Fossil Plants of the Coal Field of Tusca a vik Ate. 299 
which I had arrived, and it will be seen in the sequel that not- 
withstanding the loss of several ferns and Sigillarise which were 
obtained in a disintegrating matrix near the outcrop of the strata, 
where the shales are changed into soft, pale, laminated clay, this 
_ botanist has been able to detect no less than sixteen forms, of 
which the following is an enumeration—1. Sphenopteris latifo- 
lia, Ad. Brongn. 2. S. Dubuissoni? Ad. Brongn. 3. Sphenop- 
teris, allied to the last, perhaps:a variety of the same. 4. Neu- 
ropteris tenuifolia, Ad. Brongn. 5. Neuropteris Grangeri, or N. 
gigantea? 6. Calamites canneeformis. 7. Calamites, obscure spe- 
cimen allied to the foregoing. 8. Lepidodendron elegans. 9. 
Lepidodendron allied to L. dilatatum, Foss. Flora. 10. Lepido- 
phylum? 11. Sigillaria, decorticated: 12. Stigmaria ficoides. 
13. Poacites? 14, Bechera tenuis, n. sp., very nearly allied to 
B. grandis, Foss. Flora. 15. Asterophyllites? flaccida. 16, 
Phyllites, resembling the leaf of Sparganium or Eriocaulon. 
- The Palwontologist will perceive at once that no less than half 
of the specimens in the above list, agree with well-known Euro- 
_ pean fossils of the old carboniferous formation, and the rest belong 
to genera which are common in our coal measures, and may per- 
haps agree with European fossils when procured in a better state 
of preservation. 'The leaves however resembling Sparganium, 
or still more closely some of the Junci such as Eriocaulon, and _ 
which are very abundant, appear to Mr. Bunbury to be new, 
(see fig. p. 232.) | Bie 
The three species of Sphenopteris mentioned in. the above list 
all differ from any ferns which I met with in my travels in North 
America in 1841-2, but one of them S. latifolia is a common 
Northumberland species found at Newcastle. Neuropteris tenuifo- 
lia is also met with at Neweastle, and N. Grangeri occurs in Ss I- 
fordshire, as also at Zanesville, Ohio. Calamites canneeformis 18 
one of the most abundant forms both in Enrope, the United 
States, and Nova Scotia, and the same may be said of Lepidoden- 
dton elegans, the Alabama variety being that commonly met with 
at Sidney, Cape Breton. Lepidodendron dilatatum is a Northum- 
. berland fossil. - Lepidopyllum, probably the leaves of the preced- 
ing genus; is also a form frequently met with in the British _— 
other European coal strata. "The same is true of Stigmaria ficoi- 
des, and the genera Stigmaria and Sigillaria are as yet exclusively 
__* Skeonp Szares, Vol. 11, No. 5—Sept., 1846.» 30 
