Skip to main content

Full text of "Introduction to the study of palæontological botany"

See other formats 


university  of 

Connecticut 

ibraries 


BOOK    56  1.B19   C.I 

BALFOUR    #    INTRODUCTION    TO    STUDY 

OF   PALOEONTOLOGICAL    BOTANY 


3  T1S3  001371EM  b 


f     <-> 


Tbi' 


INTRODUCTION 


TO   THE   STUDY   OF 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY 


INTRODUCTION 


TO  THE  STUDY  OF 


PALiEONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY 


BY 

JOHN  HUTTON  BALFOUE,  A.M.  M.D.  EDIN. 

F.R.S.,  SEC.  R.S.E.,  F.L.S. 

PROFESSOR  OF   MEDICINE    AND  BOTANY  IN   THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH, 

REGIUS  KEEPER  OF  THE   ROYAL   BOTANIC   GARDEN, 

AND   queen's  botanist  FOR   SCOTLAND 


WITH    FOUR    LITHOGRAPHIC    PLATES,  AND    UPWARDS    OF 
ONE    HUNDRED    WOODCUTS 


EDINBUEGH 

ADAM    AND    CHAELES    BLACK 

1872 


B\S 


SfeS^. 


Prhited  by  R.  &  R.  Clark,  Edinburgh. 


TO 

PROF.  HEmRICH  ROBERT  GOEPPERT,  M.D., 

DIRECTOR   OF   THE   BOTAXIC   GARDEN,    ERESLAU  ; 

ONE  OF  THE  MOST  EMINENT  PALiEONTOLOGICAL 
BOTANISTS  OF  EUROPE, 

Ei}t  foUotoms  treatise 

IS  DEDICATED,  WITH  BEST  RESPECTS,  BY  HIS 
OBLIGED  FRIEND 

THE   AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


The  subject  of  Fossil  Botany  or  Palfeopliytology  has  formed 
a  part  of  the  Course  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh 
for  the  last  twenty-five  years,  and  the  amount  of  time  devoted 
to  the  exposition  of  it  has  increased.  The  recent  foundation 
of  a  Chair  of  Geology  and  of  a  Falconer  Pal^eontological 
Fellovrship  in  the  University  seems  to  require  from  the 
Professors  of  Zoology  and  Botany  special  attention  to 
the  bearings  of  their  departments  of  science  on  the  stmcture 
of  the  animals  and  plants  of  former  epochs  of  the  Earth's 
history.  No  one  can  be  competent  to  give  a  correct  decision 
in  regard  to  Fossils,  unless  he  has  studied  thoroughly  the 
present  Fauna  and  Flora  of  the  globe.  To  give  a  well- 
founded  opinion  in  regard  to  extinct  beings,  it  is  essential 
that  the  observer  should  be  conversant  with  the  conforma- 
tion and  development  of  the  living  ones  now  on  the  earth ; 
with  their  habits,  modes  of  existence  and  reproduction,  the 
microscopic  structure  of  their  tissues,  their  distribution,  and 
their  relation  to  soil,  the  atmosphere,  temperature,  and 
climate. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  to  become  a  good  Fossil 
Geologist  a  student  must  begin  with  living  animals  and 
plants.      The    study  of    Geology  must  be  shared   by  the 


VIU  PREFACE. 

Petralogist,  who  looks  at  the  condition  of  the  rocks  of 
the  globe,  the  minerals  forming  them,  and  their  mode  of 
formation ;  the  Chemist,  who  determines  the  materials  which 
enter  into  the  composition  of  minerals  and  rocks  ;  the 
Naturalist,  who  examines  the  plants  and  animals  found  in 
the  various  strata;  and  perhaps  also  the  Natural  Philoso- 
pher, who  calculates  from  independent  sources  the  phases 
of  the  Earth's  histoiy.  It  may  be  said  thus  to  combine  all 
these  students  of  Science  in  one  brotherhood.  Much  has 
been  done  by  the  efforts  of  such  men  as  Hutton  and  Werner, 
who  were  engaged  chiefly  in  considering  the  mineral  de- 
partment of  Geology ;  but  it  is  clear  that  the  Science  could 
not  have  attained  its  present  position  without  the  continued 
labours  of  those  who  have  been  examining  fossils  in  their 
relations  to  time  and  space.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  re- 
searches of  Palaeontologists,  Geology  could  not  have  made 
its  present  advance. 

In  my  Class  Book  of  Botany  I  have  given  an  introduction 
to  Pala3ophytology,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  it  might  be 
useful  to  students  to  publish  this  in  a  separate  form,  with 
additions  in  both  the  letterpress  and  the  illustrations.  The 
institution  of  the  Pala3outological  Fellowship,  in  memory 
of  my  former  friend  Dr.  Falconer,  has  brought  the  subject 
specially  under  my  notice.  The  Fellowship  has  been  pro- 
moted chiefly  by  my  friend  and  former  pupil  Dr.  Charles 
Murchison,  a  gentleman  fond  of  science  and  of  his  Alma 
Mater,  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  and  Falconer 
studied  and  took  their  degrees. 

The  first  award  of  the  Fellowship  has  been  made  to  a 
distinguished  student,  who  acquitted  himself  with  the  greatest 
credit   during   the  three  days   of  examination  on  Geology, 


PREFACE.  IX 

Zoology,   and   Botany.      I   trust   that   the   Fellowship   will 
continue  to  stimulate  our  eminent  students  in  future  years. 

Having  been  a  student  of  Natural  Science  along  with 
Dr.  Falconer,  I  feel  a  peculiar  interest  in  doing  what  I  can 
to  promote  the  study  of  a  subject  to  which  he  so  successfully 
devoted  his  energies.  In  my  endeavour  to  do  so  I  have 
been  encouraged  by  my  friend  and  fonner  pupil,  Mr.  William 
Carruthers,  at  the  head  of  the  Botanical  Department  of  the 
British  Museum,  and  a  former  student  in  Edinburgh  under 
the  late  Professor  Fleming.  He  has  done  much  to  advance 
our  knowledge  of  Fossil  Botany,  and  to  him  I  am  indebted 
for  two  of  the  plates  and  some  of  the  woodcuts  which  illus- 
trate this  publication.  He  has  given  me  most  efficient 
assistance,  and  I  have  to  return  my  best  thanks  for  his 
kind  aid.  I  am  also  indebted  to  my  colleague,  Professor 
Geikie,  for  his  valued  assistance. 

The  neighbourhood  of  Edinburgh  is  rich  in  Fossils  of 
the  Carboniferous  epoch,  and  much  yet  remains  to  be  done 
to  illustrate  its  Palaeontology.  Such  labourers  as  Geikie 
and  Peach  may  be  expected  to  give  great  assistance  in  the 
furtherance  of  our  knowledge  of  Scottish  Geology,  so  as  to 
form  a  school  which  shall  revive  the  reputation  enjoyed  by 
Edinburgh  in  the  days  of  Hutton  and  Jameson.  If  I  can 
be  useful  in  encouraging  students  to  take  up  the  study  of 
Palteontological  Botany,  and  to  prosecute  it  with  vigour,  I 
shall  feel  that  this  introductory  treatise  has  not  been  issued 
in  vain.  As  one  of  the  few  surviving  relations  of  Dr.  James 
Hutton,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  show  an  interest  in  a  science 
which  may  aid  in  elucidating  the  "  Theory  of  the  Earth." 

In  writing  this  work  I  have  taken  for  granted  that  the 
reader  is  acquainted  with  the  Elements  of  Botany,  and  knows 


X  PREFACE. 

the  general  structure  of  plants  of  the  present  day.  I  have 
not,  therefore,  hesitated  to  use  the  ordinary  Botanical  terms 
without  explanation.  I  am  satisfied  that  no  one  can  study 
Fossil  Botany  properly  unless  he  has  studied  Modern  Botany. 
Those  readers  who  may  find  any  difficulty  as  to  technical 
terms  I  would  refer  to  my  Botanist's  Companion,  where  a 
full  Glossary  is  given. 

