INTEODTJCIION. 



only in the form of casts exiibiting a strong likeness to some 

 Palseozoic Lycopods. This plant has been found in Bunter rocks 

 of Germany,' and Fliche^ has recently recorded its occurrence in 

 strata referred to the upper portion of the Middle Trias at 

 Chauffontaitte, near LunevUle. Professor Pliche, in a note 

 published in the Comptes Sendus,^ also records the occurrence 

 in Bunter beds near Baccarat of a type which he names Stigmarites 

 Nielclesi, and describes as probably generically identical with 

 Stigma/ria Jicoides. The same author is of opinion that the fossil 

 named by Schimper & Mougeot Caulopteris tessellata should be 

 placed among the Lycopodinse, and referred either to Lepidodend/ron 

 or to a new genus closely allied to that characteristic member of 

 Palseozoic floras. The somewhat doubtful Sigillaria oculina,' first 

 recorded by Blanckenhom * from the Trias of Commem, in the Rhine 

 Province, is in itself insufficient as proof of the existence of the true 

 Sigillaria in the Triassic era. From Middle Triassic strata a few 

 plants have been described from Eecoaro, in Italy,' and from a few 

 other localities ; but the Muschelkalk, like the underlying Bunter 

 series, represents a chapter in the history of plant-evolution of which 

 but a few fragmentary pages have been discovered. The greater 

 part of the Triassic sediments in Europe are of marine origin, and 

 from them have been obtained several species of calcareous algae 

 referred to the ancient family SiphoneaB.^ On the other hand, 

 the Triassic beds of Britain and other parts of Europe, as shown 

 by the abundance of saline deposits and by certain lithologioal 

 characters, were formed at a time when the conditions were not 

 such as to favour the luxuriant development of plant-life. 



Passing to the higher members of the Triassic system, we are 

 suddenly in touch with a rich Mesozoic vegetation, which con- 

 tinues with little modification through the whole of the Jurassic 

 era. The differences between the Keuper floras and those from 

 the overlying Rhsetic strata are very slight, and for general 



1 Solms-Laubach (99), p. 241 ; Potonie (99), p. 217. 



2 Fliclie i03). 



3 Potonie (99), p. 256, fig. 246. 



< Blanckenhom (86) ; Weiss (86). 



* Beneoke (68). 



« De Lorenzo (97) ; Benecke (98). 



