﻿Vol. 66.] PAL.EOXYRIS AND OTHER ALLIED FOSSILS. 329 



12. On PaljEOXyris and oilier Allied Fossils//-o//i the Derbyshire 

 and Nottinghamshire Coalfield. By Lewis AIovsEr, B.A., 

 M.B., B.C., F.G.S. (Read March 23rd, 1910.) 



[Plates XXIV-XXVII.] 



In a more or less careful examination of this coalfield, with a 

 view to the compilation of a comprehensive catalogue of its flora, 

 so many specimens of Palceoxyris have been found that it seems to 

 me advisable to record such facts as the new material affords in 

 relation to their structure. To the solution of the problem as to 

 their true nature, however, this mass of material gives, unfortu- 

 nately, no clue. 



These curious organisms have been known for many years, and 

 have been the subject of many papers and controversies ; notably 

 a paper by Dr. R. Kidston, 1 giving a very careful description and 

 figures of such species as were known to him from British rocks, to 

 which he added a complete bibliography up to 1885. 



The first recorded specimen from British Carboniferous rocks 

 was found in Coalbrookdale. 2 It is figured as Carpolites helic- 

 teroides, and was supposed to be a fruit. 



A. Brongniart, 3 however, in 1828 had described an allied fossil 

 under the name of Palceoxyris regularis — this name having been 

 given, owing to its supposed resemblance to the inflorescence of the 

 recent Xyris. Prestl 4 described them from the New Red Sand- 

 stone (? Rhaetic) of Bamberg. A. Schenk, 5 in 1867, called attention 

 to the resemblance of these organisms to the egg-cases of fishes, 

 comparing them with those of certain Elasmobranchs ; but he did 

 not consider the resemblance close enough to warrant their trans- 

 ference to the animal kingdom. Later, however, in 1888, G having 

 had further opportunities for comparison, he advocated the view 

 that they are egg-cases, and most observers of the present day have 

 adopted this opinion. 



Lesquereux, 7 in 1870, described three species of Palceoxyris from 



1 Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edinb. vol. ix (1885) pp. 54-65 & pi. i. 



2 J. Morris, in Prestwich's ' Geology of Coalbrookdale' Trans. Geol. Soc. 

 ser. 2, vol. v, pt. iii (1840) pi. xxxviii, figs. 12 & 12 a, with explanation of 

 figs. 



3 Ann. Sci. Nat. vol. xv, p. 456 & pi. xx, fig. 1 ; and ' Prodrome Hist. Veget. 

 Foss.' pp. 137, 190. 



4 K. Sternberg, ' Versuch einer Geogn.-Botan. Darstellung der Flora der 

 Vorwelt ' Fuse, vii-viii (1838) p. 189 & pi. lix, figs. 10-11. 



5 ' Fossile Flora der Grenzscbichten des Keupers & Lias Frankens ' pp. 204, 

 205. 



6 'Die Fossilen Pflanzenreste' 1888, p. 188; see also A. G. Nathorst, 

 ' Otn Spirangium, &c.' Ofversigt af Kongl. Svensk. Vetensk.-Akad. Forhandl. 

 vol. xxxvi, No. 3 (1879) p. 81. 



7 Geol. Surv. Illinois, vol. iv, pp. 464-67. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 263. 2 a 



