Chap. XIII.] 
PERMIAN PLANTS. 
337 
nopteris, Pecopteris, Neuropteris, Alethopteris, and Callipteris, with Annularia 
floribunda (Sternberg), and several Conifers of the genus Walchia *. The sand- 
stone and conglomerates (Roth-liegende) near Zwickau, in Saxony, rewarded 
the researches of Colonel Gutbier f with about sixty species of Plants. A few 
of these only are known in the Carboniferous epoch, the greater number of the 
species being unknown in any other deposit. Among the Plants most charac- 
teristic of the group may be mentioned Sphenopteris erosa, S. lobata, and the 
great reed-like Calamites gigas. Whilst in Russia these species of plants are 
chiefly found above the limestone courses, they are in Saxony confined to the 
lower strata, and are there commingled with some species known in the Upper 
Coal-deposits. The large silicified stems of Tree-ferns, called Psaronites, so 
much admired by collectors for the exquisite conservation of the fibre of the 
plant, and for the beautiful polish they take, occur abundantly in the Permian 
beds of Germany J. 
On the whole, it was the opinion of Adolphe Brongniart, to whom the Plants 
brought from Russia (occurring there in red sandstones and marls above, or 
interlaced with, fossiliferous Zechstein) were referred, that they exhibit a con- 
tinuation of vegetable life with characters to a great extent like those which 
prevailed in the Carboniferous era. But, whilst a few of the forms are generi- 
cally the same as those of the Coal-period, the species, with very few exceptions, 
are different §. On the contrary, no one of the Russian Permian genera (Neu- 
ropteris, Odontopteris, Sphenopteris, Noeggerathia, Lepidodendron, &c.) occurs 
in the overlying Trias, in which, notwithstanding the clear proofs of conformity 
and mineral passage between the two groups, the geologist has before him an 
entirely different flora. 
Thus Professor Goppert has enumerated from the Roth-liegende and Kup- 
fer-Schiefer of Germany, and in the Permian rocks of Russia, 182 || species of 
plants, of which 169 occur in the Roth-liegende alone, or lowest member of the 
group. This accomplished botanist favoured me with the following account of 
the number of species in this group, viz. : — Fuci, 2 ; Equisetaceee, 5 ; Calamites, 
10 ; Filices, 97 ; Lycopodiacese and Lepidodendraceae, 11 j Walchise, 5 ; Grami- 
nese (doubtful); Nceggerathise, 4; Palma, lj Asterophyllites, 6; Annularis©, 3; 
Sigillariae, 2 ; Cycadese, 9 j Coniferse, Cupressacese, and Abietaceae, 20 j fruits 
undetermined, 6. 
The essential result of this examination is, that, in comparing the Permian 
flora of Germany with that of Russia, Goppert finds a very close resemblance 
between the Plants extracted from the underlying Roth-liegende of various Ger- 
man tracts % and those obtained from the strata in Russia, which, as before ob- 
served, lie chiefly above, or are intercalated with courses of, the Zechstein. 
Thus, with the species of the genera Neuropteris, Odontopteris, Callipteris, and 
Walchia transmitted from Russia, Goppert has identified twenty species of his 
Silesian and Bohemian collection. Hence the importance of a comparison 
which demonstrates the unity of the group over so wide an area. 
Again, he observes that certain species of Walchia, particularly Walchia pisi- 
* See ' Eussia-in-Europe,' vol. i. p. 219. sian beds as belonging to the genera Neuropteris, 
t G-einitz und Gutbier, ' Gsea von Sachsen,' 1843. Odontopteris, Pecopteris, Sphenopteris, and all 
Eor the figures of these Plants, and sections show- distinct from any of the forms in the Coal, 
ing their position, see Geinitz's ' Das Permische || In this number, 182, are included the two or 
System in Sachsen,' 1850. three Plants only of the British Magnesian Lime- 
X The finest collection of these 'Psaronites' ex- stone with which M. Goppert was acquainted, 
tant, with which I am acquainted, was that of my Not only those enumerated by my associates 
late friend, the eminent botanist, Eobert Brown, and self in our work on Eussia, but also specimen a 
They are now in the British Museum. transmitted to M. Goppert by M. Eichwald and 
§ See ' Eussia-in-Europe,' vol. i. p. 219, where Major Wangenheim v. Qualen, 
Brongniart names eleven species from these Eus- 
Z 
