In Mr. Richardson's collection, single pinnæ occur, and there are also many large stipes which may have belonged to this species.

(a) Terminal pinnule. (b) Lateral pinnules slightly magnified. Description.-Frond bipinnate; rhachis stout and longitudinally furrowed; pinnæ alternate; pinnules obliquely obovate, imbricate, narrowed at the base, and apparently decurrent on the petiole; nerves nearly parallel, dichotomous; terminal leaflet large, broadly obovate or lobed.

As above stated, terminal pinnules which may have belonged to this species occur in the St. John beds; but more

Description.-Axis not distinctly preserved, form cylindrical ?-scales oblong with an obscure midrib.

I refer to the above genus with some hesitation, a well characterised but very puzzling organism, discovered by Mr. Richardson at Perry. It consists of an indistinct but apparently thick stem or axis, with equally pinnate leaves, which seem to have been thick and oblong and show traces of a midrib. It resembles a perfectly flattened Lepidostrobus, more than anything else; but it may have been a branch of a conifer with pinnate leaves.

In Mr. Richardson's collection from Perry, is a rounded and flattened object, 1 inch in diameter, apparently covered with thick pointed scales. It seems to be a Lepidostrobus quite distinct from the last.

4. Lepidodendron Gaspianum.-mihi.

In a specimen in the collection of the Natural History Society of Portland, there is a branch of Lepidodendron, 7 inches in length, inch in diameter at the larger end, and inch in dia

meter at the smaller. It is flattened and imperfectly preserved, but on comparison with my specimens from Gaspé, I cannot observe any specific difference. This species is evidently closely allied to L. nothum, Unger, and possibly could perfect specimens of both be obtained, they might prove to be identical. mean time however as the scars and leaves of L. nothum are unknown, it is difficult to institute a comparison.

5. Psilophyton princeps.-mihi.

In the

Great numbers of slender bifurcating stems appear on the shales brought from Perry by Mr. Richardson. They are not well preserved; but it seems scarcely to admit of a doubt that they belong to this species, so characteristic of the Gaspé sand

stones.

6. Megaphyton?

A flattened stem two inches in diameter, irregularly ribbed and striated, appears to show a row of scars on the exposed side, as in

the above named genus. The scars are not however well defined. The plant has a slender pyritised axis giving off a few bunches or bundles of vessels to the sides. The structure is very imperfect but was possibly scalariform.

7. Sternbergia.

In the collection with which I have been favored by the Natural History Society of Portland, is an impression of a Sternbergia not distinguishable from that of Dadoxylon Ouangondianum, of St. John, to which species it perhaps belonged. It retains no traces of the wood; but casts of sternbergia in the same naked condition often occur in the coal measures.

8. Aporoxylon.

Many fragments of carbonised wood showing aporous cells occur in the Perry sandstones: I refer them in the mean time to the above genus of Unger.

III. GASPÉ SANDSTONES.

From these rocks I have but one species to notice at present. It is that referred to in my former paper as probably a Knorria,*

* Paper on Devonian Plants of Gaspé, Journal of Geological Society, Vol. XV.

but of which I have recently obtained better specimens which induce me to propose for it the name of

Fig. 11.-Fragment of shale from Gaspé.

(a) Selaginites formosus. (b) Smaller specimen of the same. Cordaites angustifolia. (d) Psilophyton princeps.

a

(c)

(a) Small specimen magnified. (b) Scale of larger specimen mag

nified.

Description.-Stems covered with flat broad angular imbricating scales of unequal size, and ornamented with minute scaly points.

The original specimen of this curious plant was a fragment of the bark on sandstone in the collection of Sir W. E. Logan. I have since discovered in the bituminous shale overlying the Devonian coal of Gaspé, and which abounds in vegetable fragments, several portions of flattened stems showing the characters more perfectly. The different sizes of the fragments and of the scales that clothe them would indicate that it was a branching or dichotomous plant. Their condition of preservation shows that

the bark was firm and durable. The scales are flat, quite angular and closely appressed, but seem to have been thick, and are evidently free at their extremities and without any indication that they supported leaves. They show no ribs or nervures; but are covered with little subordinate projecting points or scales as shown in the figures.

I formerly referred this plant to Knorria, on account of its scaly stem; but this genus has recently been placed in a somewhat equivocal position by Goeppert,* who finding, as I had previously done, that the plants called Knorria in the Lower coal measures, are really decorticated or imperfectly preserved Lepidodendra or Sagenariæ, seems disposed to abandon the genus.

The present species might however still remain as a typical Knorria having a scaly stem and quite distinct from Lepidodendron, but to avoid any confusion between it and the plants heretofore known as Knorria but now ascertained to be of a different character, I prefer to place it in the mean time in Selaginites; in the hope that more perfect specimens may soon illustrate more fully its affinities.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

In comparing with each other the plants of the three localities above referred to, it will be observed that they have few species in common. Probably two species are common to Perry and St. John, and two to the former and Gaspé; while it is doubtful if one is found in all three. It must be observed however that according to Mr. Billings, the fossil shells of the Gaspé sandstones indicate a Lower Devonian age, while it is quite probable that the rocks of Perry and St. John may be Upper Devonian; and this is the more likely as the plants of the St. John beds are decidedly nearer in their facies to those of the coal formation than are those of Gaspé.

None of the species found in these old beds have as yet been recognised in the carboniferous system in British America; and only one, C. transitionis, elsewhere. The generic types are however the same, with the exception of Prototaxites and Psilophyton,

Flora der Silurischen, &c., 1860.

Paper on Lower Coal measures, Journal of Geological Society, Vol. XV. P. 69.

CAN. NAT.

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VOL VI. No. 3.