76 Reign of Gymnosperms. 



and the presence of numerous genera in this family, parti- 

 cularly Zamites and Nilsonia ; 2d, The existence of many 

 genera among the ferns with reticulated nerves, which 

 scarcely shew themselves, and under forms not greatly varied, 

 in the most ancient formations ; but some of which, notwith- 

 standing, already begin to appear in the epoch of the Keuper. 

 Such are the Camptopteris and Thaumatopieris. 



" Oolitic Epoch.— 'The Oolitic epoch furnishes, among Am- 

 phigenous cryptogams, the Algae ; among the Acrogenous 

 cryptogams. Ferns, Marsileacese, Lycopodiacese, and Equise- 

 taceae ; among the Gymnospermous dicotyledons, Cycadese 

 and Coniferse; lastly, among the doubtful monocotyledons, 

 Podocarya and Carpolithes. 



*•■ This list is chiefly founded on the fossils, so varied in cha- 

 racter, collected on the coasts of Yorkshire, near Whitby 

 and Scarborough, in beds which are referred to diff^erent parts 

 of the inferior oolite, and particularly to the great oolite. It 

 likewise contains a small number of species found in the slaty 

 limestone of Stonesfield, near Oxford, depending on these 

 same beds. 



" In France, the fossils of this formation have been collected 

 in the neighbourhood of Morestel, near Lyon, by Dr Lortet; 

 at Orbagnoux and Abergemens, near Nantua, in the depart- 

 ment of the Ain, by M. Itier ; in the vicinity of Chateauroux, 

 near Chatillon-sur-Seine, by Colonel Moret ; at Mamers, in 

 the department of Sarthe, by M. Desnoyers ; and, lastly, in 

 the greatest quantity by M. Moreau, in beds of oolithic lime- 

 stone of a very pure white, in the neighbourhood of Verdun, 

 and near Vaucouleurs. Some species have likewise been 

 found at othei* points of the Jura, in Normandy, near Valogne, 

 in the neighbourhood of Alen^on, in each of these localities 

 in very small number. But the greater part of these species 

 are not yet described and figured, and they generally differ 

 as species from those of England. The ferns are generally 

 less numerous, and not so well preserved ; we must, how- 

 ever, except the HymenophylUtes macrophyllus, found in a 

 perfect state at Morestel, and likewise observed at Stones- 

 field, and in Germany. The Cycadese, the species of which 

 are not greatly varied, are referrible to the genera Otozamites 



