Notes on some Tasmanian Mesozoic plants. Part I.

Abstract

Through the kindness of Messrs. Clive Lord and P. B. Nye I have been enabled to examine collections of Mesozoic fossil Plants from the Tasmanian and Launceston Museums and the Geological Survey of Tasmania. This has given me the opportunity of checking the determinations of some of these fossils made by the late R. M Johnston some thirty to forty years ago. Unfortunately. a large proportion of the specimens had lost their locality labels, but it is probable that one acquainted with the rocks in which these fossils occur in Tasmania could, with reasonable certainty, determine the localities from which the majority of the specimens came. The notes in this paper are not quite complete, but as many of the specimens were from the exhibition collections of the Tasmanian Museum, it was desirable that I should not keep them very long. In order not to delay publication of the results of my examination I have thought it advisable to present the following notes now, and hope, during next year, to be able to supplement this paper with another• short one, which should contain a few additional observations, together with some analysis of the Tasmanian Mesozoic floras, and comparison with the Mesozoic floras of the mainland and other areas.