An Ottokaria -like Plant from South Africa

Abstract

In the Karharbari Beds (Lower Gondwana) of Passerabhia (India), a very curious and characteristic fossil was found, to which the name of Ottokaria bengalensis was given by Zeiller. It is of interest, not only owing to its unusual form and problematical nature, but also on account of its association with Glossopteris indica and our uncertainty as to the reproductive structures of this form. Although leaves nearly allied to G. indica have been found in a large number of localities, not only in India but in Australia, South Africa, and Russia, fossils of the Ottokaria type are very rare, and, in addition to the Indian specimen, only one other example (from Brazil) has been described. The object of this note is to record the discovery in South Africa of a fossil which seems to be closely allied to, if not actually referable to, the genus Ottokaria . The specimen (illustrated in fig. 1) was sent by Mr. T. N. Leslie, F.G.S., to Prof. A. C. Seward in 1913, and was recently handed to me for investigation. It occurs as an impression in a rather coarse-grained sandstone, and was derived from the Vereeniging Sandstones of the Transvaal. The original description and figures of Ottokaria by Zeiller were published in 1902, and the specimen was recently refigured and described by Seward & Sahni in their revision of the Indian Gondwana plants, to which there is nothing further to add. The Brazilian specimen described by David White was called Ottokaria ovalis White, and was almost