27  Inveeleith  Row, 

May  1872. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PACE 

Introductory  Remarks      .  .  .  .  .1 

Determination  of  Fossil  Plants  ....         3 

Mode  of  Preservation  of  Fossil  Plants  .  .  .8 

Examination  of  the  Structure  of  Fossil  Plants  .       12 

FOSSILIFEROUS  RocKS  .  .  .  •  .20 

Natural  Orders  to  which  Fossil  Plants  belong  .       22 

Periods  of  Vegetation  among  Fossil  Plants        .  .       25 

Fossil  Flora  of  the  Primary  or  Paleozoic  Period  .       26 

Reign  of  Acrogens  .  .  .  .  .       26 

Flora  of  the  Carboniferous  Epoch  .  .  .36 

Flora  of  the  Permian  Epoch  .  .  .  .71 

Fossil  Flora  of  the  Secondary  or  Mesozoic  Period  .       72 

Reign  of  Gymnosperms         .  .  .  .  .72 

Flora  of  the  Trias  and  Lias  Epochs  .  .  .77 

Flora  of  the  Oolitic  Epoch  .  .  .  .80 

Flora  of  the  Wealden  Epoch         .  .  .  .      84 

Fossil  Flora  of  the  Tertiary  or  Cainozoic  Period  (includ- 
ing the  Cretaceous  Epoch)     .  .  .  .87 

Reign  of  Angiosperms         .  .  .  .  .87 

Flora  of  the  Chalk  .  .  .  .  .87 


xu 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Flora  of  the  Eocene  Epoch 

.   90 

Flora  of  the  Miocene  Epoch 

.   92 

Flora  of  the  Pliocene  Epoch 

.   98 

General  Conclusions 

.  101 

Recapitulation    .... 

.  103 

Works  on  Fossil  Botany  . 

.  105 

Explanation  of  Plates 

.  Ill 

Index     ..... 

.  113 

LIST  OF  WOODCUTS. 


Fig. 
1. 

2. 
3. 

4. 
5. 
6. 

7. 


Section  of  Peuce  Withami,  Lindley  and  Hutton 
Bark  of  Araucaria        ..... 
Llarkings  on  Araucaria  bark 


Leaf  of  Araucaria 

Nicolia  Owenii  (Carr.) 

Bryson's  instrument  for  slitting  Fossils 

Tree-fern  .... 

Asplenium  .... 

1 1  a.  Bifurcating  Trunk  of  a  Tree-fern  (Alsophila  Perrottetiana) 
1 1  &.  Rhizome  of  Lastrea  Filix-mas 
1 2.     Transverse  section  of  stem  of  a  Tree-fern  (Cyatliea) 

Scalariform  vessels  from  Tree-fern 

Sporangia  of  a  Fern    ..... 

Lycopodium  clavatum  .         .         .   '      . 

Spore-case,  containing  Microspores  of  Lycopodium 
„  ,,  Macrospores  of  Selaginella 

Fructification  of  Equisetum  maximum 

Polygonal  scale  of  Equisetum 

Spore  of  Equisetum — filaments  contracted 
„  „  J,         expanded 

Marsilea  Fabri    .... 
22  bis.  Adiantites  Lindseteformis  . 
23.     Pecopteris  (Alethopteris)  aquilina 

,,  (Alethopteris)  heterophylla 

Neuropteris  Loshii 

„  gigantea    . 

„  acuminata 

Sphenopteris  affinis 

Cyclopteris  dilatata 


9. 
10. 


13. 
U. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 


24. 
25. 
26. 

27. 
28. 
29. 


Page 

3 
5 

6 

6 

7 

7 

11 

14 

27 

28 

29 

29 

29 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30 

31 

32 

32 

32 

33 

41 

43 

43 

43 

43 

43 

43 

43 


XIV 


LIST  OF  WOODCUTS. 


Fig. 

30.  Stem  of  Caulopteris  macrodisciis    . 

31.  „  ,,  Balfonri  (Carr.) 

32.  „  ,,  Morrisi  (Carr.) 

33.  ,,         Sigillaria  pachy derma 

34.  Sigillaria  reuiformis 

35.  ,,        pachyderma 

36.  ,,        (Faviilaria)  tessellata 

37.  „        pachyderma 

38.  Stigmaria  ficoides 

39.  ,,  „       (S,  anabathra  of  Corda) 

40.  Bifurcating  stem  of  Lepidodendron  obovatum  (elegans) 

41.  Stem  of  LeiDidodendron  crenatum 

42.  Fructification  of  Lepidodendron 

43.  Longitudinal  section  of  Fructification  of  Triplosporites 

44.  (1).  Fruit  of  Selaginella  spinulosa,  A.  Braun  (Lycopodium 

selaginoides,  Linn.)    ..... 

