AN APPRECIATION. 125 



skill and devotion. Before his collection was 

 acquired we possessed a mere handful of 

 samples of the vegetation of the Wealden 

 period as it existed in Britain. Our know- 

 ledge of the plants of that epoch, of which 

 the water-borne muds and sands now form the 

 rocks of the Wealden area, was chiefly 

 founded on German and other Continental 

 material. Now we have a list of thirty-five 

 distinct species represented in most cases by 

 numerous and unusurlly complete specimens 

 in the Kufford collection. It is true that 

 many of these forms were previously known, 

 but the examination of the more perfect 

 fossils from Ecclesbourne, where most of 

 Mr. Bufford's plants were found, enabled us to 

 considerably extend and in many instances 

 correct the descriptions founded on the older 

 material. Several new types, both genera and 

 species, were brought to light by Mr. Kufford's 

 labours ; of these I will only mention a fern 

 to which the name of Ruffordia was given, 

 and a species of Pine wood described in a 

 paper read before the Linnean Society in 1895 

 as Pinites Ruffordi. 



