104 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



The bed marked g on the plan is inserted in Mr. Wilson's section, 

 but he does not name any fossils from it; it probably contains plants 

 of the middle sub-fauna. 



EQUISETALES. 



In this article the author has taken up only the plants allied to 

 the modern horsetails. They present a variety of forms most of 

 which, like those of the Coal Measures are giants compared with their 

 modern representatives. The fossils are not all hollow reeds like the 

 Calamités, but some had solid stems, that were able to resist decay 

 and compression for a considerable time and hence are found penetrat- 

 ing several layers of sediment. 



The leaves of these plants are found in great abundance in Bome 

 layers, sometimes they occur detached, but in other cases are attached 

 to small branches on which they grew. Occasionally these branches 

 and the leaves are found attached to the main stem, showing the over- 

 ground parts of whole plants. The roots also in some cases are found 

 attached; some of these come under the generic name Pinnularia, and 

 others present a surface somewhat like the stem of Lepidodendron. 

 These roots will be taken up in the next article. 



The Equisetales of the Little Eiver terrane while they contain 

 many plants of Carboniferous aspect, have others of a peculiar type, 

 and their more striking differences, those that seem most primitive, 

 may be stated as follows: — 



1. Plants with solid stems and whorls \ Eamicalamus, n. gen. 



of leaves between the nodes .... J Lepidocalamus, n. gen. 



ants with solid stems, whorls of . , ■,',,., 

 -, 1 1 ji T r Asterophyllites. 



leaves only at the nodes ,-. i / -.i 



j fephenophyllum. 



3. Plants (as preserved) with hollow, ) Asterocalamites. 



channelled stems, leaves in whorls / Calamités. ^ 



The several genera show the following distinctions among them- 

 selves in respect of the whorls of leaves and the stem: — 



Eamicalamus, n. gen. — whorls of leaves clustered near the nodes, 

 leaves persistant. 



Lepidocalamus, n. gen. — whorls spread along the stem, those 

 between the nodes deciduous or caducous. 



