414 SKETCH OF PALEOBOTANY. 



rying out his plan and decided him to employ under strong protest the 

 old name. He described forty-eight Phyllites, all of which are so ad- 

 mirably figured as regards nervation that it has been no trouble for 

 later writers to refer them to their proper genera. He also describes a 

 palm (Flabellaria), several cones of Pinus, and a coniferous stem that 

 he mistook for Stigmaria, though it is due to him to say that he recog- 

 nized the entire novelty of finding a Stigmaria in the Tertiary formation. 



In addition to these and some minor contributions during the year 

 1840, it was, as already shown, the one in which the earliest papers of 

 both Ungerii'i ^ud Schimper"^ on fossil plants made their appearance. 



The principal contribution made iu 1841 was Groppert'S " Gattungeu 

 der Fossilen Pflanzen,"!'^ which ai)peared originally in six parts, with 

 German and French text and many plates. It embraces a fundamental 

 discussion of the existing knowledge of fossil plants. It must not be 

 supposed that it is confined to the description of generic characters. 

 The characteristic species of each genus are fully portrayed. The author 

 still clings to the ancient floras, chiefly to the Carboniferous. The work 

 has an unfinished appearance, and the parts have been put together by 

 the publishers in a most slovenly manner, which, however, should not 

 be allowed to detract from the true merits, as it certainly does from the 

 usefulness, of this work. 



A number of other papers by Goppert must be credited to 1841, the 

 most important of which was his " Fossile Flora des Qnadersandsteins 

 von Schlesien,""'' which he supposed to belong to the Tertiary system, 

 while in connection with Beinert he published in the same year a me- 

 moir on the distribution of fossil plants in the Carboniferous formation. ''•' 



The little work of Alexander Petzholdt, "De Calamitis et .Lithan- 

 thracibus " (Dresdse et Lipsiae, 1841), possesses merits not to be meas- 

 ured by its size. It has done much to clear up both subjects, and also 

 to advance them, and the collection given of opinions which have been 

 expressed by those best situated to know respecting the nature of the 

 CalamitEB, and especially respecting the origin of coal, must continue to 



^^^Supra, p. 375, note 9. 



'^ Baumfarne, Schaohtelhalme, Cycadeen, Aethophyllum, Albertia * • * ini 

 bunten Sandstein der Vogesen ; HyBterium auf einem Pappel-Blatte der Wetterauer 

 Braunkohle. Lonhard und Bronn's Neue Jahrbiiclier, 1840, pp. 336-338. Communica- 

 tion dated 14. Miirz, 1840. 



"^Die Gattuugen der fossilen Pflanzen verglicben mit denen der Jetztwelt und 

 durch Abbildungeu erlautert (Lea genres des plantes fossiles compares avec ceux dii 

 monde moderne expliqu^spar des figures). Bonn, I-IV. Lfg., 1841, V-VI. Lfg., 1842- 

 1845. 



iMUeber die fossile Flora der Quadersandsteinformation in Soblesien als erster 

 Beitrag zur Flora der Tertiargebilde. Nov. Act. Acad. Caes. Leop. Tom. XXIX, 1841, 

 p. 97. 



'* Goppert & Beinert. Ueber Verbreitung der fossiler Ge wachse in der SteinkoUlen- 

 formation. Karsten & Decben's Archiv., Band XV, 1841, p. 731. 



