SSSlei THE DEVONIAN PERIOD. 



" It thus appears tliat, according to our present knowledge, the plant 

 life of the land, so rich in the Coal formation, dies away rapidly in the 

 Devonian, and only a few fragments attest its existence in the Upper 

 Silurian. Great interest thus attaches to these oldest remains of land 

 plants; and fragmentary though they are, and often obscure, they 

 merit careful attention on the part of the geologist and botanist. 



" No locality hitherto explored appears more favourable to the study 

 of this ancient vegetation than those parts of Eastern America to 

 which this paper relates. The Gaspe sandstones have already afforded 

 six Devonian species, some of them of great interest, and in a remark- 

 ably perfect state of preservation ; and from beds of similar age in 

 New Brunswick and Maine, I am now prepared to describe at least 

 ten species, most of them new. This already raises the species found 

 in the band of Devonian rocks, extending through the north-eastern 

 States of the Union, and the eastern part of British America, to one- 

 third of the number found in all other parts of the world ; and the 

 character of the containing rocks, the number of nondescript fragments, 

 and the small amount of exploration hitherto made, justify the hope 

 that a much larger number may yet be discovered." 



In the paper from which the above extract is taken, the total number 

 of American Devonian species was raised to twenty-one, of which 

 seven were from St John. Subsequently the much larger collections 

 obtained at this place, farther collections by the writer at Perry, and 

 specimens kindly placed at his disposal by Professor Hall of Albany and 

 Sir AVilliam Logan, have raised the known species to eighty-two ; and 

 have thus placed Eastern America, in the matter of pre-carboniferous 

 land plants, in advance of Europe. To tliese I am now able to add 

 eleven species recently obtained by Mr Ilartt, and not before published, 

 making the whole number ninety-three, of which fifty have been found 

 in the St John beds. 



The general character of the Devonian flora, in comparison with 

 that of the Carboniferous period, may be thus stated : — 



1. In its general character the Devonian flora resembles that of the 

 Carboniferous period, in the prevalence of Gymnosperms and Crypto- 

 gams; and, with few exceptions, the generic types of the two periods 

 are the same. Of thirty-two genera to which the species described in 

 this paper belong, only six can be regarded as peculiar to the De- 

 vonian period. Some genera are, however, relatively much better 

 represented in the Devonian tlian in the Carboniferous deposits, and 

 several Carboniferous genera are wanting in the Devonian. 



2. Some species which appear early in the Devonian period continue 

 to its close without entering the Carboniferous ; and the gi'eat majority 



