Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University •~0 PROCEEDII~IGSCollege OF London THE GEOLOGICAL on July 2, 2016 SOCIETY. EApr. 28,

APl~In 28, 1858. James Powrie, Esq., Reswallie, near Forfar, Marcus ttuish, Esq., Castle Donnington, Derby, l~enry D. M. Spence, Esq., Hyde Park Square, and Parkin Jeffcock, Esq., Derby, were elected Fellows.

The following communications were read :-- 1. On some ¥EGETABIm RP.~AI~S from . By C~rA~nF.S J. F. Bvs~cav, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. TEE vegetable remains procured by Sir Charles Lyell and M. Hartung from the -bed which they discovered* in the ravine of S. Jorge, in the Island of Madeira, were entrnsted to me for examination ; and I propose now to lay before the Geological Society the observations I have been able to make upon them. I have examined 140 speci- mens, by far the greatest part of them in a very imperfect state, mostly small fragments, often quite lmdeterminable, and, even when most perfect, no more than single detached , of which, how- ever, the veins and margin are often very well displayed. Dico- tyledonous leaves predominate, but arc intermixed with numerous remains of , always, however, in small fragments, insufficient to give any idea of the general form of the frond. The very fragmentary and incomplete condition of the remains of Ferns in this bed is indeed striking. Something of it is attributable to the natnre of the stone, which is by no means fissile, but breaks quite irregularly; but something also would seem to be owing to the original conditions of the deposit. The ciremnstanee is unfortunate, because Ferns are so variable, and show such differences even in different parts of the same frond, that great uncertainty attends the determination of them from such small fragments. Of the Dicotyledonous leaves, a large proportion, as I have said, are too imperfect to be even described. Of those that are best pre- served, a few kinds may, with a certain degree of confidence, be referred to now existing in Madeira ; others are manifestly different from any known to exist there; the rest have, in my opinion, no character sufficiently marked to determine their affinities. On this point, however, I am aware there may be different opinions. Botanists, indeed, are far from being agreed on the question, whether the affinities of Dicotyledonous can, as a general rule, be determined from the leaves alone; that is, whether the leaves by themselves afford characters sufficientlydefinite, and sufficiently in accordance with those afforded by the fructification, to be safe guides to the determination of genera or families. Some eminent pal~eobotanists of Germany and Switzerland, attaching great import- ance to the characters of leaves, have assigned generic names to the fossil plants of the tertiary age with a degree of confidence which, in not a few instances, appears rather surprising. This question cannot be completely settled without a very exten-

See Lyell's Manual of Elementary Gcology, 5th ed. (1855), p. 518. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 1858.] ~vN~tmY--~OSSlI~College London L~AWS,on July 2, XA_I)~IaA. 2016 51 sive and careful survey of existing families of plants; and to go fully into it, even if I were at present completely prepared to do so, would be too great a digression from the immediate purpose of this memoir. I may observe, however, that, so far as I have hitherto been able to examine this subject, my conclusions are not favourable to the views of the naturalists above referred to. There are but few cases, as it appears to me, in which particular modifications of leaves are distinctly characteristic of natural orders or of natural genera. Certainly, in very many cases, wide variations in the form, venation, texture, and other characters of leaves are observable in the best- defined and most natural groups. For instance, in the Oaks, there are at least three distinct andwell-marked types of venation :--lst, the Chestnut type, in which the feather-veined ~ character is shown in the highest degree, and which is exemphfied in several of the Himalayan Oaks, such as Quereus serrata and Q. lineata, and less perfectly in some of the American kinds ; 2ndly, the Oa]c type proper, seen in the deciduous-leaved oaks of Europe; and 3rdiy, the Laurel type, in which the principal lateral veins combine into arches within the margin; this last form prevails in several of the evergreen oaks both of India and of America. Again, in the small and very natural genus Alnus, there are two quite distinct types of venation :--the feather-veined, in the common Alder, and in the Alnus.ineana and A. viridis ; the arch-veined, in the Alnus cordifolia and Alnus Nipalensis. So also in the genus Fagus : our common Beech and those of North America, and one of the antarctic species (F. Antarctica), agree in a well-marked type of leaf; but the Fagus Solandri of New Zealand and F. betuloides of Fuegia have leaves of so different a character, that their affinity to the first-mentioned species could never be inferred from those organs. We sometimes find certain fossil leaves spoken of as having the characters of the Proteaceous family. Yet, among the Proteacea" that I have examined, the leaves are so various in all respects, that I do not know anything approaching to a common character, unless it be the rigid eoriaceous texture; and this, though certainly very general in the order, is scarcely apparent in some, such as Lomatia dentata. ~Vhat is there in common between the leaves of Leuca- dendron argenteum and of Guevina Avellana ?--or of Knightia and any of the Serrurias ? Even in the same genus,--how could any one, from the leaves alone, infer the generic identity of Conospermum iongifolium and C. ericifolium ? The family of Rhamnece, another to which many fossil plants have been referred, includes several very distinct types of venation of leaves; and, even in the genus Rhamnus itself, the leaves of Rhamnus catharticus are materially different in their veining from those of Rh. Frangula. I do not dispute that there are some families and genera of plants which may be easily recognized by characters connected with the

