282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



after to be enabled to give a more full account of the fossil plants of 

 these Alabama coal-fields, a comparison of which, since they form 

 the extreme southern limit of the carboniferous flora, with those of 

 the north, will deserve particular attention. 



London^ June 23, 1846. — The above observations were written 

 at Tuscaloosa in February last, and sent from thence to the Geolo- 

 gical Society. On my return to England I found the paper already 

 in type, and about to be printed off, but an opportunity having been 

 offered me of adding this note, I submitted the specimens to my 

 friend Mr. Charles J. F. Bunbury, F.G.S., who immediately com- 

 pared them with published plates and the fossil plants in the Society's 

 collection. The result of his examination confirms the conclusions 

 to which I had arrived, and his specific identification of several of 

 the Alabama remains with well-known European fossils is highly 

 interesting. Although the decomposed state of the matrix in which 

 the plants were obtained, near the outcrop of the strata where the 

 shales are changed into soft, pale, laminated clays, has occasioned 

 the loss of some of the Ferns and Sigillariae, Mr. Bunbury has never- 

 theless been able to give a list and description of the following six- 

 teen forms : — 1. Sphenopteris latifolia, Ad. Brongn. 2. S. Duhuis- 

 soni ? Ad. Brongn. 3. Sphenopteris, allied to the last, perhaps a 

 variety of the same. 4. Neuropteris tenuifolia. Ad. Brongn. 5. Neu- 

 ropteris Grangeri, or N. gigantea ? 6. Calamites cannceformis, 

 7. Catamite, obscure specimen allied to the foregoing. 8. Lepido- 

 dendron elegans, var.? 9. Lepidodendron allied to L. dilatatum, 

 Foss. Flora. 10. Lepidophyllum? 11. Sigillaria, decorticated. 

 12. Siigmariajicoides. 13. Poacitesl 14. Bechera tenuis, n.s^., 

 very nearly allied to B. grandis, Foss. Flora. 15. AsterophyUites ? 

 flaccida. 16. Phyllites, resembling the leaf of Sparganium, 



The palaeontologist will perceive at once that no less than half of 

 the species in the above list agree with well-known European fossils 

 of the old carboniferous formation, and the rest belong to genera 

 which are common in our coal-measures, and may perhaps agree 

 with European fossils when procured in a better state of preserva- 

 tion. The leaves resembling Sparganium, however, which are very 

 abundant, appear to Mr. Bunbury to be new. 



When we recollect that the Tuscaloosa coal is found in lat. 

 33° 10' north, and that several of its most common fossils are of the 

 same species as those of Northumberland in lat. 54° north, at a 

 distance of nearly 5000 miles (the broad Atlantic Ocean now inter- 

 vening), we cannot but be struck with this new proof of the wide 

 extension of a uniform flora in the Carboniferous period, especially 

 as Alabama is situated much farther south than any region in which 

 this ancient flora had previously been studied, whether in Europe 

 or North America. Geologists will therefore rejoice to learn that 

 Professor Brumby is fully alive to the importance of a more full 

 investigation of the plants of the country, of which he will soon, it is 

 hoped, have it in his power to form a large collection. 



C. L. 



