270 



ME. E. H. GOODE ON THE FOSSIL FLOEA. OF 



[June 1913, 



Of these, SphenophyUum cuneifolium (Sternb.) is also very 

 abundant, and Neuropteris obliqua (Brongn.) is not so common, in 

 the Lower Coal Series, while the other three species have not been 

 recorded from these beds. The commonest plants at this latter 

 horizon are : — 



SphenophyUum cuneifolium (Sternb.) 

 Mariopteris onuricata (Schloth.). 

 Neurvpteris tenuifolia (Schloth.). 



Alethopteris lonchitica (Schloth.). 

 Pccopteris miltoni (Artis). 

 Stigmaria ficoides (Sternb.). 



Turning to the so-called 'Millstone Grit,' we find only one species 

 that has not been obtained from the higher beds, all the other 

 species having been found in the Lower Coal Series. This species is 

 Lepidophloios acerosus (L. & H.). In these beds the commonest 

 species are Mariopteris muricata (Schloth.) and Alethopteris lonchitica 

 (Schloth.). 



(1) Pennant Grit (?). 



Comparing the fossil flora of the 'Pennant Grit' with that 

 of the Upper, Transition, Middle, and Lower Coal Measures else- 

 where in Britain ; leaving out of consideration the two doixbtful and 

 the three new species, and also Linopteris hrongniarti Gutb. which 

 has not with certainty been previously obtained from British Coal 

 Measures, we find that out of the twenty-seven species recorded, 

 fifteen occur in the Upper Coal Measures, none of which are 

 characteristic of that horizon ; twenty-two in the Transition Coal 

 Measures ; all occur in the Middle Coal Measures, three : namely, 

 Sphenophyllum cuneifolium var. saocifragcpfolium (Sternb.), Spheno- 

 pteris spinosa Gcepp., and Sph. ( Renault ia) gracilis (Brongn.), 

 not occurring above and nine not below that horizon ; while 

 seventeen are found in, and one, namely, Sph, (Renaultia) 

 gracilis (Brongn.), is doubtfully recorded from, the Lower Coal 

 Measures, nine of these being common to all the divisions of the 

 Coal Measures. 



These beds cannot, therefore, be regarded as belonging to the 

 Pennant Grit, for the fossil flora distinctly indicates a Middle, and 

 not a Transition, 1 Coal-Measure horizon, there being no admixture 

 of species characteristic of the Upper and of the Middle Coal 

 Measures. In other words, no plants occur which are not found at 

 a lower horizon than the Transition Series, though some are present 

 which do not extend higher than these beds or even the Middle 

 Coal Measures. 



(2) Lower Coal Series. 



Turning now to the Lower Coal Series, we find, leaving out one 

 doubtful species, that out of the thirty-five species recorded, twenty- 

 one occur in the Upper Coal Measures, none of these, however, 



Kidston (1894) p. 574. 



