376 MISS M. C. STOPES ON" THE FLOEA [Aug. I907, 



The fossil-plants here mentioned, however, are but vaguely described, 

 chiefly in the words of a Mr. Konig (op. cit. pp. 298-300). The 

 plant which is figured in pi. xxxii. under the name Oncylogonatum 

 carbonarium is now readily recognized as Equisetites columnaris, 

 and is the one which Konig identified with one of the fossil-plants 

 collected by Murchison on the Yorkshire coast. A second plant of 

 doubtful affinity is also figured, but the Equisetites is the important 

 and characteristic fossil of these beds. 



Robertson (43) notes the similarity of the strata yielding the 

 Brora coal with those of the Yorkshire coast; but, although he 

 speaks of beds containing plant-remains, he does not mention any 

 of them by name. 



In Prof. Judd's (73) important paper the relative positions of the 

 beds are made clear from the study of their numerous animal- 

 remains ; but no mention is made of plants^from the series of Lower- 

 Oolite rocks, beyond recording the frequency of impressions of 

 Equisetites. He says (p. 157) of the coal that 



' In places it is seen to be wholly made up of the crushed stems of Equisetites 

 columnaris, Brongn.' 



Otherwise the fossils are not specifically described, being referred 

 to as ' plant-remains/ ' fossil wood/ or ' plant-markings.' Certain 

 very important plants were found in the district, such as Bennettites 

 Peachianus, and these are described in detail by Mr. Carruthers (70) ; 

 but they do not belong to the same series of rocks as do the coals 

 (being from the Middle and Upper Oolites), and hence are not 

 comparable with the rich shale-flora of the Yorkshire Inferior 

 Oolite. Botanically, also, they are of a different type from those 

 of the lower horizons. 1 



Prof. Seward (00), in his ' Introduction to the Catalogue of the 

 Mesozoic Plants in the British Museum (Natural History),' refers 

 to the description given by Murchison in 1827, noting that Oncylo- 

 gonatum is Equisetites and that the second doubtful species may 

 be the scales of a female Araucarian cone, but he gives no further 

 plant-species as representative of the Brora district. Hence it 

 appears that, until the present plants came to light, but one deter- 

 mined species and one doubtful species were known from the coal- 

 bearing Inferior Oolite of Brora. 



Prom this it will be understood why the detailed comparison 

 of the flora of the Inferior Oolite of Yorkshire with that of the 

 similar beds in Scotland has perforce lain in abeyance, although the 



1 It may be convenient to mention here the more important of the plants 

 described from the higher beds : — Equisetites columnaris, casts and impressions ; 

 Bucklandia Milleriana, Carr. (Middle Oolite, Brora), casts and impressions ; 

 Yatesia Joassiana, Carr. (Middle Oolite, Brora), casts and impressions ; 

 Y. crassa, Carr., casts and impressions ; Bennettites Peachianus, Carr. (Middle 

 Oolite, Helmsdale), with structure ; various Gymnosperm woods with structure, 

 many from the Kimeridgean of Helmsdale. Hugh Miller mentions several 

 Cycadean foliage-impressions, but practically the only paper on the subject is 

 that of Mr. Carruthers, already mentioned. 



