4:64 



PERMIAN FLORA. 



[Ch. XXIII. 



Gardiocarpon Ot- 



Fig. 510. 



nopteris erosa, and S. lobata, are also met with in the government of 



Perm in Russia. Seven others, and among them JVeuropteris Loshii, 



Pecopteris arhorescens, and P. similis, with several species of Walchia- 



(see fig. 508), a genus of Conifers, called Lyco- 



podites by some authors, are common to the coal-. 



measures. 



Among the genera also enumerated by Colonel 

 Ghitbier are the fruit called Cardiocarpon (see fig. 

 509), Asterophyllites, and Annularia, so characteristic 

 of the Carboniferous period ; also Lepidodendron, 

 tonis. Gutbier. which is common to the Permian of Saxony, Thurin- 

 Penman, saxony. gi Ej anc [ Russia, although not abundant. JSfoeggera- 

 thia (see fig. 510), supposed by A. Brongniart to be 

 allied to Cycas, is another link between the Permian and Carbonif- 

 erous vegetation. Coniferse, of the Araucarian division, also occur ; 

 but these- are likewise met with both in older 

 and newer rocks. The plants called Sigillaria 

 and Stigmaria, so marked a feature in the Car- 

 boniferous period, are as yet wanting. 



Among the remarkable fossils of the roth- 

 liegendes, or lowest part of the Permian in 

 Saxony and Bohemia, are the silicified trunks 

 of tree-ferns called generically Psaronius. 

 Their bark was surrounded by a dense mass 

 of air-roots, which often constituted a great 

 addition to the original stem, so as to double 

 or quadruple its diameter. The same remark 

 holds good in regard to certain living extra- 

 tropical arborescent ferns, particularly those of 

 New Zealand. 



Psaronites are also found in the uppermost 

 coal of Autun in France, and in the upper coal- 

 measures of the State of Ohio in the United 

 States, but specifically different from those of 

 the rothliegendes. They serve to connect the 

 Permian flora with the more modern portion 

 of the preceding or carboniferous group. Upon 

 the whole, it is evident that the Permian plants approach much nearer 

 to the carboniferous flora than to the triassic ; and the same may be 

 said of the Permian fauna. 



Noeggerathia cuneifolia. 

 Ad. Brongniart.* - 



* Hurchison's Russia, vol. ii. pi. A, fig. 3. 



