648 PROFESSOR A. C. SEWARD ON 



Equisetites columnaris * founded by Brongniart on specimens from the Inferior Oolite 

 of Whitby. The Brora stem was named by Zigno t Equisetites Koenigii. The scales 

 figured by Konig are probably pieces of an Araucarian cone. In a later communication 

 to the Geological Society of London Murchison,| referring to a paper by Robertson,§ 

 in which the Brora beds are spoken of as Wealden in age, states that the facts adduced 

 by that author " tend to confirm the idea that the Wealden is more naturally connected 

 with the Jurassic than with the Cretaceous system." It is true that the floras described 

 from Upper Jurassic beds differ but slightly in general facies from those of Wealden 

 age, but the evidence of the plants recorded by Konig, and recently by Dr Marie 

 Stopes,|| is in favour of assigning the rocks of the Brora district to a lower horizon 

 (Lower Oolite). 



The most complete account of the Jurassic rocks of the north-east of Scotland is 

 that published by Professor Judd.H In this paper the beds at Navidale, Helmsdale, and 

 at the mouth of the Loth river are referred to as Upper Oolite (Kimeridgian) ; the 

 Brora rocks are classed as Middle Oolite (Corallian), and those at Eathie Bay, which 

 Miller * # assigned to the Liassic series, are identified as Upper Oolite. The plants from 

 the Upper Oolite of Sutherland are referred to by Judd in general terms, and only one 

 species, Bennettites Peachianus Carr., is mentioned by name. Professor Judd wrote : 

 " The beautiful flora of these beds, the age of which is now placed beyond all question 

 as that of the Upper Oolite, will be made the subject of a critical study by Mr 

 Carruthers. It will form a new and highly interesting link in the history of vegetable 

 life." tt Thanks to the labours of Dr Marcus Gunn, it is now possible to do ampler justice 

 to this northern British flora than would have been possible when Judd's paper was 

 written. The Kimeridgian age of the Navidale to Loth-river beds is confirmed by the 

 recent work of Horace AVoodward, who also informs me that the Brora coal is Bathonian ; 

 " it belongs to the Great Oolite series, and might possibly be equivalent to Cornbrash."]} 



The most recent of the few published accounts of the Jurassic plants of north-east 

 Scotland is by Miss Stopes,§§ who considerably extends the list of Brora species : she 

 concludes her paper by expressing the opinion that " it is evident that the flora of the 

 Inferior Oolite of Brora is so similar to that of Yorkshire as to convince us that the 

 plants of the Scottish district belong to the same life-province as the one which 

 included Yorkshire during that period." This conclusion is justified by the evidence 

 of the plants found by her in the shale " cropping out below high- tide level on the 

 coast, about a mile and a quarter due south of Brora." It should be noted that these 

 plants were not collected from the Brora coal-field, which is spoken of by Woodward 

 as Bathonian. The specimens described in the following pages, nearly all of which 

 were collected on the shores of Culgower Bay and farther north, are, however, from a 

 higher horizon than that from which Miss Stopes obtained her material ; it is significant 



* Sewabd (00), p. 56. t Zigno (59), p. 113. { Mdrchison (43). 



§ Robertson (47). || Stopes (07). 1 Judd (73). ** Miller (57), p. 469. 



tt Judd (73), p. 182. XX Letter from H. B. Woodward, July 1910. §§ Stopes (07). 



