102 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. X. 



NOTE ON A FP]RN ASSOCIATED WITH PLATE- 

 PHEMERA ANTIQUA, Scudder. 



By J. W. Dawsok, LL.D.. F.K.S. 



The oldest remains of insects known to o'eolooists. those of the 

 Erian (Devonian) shales of St. John, New Brunswick, occur in 

 beds rich in plant remains. It was indeed solely by means of 

 the extensive quarrying operations carried on by Messrs. Hartt 

 and Matthew in these beds in seai'ch of fossil plants, that the 

 insect remains were discovered. In less thoroughly explored 

 beds, fossils so rare and so obscure could not have been found. 

 It is natural therefore that fossil plants should occur on the 

 same slabs with the insects. On one of these, holding a frag- 

 ment of the wing of Platejyhemera antiqua, there appears a con- 

 siderable portion of a frond of Peaqyfcris (^Asptdites) serrnlatu^ 

 Hartt, a common species in these beds, and also a small frag- 

 ment of a leaf of the still more common Cordaites Rohbii. It 

 appears that Dr. Geinitz of Dresden saw this specimen in 1866, 

 and not being at that time familiar with the ferns of the De- 

 vonian of New Brunswick, very naturally supposed that the 

 frond was that of the closely allied P. plumosa of Brongniart, 

 and on this ground he was induced to hint a suspicion that the 

 specimen was of Carboniferous age. Dr. Scudder referred to 

 this opinion of Geinitz in his paper on Devonian insects in the 

 Geological Magazine, Vol. Y. ; and gave reasons sustaining the 

 Devonian age of both fern and insect. I did not think it neces- 

 sary to refer publicly to the matter, but took occasion to explain 

 the true state of the case in a private letter to Geinitz ; and in 

 my report on the Devonian plants of Canada I quoted Hartt's 

 description in full, and noticed the distinctness of his species 

 from P. plumosa. 



I find, however, that this doubt has been revived by Dr. Hagen 

 in a paper on Devonian insects in the Bulletin of the Museum of 

 Comparativ^e Zoology for the present year (Vol. viii. No. 14). 

 Dr. Hagen does not profess to be an authority in fossil plants, 

 but fortifies his statements by a letter from Mr. Lesquereux, 

 which does not however touch the question at issue, as he does 

 not appear to have compared the specimen or Hartt's species with 



