The vegetable remains procured by Sir Charles Lyell and M. Hartung from the leaf-bed which they discovered* in the ravine of S. Jorge, in the Island of Madeira, were entrusted 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 specimens, by far the greatest part of them in a very imperfect state, mostly small fragments, often quite undeterminable, and, even when most perfect, no more than single detached leaves, of which, however, the veins and margin are often very well displayed. Dicotyledonous leaves predominate, but are intermixed with numerous remains of Ferns, 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 ia indeed striking. Something of it is attributable to the nature of the stone, which is by no moans fissile, but breaks quite irregularly; but something also would seem to be owing to the original conditions of the deposit. The circumstance 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 preserved, a few kinds may, with a certain degree of confidence, be referred to