Excerpt from Catalogue of the Fossil Plants of the Glossopteris Flora in the Department of Geology, British Museum (Natural History): Being a Monograph of the Permo-Carbonniferous Flora of India and the Southern Hemisphere

IN this Catalogue I have made an attempt towards a complete summary of what is at present known on the subject of the Glossopteris Flora. It is hoped that reference will here be found to all the more important memoirs which have been published; a literature now not only large, but widely scattered. I have endeavoured to give some account Of the less abundant, and consequently the less known species, in addition to the more characteristic types represented in the British Museum collection, and to revise, so far as possible, the Older records in the light of our present knowledge. The task has not proved a light one. In many instances the rarer fossils are unrepresented in any European collection, and I have had to rely solely on the original descriptions and figures, both sometimes very inadequate, which have been published. I trust that, whatever imperfections this volume may be found to contain, it may be of use to those who are interested in the study of this ancient flora, especially to residents in our Greater Colonies of India, Australia, and South Africa, which at one time formed the principal provinces of a great southern continent, Gondwana land, whose flora is the subject of the present work.

I have to express my acknowledgments to many friends to whom I have turned for information or advice at different times during the preparation of this volume. To Mr. A. C. Seward, I am especially indebted, not only for the information which he has on all occasions placed at my disposal, but for much kindly sympathy and encouragement.

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