V 



80 . ' : . CANADIAN FOSSILS. ' i 



leaves of Calamitea, certain species of Aster ophyllites, under the name 



of Calamoeladus, and transfers others to Annularia. This arrangement, 



which I regard as wholly artificial, will render necessary a note as to 



the aGSnitios of the above species, one of which Schimper transfers to Annu- ' ■ • 



Zana under the name " A i)ai^«o««." * 



Accidental connections of specimens and the resemblance of some stems . 



of Aiterophyllites to branches of Calamites, have led Ettinghausen, 

 Geinitz, and others, to confound the two genera. For example Geinitz . 

 figures* the base of a Calamite with its pinnularia-like roots, under 

 the name Asterophyllites folioaus, Lindley, this last being a true typical 

 Asterophyllites, as figured and described by Lindley. He also figures 

 branches and fruits of an Asterophyllites, which may be identical with 

 Lindloy's species. f Schimper unites the whole under the name Cala- 

 mocladus folmu%, while my* Devonian species above named, and which 

 is most closely allied to A. foliosus of Lindley, is placed in Annularia. jV 



On this I have to observe that I have in my collection, and have figured ■■ 



in my Acadian Geology, leaves of three species of Oalamites, in 

 two of the species actually attached to the erect stems, and that these ' 



leaves would certainly not, by any competent botanist, be referred to 

 Asterophyllites. They are narrowly linear, much elongate, thick, fleshy, 

 and destitute of any apparent rib, being in truth perfectly similar to the 

 branchlets of Equisetum, except in wanting sheaths, a deficiency which 

 the stem of tha Calami tes also exhibits, and they are as broad at the base 

 as elsewhere.^ On the other hand the leaves of Asterophyllites are com- V 

 paratively broad and flat, and pointed at both ends, and have a distinct 

 midrib ; and they are borne on pinnate branches, which is never, in so far 

 as I am aware, the case with those of Galamites. With regard to Annu- 

 laria^ I hold to the original diagnosis that the leaves in each verticil are 

 of unequal length and united at the base. In addition to this, they have 

 slender stems, and were probably floating leaves, while the Asterophyllites 

 have rigid stems. Annularia sphenophylloides of Unger, and A. laxa of 

 this paper, are true Annularise. Asterophyllites latifoUa of this paper, 

 and A. foliosa of Lindley, are true typical Asterophyllites. The leaves 

 of Catamites transitionis, as figured in this paper, and those of 



• Coal Flora of Saxony, PI. XV. t lb. PI. XVI. , ; 



X Aa previously stated, the miscroscopic examination of Calamite leaves shows the 

 same structure of rows of transverse striae observed in modern Equiseta, and to which 

 nothing similar exists in Asterophyllites. I have verified this both in Carboniferous aad 

 Devonian species. The leaves of Calamites were in reality homologous with the branchleta 

 of Equiseta, and were angled and brittle, so that they readily break in pieces, which 

 accounts for their infrequent preservation. When flattened they seem to have an obscure 

 midrib produced either by the angles of the surface or by the vascular axis of the leaf; but 

 when well preserved they always show the transverse striation. (See PI. IV, Fig. 42 b.) 



