386 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii. 



until specimens more fully developed shall be found. The other 

 species will be: — 



Pt. pennceformis, Goeppert, L. Carboniferous. 

 Pt. Vanuxemii, Dawson, Devonian. 

 Pt. plumula, Dawson, L. Carboniferous. 



Shumard's Fillcites gracilis, from the Devonian of Ohio, and 

 Stur's Plnites antecedens, from the Lower Carboniferous of 

 Silesia, may possibly belong to the same genus. The present 

 specimen is apparently the first appearance of this form in the 

 Devonian of Europe. 



Mr. Salter described in 1857 * fragments of fossil wood from 

 the Scottish Devonian, having the structure of Dadoxylon, though 

 very imperfectly preserved ; and Prof. McNab has proposed f 

 the generic name Paloeopitys for another specimen of coniferous 

 wood collected by Hugh Miller, and referred to by him in the 

 " Testimony of the Rocks." From Prof- McNab's description, 

 I should infer that this wood may after all be generically iden- 

 tical with the woods usually referred to Dadoxylon of Unger 

 (Araucarioxylon of Krans). The description, however, does not 

 mention the number and disposition of the rows of pores, nor 

 the structure of the medullary rays, and I have not been able to 

 obtain access to the specimens themselves. I have described 

 three species of Dadoxylon from the Middle and Upper Erian 

 of America, all quite distinct from the Lower Carboniferous 

 species. There is also one species of an allied genus Ormoxylon, 

 besides the somewhat exceptional Prototaxites, which occurs in 

 the Lower Erian, not far above the top of the Upper Silurian. 

 All these have been carefully figured, and it is much to be de- 

 sired that the Scottish specimens should be re-examined and 

 compared with them. 



Prof. Alleyne Nicholson has kindly placed in my hands some 

 ancient plants which though not Scottish nor Devonian are of 

 interest in this connection. One of these is a specimen from the 

 Lower Ludlow of Bow Bridge. From its regular ramification, 

 its apparently woody structure, and its traces of rudimentary 

 leaflets, it may not improbably belong to the genus Psilophyton. 

 If so, this genus occurs at about as low a horizon in Europe 

 as in Canada. 



* Journal London Geological Society. 



f Transactions Edinburgh Rotanical Society, 1870. 



