258 OLDER MESOZOIC FLORAS OF UNITED STATES. 
regard to this same formation. Speaking of what he calls ‘‘the second 
calcareous formation,” he says: 
In its geographical limits it occupies a position universally to the east of the prim- 
itive and transition formations. * * * It appears, however, to be destitute of the 
concomitant minerals, excepting, indeed, it were possible to conceive it in con- 
nection with the coal basins of Richmond, which J have found on examination to 
be actually underlaid with a calcareous rock of peculiar appearance. Mr. Heath’s 
coal mines, and in fact nearly all of them, except those which were in a state of com- 
bustion, are overlaid by a massive micaceous conglomerate, or grit rock, containing 
crystals of feldspar like porphyry, in which, besides gigantic culmarii, occur veins of 
the argentine calcareous spar of Kirwan. * * * In the bituminous slate clay, 
which, as usual, accompanies this coal, besides impressions of ferns and the sup- 
posed Equiseta, there are vestiges of some enornious flaccid-leaved gramineous plant, 
leaves of one of the Scitaminez similar to those of the ginger, and fine casts of a 
palm resembling the pennate fronds of some species of Zamia or cycad. * * * 
Although there can remain but little doubt of the continuity of the Floetz limestone 
we are endeavoring to trace toward the south, still, in consequence of the more 
recent alluvial deposits, it is not again discernible until we arrive in North Carolina. 
Relative to his ‘‘ gigantic Culmarii,” he appends a footnote explain- 
ing that it ‘“‘is an assumed generic name for an assemblage of extinct 
Zoophytes, one species of which is the Phytolithus striaticulmis of 
Martin’s Petrificata Derbiensia.” This Phytolithus striaticulmis is a 
Calamites, and the Culmarii described by Nuttall are undoubtedly the 
Lquisetum Rogersiz (Bunb.) Schimp. 
_ Mr. Richard C. Taylor, in 1834, was somewhat unfortunate in com- 
bating the views of Nuttall and Maclure relative to the secondary 
age of the Richmond coal field, and in claiming for it a Carboniferous 
age. But he was supported by the opinion of Adolphe Brongniart 
upon a specimen which had been sent to him, which he had identified 
as Calamites Suckowtt Brongn., but of which species he made it a new 
variety, and in describing it he remarked: 
La var. 5, dont la surface externe est assez mal conservée, se rapporte cependant 
A cette espéce par sa forme générale et par la ténuité del'écorce. Les cétes sont seule- 
ment plus convexes, ce qui peut tenir 4 une moindre compression; car ces tiges, qui 
étaient probablement verticales, paraissent avoir été comprimées dans le sens de leur 
longueur, et presentent des replis nombreux qui semblent indiquer combien leurs 
parois étaient minces et flexibles. Cet échantillon est méme fort remarquable sous 
ce rapport, et prouve que ces tiges étaient fistuleuses comme celles des Equisetum 
vivans.? 
In an article by Mr. A. W. Wooldridge,’ president of the Midlothian 
Mining Company, mention is made of the occurrence of ‘‘ vegetable 
remains, such as ferns, bark, and knobs of wood found in the slate 
overlying the coal” in the basin which is now more generally under- 
stood by the name'of the Richmond coal field. 
1 Memoir of a section passing through the bituminous coal field near: Richmond, in Virginia, by 
Richard C. Taylor: Trans. Geol. Soc. Pennsylvania, Vol. I, p. 275. 
2 Histoire des Végétaux Fossiles, Vol. I, 1828, p. 126, 
3Geological and statistical notice of the coal mines in the vicinity of Richmond: Am. Jour. Sci, 
Vol. XLIII, 1842, pp. 1-14 (see pp. 9 and 11). 
