%. ^>, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 7 A y. 1.0 I.I "f^itt IIIIIM 11 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 -* 6" — ► P^^ ■ d? / 4^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 is w- CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur axemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet excmpiaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiquds ci-dessous. D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ □ Couverture endommag^e Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pelliculde I I Cover title missing/ D D Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bieue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 0 □ D Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reiid avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serree peut causer do Tombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages birnches ajoutdes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela Stait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 film^es. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppldmentaires; □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur D D D n Pages damaged/ Pages endommag6es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachetdes ou piqu6es Pages detached/ Pages d^tachdes r~^ Showthrough/ I I Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ D D Quality indgale de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du matdriel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. r c e b ri ri n This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taiix de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X J 1 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: The Nova Scotia Legislative Library L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grflce A la gAn6rosit6 de: The Nova Scotia Legislative Library The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand S3in, compte tenu de la condition et de la netteti de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim6e sont film^s en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^^ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ^> signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 i partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. ure. [ 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Geol. [From the Quabtsrlt Journal of the Geological Societt for Aufjtist 1871.] On new Tree Ferns and other Fossils from the Devonian. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.lt.S., F.G.8., Principal of M'OiU CoUege, Montreal. [Plate XII.] " Of the numerous ferns now known in the Middle and Upper Devo- nian of North America, a great number arc small and delicate species, which were probably herbaceous ; but there are other species which may have been tree ferns. Little definite information, how- ever, has, until recently, been obtained with regard to their habit of growth. The only species known to me in the Devonian of Europe is the Cauhpteris Peachii of Salter, figured in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 1858. The original specimen of this I had an opportunity of seeing in London, through the kindness of Mr. Ethe- ridge, and have no doubt that it is the stem of a small arborescent fern, allied to the genus Cavlopteris of the Coal -formation. In my paper on the Devonian of Eastern America (Quart. Joum. Geol. Society, 1862) I mentioned a plant found by Mr. llichard- son at Perry, as possibly a species of Megaphyton, using that term to denote those stems of tree ferns which have the leaf-scars in two vertical series ; but the specimen was obscure, and I have not yet obtained any other. More recently, in 1869, Prof. HaU placed in my hands an inter- esting collection from Gilboa, New York, and Madison County, New York, including two trunks surrounded by aerial roots, which I have described as Psaronivis textiJis and P. erianus in my • Revision of the Devonian Flora,' now in the hands of the Royal Society* . In the same collection were two very large petioles, Ithachiopteris (jii/antea and B. palmata, which I have suggested may have belonged to tree ferns. My determination of the species of Psaronius, above mentioned, has recently been completely confirmed by the discovery on the part of Mr. Lockwood, of Gilboa, of the upper part of one of these stems, with its leaf-scars preserved and petioles attached, and also by some remarkable specimens obtained by Prof. Newberry, of New York, from the Comiferous Limestone of Ohio, which indicate the exist- ence there of three species of tree ferns, one of them with aerial roots similar to those of the Gilboa t-necimens. The whole of these speci- mens Dr. Newberry has kindly uUowed me to examine, and has per- mitted me to describe the Gilboa specimen, as connected with those which I formerly studied in Prof. Hall's collections. The specimens from Ohio he has himself named, but allows me to notice them here by way of comparison with the others. I shall add some notes on specimens found with the Gilboa ferns, and on a remarkable plant from the Devonian of Caithness, kindly placed in my hands by Dr. Wyvillo Thomson. It may be further observed that the Gilboa specimens are from a bed containing erect stumps of tree ferns, in the Chemung group • Ab«tract in Proceedings of Boyal Society, May 1870. 