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"partial synonymy" undoubtedly record close natural relationship, but the names should not be regarded as invalid unless shown to be mutually inclusive. Lacking this, they remain applicable to fossils conspecific with their basic nomenclatural types. For the research worker there are advantages in this conservative view of synonymy, as it tends to promote a more precise differentiation of fossils. This basically, is a fundamental reason for the continued use of technical nomenclature, necessary to progress in the study of fossil plants.

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Similarities of middle anld upper Paleozoic deposits of the Ellsworth fountains with those of the Pensacola, Horlick, and other Transtarctic mountains indicate that all these ranges may have had a related geologic history. A native explanation is now suggested which involves sea-floor spreading atnd anslocationi of the Ellsworth crutstal block from its originilal location adjacent to the East Antarctic Shield. Accordingly, the islands of West Antarctica may differ it origin and the Transantarctic Mountains of East Antarctica may represent one margin of an ancient rift.

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Schopf, James M. 1978 04 15: Foerstia and recent interpretations of early, vascular land plants Foerstia should be regarded as a marine fucoid, contrary to the recent interpretation of Gray and Boucot who relate these fossils to land plants. Although the megaspore coats are resistant and may be waxy, the thallus lacks cuticle and it has internal filamentous tissue like Fucus and other fucoidal algae. The megaspores, borne in fucoidal conceptacles, are unusual and may be forerunners of the more reduced oocytes that occur in modern Fucales. Detailed illustrations are provided. There is no evidence that these plants have ever been anything but marine. Likewise, tubular microfossils that show internal thickenings and occur in Ordovician and Silurian marine deposits should not be designated ‘tracheid‐like’, as done by Gray and Boucot, because it is unlikely they represent land plants or function in conduction. They show a surprisingly consistent association with Chitinozoa. They illustrate the adage that structures identified simply by their form may be of diverse origin. Neither Foersria nor the annulate tubules are relevant to the origin of temestrial vegetation.

Petrified plant remains that composed a Permian peat deposit occur at a coal horizon in a local area of Mount Augusta near the Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica. This discovery is the first in the entire Gondwana area that yields plant materials as exquisitely preserved as the materials of the well-known coal-ball localities of the Northern Hemisphere. A sampling of anatomical details is illustrated.