CARBONIFEROUS. 219 



nut. In their fig. 2 the seed is clearly exhibited, but in some examples I have 

 seen it more perfectly shown, when even the more prominent angles were 

 visible. In fig. 3 is shown the neck-like canal, similar to what is figured by 

 Goppert and Berger in Rhabdocarpus Bockschianus (loc. cit. pi. i. figs. 13, 14). 

 These various forms and conditions of Tngonocarpus Parkinsoni I have 

 traced through a large series of specimens, and am led to conclude that the 

 three fruits, Trigonocarpus Parieinsoni, Rhabdocarpus amygdalceformis, and 

 Carpolithes alatus are all different states of the same fossil. In Trigonocarpus 

 Parkinsoni three of the angles are very prominent, the other three very 

 slight and seldom observable. When the more delicate ridges have become 

 obliterated, the specimens form the Trigonocarpus olioceformis, Lindley and 

 Hutton. 



In the Collection there is a large sandstone slab, measuring 21 inches by 

 15 inches, from Peel Quarry, Bolton, the original locality for Tngonocarpus 

 olivceformis, on which is seen over 400 of these little fossils, either represented 

 as sandstone casts, surrounded by a coaly envelope, or as shallow coal-lined 

 hollows from which the seeds have fallen. 



Trigonocarpus Noeggerathi, with which Lindley and Hutton identify in error 

 Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni, is a larger and much more uncommon fruit in 

 Britain. 



Trigonocarpus oblongus, Lindley and Hutton (Fossil Flora, pi. cxciii. c), is 

 also, perhaps, only a specimen of Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni, with part of the 

 pericarp still adhering to the nut. 



An example from Oldham in the Collection shows a very similar appear- 

 ance to Lindley and Hutton's figure, and it occurred along with typical 

 specimens of Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni : thus I suspect Trigonocarpus oblongus 

 is only Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni, with part of the pericarp slightly split, but 

 still adhering to the seed. 



Rhabdocarpus davatus, Geinitz (Vers. d. Steinkf. in Sachsen, p. 42, pi. xxii. 

 figs. 12-14), is likewise, I am inclined to think, referable to Trigonocarpus 

 Parkinsoni. The original figures of this species given by Sternberg under 

 the name of Carpolithes davatus (Vers. i. pi. vii. fig. 14a-b), are not so like 

 Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni as Geinitz's rendering of Steinberg's species, there- 

 fore I would not in the meantime propose to unite Carpolithes davatus, 

 Sternberg, with Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni, but specimens similar to Geinitz's 

 Rhabdocarpus davatus occur along with Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni on the 

 large slab from Peel Quarry. Geinitz's Rhabdocarpus (sp.) (loc. cit. pi. xxii. 

 fig. 15a-6) is however certainly referable to Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni, 

 Brongniart. Trigonocarpus Parkinsoni is frequent in all the Scotch and also 

 in some of the English Coalfields. 



Horizon. Coal Measures. 



Localities. British. Ayrshire: Ardeer Sandstone Quarry, near Stevenston. 

 Durham : Sunderland. Lancashire : Peel Quarry, 

 near Bolton ; Oldham. Northumberland : New- 

 castle-on-Tyne ; Felling Colliery, near Newcastle- 

 on-Tyne ^Carpolithes alatus, L. and H.). Worces- 

 tershire, near Bewdley. 



PALJEOXYRIS, Brongniart, 1828. 



Prodrome d'une Histoire des Vegetaux Fossiles, p. 137, and Tableau 

 des Genres de Vegetaux Fossiles, p. 86, 1849. 



Palseoxyris helicteroides, Morris, sp. 



Carpolithes helicteroides. 

 Bronn, Index Palseont. p. 239. 



Goppert and Berger, De Fruct. et Seminibus, p. 16. 

 Morris, Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. v. Explan. to pi. xxxviii. fig. 12. 



