It is unfortunately true that our present knowledge of the fossil flora of the South Staffordshire Coal-field is lamentable, considering its size and importance and the abundance of fossils which it is known to contain. All that has been recorded from this coal-field is contained in a single paper by Dr. Kidston, published twenty-five years ago, on the fossil plants of the Hamstead boring, with the addition more recently of a scanty list of fossils from the Langley Green boring, and some other special studies on certain particular fossils, such as Crossotheca and the fructification of Neuropteris. Prior to these records Hooker alone appears to have described plants from this coal-field.