part 2] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xci 



pass rapidly in review the data gathered from different parts of 

 the world that are available as a basis on which to reconstruct 

 the older Devonian vegetation. 



Many Devonian plants have been obtained from different 

 localities between Ohio and the Gaspe peninsula on the south side 

 of the St. Lawrence. During a part of the Devonian Period there 

 was probably an open passage from Graspe to the south-Avest through 

 the State of New York and the Southern Appalachians, and in this 

 were deposited sand and mud containing the remains of the vege- 

 tation from the marshes and higher ground. Many of the plants 

 found at Gaspe occur on the original soils, and beds of rock are 

 full of their rhizomes. The lower strata at Gaspe contain marine 

 fossils indicating a Lower Devonian age, and with them occur a 

 few drifted plants. Above these are thousands of feet of fresh- 

 water sediments rich in plants belonging both to Middle and 

 to Lower Devonian floras. It is interesting to find that the 

 manner of occurrence of some of the Gaspe fossils indicates the 

 former existence of peat-beds with rhizomes still in place, precisely 

 as at Khynie in Aberdeenshire. 



In view of the marked difference between older Devonian floras 

 and those of the Upper Devonian age, it is convenient to consider 

 first the palseobotanical data obtained from Lower and Middle 

 Devonian rocks. My remarks will be confined to few localities 

 and to some of the more interesting and better-known plants. In 

 1913, Prof. V. M. Goldschmidt discovered plant- bearing beds in a 

 series of barren sedimentary strata, at Lake Roragen in Norway, 

 near the Swedish frontier. In 1916, Dr. T. G. Halle published a 

 full description of the flora, supplementary to a preliminary account 

 previously given by A. G. Nathorst. The plant- beds were probably 

 deposited in a freshwater basin on the Caledonian mountains. 

 A few plant-remains, probably of Lower Devonian age, have also 

 been found on the Island of Sovvseret in the Buland Archipelago 

 off the western coast of Norway. Relics of a Middle Devonian 

 flora were described by Nathorst in 1915 from Western Norway, 

 near Nordfjoi-d. 



The two richest regions in Europe are Scotland and Bohemia : 

 in the former region much material has been collected from 

 Lower and Middle Devonian strata at widely separated localities, 

 and several plants have been described from Bohemian rocks con- 

 tainining marine Middle Devonian fossils. Other older Devonian 

 localities are mentioned later. 



