262 OLDER MESOZOIC FLORAS OF UNITED STATES. 
that no such ancient forms exist in the Mesozoic formation; and, sec- 
ondly, in showing that many of the species referred to the Yorkshire 
flora are not identical with those forms and are either new species 
belonging to the same orders or genera or are species nearly or quite 
identical with those of the Rhetic beds of Europe. So that while upon 
the whole the revised flora indicates that these deposits are more 
ancient than the Oolite of England, at the same time it does not indi- 
cate an age having anything like the antiquity of the true coal floras of 
this country and of Europe. 
Forms supposed to belong to Calamites were shown to belong to 
Equisetum, having the broad trunks and great size of those Equise- 
tums which occur in the Trias.. The supposed Sigillarias and Lepi- 
dodendra were shown to belong to the Cycadacez or Conifer, prob- 
ably to the genus Palissya, which is strictly Mesozoic. On the other 
hand, the important Pecopteris whitbiensis and Neuropteris linnww- 
folia, supposed to be common to the Oolitic flora and that of Virginia, 
are both shown to belong to the genus Acrostichites, which is Rhetic, 
and the equally important Pecopteris bullatus, from which so much had 
been argued, is referred by Professor Fontaine to an entirely new 
genus of his own, viz, Mertensides, by which it loses altogether its 
diagnostic value. These are merely examples of the searching char- 
acter of Professor Fontaine’s investigations and of the important alter- 
ations in the data for forming a conclusion with regard to the age of 
these deposits. 
After describing the species of the Virginia flora, Professor Fon- 
taine sets forth in a table of distribution the general elements of this 
flora as compared with those of other countries. Forty-two species 
had been enumerated, of which 21, or just half, prove to be new to 
science, or at least peculiar to Vics. In the table appended to 
this paper it will be shown that several of these have affinities with 
other plants whose geological age is known, therefore are not without 
diagnostic value from a geological standpoint. Professor Fontaine’ 
could find no forms identical with any that had hitherto been described 
from any part of the Trias, but 4 of his species were allied to species 
of the Trias. Only 2 of them were shown to be identical with any 
plants of the Jurassic, and neither of these belong to the Oolite of 
Yorkshire, but there are 5 species related to Jurassic forms. With 
the Rhetic flora the affinities seem closer, 4 species having been 
identified with Rhetic plants of Europe, and 8 others are shown to be 
closely related to such. Professor Fontaine’s table is carefully dis- 
cussed by him, each species being taken up and its geological bearings 
considered. Without following him through this discussion, we will 
content ourselves by quoting a few of his concluding remarks: 
It is clear then from these facts that we must consider this flora as not older than 
the Rhetic. The only question is whether or not its strong Jurassic features ought to 