* See Lindley's Introduction to Botany, ed. 1., p. 93. I adopt the terms pro- posed by this author for describing the venation of lea~es. ~2 Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 52 PROCEEDINGSCollegeOF London THE GEOLOGICAL on July 2, 2016 SOCIETY. [Apr. 28, leaves and their appendages. Such are the Myrtacev~~, the Mela- stomaeece, the Coniferw, the Rubiace~ (Cinchonacece of Lindley), the genera .STepenthes, Sarracenia, Bauhinia, Begonia, Cinnamomum, and to a certain extent the genus Fieust. But every botanist who has examined large unarranged collections of dried plants from foreign countries must be aware how difflenlt it is, in general, to make out the affinities of specimens without fruit or , and how often very similar leaves belong to plants of widely different families. This part of the subject has, in truth, been so ably treated by Dr. Hooker in the 10th volume of this Society's Journal, p. 163-165, that it would hardly have been necessary to touch upon it again, were not the confidence with which some eminent foreign geologists assign generic names to mere detached leaves calculated, in my opinion, to mislead the inexperienced ; wherefore I have thought it advisable to enter a fresh protest, and to remind geologists of the lmcertainty of the evidence we possess. The imperfect state of our materials must always be borne in mind. When we have before us only detached leaves, as most commonly happens in fossiliferous deposits, and as is the case, in particular, with all the specimens I have seen from Madeira, we lose the benefit of several characters which assist materially in the determination of recent plants: in particular, the character of insertion (alternate, opposite, or whorled); and the more important one of the presence or absence of stipule, and their nature when present. As an example of the importance of these organs, I may notiee, that the Magnolia family may be easily known, in general, by the pee~fiiarities of the stipules, taken together with those of the leaves; but the leaves separately would afford no sufficient indica- tion of the order. The same may be said, still more decidedly, of the Cinchonacece of Lindley. Another character, of great use in the detel,mination of recent plants, but almost necessarily wanting in the fossil state, is the nature of the pubesvence, the hair, down, scales, or other clothing of the surface. In those rare cases where the fossil leaves are so well preserved that the cellular structure of the epidermis, and its pores or stomata, can be satisfactorily examined, these may probably afford valuable aid towards the determination of affinities. Yet it is a point by no means determined, and one whieh ~l~serves careful study in recent plants, how far the characters ufforded by the epidermis and its pores are in accordance with those of other organs. It is certain, to mention one instance only, that the structare of the epidermis and position of the stomata in Salisburia are exceptional in the family of Conifers. In all that I have said, I have been speaking of the difficulty of determining plants by their leaves only. Where fruits of a marked

