FOEEST OF WYRE AND TITTBRSTONE CLEE HILL COAL FIELDS. 1041 



surface, it is only observable when the specimens are exceptionally well preserved,* 

 and in this villosity Annularia galioides is thought to differ from Annularia spicata, 

 where the leaves are supposed to be smooth.! I am afraid that this character 

 cannot be regarded as of distinctive value, because occasionally one sees a hirsute 

 covering on the leaves of Annularia radiata,\ and Potonie has figured Annularia 

 stellata Schl. sp. showing a similar character.§ I have also received from Dr 

 Moysey specimens of this latter species in which the hairy surface of the leaves is 

 beautifully exhibited. It would appear, therefore, that the presence or absence of 

 hairs on the surface of the leaves of Annularia cannot be taken as a character 

 of specific importance, as their presence or absence seems to be due to the state of 

 preservation of the fossil. 



The leaves of Annularia spicata are distinctly narrower in proportion to their 

 length than those of Annularia galioides, and this gives a less dense character of 

 growth to the plant, which, taken in conjunction with the smaller size of Annularia 

 spicata in all its parts, offers an easy means of distinguishing the two species. It is 

 therefore with Annularia galioides that I would unite the Annularia minuta Brongt., 

 with which in the size and form of the leaves it agrees perfectly, especially with 

 those on the smaller branchlets of that species. 



I am a little doubtful if the specimen figured by Zeiller in his Bassin houil. et 

 perm, de Brive, pi. xi, fig. 4, as Annularia spicata should be referred to that 

 species, as the broader form of the leaves seems to agree more with those of Annularia 

 galioides L. & H. sp., of which it may possibly be a small condition. The differ- 

 ences between these two species, though not easy to put in words, are quite clear 

 when specimens of the two plants are compared. It has also been proposed by 

 Zeiller to unite the Annularia radiiformis Weiss sp. || with Annularia spicata 

 Gutbier sp., but here also I am unable to accept this view, as I fail to discover any 

 character by which it seems possible to separate the Annularia radiiformis Weiss 

 sp. from Annularia galioides L. & H. sp.H 



The British specimens of Annularia spicata come from a lower horizon than 

 that from which the plant has been previously obtained. 



Locality.-— Roadside, 250 yards N.E. of Cooper's Mill, l£ mile W. of Dowles 

 Church, Bewdley. 



Horizon. — Westphalian Series. (Pr. 1156-1158.) 



* K/2066. 



t Jongmans, Anleitung, i, pp. 258 and 263. 



+ See Jongmans and Kikok, Calamariaceen d. Rhein. Westjal. Kohlenbeckens, p. 42, pi. xvi, figs. 1, 2, 5, 1913. 



§ Flora des Rothl. von Thiiringen, p. 162, pi. xxiv, figs. 4, 5, 1893. 



|| Asterophyllites radiiformis, Weiss, Foss. Flora d. jtingst. Sik. u. Rothl., p. 129, pi. xii, fig. 3, 



IT Bassin houil. et perm, de Blanzy et du Creusot, p. 138, 1906. 



