232 Reports and Proceedings. 



Erianus and P. textilis. He also referred to Caulopteris Peacliii of 

 Salter as the only tree-fern known in the Devonian of Europe. 



He then described remains of four species of tree-ferns in collec- 

 tions communicated to him by Dr. Newberry of New York. The 

 first of these, Caulopteris Lockwoodi, was found by the Eev. Mr. 

 Lockwood at Gilboa, the locality of the Psaronites already mentioned, 

 in rocks of the Chemung group. It is a fragment of a well-cha- 

 racterized stem, with parts of five petioles attached to it, and asso- 

 ciated with remains of the leaves. It must have been entombed in 

 an erect position, and is not improbably the upper part of one of the 

 species of Psaronius from the same locality. 



The second species, Caulopteris antiqua, Newberry, is of much 

 larger size, but less perfectly preserved. It is a flattened stem on 

 a slab of marine limestone from the Corniferous formation in the 

 lower part of the Middle Devonian (Erian) of Ohio. 



The third species, Protopteris peregrina, Newberry, is from the 

 same formation with the last, and constitutes the first instance of 

 the occurrence of the genus to which it belongs, below the Carbon- 

 iferous. The specimens show the form and arrangement of the leaf- 

 scars, the microscopic structure of the petioles, and also the arrange- 

 ment of the aerial roots covering the lower part of the stem. 



The fourth species is a gigantic BJiacMopteris, or leaf-stalk, evi- 

 dently belonging to a species quite distinct from either of the above, 

 and showing its minute structure. It is no less than four inches 

 wide at the base. In the cellular tissue of this petiole are rounded 

 grains similar to those regarded by Corda and Carruthers, in Carbon- 

 iferous and Eocene specimens, as starch granules. 



In addition to these species, the paper described a new Noegge- 

 ratJiia [N. Gilboensis), and noticed a remarkable specimen from 

 Caithness, in the collection of Prof. Wyville Thomson, throwing 

 light on the problematical Lycopodites Vanuxemii of America ; also 

 interesting specimens of PsilopJiyton and other genera seen by the 

 writer in the collection of Mr. Peach of Edinburgh. 



Discussion. — Dr. Duncan doubted the desirability of basing generic and specific 

 terms on imperfectly preserved and indistinct specimens, and pointed out the dis- 

 agreements among botanists that had resulted from so doing. He would prefer calling 

 fossils such as those described " cryptogamous forms from certain strata." He was 

 doubtful also whether the supposed petrified starch was not merely orbicular silex. 



The Chairman remarked on the four difi'erent conditions exhibited by existing tree 

 ferns— first, with roots running down the stem ; secondly, the lower portion with 

 oval scars ; these are, thirdly, further up the stem, rhomboidal vertically ; and 

 fourthly, higher up still, rhomboidal horizontally; so that were the plant fossil, dis- 

 tinct genera and species might be founded upon the different parts. 



Geologists' Association. — Evening Meeting, 4th April, 1871. 

 The Eev. Thos. Wiltshire, M.A., E.G.S., etc.. President, in the Chair. 

 1. A paper was read by Messrs. Alfred and K. Bell, "On the English 

 Crags, considered in reference to the stratigraphical divisions indi- 

 cated by their Invertebrate Fauna." In this paper the authors object 

 to the divisions of the Crag series at present adopted, and especially to 

 the series of beds termed " Eed Crag." For their modified divisions 

 they propose the terms Upper, Middle, and Lower Crag, and they 



