The Geological History of Plants

by Sir John William Dawson

8. The Culm and Culm Grauwacke of Germany.

9. The Graywacke or Lower Coal-measures of the Vosges, as described by Schimper.

10. The Older Coal-formation of the Ural, as described by Eichwald.

11. The so-called “Ursa Stage” of Heer includes this, but he has united it with Devonian beds, so that the name cannot be used except for the local development of these beds at Bear Island, Spitsbergen. The Carboniferous plants of arctic America, Melville Island, &c., as well as those of Spitzbergen, appear all to be Lower Carboniferous.[FO]

[FO] “Notes on Geological Map of the Northern Portion of the Dominion of Canada,” by Dr. G. M. Dawson, 1887.

All of the above groups of rocks are characterised by the prevalence of Lepidodendra of the type of L. corrugatum, L. Veltheimianum, and L. Glincanum; pines of the sub-genus Pitus of Witham, Palæoxylon of Brongniart, and peculiar ferns of the genera Cyclopteris, Cardiopteris, Triphyllopteris, and Sphenopteris. In all the regions above referred to they form the natural base of the great Carboniferous system.

In Virginia, according to Fontaine and White, types, such as Archæopteris, which in the north are Upper Erian, occur in this group. Unless there have been some errors in fixing the lower limit of the Vespertine, this would indicate a longer continuance of old forms in the south.

2. Erian Flora.

(1) Upper Erian Sub-Flora: