4 ME,. E. A. JEWELL AEBER ON THE [Feb. I903, 



especially near the Countess Pit, contains many fragments of plants, 

 some of which are sufficiently well preserved to admit of identifi- 

 cation. The bands of impure fireclay also contain plant-remains. 



Besides the plants which I have collected in this locality, there 

 are two other collections in the Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge, 

 one of which is without doubt derived from the Sandstone Series. 



The earliest reference to fossil plants from the Upper Carboni- 

 ferous rocks of Whitehaven is that by John Woodward in his 

 ' Catalogue of English Fossils,' published in 1729. Woodward 1 

 there mentions, or describes, twenty-four plant-remains from 



' a dark grey slatey Stone ... at the depth of about 25 Fathom, in Bransty-ClifF, 

 by the Duke of Somerset's Salt-Pans, near Whitehaven.' 



These specimens are preserved with the rest of Woodward's his- 

 toric collections in the Museum which bears his name, at Cambridge. 

 The following is a list of the species from Whitehaven : — 



Calamites (Eucalamites) ramosus, Art. | Neuropteris obliqua (Brongt.). 

 Calamocladus equisetiformis (Schl.). ■ Mariopteris (Diplothmema) muricata 

 Neuropteris Schmchzeri, Hoffra. (Schl.). 



The exact locality, and consequently the horizon of Woodward's 

 plants, cannot, despite his full record, be definitely ascertained 

 now." While there seems to me to be very little doubt that 

 these specimens were obtained from the Sandstone Series, I have 

 excluded this collection from the evidence as to the age of the beds 

 in this district, on account of the uncertainty as to the series and 

 horizon from which they were obtained. The opportunity has, 

 however, been taken to figure two of them, Neuropteris Schmchzeri 

 and N. obliqua (PL I, figs. 1 & 2). 



Among the large collection of Palaeozoic plant-remains in the 

 Woodwardian Museum, there are several specimens from the Sand- 

 stone Series at Whitehaven. These were collected by Sedgwick 

 during his study of this district, and are mentioned by him in 

 his memoirs on the Cumberland Coalfield, read before the Geological 

 Society more than sixty years ago. In 1831 3 he stated that 

 1 traces of vegetable fossils occur in this deposit, on the coast of Cumberland, 

 near Whitehaven." 



Ten years later 4 he further stated that 



• the flora of the Coalfield existed apparently in full perfection during the 



period of the Lower . . . Bed Sandstone,' 



and that he had obtained many new specimens of this flora. 

 Sedgwick obtained his specimens on the coast at Whitehaven itself. 

 Speaking of the Sandstone Series in 1832, he says: — 

 ' It is generally without any trace of fossils : the very extensive excavations 

 carried on in it on both sides of Whitehaven, have, however, brought to light a 

 few obscure impressions of Equiseta and Calamites! 5 



1 J. Woodward (L729) pt. ii, p. 16. 



2 At a distance of less than a mile along Bransty Cliff from Whitehaven, the 

 Productive Measures are faulted up against the Sandstone Series. 



3 A. Sedgwick (35) p. 58, footnote. 4 Id. (42) p. 545. 

 s Id. (36) p. 395. 



