506 PALEONTOLOGY OP ILLINOIS. 



which in places underlies the Pittsburg coal, is also a mere compound of stems 

 and leaves of this last species, and I have received from the highest coal bed 

 of Kansas, which is considered by some geologists as belonging to the Permian 

 strata, a large lot of specimens of the roof shale, which, like those from under 

 the Pittsburg coal, contain leaves of the same Neuropteru hirsuta heaped in 

 profusion, without any other species but JV. Loschii. 



From the horizon of the Pittsburg coal, we have from Pennsylvania two re- 

 markable species, whose discovery is due to the sagacious investigation of Rev. 

 D. C. Moore, and which, by their characters, appear related rather to species of 

 the Permian, or even of the Oolite, than to those of the Carboniferous epoch. 

 One is the peculiar Neuropteris JMoorii, Lesqx., Penn. Geol. Kept., p. 860, PL 

 xix, fix. 1,* related by the pointed form of its leaflets and their size to Pecop- 

 teris Whitbiensis, LI. and Hutt., of the Oolite of England. The second is 

 apparently a species of Schizoneum, a new genus of Schimper, represented as 

 yet by only four species in the Trias and the Oolite of Europe. Our species 

 is known only by small branches, one-fourth of an inch broad, striated length- 

 wise, like those of a Sphenophyllum, articulated at short distances, bearing at 

 the articulations whorls of ten to twelve ob lanceolate obtuse flat leaflets, about 

 one inch long, marked lengthwise by parallel thin veinleta. These leaflets ap- 

 pear distinct or unconnected to their base, which is marked by small, circular, 

 distinct scars. No trace of a vagina has been observed as yet. 



The presence of these peculiar plants in the higher Coal Measures of Penn- 

 sylvania may not be more conclusive, as indicating a distinct geological horizon, 

 than are the numerous remains of insects, crustaceans, etc., discovered in the 

 nodules of Mazon creek, and which have as yet their relatives only represented 

 in the Permian. But I desire to make here only a record of facts, according to 

 our actual knowledge, in regard to the flora of the Coal Measures, and leave to 

 future discoverers the task of obtaining more reliable data for a definitive con- 

 clusion on the subject. 



The examination of the geographical distribution of the flora of our Car- 

 boniferous strata, according to the suggestions of Prof. H. D. Rogers, in the 

 preparation of the Pennsylvania Geological Report, proposes the solution of 

 these three questions: 1st. What is the geological relation of our Coal Mea- 

 sures with those of Europe, in considering the vegetable constituents of the 

 strata in both continents ? 2d. From the same kind of researches, is the anthra- 

 cite basin of Pennsylvania identical in its age and in the distribution of its 

 measures with the great Apalachian bituminous coal basin of Ohio and Penn- 

 sylvania ? And as a corollary : 3d. What is the geological relation of the sepa- 



*Prof. W. P. Schimper has separated this species as the type of a new genus Lescuropteris^ 

 a separation already indicated by my remarks with the description of this species, loc. cit. 



