Vice-President’s Address. 
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bo 
~I 
V. MippLE CoaL-MEASURES. 
As already pointed out, the Middle Coal-Measures are 
distinguished from the Lower Coal-Measures by their much 
richer flora. All the commoner species of the Lower Coal- 
Measures occur here, but in addition many more which are 
not found in any other horizon, and it is these which so fully 
characterise the Middle Coal-Measures, and make its separa- 
tion from either the Upper or the Lower Coal-Measures so easy. 
The genus Sphenopteris here attains its maximum develop- 
ment, and is represented by many species which appear to 
be only found in Britain in these rocks. Of these may be 
mentioned Sphenopteris grandifrons, Sauv., Sphen. Sauveurt, 
Crépin, Sphen. Marratii, Kidston, Sphen. rotundifolia, Andre, 
Sphen. mixta, Schimper, Sphen. coriacea, Marrat, Sphen. 
Jacquott, Zeiller sp., Sphen. flexuosa, Gutbier, and Sphen. 
trifoliolata, Artis sp., which last, though it has been found 
very rarely in the Lower Coal-Measures,is a most characteristic 
plant of the series. Other ferns also peculiar to these rocks 
are —Hymenophyllites quadridachylites, Gutbier sp., Oligocarpia 
Brongniarti, Stur, Archewopteris Reussii, Ett. sp., Calymma- 
totheca asteroides, Lesqx., Sphyropteris obliqua, Marrat sp., 
Hymenotheca Dathei, Potomie, Zeilleria Avoldensis, Stur sp., 
Zeilleria delicatula, Sternb. sp., Alethopteris valida, Boulay, 
Lonchopteris rugosa, Brongt., and Lonchopteris Bric, Brongt. 
Odontopteris and Neuropteris are also represented by a greater . 
number of species than in any other horizon. Of these 
genera, Odontopteris Britannica, Gutbier, 0. Reichiana, Gutbier, 
and O. Coemansii, Andre, and Neuropteris tenuifolia, Schl. 
sp., WV. Grangeri, Brongt., N. obliqua, Brongt. sp., N. Elrodi, 
Lesqx., WV. microphylla, Brongt., N. plicata, Sternb., WV. 
Osmunde, Artis sp., and N. Schlehani, Stur, appear to be 
restricted to the Middle Coal-Measures. 
From this series has been got the only specimens of 
Lquisetum (HL. Hemingwayi, Kidston) which I have yet met 
with in British Carboniferous rocks, though MM. Renault 
and Zeiller record the genus from the Upper Coal-Measures 
of Comentry, France.! 
1 See Comptes Rendus, Paris, January 5, 1885; also Etudes sur le terr. houil. 
d. Comentry: Flore fossile, part ii., p. 394, pl. lvii., fig. 7 (Bull. de la Soc. 
de l'industrie minérale, 3° sér., vol. iv., I1.¢ livr., 1890, St Etienne). 
