Vice-President’s Address. 213 
In addition to coal, the South Staffordshire Coal Field 
contains beds of ironstone and fireclay, with their associated 
shales and sandstones. 
In the Middle Coal-Measures of other coal fields in 
England, we find the same association of coal, ironstone, 
shale, and sandstone, and although they vary in the value of 
their mineral contents, they are characterised by the same 
features ; but probably their general characteristics can be as 
well studied in the South Staffordshire Coal Field as in any 
other, 
Lower CoAL-MEASURES, 
or Gannister Beds of Lancashire and Yorkshure. 
The Lower Coal-Measures occur in many of the English 
Coal Fields,—in the Potteries Coal Field, North Stafford- 
shire, in the Lancashire Coal Field, in the Yorkshire Coal 
Field, and in the Northumberland and Durham Coal Field. 
They consist of sandstones, shales, coals, and ironstones, and 
call for no special remarks. 
I now give a table showing the various divisions of the 
Coal-Measures which occur in the coal fields from which I 
have been enabled most fully to examine the fossil flora. 
Some of the other coal fields are at present engaging my 
attention, but as my investigations are not yet completed, 
they are not included in the table. In these partially 
examined districts, my difficulty lies in securing the co- 
operation of local collectors, without whose aid it is almost 
impossible to gain an adequate knowledge of the fossil 
plants, or the correct names of the seams from which the 
specimens have been collected, 