(2).   Scale  and  sporangium  from  the  upper  part  of  cone 

(3).  Antheridian  microspores  from  ditto 

(4).  Macrospore  ...... 

(5).  Scale  and  sporangium  from  lower  part  of  cone,  con 
taining  macrospores  .... 

(6).  Fruit  of  Lepidostrobus  ornatus  (Hooker) 

(7).  Three  scales  and  sporangia  of  ditto 

(8).  Microspores  from  sporangia  of  the  upper  part  of  the 

cone  of  Triplosporites  Brownii,  Brongn. 
(9).  Macrospore  from  the  sporangia  of  the  lower  part 
(10).   Scales  and  sporangia  of  a  cone  of  Flemingites 
45  a.  Calamites  Suckovii 
45  6.  Septum  or  Phragma  of  a  Calamite 

46.  Vertical  stems  of  Calamites — in  coal-measures  of  Treuil 

near  St.  Etienne 

47.  Fruits  of  Equisetum  and  Calamites 
(1).  Equisetum  arvense,  L. 
(2).  Portion  of  sporangium  wall    . 
(3,  4).  Spores — elaters  free 

(5).  Longitudinal  section  of  part  of  one  side  of  cone 
(6).  Transverse  section  of  cone 
(7).  Calamites  (Volkmannia)  Binneyi  (Carr.) 
(8).  Portion  of  sporangium  wall    . 
(9).  Two  spores  .... 


Page 

44 
44 
44 
45 
45 
46 
46 
46 
47 
47 
49 
49 
50 
50 

51 
51 
51 
51 

51 
51 

51 

51 
51 
51 
57 

57 

68 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 
60 


LIST  OF  WOODCUTS. 


XV 


Fig.  Page 

(10).  Longitudinal  section  of  part  of  one  side  of  cone         .       60 
(11).  Transverse  section  of  cone      .         .         .         .         .60 

48.  Foliage  and  fruits  of  Calamites      .         .         .         .         .62 

(1,  2).  Asterophyllites 62 

(3,  4).  Annularia 62 

(o,  6).  Sphenophyllum         .         .         .         .         .         .62 

49.  Araucarioxylon  Witliami,  Krauss  (Pinites  Withami)         .       63 

50.  Trigonocarpum  olivseforme    .         .         .         .         .         .63 

51.  Cardiocarpum  Lindleyi  (Carr.)       .         .         .         .         .65 

52.  „  „  65 

53.  Cardiocarpum  anomalum  (Carr.)    .         .         .         .         .66 

54.  Pothocites  Grantoni  (Paterson)     .         .         .         .         .67 

55.  56.  Walcliia  piniformis  (Sternb.)     .         .         .         .         .72 

57.  Pinus  sylvestris  .         .         .         .         .         .         .73 

58.  Abies  excelsa      ........       73 

59.  Larix  Europsea    ........       73 

60.  Cedrus  Libaui     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .73 

61.  Araucaria  excelsa         .         .  .  .         .         .         .74 

62.  Woody  tubes  of  fir — single  rows  of  discs         .         .         .74 

63.  „  ,,      — double  and  opposite  rows  of  discs     .       74 

64.  Woody  tubes  of  Araucaria   excelsa  —  double  and  triple 

and  alternate  rows  of  discs         .....        74 

65.  Longitudinal  section  of  stem  of  a  Gymnosperm        .         .       74 

66.  Linear  leaves  of  Pinus  Strobus      .         .  .         ,  -75 

67.  Cone  of  Pinus  sylvestris        ......        75 

68.  „       Cupressus  sempervirens     .....       75 

69.  Scale  of  mature  cone  of  Pinus  sylvestris  ...        75 

70.  Fruiting  branch  of  Jimiperus  communis  .         .         .76 

71.  Branch  of  Taxus  baccata       .  .          .         .         .         .76 

72.  Male  flower  of  Yew 76 

73.  Fruit  of  Yew 76 

74.  Cycas  revoluta    .  .         .      "^  .         .         .         .         .77 

75.  Encephalartos  (Zamia)  pungens     .....        77 

76.  Schizoneura  heterophylla      ......        78 

77.  Zamites 79 

78.  Pterophyllum  Pleiningerii     ......        80 

79.  ISTilssonia   compta    (Pterophyllum   comptum    of    Lindley 

and  Hutton) 80 

80.  Palteozamia  pectinata  (Zamia  pectinata  of  Brongniart,  and 

Lindley  and  Hutton)       ......       80 


XVI 


LIST  OF  WOODCUTS. 