270 PBOCEEDINQS OF THE OEOLOOICAL SOCIETr. [Mar. 22, of the Upper Devonian, while those from Ohio are from a marine limestone, belonging to the lower part of the Middle Devonian. 1. Caulopteris Lockwoodi, n. sp. (Plate XII. figs. 1 to 3.) Trunk from two to three inches in diameter, rugose longitudinally. Leaf-Bcars broad, rounded above, and radiatingly rugose, with an irregular soar below, arranged spirally in about five ranks ; vascular bundles not distinctly preserved. Petioles slender, much expanded at the base, dividing at first in a pinnate manner, and afterwards dichotomously. Ultimate pinnaj with remains of numerous, appa- rently narrow pinnules. This stem is probably the upper part of one or other of the species of Psaronius found in the same bed {P. erianus, Dawson, MS.; and P. teostilis, Dawson, MS. *). It appears to have been an erect stem imbedded in situ in sandstone, and preserved as a cast. The stem is small, being only two inches, or a little more, in dia- meter. It is coarsely wrinkled longitudinally, and covered with large leaf-scars (fig. 2) each an inch in diameter, of a horseshoe-shape. The petioles, five of which remain, separate from these scars with a di- stinct articulation, except at one point near the base, where probably a bundle or bundles of vessels passed into the petiole. They retain their form at the attachment to the stem, but a little distance from it they are flattened. They are inflated at the base, and somewhat rapidly diminish in size. The leaf-scars vary in form, and are not very distinct, but they appear to present a semicircular row of pits above, largest in the middle. From these there proceed downward a series of irregular furrows, converging to a second and more ob- scure semicircle of pits, within or below which is the irregular scar or break above referred to. The attitude and form of the petioles will be seen from fig. 1 . The petioles are broken off" within a few inches of the stem ; but other fragments found in the same beds appear to show their con- tinuation, and some remains of their foliage. One specimen shows a series of processes at the sides, which seem to be the remains of small pinnae, or possibly of spines on the margin of the petiole. Other fragments show the division of the frond, at first in a pinnate manner, and subsequently by bifurcation ; and some fragments show remains of pinnules, possibly of fertile pin- nules. These are very indistinct, but would seem to show that the plant upproached, in the form of its fronds and the arrange- ment of its fructification, to the Cyclopterids of the subgenus Anei- mites, one of which (Aneimites acadica), from the Lower Carbonife- rous of Nova Scotia, I have elsewhere described as probably a tree fern f. The fronds were evidently different from those of Archceo- * Memoir on Devonian Flora, Proceedings of Royal Society, May 1870. t Qu«rt. Journ. Geol. Society, 1860. '^9ff 1871.] DAWSON — DEVONIAN TREE FERNS. 271 pteris *, a genus characteristic of the same beds, but of very different hftbit of growth. This accords with the fact that there is in Prof. Hall's collection a mass of fronds of Oi/clopteris (Archceopteris) Jack- soni, so arranged as to make it probable that the plant was an her- baceous fern, producing tufts of fronds on short stems in the ordi- nary way. The obscurity of the leaf-scars may render it doubtful whether the plant above described shoidd be placed in the genus Caulopteris or in Stemmatopteris ; but it appears most nearly allied to the former. The genus is at present of course a provisional one ; but I think it only justice to the diligent and successful labours of Mr. Lockwood to name this curious and interesting fossil Caulopteris Lockwoodi. I have elsewhere remarked on the fact that trunks, and petioles, and pinnules of ferns are curiously dissociated in the Devonian beds — an effect of water-sorting, characteristic of a period in which the conditions of deposition were so varied. Another example of this is, that in the sandstones of Gaspd Bay, which have not as yet afforded any example of fronds of ferns, there are compressed trunks, which Mr. Lockwood's specimens allow me at least to conjecture may have belonged to tree ferns, although none of them are sufficiently perfect for description. Mr. Lockwood's collection includes specimens of Psaroniits textilis ; and in addition to these there are remains of erect stems somewhat different in character, yet possibly belonging to the higher parts of the same species of tree fern. One of these is a stem crushed in such a manner that it does not exhibit its form with any distinct- ness, but surrounded by smooth cylindrical roots, radiating from it in bundles, proceeding at first horizontally, and then curving downward, and sometimes terminating in rounded ends. They re- semble in form and size the aerial roots of Psaronius erianus ; and I believe them to be similar roots from a higher part of the stem, and some of them young and not prolonged sufficiently far to reach the ground. This specimen would thus represent the stem of P. erianus at a higher level than those previously found. My idea of the possible connexi n of these fragments is represented in fig. 3. Mr. Lockwood's collections also contain a specimen of the large fern- petiole which I have named Ehachiopteris punctata. My original specimen was obtained by Prof. Hall from the same horizon in New York. That of Mr. Lockwood is of larger size, but retains no re- mains of the frond. It must have belonged to a species quite di- stinct from Caulopteris Lochvoodi, but which may, like it, have been a tree fern. 2. Caulopteris antioua, Newberry. (Plate XIL fig. 4.) This is a flattened stem, on a slab of limestone, containing Bra- chiopods, Trilobites, &c. of the Corniferous Limestone. It is about * The genus to which the well-known Ci/dopteris {Adiantifes) hibernicus of the Devor ian of Ireland belongs. 