I.csqueroux.] 41-i [Jan. o 



u'tes have there, also, some rare reprosentiitives. In the Pseudo-carbonifer- 

 ous, chanvetcrized as it is now by tlie species published by Prof. Andrews, 

 from the W.iverly 8ands',one of Oliio, and those deterniin:il)le from the 

 specimens from Port Byron, III., tiie Pal( oj)feris coin'Mines to be present. 

 But some of the species have lobed or decomposed leaflets, tending 

 by these characters to a section of the Sphenopterix, which comes later. 

 The predominant forms are {\w?iQof Megalopterix, a splendid fern whose ad- 

 vent is not prefigured in llie Hora of the Catskill by any species known until 

 now. But in its large leaflets and its nervation, it evidently betokens 

 the great family of the NeuropteridecB to which belong the most beautiful 

 and varied forms of the coal pla;its. The same rock group has rare species of 

 Alethopteris, also with very large fronds and leaflets, Ilyinenophgllites, and 

 broadly winged fruits of the genus Cardiocarpon. One species of Paleop- 

 teris. similar to P. obtusn, is remarked in this division as well as in the 

 Catskill group. And on another side it has some species of Lepidodendron, 

 LepidophloioH, a small AnterophylUtei, etc., which continue higher up, and 

 enter the sub-carboniferous measures. AVe have as yet too little data 

 in regard to the flora of the Catskill, and tiiat of the Pseudo-car- 

 boniferous to be able to positively recognize the points of aflUni- 

 ties and of difference. Most of the species have been described from 

 Canada and Maine, and their age generally ascribed to the Devonian, or 

 marked under the indefinite appellation of pre-carboniterous. The flora of 

 the sub-carboniferous division is, per contra, known by a large number of its 

 species. It is allied to the pseudo-carboniferous by those which are named 

 above ; by species of Sphenopteria, Triphyllopteris, Eremopteris, and espe- 

 cially o( AJethopterix, of analogous types. It has for its own predominant 

 characters some Ncuropteria, with large fronds and small leaflets as N. 

 Smithii, which though extremely abundant in Alabama and Virginia, has 

 not as yet been discovered in the coal measures above the Millstone grit ; 

 Nmropteris teaivfolia, which persists even to the highest strata of 

 the coal, is there also. Professor Fontaine has seen in the Vespertine of 

 Virginia species of Odontopteris, a genus predicted by the fine Eremopteris 

 mnrrjinata of the pseudo-carboniferous. This one partakes of the Odontop- 

 teriit type, quit'' as much as of the Eremnpteris character, recalling also 

 something of the faciesof Mcfjalopteris, which has not been seen in the sub- 

 carboniferous until now. In this last division, the number of species is, as 

 stated, greatly multiplied, and it becomes now difficult to positively mark 

 those which an^ limited to it. Tiie Lepidodendron, especially, are extremely 

 abundant. The old types L. Stcrnbergii, L. VeUheimuinum, L. aculeatum, 

 etc., appear mixed with more recent ones, and with others which seem 

 peculiar to this division : as L. squamiferum from the Helena vein of Ala- 

 Inlma, which l)ears upon its bark true scales, easily detached, and at the 

 same time, the scars of leaves generally remarked upon the trunks and 

 branches of Lepidodendron. The collateral genera are represented also: Ul- 

 odendron, IJalonia, Lepidophloion, Knorria ; Stijmaria is there in abund- 

 ance, though remains of SijUlaria are as yet extremely tare. Among the 



