144 MATTHEW ON CAMBEIAN 



B. — Flora and Fauna of the Basal Series, and Additional Species of Band b, Div. 1, St. John Group. 



I.-ALiCii.E. 



lu describiug objects uuder this head, the writer has limited himself to such as 

 shows organic structure, or by a carbouiferous film, give evidence of organic matter in 

 their composition. It is true that some writers (Nathorst and others) do not consider 

 the presence of this film as proof that such objects were plants ; and we have seen it stated 

 that seaweeds are such perishable objects, that even where abundant, they leave no 

 trace of their presence in the solid rocks. This however appears to be a misconcei^tion. 

 It is true that, where they are imbedded in sand, they may dissolve to a shapeless mass of 

 jelly and become diffused in the matrix ; but when buried in clay the result is different. 

 In the Till and Leda clays of the Acadian coast, which have a considerable antiquity, the 

 writer has been Polysiphonias and other delicate seaweeds, as well preserved as the ferns 

 and Asterophyllites of the shales of the Carboniferous system. 



BUTHOTREPHIS, Hall, 1847. 

 BUTHOTREPHIS ANTIQUA, Brongn. (PL V, figs 1-3.) 



Fucoidcs antiquum, Brongn., Hist, de Veg. Foss. Vol. I, p. 63. 

 Fucoides antiquun, Brongn., Torrell. BiJrag till Sparagmit, 1868. 



Brongniart's description of this species is as follows : — " F. fronde compressa, dicho- 

 toma, ramis planis œqualibus, pateutibus, apice subrotvindis, non incrassatis." 



Seaweed, having a compressed forked frond ; branches flat, equal, sj)reading, with a 

 tip that is rounded, but not thickened. 



Torrel's note of the locality is " Funuen i Vestergothlands Fucoid sandstein." 



The horizon is, therefore, that at which several fragments of flat-leaved, branching 

 sea-weeds have been found in the Acadian measures. As Bonguiart's old genus Fucoides 

 has been broken up, this plant will fall into Prof. Jas. Hall's genus Buthotrephis. I have 

 reproduced Brongniart's and Hisinger's original figures, partly to show the general aspect 

 of the plant, and partly to indicate the place of the fragments found in our shales. 



Size. — "Width of branches, 2 to 4 mm. ; length, 2 to 4 mm. Length of plant unknown. 



Hori207i and Locality. — Shaly layers in the sandstone beds of Div. 1, Bands b and c in 

 the Basal series. 



PHTCOIDELLA, n. gen. 

 Phycoidella stichidifera, n. sp. (PI. V, figs. 5 a-d.) 



Barren fronds (or branches) strap shaped, often showing irregular rows of a few 

 darker spots or graniiles which have a transverse arrangement on the stem. Fertile 

 fronds (or branches) bearing an enlarged extremity like a stichida, and also having along 



