178 On the Pre-carhoniferous Flora of 



and possibly also the form of Cyclopteris represented by C. Jackson^ 

 which diflfers from any fern of the coal formation, and is perhaps 

 entitled as Lesquereux maintains to a distinct generic name. 

 The generic assemblage in the beds now under consideration, 

 resembles that in the lower coal formation, and differs from that 

 in the true coal measures, in the prevalence of Lycopodiaceus 

 plants and the comparative absence of Sigillarise ; but the genera 

 Lepidodendron and Sagenaria so characteristic of the lower coal 

 measures are slenderly represented here. It is also to be observed 

 that the genera Asterophyllites and Sphenophyllum, though com- 

 mon to the St. John group and the coal measures, are, in so far as 

 known, absent from the lower coal formation in Nova Scotia and 

 New Brunswick. The former genus is however found in the 

 Lower coal in Silesia. It is interesting to observe in the St. 

 John beds which have been disturbed and metamorphosed before 

 the carboniferous period, a generic assemblage so similar to that 

 of the coal. On the other hand it is still more curious to find 

 that the absence of the great Sigillaroid and Ulodendroid 

 trees, so characteristic of the wide swampy flats of the coal 

 period, gives to the St. John flora a more modern aspect than that 

 of the coal ; though in its exclusively cryptogamous and gym- 

 nospermous character, and in its generic forms, it is quite as de- 

 cidedly palaeozoic. 



In comparing the plants in the Devonian of Eastern America 

 with those of Europe, a smaller proportion of identical species 

 appears than in the case of the coal measures. There may have 

 been in the Devonian period a greater geographical separation or 

 climatic difference between the European and American land than 

 in the time of the coal formation. On the other hand, however, a 

 part of the plants ascertained here belono^ to the Lower Devonian, 

 which has hitherto afforded only one land species in Europe,while 

 here it contains several well preserved species and even a small 

 bed of coal ; and with respect to the Upper Devonian the number 

 of known species is too small as yet to admit of a satisfactory com- 

 parison. 



I trust that the species described in thisand ray previous paper are 

 but a small instalment of those to be brought to light by further 

 search. In the meantime I present the following summary of 

 these species, as representing the present state of our knowledge. 

 I have introduced those that are doubtful as well as those fully 



