166 



PPvOCEEDIKGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



character of its flora. Among the ferns, the Pecopterids are wanting or 

 very rare, as they are in all the Lower Carboniferons of Europe ; the 

 different forms of Cyclopterids and of the fine-leaved Sphenopterids, on 

 the contrary, are very frequent and characterize the fern-flora of this 

 period. In the Coal-measures, on the contrary, the genera Neuro- 

 ^teris and Pecopieris (including Cyatlieites and Aletlio])teris) are deve- 

 loped in a variety of species, and appear everywhere in great abund- 

 ance. Lepidodendron extends through the Lower and Middle Car- 

 boniferous, but on the whole is more abundant in the former, while 

 the Sigillarice, which play so important a part in the Coal-measures, 

 are almost entirely wanting in the Lower Carboniferous. In fact, 

 the whole flora of the Lower Carboniferous period must have had a 

 different aspect from that of the Coal-measures, although it con- 

 sisted of the same families and, in a great measure, of the same 

 genera. 



If we now glance once more over the Lower Carboniferous strata 

 of Bear Island, we cannot fail to recognize a striking resemblance 

 between them and the formations of the same age in Europe, espe- 

 cially in the south of Ireland. We may classify them in the follow- 

 ing manner. 



p 



o 



a 

 Q 



ID 



o 



1-q 





Bear Island. 



South Ireland. 



Other localities. 



III. Mill- 

 stone-grit 

 stage. 



Siliceous 

 schists. 



Posidonomya- 

 shales and coal. 



Culmiferous in Devon ; 

 Millstone-grits, Upper 

 Greywacke and Posi- 

 donomya-iiii^leii in the 

 Harz, Silesia, and Mo- 

 ravia. 



II. Moun- 

 tain-Lime- 

 stone stage. 



Productus- 



and Spirifer- 



limestone. 



Limestone formation 



with Producttts 

 and Spirifer. 



Burdie House ; Momitain 

 Limestone and shales 

 in Silesia; Hainichen, 

 Ebersdorf, Artinsk, Pe- 

 trowskaja,&c.in Russia ; 

 Parry Island, Spitzber- 

 gen. 



I. Ursa 

 stage. 



Cyatho'p'hyllum- 

 limestone. 



Carboniferous shale 

 with Cyathophyllum. 



Barnstaple. 



Sandstones 



and shales with 



plants. 



Yellow Sandstone 

 with plants. 



Greywacke of the Yosges 

 and the southern Black 

 Forest ; Marwood plant- 

 bed (?), St. John's, in 

 Canada ; Sandstone of 

 Melville Island, Cats- 

 kill and Chemung ? 



Doubt- 

 ful. 



Devo- 

 nian. 





Russian-Island 



Limestone. 



Upper Old Red. 







Red shales. 



Old Red. 



Gypris-shtAeB of Saalfeld. 



The Coal-measures are wanting in Bear Island, as in Spitzbergen; 



