274 Revieios — Seivard's Mesozoic Plants. 



E- IE ^^ I E "W S. 



I, Catalogue or the Mesozoic Plants in the Department op 



Geology, British Museum (Natural History). The Jurassic 

 Flora : I. The Yorkshire Coast. By A, C. Seward, M.A., 

 r.K.S., F.Gr.S. With 21 plates, and 53 figures in the text. 



ME. SEWAKD'S Catalogue of the Fossil Plants of the Wealden, 

 published for the Trustees of the British Museum in 1894 and 

 1895, is already well known to palaeontologists, who will welcome the 

 present further instalment of his valuable investigation of the British 

 Mesozoic Flora. The Inferior Oolite of the Yorkshire coast district 

 from Filey to the north of Whitby is peculiarly rich in vegetable 

 remains, which have been well known since the days of William 

 Bean and the elder Williamson. Indeed, Mr. Seward tells us that 

 nearly the whole of the material at present available was obtained 

 by these early investigators, and that very little serious collecting 

 has been undertaken during the last half-century. Consequently, 

 the author's work has consisted in the revision of material already 

 rendered classical by the investigations of a series of paleeontologists, 

 chief among whom was Adolphe Brongniart, to whom a number of 

 the specimens were submitted in the early days of his long scientific 

 career. Owing to the energy of the Yorkshire naturalists during the 

 first half of the past century, specimens are abundant, and to be 

 found in nearly every museum in this country as well as in several 

 of the Continental collections. Under these circumstances many 

 novelties are not to be expected, and, as a matter of fact, only two 

 out of the fifty-five species described are new. The value of the 

 Catalogue consists in accurate discrimination and judicious estimation 

 of affinities, and in its afi'ording a connected view of the whole flora, 

 so far as at present known. Such a revision was urgently needed. 



The fine illustrations form a striking feature of the volume. The 

 21 plates have been beautifully drawn by Miss G. M. Woodward, 

 while some of the numerous figures in the text are the work of 

 Mrs. Seward. The figures afford ample proof of the fine preservation 

 of many of the specimens. The only matter for regret is that none 

 have been found in a petrified condition, so that the study of internal 

 structure has been impossible. Hence, many questions of affinity 

 have had to be left open which might have been cleared up if 

 anatomical evidence had been available. In certain other localities 

 the student of Mesozoic Botany is more fortunate in this respect, 

 and indirect evidence derived from such petrified specimens has 

 proved all-important, especially in the interpretation of the Cycadean 

 remains. 



After a short historical sketch, and a rapid survey of plant-bearing 

 deposits of similar horizon in other parts of the world, the author 

 proceeds to the systematic description of the fossils. No Algae 

 remains worth consideration have been discovered, and the record 

 begins with the Hepaticas, to which one thalloid species — Marchantites 

 erectus — is referred. The great mass of the specimens, however, is 



