Lyell on Alabama Coal-fields. 423 



interesting. Although the decomposed state of the matrix in which 

 the plants were obtained, near the outcrop of the strata where the 

 shales are changed into soft, pale, laminated clays, has occasioned 

 the loss of some of the Ferns and Sigillarise, Mr. Bunbury has never- 

 theless been able to give a list and description of the following six- 

 teen forms : — 1. Sphenopteris latifolia, Ad. Brongn. 2. S. Dubuis- 

 soni? Ad. Brongn. 3. Sphenopteris, allied to the last, perhaps a 

 variety of the same. 4. Neuropteris tenuifolia, Ad. Brongn. 5. Neu- 

 ropteris grangeri, or N. gigantea ? 6. Catamites cannceformis. 7. 

 Catamite, obscure specimen allied to the foregoing. 8. Lepidoden- 

 dron elegans, var. 1 9. Lepidodendron, allied to L. dilatatum, Foss. 

 Flora. 10. Lepidophyllum ? 11. Sigillaria, decorticated. 12. Stig- 

 maria ficoides. 13. Poacites ? 14. Bechera tenuis, n. sp., very nearly 

 allied to B. grandis, Foss. Flora. 15. Asterophyllites ? fiaccida. 

 16. Phyllites, resembling the leaf of Sparganium. 



The palaeontologist will perceive at once that no less than half of 

 the species in the above list agree with well-known European fossils 

 of the old carboniferous formation, and the rest belong to genera 

 which are common in our coal-measures, and may perhaps agree 

 with European fossils when procured in a better state of preserva- 

 tion. The leaves resembling Sparganium, however, which are very 

 abundant, appear to Mr. Bunbury to be new. 



When we recollect that the Tuscaloosa coal is found in lat. 

 33° 10' north, and that several of its most common fossils are of the 

 same species as those of Northumberland in lat. 54° north, at a 

 distance of nearly 5,000 miles (the broad Atlantic Ocean now inter- 

 vening,) we cannot but be struck with this new proof of the wide 

 extension of a uniform flora in the Carboniferous period, especially 

 as Alabama is situated much farther south than any region in which 

 this ancient flora had previously been studied, whether in Europe 

 or North America. Geologists will therefore rejoice to learn that 

 Professor Brumby is fully alive to the importance of a more full 

 investigation of the plants of the country, of which he will soon, it is 

 hoped, have it in his power to form a large collection. — From the 

 Quarterly Journal Geological Society. C. L. 



3 i 



