PLANTS OF THE SHREWSBURY COAL-FIELD. 



85 



The fossil plants which are found in the beds of shale of the Shrewsbury coal mea- 

 sures, and which occur in the largest quantities, are, 



Shrewsbury Coal-field. 



Cyperites bicarinatu. Lindley and Hutton, Foss. 

 Flor. vol. 1. pi. 43. fig. 1 and 2. 



This remarkable plant, and several others of the 

 Shrewsbury coal-field, were sent from Le Botwood to 

 Dr. Buckland when I was examining the district, and 

 being communicated by him to Professor Lindley, were 

 figured in the Fossil Flora. I found numerous dupli- 

 cates. According to Professor Lindley this plant is the 

 first published evidence of the existence of Glumaceous 

 Monocotyledons in the coal measures, and he named 

 it Cyperites, rather from inability to match it with the 

 leaves of any other family, than from any conviction 

 that it really belongs to Cyperacece. 



Lepidophyllum intermedium. Foss. Flor. pi. 43. fig. 3. 

 Supposed to belong to a plant allied to the coniferous 

 genus Podocarpus. 



Lepidostrobus variabilis. Foss. Flor. vol. 1. pi. 11. 

 Considered by M. Ad. Brongniart to be an organ of 

 fructification belonging to Lepidodendron, and to be a 

 reproductive body analogous to those of recent Coniferee 

 and Lycopodiacece. Foss. Flor. pi. 43. fig. 3. 



Lycopodites. Sternberg, Flor. der Vorw. pi. 17. fig. 3. 



Leaf of a large Monocotyledonous plant. 



Neuropteris cordata. Brongn. Hist, des Vegetaux 

 fossiles, p. 229. t. 64. f. 5. Foss. Flor. pi. 41. 



Neuropteris gigantea ? Fragments of. Foss. Flor. 

 pi. 52. Ad. Brongn pi. 69. (Osmunda gigantea, Stern- 

 berg, tab. 22. Filicites linguarius, Schloth.) 



Odontopteris obtusa. Foss. Flor. pi. 40. A new 

 genus so named by Professor Lindley from a Le Bot- 

 wood specimen. (Occurs in other Salopian coal-fields.) 



Pecopteris abbreviata. Ad. Brong. Hist, des Vege- 

 taux foss. pi. 115. f. 1 and 4. 



Pecopteris lonchitica. Foss. Flor. vol. 2. pi. 153. 

 P. blechnoides, Ad. Brongn. 



This plant is also most abundant in the other Salo- 

 pian coal-fields of Coalbrook Dale, Clee Hills, &c. (See 

 wood-cut in the next chapter.) 



Other Localities. 



This species with several well-known and common 

 coal plants has recently been found in the culm-bear- 

 ing strata of Devonshire, which Professor Sedgwick 

 and myself are convinced belong to the true carboni- 

 ferous sera, and not to the grauwacke rocks as sup- 

 posed by former authors. See Proceedings of British 

 Association, 1836, and Anniversary Discourse of the 

 President of the Geological Society, Feb. 1837. 



This leaf is intermediate between the Lepidophyllum 

 lanceolatum and L. majus of the Newcastle coal-field. 



Jarrow Colliery, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Bohemian coal-fields. 



The same species occurs in the Lancashire coal-field, 

 and particularly in the upper coal measures at Ardwick. 



St. Etienne and Alais in France. It is also found 

 in the culm-bearing strata of Devonshire. 



Common to all the European coal-fields, also to the 

 culm strata of Devon. 



Terrasson in France. 



Near Bath in England, Anzin near Valenciennes in 

 France. 



Common to all the European coal-fields ; figured by 

 Sternberg from those of Bohemia and Silesia, and by 

 Brongniart from those of France. In England it occurs 

 in the Northumberland, Durham, Bristol and South 

 Welsh coal-fields. It is also one of the most abundant 

 plants in the culm strata of Devonshire. In Devon 

 this species of Pecopteris is further associated with 

 Cyperites bicarinata, Neuropteris cordata, N. gigantea, 

 of the Shrewsbury coal-field, Poacites cocoina of the 

 Coalbrook Dale, and Lancashire coal-fields, Astero- 

 phyllites foliosa of the Newcastle, Catamites undulatus 

 of the Yorkshire andBohemian coal-fields, w.dPecopteris 

 muricata, Brongn., from Valenciennes. 



