Scientific Intelligence- — Botany. 181 



* A beautiful spring flows from the highest point of the peak 

 of the Sarrantma ; but, as this peak is not commanded by any 

 neighbouring summit, we must necessarily suppose that the other 

 branch of the syphon must be placed at a great distance to the 

 east, to. receive, on the flanks of the mountains covered by per- 

 petual snow, and having a much greater elevation, the water 

 which issues from the extremity of the shorter branch, and which 

 an extraordinary accident or a concealed natural cause, has 

 forced to ascend to the top of a pointed peak."" 



BOTANY. 



11. Fossil Ferns. — The following general conclusions re- 

 garding the geological and geographical distribution of fossil 

 ferns, are contained in a recent memoir by Professor Goppert. 

 The beds of the coal formation contain the largest number of fossil 

 ferns, viz. 182, while the muschelkalk, and the chalk and tertiary 

 formations, contain the smallest number. The total number of 

 these fossil vegetables at present known amounts to 253, of 

 which ninety-two have been found in Silesia, twenty-nine m 

 Bohemia, fifty-six in the other countries of Germany, forty-nine 

 in France and Belgium, eighty-nine in Great Britain, three ill 

 Denmark and Sweden, one in Italy, eleven in North America, 

 one in Holland, and four in the East Indies. The ferns that 

 are the most widely distributed on the globe are the following : — 

 Alethopteris Serlii (in England, France, Silesia, Pennsylvania), 

 Neuropteris angustifolia and N, abutifolia (in England, Bohe- 

 mia, Silesia, Pennsylvania), and iV. Lohsii (in England, France, 

 Belgium, in the districts of the middle Rhine, in Bohemia, and 

 Silesia). Most of the ferns of the Jura formation occur in Eng- 

 land. The number of fossil ferns amounts nearly to a third of 

 the total number (800) of fossil vegetables at present known 

 But it is very probable that we are acquainted with but a small 

 portion of these fossils. Several genera of ferns belong exclu- 

 sively to one or to two formations. Thus, the following occur 

 only in the coal formation : — Gleicheniies, Balantitcs, Beinertia^ 

 BocJcschia^ Danceites, Diplacites, Glockeria, Glossopteris, Stef- 

 Jensia^ Woodwardites ; and the same formation contains also the 

 most of the species of the genera Asplenites, Adiantites, Aspi- 

 dites, Alethopteris, Cheilauthites, Cyatheites, Hemitelites, Neu- 

 ropteris y OdontopteriSf TrichomaniteSy and IlymenophyUiteg 



