460 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
CuiuoiTs FdssTL Pt,a.nt I'ROM Co.\l-Measuiies, South Wales.— Dear 
Siu, — 1 have lately added to my collection of eoal-plauts a very singular fossil, 
for a di-seription of which 1 have searched the works of Sternberg, Lindlcy, 
and tLutton in vain. I have therefore delineated it, in the hopes that some of 
your readers learned in the tlora of the Coal-Measures will name it for mc. If 
any body has disco\Tred a similar specimen 1 shall be glad to know, that we 
may c(nnparc notes. The stem, as will be seen in the drawing, appears to be- 
long to the Lycopodiaeea?, ;md these l)ig leaves (if they be leaves) evidently 
belong to the stem, and are not lying by its side by chance, because ou the in- 
side they all merge into it, there being no mnrkcd line of jnnetion; and, 
besides, they follow the peculiar bend of the branch, both decreasing in size as 
they a])])roaeh the terminal point, which in fact is formed by a leaf. Yet there 
a])pears to be no connecting Ijraneh to the leaves, unless we except the one 
whicii appears to be torn olf near the beginning; but as the specimen is some- 
what confused at this ])oint, w-c cannot instance this jiarticidar leaf as an ex- 
ample of how the others are joined to the stem. In fact, at the attached 
margin they appear to be sessile as regards the branch, having the op])osite 
margin free or unattached. As regards each other, they are a))parently closely 
imbricated, each leaf somewhat rciiiform in shape, and marked distinctly with 
a number of short parallel veins coming directly from the upper margin, but 
with a sbght tendency to meet at the base. Whether they are continued in 
this manner bchmd each leaf, I cannot say ; but, judging from the two or three 
first detached leaves, which appear to have a well marked lower as well as 
upper margin, I should imagine not. The great puzzle to me is the lilceuess of 
the stem to the Lycopodiaceai ; but, if it is so, cither the little leaves which 
embi-ace the stem and fall off, leaving badly defined scars, are not leaves, or, 
else these other portions are not leaves. And, if they are not leaves, can it 
be a species of iniloreseeuce ; because, according to Lindlcy, the Lycopodiaceae 
are flowerlcss. 
I shall be very grateful if you or any body else would solve the difficulty 
for me. And while on the subject, I wish some one of our fossil-botanists 
would begin a new edition of Lindley and Button, the last being thirty years 
old. Since those plates, as well as those of Sternberg, were published, there 
have been many new species found, which sadly w-ant naming, figuring, and 
describing. I have in my own cabinet several which, for want of better in- 
formation, I have been obliged to name provisionally. — I am, dear Sir, youi's 
faithfully, G. P. Bevan. Beaufort, Mon. 
Tertiaky Plants of AtisTRiA. — Prof. Unger has prepared the materials 
for the description of some Tertiary plants, to be published under the title of 
" Sylloge Plantarum Possilium," as a continuation of his " Iconographia Plant- 
arum Fossilium, ])ublished some years ago in the Transactions of the Vienna 
Academy, and with sjiccial reference to the species enumerated in his " Genera 
et Species Plantarum Fossilium." Besides other collections, the immense stores 
of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna have furnished valuable 
materials. The first number of the " Sylloge" is illustrated with twenty 
colour-printed 'plates, and describes plants of the families Characea, Salci)iiacea>, 
Equisetaceo', Mumceep, Conifera;, Santalacecc, Mysmcecp, Froteacece, Oleaceo', 
Fraxinece, Sapotaceo', Ampelidc/v, Annonaceep, MagnoUacetp, Malpic/JiiaceiT, 
Seepindacetp, Jiigliuidea', AnacurdiecB, and Burscrlacea; ; most of them with their 
fructification, and generally wath particular reference to the neuration of their 
leaves, compared with those of analogous recent forms. 
Pteraspis AND CocosTEUs. — Wc liavc lately found the Pteraspis near New- 
port, and I have also secured two or three fine fossils from the Old Bed. At 
first I thought they belonged to Pteraspis ; but I now suspect that they are 
the dorsal plates of Coccosteus rather pressed together. They are rather larger. 
