278 Palaeontoloffie. 



fe' 



discusses the effects of floods upon Vegetation, the phenomena of 

 peat deposits and buried forests. The conclusion is reached that 

 true peat is always autochthonous and that flood-borne vegetable 

 debris is practically nil from the viewpoint of coal formation. The 

 third part discusses the rocks of the Appalachian Coal measures 

 and reaches the conclusion that the Appalachian basin is a great 

 river piain, the deposits being of the various kinds found on con- 

 tinents and that the phenomena deduced for the Appalachian basin 

 are those of Coal regions everywhere. The fourth part concludes 

 that coal beds and associated rocks are always Continental deposits 

 of a fluvial or flood-plain character. That the coal beds are strictly 

 comparable with peat beds and that they are invariably of autoch- 

 thonous origin-conclusions whose sweeping character will be heartily 

 contested by most geologists and paleobotanists. Berry. 



Stopes, M. C, Catalogue of the Mesozoic plants in the Bri- 

 tish Museum (Natural History), Part I, Bibliography, Al- 

 g.ae and Fungi. (XXIV, 282 pp. 2 pl. 1913.) 



This volume consists chiefl)^ of a list of species described from 

 Cretaceous beds (excluding the "Wealden of Europe) up to the end 

 of 1910, together with a bibliography of works on Cretaceous plants. 

 The list is not intended to be critical, the object being to give the 

 name and horizon given by the original describer of each species. 

 No species has been renamed, and specific names have not been 

 amended. As regards species which have been transferred from 

 one genus to another, there are a good many cross-references to 

 the various genera in which they have been put, but no attempt 

 has been made to enter the species under all the generic names 

 they have ever received, onlj^ those names being included which 

 were accompanied by new figures or descriptions. 



The introduction contains a review of Cretaceous floras consi- 

 dered geographically, and the remainder of the book is occupied 

 with an account of Cretaceous Algae and Fungi. Of the former the 

 most important are the calcareous forms belonging to the Sipho- 

 neae and the Corallinaceae, together with the impressions of doubt- 

 ful Position included under Chondrües and Algites. Manj'^ of the 

 specimens originally described as algae are regarded as being very 

 poor leaf impressions or tracks of animals. 



The most important fungi are those in petrified material from 

 the Upper Cretaceous of Japan, already described hy Suzuki and 

 hy Stopes and Fuji, and included in the Pyrenomycetes. The 

 other species are mostly represented by patches on leaf impres- 

 sions, and here again several so-called fungi are rejected owing to 

 the inadequate evidence as to their nature. W. N, Edwards, 



Thomas, H. H., The Fossil Flora of the Cleveland District 

 of Yorkshire. I. — The Flora ofMarske Quarr v. (Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc. LXIX. p. 223—251. pl. 23—26. 1913.) 



The author describes a fiora of Middle Jurassic t3''pe from the 

 Lower Estuarine Series of Marske, which "differs both in its com- 

 ponent species and in their relative abundance" from the more 

 Southern flora of the neighbourhood of Whitby. The most abun- 

 dant plants belong to the aggregate species PtilophyUum {William- 