* The peculiar intramarginal vein of Myrtace~, however, occurs in several species of other families. t I purposely omit to mention those genera which consist of only one species, such as I,iriodendron. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 1858.] Bv~TaY--rossI~College London ~AV~S,on July 2, MADmRX. 2016 53 form and character occur in company with leaves, and both have a strong likeness to those of certain existing families, I do not dispute that the affinities of the may very reasonably be inferred from such data, even if the fruits and leaves be not found actually attached to the same branch. Thus I do not doubt that many of the fossil plants from the tertiary beds of Schossnitz in Silesia, described by Professor Goeppert, and many of those from the ter- tiaries of (Eningen, of Styria, and of Croatia, described by Professors Braun, Unger, Heer, and others, are correctly identified. My observations moreover are confined to Phanerogamous plants; in Ferns, the organs of vegetation are certainly of higher systematic importance. Still, on the whole, I cannot help expressing my suspicion, that the fossil remains of plants generally admit of less certain determination, and are of less value in a geological view, than those of animals. I quite concur in the opinion well expressed by the lamented Edward Forbes*, that "the vegetable unit in lists of extinct beings is of far inferior vahle to the animal trait." Unfortunately, the vegetable remains hitherto collected from the leaf-bed in Madeira consist solely of leaves, and those detached and imperfect. I shall now proceed to enumerate such forms as I have been able to distinguish among these leaves ; referring, whenever I can, to the names given by Professor Heer, in his very able and ingenious papert on this deposit.

I. CR,YPTOGAMS. 1. Pteris aquilina (Heer, No. 1. tab. 1-10). This is by far the most common in the leaf-bed, and occurs indeed in great abundance, but always in very small fragments. Its identity with the recent Pteris aquilina (a species very common in Madeira) appears to me very probable. Several of the frag- ments which I refer to this species appear very different from one another, but corresponding examples may easily be folmd among the various forms of Pteris aquilina. 2. Woodwardia radicans (Heer, No. 3. tab. 1. fig. 12). Of this I have seen only a single leaflet or pinnule, well preserved however, and showing very distinctly the venation, which agrees accurately with that of Woodwardia radicans, a well-known native of Madeira. The fossil is very probably identical with that recent species, although the sharp marginal teeth are not so apparent. 3. Canariensis (J. E. Smith) ? A small fragment only, and not very well preserved, but appear- ing to me to correspond accurately with a portion of the beautiful Hare's-foot Fern, Davallia Canariensis, one of the most common ferns of Madeira. Not included in ]teer's enumeration. 4. Aspidium Lyellii (Heer, No. 7. tab. 1. fig. 15). Apparently identical with ]teer's plant. Our specimen wants the * Anniversary Address to the Geol. Soe., February 1854, p. 70. "Ueber die fossilen Pflauzen voa S. Jorge in Madeira; yon Dr. Oswald Heer." Read before the Societyof Naturalists at Zurich, 5th November, 185b. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 54 PROCEeDingSCollegeOF London TnF. G~OLOa~C,~. on July 2, 2016 SOCieTY. [Apr. 28, fructification, shown in his figure, but on the other hand shows the marginal teeth more distinctly. 5. Aspidium ? A fragment of a Fern of very distinct character, but ill-preserved ; materially different from any in Heer's list. It has the appearance of an Aspidium (Polystiehum, Presl), of the group of which Aspi- dium aculeatum is the type ; and may possibly even be a variety of that species; but does not agree with the form (Asp. angulare, Sm.) now existing in Madeira. It comes nearer to the Aspidium lobatum of British authors ; but perhaps nearer still to Asp. vestitum, Swartz. 6. IYephrodium ? ? A fragment too imperfect for determination, but certainly different from any noticed by Heer, may possibly have belonged to some species allied to the ~ephrodium (Lastrea) Filix-mas; but I am not able to identify it. Remarkable for the remoteness of the side- veins, in which it differs materially from all the varieties of Pteris aquilina, and all the allied species that I have seen ; otherwise, in the breadth and position of the leaflets it is not unlike some of the broadest forms of that species. 7..LYephrodium? Another small fragment of a Fern, scarcely admitting of satis- factory determination. Differs from all the varieties of Pteris aquilina in the formation of the side-veins, which are perpen- dicular to the midrib, not recurred, and uniformly once-forked, the bifurcation taking place very near their base; the leaflets too are closely contiguous. The lowest side-veins of every two adjoining leaflets meet in the sinus, not below it; whereby this is clearly distinguished from Nephrodium molle, 2V. unitum, and the rest of that group. ]=[as the appearance of a Lastrea or Polypodium, but does not well agree with any of those now existing in Madeira. 8. Adiantum ? psychodes, C. ]3. A single leaflet (apparently) of a very singular Fern, remarkable for its exact resemblance in shape to a butterfly's wing. The free and regularly dichotomous veins lead me to think it a Fern, rather than an insect's wing; and if it be a Fern, it is most probably either an Adiantum or a Lindso~a, though materially different from any that I know.