272 PBOCBEDINOS OF TIIE OKOLOOICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 22, 18 inches in length, and 3^ inches in average breadth. The exposed side shows about twenty-two large leaf-scars arranged spirally. Each leaf, where broken off, has loft a rough fracture ; and above this is a semicircular impression of the petiole against the stem, which, as well as the surface of the bases of the petioles, is longi- tudinally striated or tuberculated. The struct'ires are not pre- served, but merely the outer epidermis, as a ooaly film. The stem altogether much resembles Caulopteris Peachii, but is of larger size. It diflfers from C. Lockwoodi in the more elongated leaf-bases, and in the leaves being more remotely placed; but it is evidently of the same general character with that species. 3. Cauiopiebis (Protopteeis) pereghina, Newberry. (Plate XII. fig. 5 and 0.) This is a much more interesting species than the last, as belong- ing to a generic or subgeneric form not hitherto recognised below the Carboniferous, and having its minute structure in part pre- served. The specimens are, like the last, on slabs of marine limestone of the Corniforous formation, and flattened. One represents an upper portion of the stem with leaf-scars and remains of petioles ; another a lower portion, with aerial roots. The upper part is 3 inches in diameter, and about a foot in length, and shows thirty leaf-scars, which are about | of an inch wide, and rather less in depth (fig. 5, a). The upper part presents a distinct rounded and sometimes double mar- ginal line, sometimes with a slight depression in the middle. The lower part is irregular, and when most perfect shows seven slender vascular bundles, passing obliquely downward into the stem. The more perfect leaf-bases have the structure preserved, and show a delicate, tliin-walled, oval parenchyma, while the vascular bundles show scalariform vessels with short bars in several rows, in the manner of many modern ferns. Some of the scars show traces of the hippocrepian mark characteristic oi Protopteris ; and the arrange- ment of the vascular bundles at the base of the scars is the same ns in that genus, as are also the general form and arrangement of the scars. On careful examination, the species is indeed very near to the typical P. Stembergii, as figured by Corda and Schimper*. The genus Protopteris of Sternberg, though the original species (P. punctata) appears as a Lepidodendron in his earlier plate (pi. 4), and as a SigiUaria {S. punctata) in Brongniart's gr^^at work, is a true tree fern ; and the structure of one species (P. Cottai) has been beautifully figured by Corda. The species hitherto described are from the Carboniferous and Permian. The second specimen of this species represents a lower part of the stem (fig. 6). It is 13 inches long and about 4 inches in diameter, and is covered with a mass of flattened aerial roots lying parallel to each other, in the manner of the Psaronites of the Coal-formation and of P. e^ianus of the Upper Erian or Devonian. * Corda, Beitriige, pi. 48, copied by Schimper, pi. 52. V 1871.] 878 DAWSON — DEVONIAN TREB FERNS. 4. RnACHioPTEHis, n. sp. (Plato XII. fig. 7.) Along with the above, in Dr. Newberry's collection, is a singular fragment enclosed in a large nodule of chert from the Comiferous Limestone. It shows clearly about 8 inches of the base of an im- mense petiole, from 4 to 2 inches in breadth, and attached to shreds of tissue, which seem to represent a part of the stem torn away with it. Its structure is preserved, and consists of delicate large-celled parenchyma, with slender bundles of vessels, about eighteen of which are visible. In structure they are very similar to those of the last species; but the scolariform vessels are accompanied by more woody tissue. They are parallel in the distal end of the fragment, but near its base become tortuous and branching. In the part which represents the stem, or possibly part of its roots, they as- sume the form of cylindrical rods of parenchyma with a central bundle of vessels. In form and outward marking it resembles R. gigantea of my Royal-Society Memoir; but in the latter the structure is not preserved. The present specimen must have be- longed to a tree fern of grander proportions than either of those previously noticed. In the cellular tissue of some parts of this great petiole there are numerous round granules, resembling those figured by Corda in his description oi Protopteris Cottai *, and supposed by that writer to be grains of fossilized starch. Mr. Carruthers has more recently de- scribed similar starch-granules in the tissues of an Eocene fernf . Whether the granules in the cells of the present specimen are really remains of starch, or merely rounded siliceous concretions, such as are often found In the cells of silicified plants, I am by no means certain. Perhaps the fact that similar round grains are seen in the interior of some of the woody fibres militates against their organic character. They are