1S77.J -iUl [Lesquereux. 



fess.)r V. Fon'aine. No plates are given as illustration of the species ; but 

 these are so carefully described that the characters are easily recognized with- 

 out figures. In connection with Professor I. C Wliite, these gentlemen are 

 now studying a lot of fossil plants whose discovery is due to Professor John J. 

 Stevenson, but whose specimens were collected by themselves. They rep- 

 resent an upper section of the carboniferous, apparently touching on the 

 Permian. The results of this study which they intend to publish soon, can 

 not fail to add new materials which ought to contribute to the fullness of 

 the coal flora. 



From all that has been seen above it is clear that this Coitl Flora, in 

 preparation for the second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, is not merely 

 a description with figures of the species of the coal measures of that Sta*e. 

 The concentration of such researches within precise geographical limits 

 would deprive them of any importance, and of anyscieulific value ; for the 

 work done in that way would give only a very meagre repres:;ntation of 

 the vegetation of the coal period, and it is desirable to know it in its whole 

 extent, as far as our acquaintance with it ha- advanced until now. I pur- 

 pose, therefore, to consider all the plants found in the coal measures, from the 

 eastern limits of the continent (New Scotia, New Brunswick) to the eastern 

 borders of the coal fields in Kansas. Even farther AVest, in the Rocky 

 Mountains, a few remains of Ctilamiies have been found. They represent 

 merelj'^ two species recognized in the Permian as well as in the carbonifer- 

 ous of Europe, and they offer no great interest by their specific characters. 

 They have to be described, however, as servicenble for comparison in case 

 of future discoveries. And considering the vertical distribution of the vege- 

 tation of the coal, it is advisable also to give to tliis flora the widest possi- 

 ble range, and to admit into it all the species of land plants recognized on 

 this continent, from the first appearance of land vegetation in the upper Si- 

 lurian strata, to the end of the carboniferous period. The true devonian 

 species, those which have not yet been observed in the Catskill or Old Red 

 sandstone, now considered as lower carboniferous, are very few in number, 

 not more than half a dozen perhaps. It is probable that similar or related 

 types may be recognized hereafter in the true coal measures. We want to 

 know them, therefore, for eventual comparison. Moreover, they enter into 

 the history of the coal flora as ancestors ; and in its records nothing should 

 be omitted which may throw any light into the important question of 

 the development of the primitive types, reappearing under modified 

 characters. I quo;e a single example as illustration. There is in the coal 

 of Morris a species o? Neuropteris, with leaflets seemingly branching in an 

 anomalous way, by the splitting of the rachis either at the base or in the 

 middle of the leaflets. This species, described as Neuropterisfaseiculata, has 

 been considered as a kind of monstrosity or a casual decomposition of the 

 leaflets, as avc see sometimes in the living flora. But the same character is 

 seen already in Megalopterlx, a species of the lowest coal measures ; thus we 

 find it continued in tliat Neuro'pteris of Morris, and thereby have a proof 

 of its persistence from the base to the middle of the carboniferous. 