II. MONOCOTYLE])ONS. 9. Cyperus ? A fragment of a leaf, evidently belonging to some large Grass or Cyperaceous plant ; more probably the latter. The strong sharp keel, parallel margins, and numerous fine parallel veins are character- istic.

III. ])Ieo~:~L~DO~S. 10. Laurus Canariensis (Webb and Berthelot) ? The most abundant dicotyledonous leaves in the S. Jorge bed Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 1858.] ~V~BCR~--FOSSmCollege London ~xws,on July 2,M.~,EIaX. 2016 55

appear to belong to a kind of laurel,--perhaps to more than one. Heer has referred them to the Oreoda_phne foetens, Nees (Laurus foetens, Aiton), or Til ; but the most perfect of the specimens in the collection before me have, as it appears to me, a greater likeness to the Laurus Canariensis, Webb. This, like the Ti], is a very abundant tree in the recent of Madeira. The most striking character of the fossil leaves in question consists (as Heer has already remarked) in the presence of certain little pits in the axils of the lower primary veins, on the trader side of the leaf, and of corresponding protuberances or swellings on the upper side. In this point they agree both with Oreodaphne foetens and with Laurus Uanariensis; but the general shape and size of the leaves, and the venation in general, in our best specimens, appear to me to corre- spond best with the latter% I am inclined to think, however, that both occur among the S. Jorge plants. At the same time I must say, that I have not seen one specimen sufficiently perfect to satisfy me completely as to its specific characters; those which are best preserved as to outline do not exhibit the veining with sufficient distinctness. The pits in the axils of the veins, though a striking character, are not confined to the two species I have mentioned, for I find similar pits in the leaves of at least two Brazilian species of the same natural order. 11. Oreodaphnefcetens (Heer, No. 12. tab. 2. fig. 4-14). Some very ill-preserved specimens in the collection before me ap- pear to agreewith Heer's description and figures here quoted, especially with his fig. 12. They differ from the leaves that I have referred to Laurus Canariensis, principally in having the two lowest primary veins nearly opposite to each other, and remark'ably strong, so as almost to give a triple-ribbed character to the leaf. In this they agree with the Oreodaphne, and not with the L. Canariensis. The network formed by the ultimate veins is somewhat different m the two species, being more minute and uniform in the Laurus Canari- ens/s; but none of the fossil specimens that I have seen are satis- factory in this respect. The fossil flower represented by X-leer (fig. 14) seems to agree with that of Oreodaphne; I find nothing similar among our specimens. 12. Corylus australis (Heer, No. 10. tab. 2. fig. 1, 2). Specimen very incomplete; but its remarkable and well-preserved venation agrees exactly with that of Heer's plant. 13. Salix ? ? A leaf, which, by its narrow linear laneeolate form, reminds us of the Willows, and may possibly belong to that genus ; but it has the appearance of a thicker and more coriaceous texture than is usual in willows, and on the whole has, I think, more resemblance to some of the narrow-leaved Myrtacece, such as Metrosideros angustifolia. The veins are ill-preserved. It does not agree exactly with Heer's Salix Lowei. * Laurus Canariensis, however, varies considerably in the shape of its leaves. The pits in question are particularly conspicuous in tim Azorean specimens given me by Mr. Watson. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 56 r~oeE~DINOSCollegeOF London TtZE ~OT.0~ICXL on July 2, 2016 SOClET:L'. [Apr. 28,