certainly not markings on the cell-walls, but spherical bodies contained within the cells ; and if starch-grains, they may claim to be the oldest known, being of Middle Devonian age. 5. N(EGGEBATniA GILBOENSTS, H. Sp. . (Plate XII. fig. 8.) Leaf rhombic-obovate, with a broad base. Nerves or radiating plicoe nine in number, not forked, and with fine strije between them. Length 3^ inches. Breadth 2^ inches. This leaf occurs in the collections of Mr. Lockwood, from Gilboa. It belongs, without doubt, to the provisional genus Noeggarathia, and seems to have been bent in a conduplicate manner, and clasping or decurrent, on a stem or branch. It does not seem to have been a fern ; but beyond this I am not inclined to hazard any opinion as to its affinities. * Beitrage, pi. 49. t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Aug. 1870. ' 274 FR0CKEUIN08 OF THE OEOLOOICAL SOCIETT. [Mar. 22, In addition to thia specios and the Caulopteria above described, Mr. Lockwood's collection contains branchlets of a Le^mlodendron, apparently L. gaspianum, which also occura in Prof. Newberry's collections from the Coruiferoua Limcatone. 6. LXCOPODITES, &o. In hia recently published * Paleontologio,' Schimper (evidently from inattention to the descriptions and want of access to specimens) doubts the Lycopodiaccoua character of the spcciea of this genus described in my papers in the Journal of this Society from the Devonian of America. Of these L. lilcJutrdsoni and L. Mattheuii are undoubtedly very near to the modern genus Lycopodium. L. Vanuxemii is, I admit, more problematical ; but Schimper could scarcely have supposed it to be a fern or a fucoid allied to Caiderpa had he noticed that both in my species and the allied L.jnnnceforniis of Goeppert, which he does not appear to notice, the pinnules are articulated upon the stem, and leave scars where they have fallen off. When in Belfast last summer I was much interested at finding in Prof. Thomson's collection a specimen from Caithness, which shows a filant apparently of this kind, with the same long narrow pinna) or eaflets, attached, however, to thinker stems, and rolled up in a circinate manner. It seems to be a plant in vernation, and the parts are too much crowded and pressed together to admit of being figured or accurately described ; but I think I can scarcely be deceived as to its true nature. The circinate arrangement in this case would favour a relationship to ferns ; but some Lycopodiaceous plants also roll themselves in this way, and so do the branches of the plants of the genus PsdopTiyton. In conclusion, I may state that, when in Edinburgh last summer, Mr. Peach showed me fine and characteristic specimens of rhizomata of Psilophyton from the Caithness beds, and also specimens which seem to show that some at least of the fragments from these beds, which have been referred to Lepidodendron nothum, belong to a different species, more nearly allied to the Cyclostigma of Killercan and Gaspe. Mr. Peach has also branches of a Lepidodendron like L. gaspianum, a Cyclopteris allied to G. Brownii, a plant of the nature of Anarthrocamia or Calamites, a Stigmaria, and fragments which may belong to Sigillaria, all from the Devonian beds of Caithness. EXPLANATION OF PLATE XII. Fig. I. Caulopterii Lockwoodi, one-fourth natural size, portion of stem with petioles. Fig. 2. Leaf-scar, natural size. Fig. 3. Bestoration in part of Caulopferis Lockwoodi, reduced : a, upper part, with petioles ; b, remains of pinnre ; c, middle part, with diverging aerial roots; d, lower part, with aerial roots, perhaps the same with Psaronius erianus, Dawson, MS. Fig. 4. CaulopterU antiqva, Newberry, one-fourth the natural size. 1871.] DAWSON — DEVONIAN TRBE FERNS. 275 Fig. 6. Protopferis peregrina, Newberry, imprpHsion of stem, one-fourth the natural size : xx, remains of petioles. [> a, soar, natural size, show- ing bundles of vesHels at base ; 5 />, portion of a vascular bundle, mag- nified, showing scalariform vessels and cellular tissue; 6c, scalari- form vessel, highly magnified. Fig 6. Lower part of stem of the same, with aerial roots, one fourth the na- tural size. 0 a, one of the roots, natural size. Fig. 7. Vascular bundle of liachiopteris, natural size ; 7 fl, portion of the same, showing vascular and cellular tissue, witli rounded granules in the cells ; 7 f>, one of the cells magnified, showing containMl granules. Fig. b. Naggerathia gilboensia, one-hali the natural size. DiSCTTSSION. Dr. Duncan doubted the desirability of basing generic and specific terms on imperfectly preserved and indistinct specimens, and pointed out the disagreements among botanists that had resulted from so doing. He would prefer calling fossils such as those described " cryptogamous forms from certain strata." He was doubtful also whether the supposed petrified starch was not merely orbicular silex. The Chairman (Prof. Morris) remarked on the four different con- ditions exhibited by existing tree ferns : — first, with roots running down the stem ; secondly, the lower portion with oval scars ; these are, thirdly, further up the stem, rhomboidal vertically ; and, fourthly, higher up still, rhomboidal horizontally ; so that were the plant fossil, distinct genera and species might be founded upon the different parts. I 'I r w.im,mm (^ii.u-t .loni 11 Coo! tioc.Vol X<'. ilP.Xir Rl£j»^ciii lit> Minteni.BT-o' irtrp DEVONIAN ['.Hl-.F. I r,iaN5 4' NCKOGK RATHIA..