupert Jones 
in Q.J.G.S. vii, u Notices of Memoirs f pp. 42-S3. We must, 
however, take geology as we find it, till we can arrive at truer 
conclusions and safer processes than we now pos seas. The 
boundaries of the great divisions, Neozoic, Mesozoic, Palaeozoic 
stratum) is of such an age, and was still growing on the coast, when already a 
younger fauna, was living in the sea.” Does not the case of Glossopteris, &c., 
iu Marine strata prove the same in reverse order—or as contemporaneous 
witli the Marine Palaeozoic fossils, and do not both arrangements show how 
there may be continuous connections from one formation to another, through 
survivors ? 
This has now been verified : and, singularly, the number five represents 
the groups (though not precisely the same) in which Glossopleris according 
to both writers, Oldham and Foistmantel, occurs, the latter naming Cutch 
(Juba 1 pur) Group; lhrjmalml Group; Panchet Group; Damuda Series; 
and Talchir Shales. {See JTuyhes: “ Karanpura CoalfieldMem. I. 
Sur. vii. Pt. 3, pp. 12, 47, 48 j 1871*) These I had noted as published. 