14. Myrtus ? (M. communis, Heer, No. 17. tab. 2. fig. 21, 22). Appears to have the characteristic venation (though not perfectly well preserved), as well as the other characters of a Myrtle leaf. It is probably what Iteer has called Myrtus communis, but is distinguished by its very obtuse apex from all the varieties of Myrtus communis that I have ever seen. 15. Vaccinium Maderense (Iteer, No. 15. tab. '2. fig. 15, 16). All the specimens of this that I find in Sir C. Lyell's collection are very incomplete, but agree well, so far as they go, with the species to which they are referred by tteer, the Vaccinium_padifolium, Sm., or Maderense, D.C. 16. Vaccinium Myrtillus ? A small leaf, well preserved, agreeing accurately with the leaf of the common Whortleberry, Vaccinium Myrtillus; a species not now found in Madeira. 17. Erica arborea (]-Ieer, No. 14. tab. 2. fig. 17). These leaves have so little marked character, that the identifica- tion, though very possibly right, does not appear to me quite certain. 18. Ilex Hartungii (Iteer, No. 18. tab. 2. fig. 23, 24). The evidence on which this leaf is referred to the genus Ilex does not appear to me very conclusive. 19. Pittos_porum (Heer, No. 21. tab. '2. fig. 27). Our single specimen of this agrees exactly with the fragment figured by Iteer, but throws no additional light on the affinities of the plant, which, to say the truth, appear very uncertain. 20. Phy~lites hymeno~oides, C. B. A leaf remarkable for its very oblique or unequal-sided shape, which gives reason to believe that it is a lateral leaflet of a pinnated or trifoliate leaf. It is very entire at the margin, obtuse at the apex ; the surface appears to have been very smooth and even, no veins visible except the midrib. ]:[as a general resemblance in form to the leaflets of certain tropical Leguminoso~, such as various species of Cassia, Hymencea, and Copaifera. I do not know, in the existing Flora of Madeira, any indigenous plant with leaves at all resembling this fossil. The Cassia bicapsularis is undoubtedly an introduced plant in that island, and moreover its leaflets have but a distant re- semblance to the specimens now lmder consideration. 21. Phyllites lobulata, C. B. Another leaf which appears, from its obliquity and irregularity of form, to have been a leaflet of a compound leaf. It is very oblique, and has a remarkable lobe on one side only. This sort of irregularity is like what is occasionally to be seen in the lateral leaflets of the Anaeardiaceo~; but I do not know any that it exactly resembles. 22. Phyllites. A leaf of an obovate-elliptieal form, rounded at the end, with very entire margins, and venation of the most ordinary Dicotyledonous type. Has no marked characters, but perhaps most resembles the leaf of some Itoncytuckles, such as I, onicera Caiprifolium and its allies. Not figured by Iteer. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 1858.] BU~BWY--~'ossiLCollege London ~E~V~S, on July 2, ~AI~II~A. 2016 57

