THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 997 
from the Newcastle Coalfield, where it has been obtained from the roof of the Bensham 
seam of the Middle Coal-Measures at the collieries at Jarrow and ? Hebburn-on-Tyne " 
Kirkby and Duff}, in their paper on the geology of South Durham, record it as 
abundant from the Brockwell and other seams of the Etherley District. I have twice 
visited this part of the coalfield, and by the kindness of the Rev. W, J. Wingate, of 
Bishops Auckland, advertisements were posted at a large number of the pits in 1907, 
with a description and figure of the fossil, asking the miners to make a search for it. 
Despite these efforts, I have not been able to obtain a single specimen of the plant, and 
I doubt if it occurs at all in South Durham. Howse’st conclusion that the specimens 
so labelled in the Duff collection, now in the Hancock Museum, Neweastle-on-Tyne, 
are only Cyclopteroid pinnules, adds weight to my suspicions. 
4. A REVISION OF THE GENUS PsYGMOPHYLLUM 
Besides the two representatives of the genus described above, several other species 
are known, and the opportunity may be taken here to revise the genus. Most of its 
members are very rare fossils which are not represented in any museum in this country, 
and the task of revision is therefore one of some difficulty. 
The generic name Psygmophyllum was instituted by Schimper $ for the reception of 
certain fossils, previously referred to the genus Naggerathia of Sternberg, but which 
differed markedly from N. foliosa, Sternb., the type of that genus. Among these were 
the impressions now known by the names Psygmophyllum flabellatum (Lindl. & Hutt.), 
P. cuneifolium (Kutorga), and P. expansum (Brongn.). This generic term has since 
been widely adopted, though Renault || has more recently referred P. flabellatum 
(Lindl. & Hutt.) to the genus Ginkgophyllum of Saporta. 
Schimper’s { definition of the genus is as follows :—“ Leaves pinnatisect. Pinne 
erect, spreading, flabellate (hence name), strongly narrowed at the base, plicated longi- 
tudinally and flabellately, more or less deeply pinnatisect, or margin lobate or erenulate, 
nerves dichotomising several times, erect, radiating. Vernation of leaves vertically 
involute (sec. Eichwald).” 
I b propose is emend the genus as follows :—Leaves large, flabellate - 
cuneiform, arranged spirally on an axis, sheathing at the base, which is fairly broad 
and not contracted to a slender petiole. Apex broad, rounded or truncated, entire or 
?toothed, or broadly lobed or slightly divided into broad palmate lobes. Nerves 
radiating from the base with frequent dichotomy throughout the lamina, and not 
converging above. ; 
Distribution in Time.—Upper Devonian to Permian. 
* Howse (88), p. 110. The specimens in the British Museum, and in the Sunderland and Newcastle Museums, 
Were no doubt all derived from these localities, despite their labels. 
t Kirby & Duff (72), p. 178, and table opposite p. 180. 
$ Schimper (70), p. 192. || Renault ('81), p. 65. 
ti Howse ('88), p. 110. 
© Schimper, ibid. 
