ABRAHAM GESNER — REVIEW OF Illt^ SCIENTIFIC WORK. 31 



found by Dr. Gesner in the City of St. John, near the residence 

 of tlie mayor [Robert F. Hazen, at the corner of King Square 

 and Charlotte street.] Being found here it must huve come 

 from the flags of Division 2 of the St. John group. The sti^ata 

 of this locality are of such an age as to give to the cactus or 

 Sfif/iuaria an antiquity far greater than any fossil of this genus 

 known up the present day. I therefore conclude that this 

 ol)ject was some imitative form, and not a true Stigmaria. In 

 the beds of Division 2 there ai-e numerous burrows of Arenicolites : 

 such Imrrows occurring in crumpled slates or flags would readily 

 take on the appearance of Stigmaria. Many of the markings ia 

 Cambrian sandstones have Vjeen mistaken for plant remains, 

 notably the varieties of Eophyton in the Swedish Cambrian 

 rocks described by O. Torrell, and his Cordaites JVilsoni ; even so 

 cautious an observer as Linnarsson took Eophyton to be a plant. 

 But while we should be loath to admit of the presence of 

 land plants in the St. John group without the strongest proof, 

 there can be no doubt that Dr. Gesner did discover remains of 

 plants at Little River near St. John, in beds now known to 

 l)e much newer tlian the flags of King Square.* These plant 

 remains were found in compact Graywacke, and consisted of 

 " large fossil ti'ees, Conifera, with other smaller plants and impres- 

 sions of leaves." This locality, which is well known, is in the 

 Dadoxylon sandstone of the Little River group and the trees 

 are similar to others from this sandstone which Sir Wm. Daw- 

 son has descri1)ed as Dadoxylon ouav gondianiimi. Of the smaller 

 plants mentioned, one is said to be a calamite, this probably 

 would be Archfjeocalainites 7-adiatns ( = Bornia radiata) which 

 occurs commonly with this Dadoxylon. Another of the smaller 

 plants is called a Phytolithus. Phytolithus was a genus very 

 loosely used by Steinhaur, having been applied by him to species 

 of Lepidodendron, Stigmaria, Sigillaria and Ulodendron.f Ges- 

 ner appears to have had access to Steinhaur's article, and I 

 think he intended under Phytolithus to indicate here a species 

 pf Sigillaria. Badly preserved stems of species of this genus are 



Second Report p. \i. 1 Coal Flora of Pennsylvania, Lesquermx. I.-S i. 