23. Phyllites. A small leaf, which I cannot identify ; its chief character is the very acute point into which it tapers from a broad somewhat cor- date base ; the margin very entire. I will add, for the sake of comparison, a list of the species enu- merated by Professor }leer, as determined by him among the fossil leaves from the same bed:N 1. 1)teris aquilina, L. 14. Eriea arborea, L. *2. Trichomanes radieans, Sw. 15. Vaccinium Maderense, D.C. 3. Woodwardia radicans, Sin. "16. Vinca major, L. ? *4. Osmunda regalis, L. 17. Myrtus eommunis, L. *5. hsplenium marinum, L. ? 18. Ilex ttartungii, Heer. *6. Asplenium Bunburianum, Heer. "19. Rhamnus latifolius, Hdritier. *7. Aspidium Lyellii, Heer. *20. Pistacia 1)hm~um, Heer. *8. Salix Lowei, Heer. 21. Pittosporum ? *9. Myriea Faya, L. *22. Rosa canina, L. ? 10. Corylus australis, Heer. *23. Psoralea dentata, D.C. all. Ulmus suberosa, M~ench. *24. Phyllites (t~hus?)Ziegleri, Heer. 12. Oreodaphne fcetens, ~Vees. 25. Grass, undetermined. "13. arborea, L. Of the "25 forms in this list, as many as 13t are wanting in mine, namely the Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24. The determinations of some of these are acknowledged by ]teer himseff to be very doubtful. Six out of the thirteen are identified by him with species now existing in the island, namely the Trichomanes, A~lenium marinum, Myrica, Clethra, Vinca (doubtful), Rosa (very doubtful). Four others are considered to belong to existing species not now found in Madeira,--the Osmunda, Ulmus, Rhamnus, and Psoralea. The three remaining kinds appear to be extinct On the other hand, I find in the collection before me 11 forms which are not in Iteer's list; these are--- Davallia Canariensis ? ¥accinium Myrtillus ? Aspidium ? (No. 5 of my list.) Phyllites (No. 20 of my list.) /%phrodium ? (No. 6.) ---- (No. 21.) Nephrodium ? (No. 7.) ---- (No. 22.) Adiantum psychodes ? -- (No. 23.) Cyperus ? (No. 9.) The total number of distingttishable folmas in the two collections thus amounts to 36; but the greater part of them must be con- sidered as very imperfectly known, and too lmcertain to afford safe grolmd for any botanical conchlsions. I will, however, hazard a few observations on the materials thus collected. 1. The most abundant of the Dicotyledonous leaves, and the most abundant of the Ferns, are with great probability identified with species now existing in the island. The Fern, Pteris aquilina, is indeed a plant which has a wide geographical range, and accommo- dates itself to a variety of conditions ; but not so the two Laurels, Laurus Canariensis and Oreodaphne fvetens, which appear to be con- fined to the three Atlantic groups of islands, the , Canaries, t Perhaps the Salix Lowei, No. 8, should be added. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 58 PROCEEDINGSCollege OFLondon TILE onGEOLOGICAL July 2, 2016 SOCIETY. [Apr. 28,

