-.iV 





oil- , 



i 







280 



APPENDIX. 



In addition to ferns, it has small Lepidodendra, of which L. Gaspi- 

 anum is the chief. Calamitecn occur, ArchcEocalamites radiatus being 

 the dominant species. This plant, which in Europe appears to reach 

 up into the Lower Carboniferous, is so far strictly Erian in north- 

 'jiist America. Sigillarim scarcely appear, but Cordaitea is abun- 

 dant, and the earliest known species of Dadoxylon appear, Avhile the 

 Psilophyl.on, so characteristic of the Lower Erian, still continues, 

 and the remfirkaulc aquatic plants of the genus Ptilophyto7i are 

 locally abundant. 



(3) Lower Erian Sub-Flora : 



Tliis belongs to the Lower Devonian sandstones and shales, and 

 is best seen in that formation at Gaspe and the Bay des Chaleurs. It 

 is equivalent to the Oriskany sandstone, so fai as its animal fossils 

 and mineral character are concerned. It is characterised by the ab- 

 sence of true ferns. Catamites and Siyillaria;, and by the presence 

 of such forms as Psilophyton, Arthrostiyma, Leptophleum, and iVe- 

 matophyton. Lepidodendron Gaspiamim and Leptophleum already 

 occur, though not nearly so abundant as Psilophyton. 



The Lower Erian plants have an antique and generalised aspect 

 which would lead us to infer that they are near the beginning of the 

 land-flora, or perhaps in part belong to the close of an earlier flora 

 still in great part unknown • and few indications of land-plants have 

 been found earlier. 



At Campbellton and Scaumenac Bay. on the Bay des Chaleurs, 

 fossil fishes of genera characteristic of the Lower ana Upper De- 

 vonian horizons respectively, occur in association with fossil plants 

 of these horizons, and have been described by Mr. Whiteaves.* 



It is interesting to note that, as Fontaine and White have ob- 

 served, certain forms which are Plrian in the northeast are found in 

 the Lower members of the Carboniferous in West Virginia, indicat- 

 ing the southward march of species in these periods. 



.. -.. ' - ■■> -.>•.: .■r-i' :■,: :., ,- ,. :, ■■ ■ ,, -A - '^ 



3. The Silurian Flora and still Earlier Indications op 



Plants. 



In the upper beds of the Silurian, those of the Ilelderberg series, 

 v;e still find Psilophyton and JVemafophyfon ; but below these we 

 know no land-plants in Canada. In the United States, Lesquereux 

 and Claypole have described remains which may indicate the exist- 

 ence of lyeopodiaeeous and annulnrian types as far back as the be- 



* a 



Traasactions of the Royal Society of Canada." 



