RADSTOCK SERIES OF THE SOMERSET AND BRISTOL COAL FIELD. 375 



Bath (Radstock Coal Field), and from the mines of Anzin, near Valenciennes, 

 Department du Nord. 



I may mention here that the plants figured by Brongniart as Pec. Miltoni, 

 Hist, d. veget.foss., pi. cxiv., with perhaps the exception of his fig. 8, probably 

 do not belong to this species, but to his own Pec. polymorpha* Brongniart's 

 figs. 2 and 7 evidently belong to Pec. polymorpha ; his figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 

 most probably also belong to the same fern, but on these figures I express no 

 definite opinion. His fig. 8 lias been raised to specific rank by Schimper, under 

 the name of Goniopteris brevifolia, 3 ^ but I think it is referable to Pec. Miltoni. 

 I have collected at Radstock specimens which I cannot distinguish from it. 

 Brongniart's figure does not give much data from which to form any satis- 

 factory opinion. 



The type of Pec. Miltoni has disappeared, but while visiting some museums 

 and private collections in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire, where coals 

 are worked on or about the same horizon as those from which Pec. Miltoni 

 was derived, I met with a number of undoubted specimens of it ; but I am 

 specially indebted to Mr George Wild, Bardsley Colliery, Ashton-under- 

 Lyne, and to Dr Pegler, Stonebroom, Derbyshire, for facilities for examining 

 specimens of this species. 



In my several visits to Radstock I also collected many fine specimens of 

 the plant described as Pec. abbreviata by Brongniart. These specimens I have 

 compared with the figures and descriptions of Pec. Miltoni and Pec. abbreviate/, 

 and have also compared the specimens from different localities with each 

 other, as well as with some from the Coal Field of Valenciennes, kindly sent 

 me by M. Zeiller, but have failed to discover any character by which they 

 can be separated. 



It is admitted by all, including those who regard Pec. Miltoni and Pec. 

 abbreviata as distinct species, that Pec. abbreviata at all events is very poly- 

 morphic, and those who are most intimate with this fern are most cognizant of 

 this fact. 



Zeiller has carefully entered into this subject in his Notes sur la Jlore 

 houillere des Asluries in his remarks on Pec. abbreviata. He describes the little 

 hairs on the upper surface of the pinnules of this species, whose presence, 

 often entirely obscuring the nervation, has led to its being identified as Pec. 

 villosa, and as an instance he cites the identification of Pec. abbreviata as Pec. 

 villosa by Geinitz.J 



Whether the Pec. villosa, Brongt., can be referred to Pec. abbreviata or not, 

 must in the meantime from want of evidence remain an open question. 



* See Zeiller, Mem. Soc. Geol. du Nord, loc. cit. 

 f Traite d. paleont. veget., vol. i. p. 546. 



% That this so-called Pec.' villosa is in reality the Pec. Miltoni ( = Pec. abbreoiata, Brongt.) will, I 

 think, be admitted by all who have studied the subject. 



VOL. XXXITI. PART II. 3 K 



