INTKODFCIIOir. 3 



available for the study of the fossil flora of East Torkshire was 

 obtained by their means. It is to be regretted that very little 

 serious coUectiug has been undertaken during the last hali-century ; 

 some of the famous localities which afforded so rich a harvest sixty 

 or seventy years ago are probably almost worked out, but there is 

 undoubtedly much valuable material to be found if local enthusiasm 

 were again aroused. William Bean and his nephew John Williamson 

 rendered excellent service in the early days of the geological 

 exploration of the Torkshire coast : the characteristic handwriting 

 of the former is met with in most of our Museums on the labels 

 of Torkshire fossil plants ; the latter began life as a gardener at 

 Scarborough,' and afterwards became Curator of the Scarborough 

 Museum, which owes many of its treasures to his skill as a scientific 

 collector. John Williamson in later life was assisted in his natural- 

 history work by his son WiUiam Crawford Williamson, whose 

 brilliant palseobotanical researches date from his boyish days, when 

 his father's zeal led him to take a share in interpreting the 

 records of Jurassic life. The elder WUliamson was acquainted 

 with William Smith, whose name will always be prominently 

 associated with Jurassic geology,'' and with Smith's nephew, John 

 Phillips, whose work on the Torkshire Coast is one of the English 

 classics. Adolphe Brongniart ' was at this period engaged on his 

 famous work on the history of fossil plants, and as the recognized 

 authority received various Torkshire specimens for identification, 

 some of which he figured and described. 



The following list includes the East Torkshire species described 

 by Brongniart in 1828 : — 



Bquiaetum cohimrim'e = Equisetites columnans, Brongn. 



Fachypteris lamoeolata \ „ , . , , ^ 



p } = Facnyptens Icmeeolata, Brongn. 



Sphenopteris Williamsonis = 8. Williamsoni, Brongn. 

 <S. crenulata = ? Coniopteris hymenophylloides (Brongn.).* 

 S. dentieulata =? S. Williamsoni, Brongn. 

 S. hymenophylloides = Coniopteris hymenophylloides. 

 Cyclopteris digitata = Ginkgo digitata (Brongn.). 



1 Williamson, "W. C. (96), p. 3. 

 ' Vide Phiffips (44), p. 110, and Judd (98), p. 103. 

 ' Brongniart (28' and 28-). 



* The parentheses enclosing an author's name indicate that the generic name 

 has heen altered since the institution of the species [vide Seward (98), p. 111]. 