and Azores. If the identification be correct, the abundant presence of these two species may perhaps allow us to infer (though cer- tainly not with absolute confidence) that the conditions of climate of the island in the time of the S. Jorge deposit were not very widely different from those now existing. This conclusion will be strength- ened ff the leaf referred to Vaccinium Maderense (No. 15) really belonged to that species ; for that Vaccinium appears to be at pre- sent confined to the island of Madeira*. Besides the t~teris, two other Ferns of the leaf-bed seem to be very probably identical with species now very abundant in the island, the Davallia Canariensis and the Woodwardia radicans. The present geographical range of the Davallia is tolerably well defined, and not very extensive, though more so thall that of the laurels and whortleberry above mentioned; it is found in the Madeira and (not in the Azores), in the north-western part of the African continent, the south-west of Spain and . Of the Woodwardia, the distri- bution is so peculiar and so difficult to explain, that no conclusions can safely be drawn from it. The presence of the Erica arborea, if the leaves No. 17 be rightly referred to that species, is another point of agreement between the recent vegetation of the island and that preserved in the deposit of S. Jorge; for the abundance of that heath is a well-known and striking feature of the Madeira forests. The F~ica arborea has a wider range than the laurels and whortleberry already mentioned ; it is apparently general in the countries bordering on the ~editer- ranean. 2. Certain other forms in our list, such as the Corylus australis of Heer, the leaves No. 20 and No. 21, and the Adiantum ? psychodes, are distinctly different from any now existing, at least in Madeira or the neighbouring islands, and appear to belong to extinct species ; but it is not impossible that their extinction may have taken place within the human period. 3. None of the fossils can be said to belong distinctly and posi- tively to tropical families. The leaves No. 20 and 21 may perhaps indicate something of a tropical character of vegetation, but by no means unequivocally. 4. Those forms, among the fossils, which are different from the present vegetation of Madeira do not show any marked analogy to any other existing Flora. The extinct vegetation preserved in some of the Tertiary strata of Europe shows a striking resemblance to the existing vegetation of North America ; this certainly cannot be said of the S. Jorge plants. 5. Webb and Berthelot remark that the general character of the - of the Canary Islands is to have smooth, glossy, coriaceous leaves, undivided, and either entire or at most finely serrated at the margin. The same observation is equally applicable to the forest-trees of Madeira. Now in this respect the fossil leaves of S. Jorge show, on the whole, a considerable analogy with the recent vegetation; for

* Unless the Vaccinium c~/lindraceum of the Azores be the same species, as Mr. Watson thinks. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University 1858.] College~aOW~--F~S~IaE London on July 2,COASt. 2016 59 there is among them a decided predominance of undivided and entire- edged leaves, with smooth (not wrinkled) and glossy surface. 6. The intermixtltre of abundant remains of Ferns with those of Dicotyledonous plants is a characteristic of this leaf-bed. In the plant-bearing deposits of the palaeozoic and secondary periods, the Ferns are generally found unaccompanied by any trace of ordinary (angiospermous) Dicotyledons; in those of Tertiary age, this latter class prevails, and Ferns are for the most part rare or wanting. The intermixtltre of both classes is perfectly analogous to the existing state of things in Madeira. The profusion of Ferns in the under- growth of the forests of that island is well known to all who have travelled there, and we sholfld certainly expect their remains to be preserved in any fossillferous freshwater deposit that might be formed in such a colmtry. 7. The leaf-bed of S. gorge has undoubtedly preserved to us but a very small fraction of the vegetation which at the time clothed the island; and a variety of causes, difficult to estimate, may have influenced the proportions in which different kinds of plants were preserved; therefore it wotfld hardly be safe to draw any conclu- sions from the very small proportion of , whether in this collection or in that described by Professor Heer. This is, however, a fact deserving of notice. It is not merely that the pro- portion of distinct forms belonging to that class is extremely small, but that their remains are extremely scarce. Now, Grasses and Cy,peraceee would seem very likely plants to be preserved in any freshwater deposit, as they so often grow near water, and their leaves, from the quantity of silex they contain, seem well fitted to resist decomposition. That the leaves of these plants may, in fact, be preserved in a fossil state, is shown by the discovery of several fossil kinds in the Molasse of Switzerland. (See Gaudin and De la ttarpe.) It is, perhaps, worth notice, that the proportion of Oy~eraceo~ in the existing Flora of Madeira appears to be remarkably small. This cannot, however, be said of the Grasses. 8. On the whole, I am disposed to conclude that the vegetation of Madeira, at the time when the S. gorge leaf-bed was formed, was, though not absolutely identical with that now existing, yet not very different from it. But such conclusions must be received with great cantion, considering the small extent of the deposit, and how im- perfectly it is yet known.

2. On a SECTIO~¢ of a -part of the FIFES~I~]~ COAST. By the l~ev. Ttto~As BRowN. (Communicated by Sir R. I. Mm'ehison, V.P.G.S.) [Abridged.] T~Is section of the Carboniferous strata, as exposed on the north- ern shore of the Firth of Forth, from Anstruther to Burntisland,