19 
and sandstones of the Oolitic series at Whitby and 
Scarbro'*; which, although from their geological superposi- 
tion they do not belong to the true coal formation, are yet 
worked to supply the limekilns in some parts of the East 
Riding with coal; and possess peculiar interest from the 
singular fact, that not a solitary example of those beautiful 
plants which occur in such fine preservation at Haiburnwike, 
Cloughton Wike, Blue Wick, Gristhorp Bay, Whitby, &c, 
have ever been detected in deposits of an earlier period, such 
as the lower coal formation. Many of the genera are of a 
more tropical character, and are peculiar to the Oolitic 
series. A few of the species occur in the forest marble, 
but not after, and thus supply valuable diagnostic evidence 
of the identity of this formation, on the other side of 
the Atlantic, where in the Virginia coal field Pecopteris 
Wliitbiensis, one of the most common plants of the York- 
shire Oolites, Equisetum columnare, Tseniopteris inagnifolia, 
and Zamites, occur. Hence Mr. Bunbury infers that 
the Richmond beds belong to the same geological age as 
the Triassic or Jurassic series, and Mr. Lyell supposes 
they may be equivalent either to the inferior Oolite or 
Lias beds-t There is one remarkable circumstance con- 
nected with this rich deposit of plants I must not pass 
over, which is, that it is confined, with one or two 
exceptions, to this limited corner of the island. For, 
although the Oolitic beds in which they occur extend across 
the country, through Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northamp- 
tonshire, Rutland, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wilts, 
Somerset, and Dorset, these peculiar plants do not, neither 
do the beds of coal. A few of the same species occur in 
a somewhat similar deposit at Brora, in Sutherlandshire, 
* It is to Messrs. Bean and Williamson, and Dr Murray, of Scarbro', 
Geologists are indebted for investigating this locality. 
t See Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, No. xiv., p. 47. 
VOL. III. B 2 
