^'.^ r original copiaa ara filmad beginning on tha first paga with a printad or iiluatratad impraa- sion, and ending on tha laat paga with a printad or iiluatratad impresaion. T<\9 laat recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the ttymboi —^(meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol y (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Las axempiairee originaux dont la couverture •n papier eat imprim^ sont filmte tn commoncant par le premier plat at an tarminant soit par la darnii^re page qui comports une amprainta d'Impression ou d'lllustration, soit par le second plat, salon le eaa. Tous lea autres axamplaira):! originaux sont fiimte an commandant par la premiere paga qui comports une nmpreinte d'impreaaion ou d'illuatration at an tarminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empre signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Msps. pistss. charts, etc.. msy be filmed at different reduction rstios. Those too Isrge to be entireiy included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hsnd corner, l«ft to right and top to bottom, ss many frsmes as required. The following dfagrsms illustrats the method: Lss cartes, planches, tahlesux. etc., pauvent dtre filmte i dea taux ie rMuction diff Grants. Lorsque le document est trop grsnd pour itrm reproduit en un seul cllcM. il est film* il partir do Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche i droite. et de haut an baa. en prenant le nombre d'Imagee nteeaaaira. Lea die ^rammes suivants illuatrent la methods. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 nefi t. [From the Qcautrwly Journal of (he Gkologicaf, Sociei* /«,- ' Febnuin/ 1878. J Note 07i the Helations of the Supposed Carboniferous Plants of Bear Island with the Palaeozoic Flora of North America. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D,, F.R.S., F.G.S., «fec. I HAVE only recently received the May number of the ' Geological Journal,' containing the interesting paper of Dr. Heer on the plants above mentioned, and beg to request permission to address to the Society a few remarks on their supposed equivalency with the American Devonian Flora. The plants catalogued by Dr. Heer, and characterizing what he calls the " Ursa Stage," are in part representatives of those of the American flora which I have described as the " Lower Carboni- ferous Coal-measures" (Subcarboniferous of Dana), and whose characteristic species, as developed in Nova Scotia, I noticed in the Journal of the Geological Society in 1858 (vol. xv.). Dr. Heer's list, however, includes some Upper Devonian forms ; and I would suggest that either the plants of two distinct beds, one Lower Car- boniferous and the other Upper Devonian, have been near to or in contact with each other and have been intermixed, or else that in this high northern latitude, in which (for reasons stated in my lieport on the Devonian Flora *) I believe the Devonian plants to have oiigi- nated, there was an actual intermixture of the two floras. In America, at the base of the Carboniferous of Ohio, a transition of this kind seems to occur ; but elsewhere in North-Eastern America the Lower Carboniferous beds are usually unmixed with the Devonian. Dr. Heer, however, proceeds to identify these plants with those of the An.rican Chemung, and even with those of the Middle Devonian of New Brunswick, as described by me — a conclusion from which I ^ must altogether dissent, inasmuch as the latter belong to beds which were disturbed and partially metamorphosed before the deposition of the lowest Carboniferous or " Subcarbonif^^rous " beds. Dr. Heer'g error seems to have arisen from want of accjuaintance with the rich flora of the middle Devonian, which, while differing in * Geological SurTer of Canada, 1871. I 2 species, has much reaemblance in its general facies, and especially in its richness in ferns, to that of the Coal-formation. To geologists acquainted with the stratigraphy and the accom- panying animal fossils, Dr. Heer's conclusions will of course appear untenable ; but they may regard them as invalidating the evidence of fossil plants ; and for this reason it is, I think, desirable to give publicity to the above statements. I may add that, since the publication of my paper in 1858, much additional material from the Lower Carboniferous Coal-measures has come into my hands from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and NeAvfoundland, which may throw light on the corresponding floras of the more northern regions, and which I hope to publish in the form of a Keport similar to that lately issued on the Devonian flora. P.S. — I consider the British equivalent of the Lower Coal-mea- sures of Eastern America to be the Lower Limestone Shales, the Tuedian group of Mr. Tate (1858), but which have recently been called the " Calciferous Sandstone" (a name preoccupied for a Cam- brian group in America). This group does not constitute " beds of passage " to the Devonian, more especially in Eastern America, where the Lower Coal-formation rests unconformably on the Devonian, and is broadly distinguished by its fossils. DiscirssioN. Mr, Carrtjthees stated that the Hst of the eleven Lower Carboni- ferous plants published in Principal Dawson's ' Acadian Geology ' did not contain a single species found in Bear Island ; but, on the other hand, some species and several well-marked forms were common to the Bear-Island deposits and the Devonians of North America, and he had no doubt that Prof. Heer had in his paper rightly correlated these flo- <. As to the age of these plant-bearing beds, found alike in Bear ioiand, Ireland, the Yosges Mountains, Canada, and Australia, Mr. Carruthers said that it was difficult to draw any lines which would- separate the Palaeozoic plants into clearly marked and distinct floras ; but if the Devonian is to be retained as a system, all these plant-bearing beds belonged rather to that system than to the Carboniferous.