r 162 ] 



XII. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE FLORAS 

 OF THE IRISH CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS. 



Pakt I. — The Lower Carboniferous (Carboniferous Limestone) Flora 

 OF the Ballycastle Coalfield, Co. Antrim. 



By E. a. NEWELL ARBBR, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., 

 Trinity College, Cambridge ; University Demonstrator iu Palseobotany. 



[communicated by pkofessoe a. a. j. cole, m.k.i.a., f.g.s.] 



(Plates X-XII.) 



[Read December 19, 1911. Published Jakuary 20, 1912.] 

 CONTENTS. 



PAOE 



1. Introduction, ..... 162 



2. Previous Eecords, .... 164 



3. Description of the Specimens, . . 166 



PAOE 



4. The Age and Horizon of the Eocks, 173 



5. Bibliography, 175 



1. Introduction. 



It is a matter of regret that the study of the fossil plants of the Carboniferous 

 rocks of Ireland has been so much neglected in the past in comparison with the 

 progress made in our knowledge of the floras of the English and Scotch coal- 

 fields, especially in regard to the vertical distribution of the component genera 

 and species. Apparently but few Carboniferous plants have been recorded 

 from Ireland ; and, so far as the palaeobotanical evidence is concerned, the age 

 and horizons of the coal-bearing strata found in different parts of that country 

 remain unknown, except iu one or two cases. Iu the present paper a 

 description will be found of the flora of the Ballycastle coalfield in Co. 

 Antrim, and it is hoped that, on future occasions, opportunities may arise 

 for contributing further memoirs on the plant-remains of other Irish 



coalfields. 



The specimens described here include those briefly recorded by the late 

 W. H. Baily in 1888. They are now preserved in the collection of the 

 Geological Survey of Ireland in the National Museum, Dublin. I am 

 indebted to the Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland for the loan of 

 these specimens for examination and description. At the suggestion of 



