PREFACE. 



THIS Catalogue was commenced by Mr. Kidston in February, 1883 

 (nearly a year before the Gallery which contains the Fossil Plant 

 Collection had been opened to the public). 



In order to prepare the present work the author first made a most 

 careful examination of the entire collection of Palaeozoic plants in the 

 Department, and provisionally named all the specimens which passed 

 through his hands. He also visited and studied the collections of 

 Mr. J. McMartrie at Radstock ; those in the Museums of Bath, Bristol, 

 Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle ; the Museum of Practical Geology, 

 Jennyn Street, and many other public and private cabinets. 



He has further devoted much time in 1884-85, to collecting 

 specimens of fossil plants from the classical localities in Gloucester- 

 shire, Somerset, Monmouthshire and elsewhere, in order to observe 

 the mode of occurrence of the various coal-plants in situ. As a result 

 Mr. Kidston has enriched the collection by the addition of nearly 250 

 valuable specimens. In this task he has been aided by the Royal 

 Society's Government Grants Fund. 



The work of naming and cataloguing so large a collection has 

 occupied a much longer time than was originally contemplated ; but 

 it is hoped that the Catalogue may prove useful to the student of 

 Fossil Plants and be the means of stimulating other workers to take 

 up a subject which offers to the enquirer so interesting a field of study 

 and promises so large an opportunity for the development of original 

 research. 



HENRY WOODWARD. 



DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, 

 January 1st, 1886. 



