Arber — The Flora of the Bally castle Coalfield. 166 



and its species were for the most part difficult and ill-defined. Thus I suspect 

 that the record of Sigillaria reniformis, Brongn., from this coalfield is really 

 founded on a highly decorticated Lepidodendroid stem of the type of 

 L, Veltheimi, Sternb., which in certain stages of decortication has been the 

 cause of many misleading attributions in the past. I am also inclined to 

 believe that most of the species, referred in the above list to the genera 

 Aspidiaria and Sagenaria, represent one state or other of Lepidodendron 

 Veltheimi, Sternb., or L. Volkmannianum, Sternb., or perhaps L. Bhodeanum, 

 Sternb. 



In 1877, Professor HulP mentioned the occurrence of Sagenaria 

 imhricata and 8igiUaria in the " Upper beds at Ballycastle." The former 

 name now stands for a cast of the outer surface of the wood of a Lepido- 

 dendron ; and the Sigillaria here mentioned is no doubt similar to that already 

 discussed. 



In the Survey Memoir on the district,' published in 1888, Baily 

 enumerates the following plants from Ballycastle :— 



Bailt's Names. Eevised Nomenclature. 



Sagenaria dichotommlegans = Lepidodendron lycopodioides, Sternb. 



Sphenopteris flahellata, Baily. 



Sphenopteris flabellata, n. sj). -^ ^ ,. ,., ,. ,nji ^ 



( Adiantites annquus (xlitt.) 



Sigillaria, sp. (leaves). 



Sigillaria [Stigmaria ficoides), rootlets. 



I have had, I believe, an opportunity of seeing most of these specimens. 

 Those referred to Sagenaria dichotommlegans (= L. lycopodioides Sternb.) are 

 partly referable to Lepidodendron Veltheimi, Sternb., and to L. of. L. Bhodeanum, 

 Sternb. They are, I believe, the specimens figured here on Plate XII, figs. 12 

 and 15. 



The fern-like fronds, determined by Baily as a new species, Sphenopteris 

 flabellata, Baily, are perhaps the most interesting plants known from this coal- 

 field. They are, however, referable to two species. The original of Baily's 

 fig. 95, on p. 47, is undoubtedly a small portion of a frond of Adiantites 

 antiquus (Btt.), first described by Bttingshausen in 1865. The plant shown 

 on figs. 9ff and 9c of the same page has apparently not been described, 

 either before or since 1888; and for it the name Sphenopteris flabellata, Baily, 

 maybe appropriately reserved. It is apparently still unknown elsewhere. 



This completes the list of previous records ; and we will now pass on to the 

 description of the plants from the Ballycastle coalfield which I have had an 

 opportunity of examining. 



1 Hull, (1877) p. 626, ' Symea, etc.^ (1888) p. 43. 