Fig.  Page 

81.  Brachyphyllum  mammillare  .         .         .         .         .81 

82.  Equisetum  columnare  .         .         .          .         .         .81 

83.  Araucarites  sphserocarpus  (Carr.)  .         ...       82 

84.  Termination  of  a  scale  of  ditto      .....       82 

85.  Section  of  a  scale  of  ditto     ......       82 

86.  The  Dirt-bed  of  the  island  of  Portland  ....       83 

87.  Cycadoidea  megalophylla  (Mantellia  nidiformis  of  Brong- 

niart)    .........       83 

88.  Kaidacarpum  ooliticum  (Carr.) 84 

89.  Pandanus  odoratissimus        ......       84 

90.  Fossil  wood,  Abietites  Linkii 85 

91.  Sequoiites  ovalis  .......       88 

92.  Pinites  ovatus  (Zamia  ovata  of  Lindley  and  Hutton)       .       89 

93.  Palmacites  Lamanonis  ......       90 

94.  Osmunda  regalis  .         .         .         .         .         .         .91 

95.  Comptonia  acutiloba    .  .         .         .         .         .         .92 

96.  Acer  trilobatum  .......       93 

97.  Ulmus  Bronnii  .         .         .         .         .         .         .93 

98.  Rhamnus  Aizoon  .......       94 

99.  Alniis  gracilis      ........       95 

100.  Taxites  or  Taxodites  Campbellii    .....       95 

101.  Rhamnites  multinervatus     ......       95 

102.  Equisetum  Campbellii  ......       96 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 


The  study  of  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
nature  of  living  beings  since  their  first  appearance  on  the 
globe  till  the  period  when  the  surface  of  the  earth,  having 
assumed  its  present  form,  has  been  covered  by  the  creation 
which  now  occupies  it,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  important 
departments  in  Geology.  It  is,  as  Brongniart  remarks,  the 
history  of  life  and  its  metamorphoses.  The  researches  of 
geologists  show  clearly  that  the  globe  has  undergone  various 
alterations  since  that  "beginning"  when  "God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth."  These  alterations  are  exhibited  in 
the  different  stratified  rocks  which  fomi  the  outer  crust 
of  the  earth,  and  which  were  chiefly  sedimentary  deposits 
produced  by  the  weathering  of  the  exposed  rocks.  Re- 
mains of  the  plants  and  animals  living  on  the  globe  at 
the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  different  beds  are  pre- 
served in  them.  Elevations  and  depressions  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  affected  the  organisms  on  its  surface,  and 
gave  to  successive  deposits  new  faunas  and  floras.  Some  of 
these  epochs  have  been  marked  by  great  changes  in  the 
physical  state  of  our  planet,  and  they  have  been  accompanied 
with  equally  great  modifications  in  the  nature  of  the  living 
beings  which  inhabited  it.  The  study  of  the  fossil  remains  of 
animals  is  called  Palseozoology  (jTaXaio^,  ancient,  and  ^SoVj 
animal),  while  the  consideration  of  those  of  vegetables  is 
denominated  Pal^eophytology  (TraXatos  and  (jyvrov,  a  plant). 
Both  are  departments  of  the  science  of  Palaeontology,  which 

B 


2  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

has  been  the  means  of  bringing  geology  to  its  present  state  of 
advancement.  The  study  of  these  extinct  fonns  has  afforded 
valuable  indications  as  to  the  physical  state  of  the  earth,  and 
as  to  its  climate  at  different  epochs.  This  study  requires 
the  conjunct  labours  of  the  Zoologist,  the  Botanist,  and  the 
Petralogist. 

The  vegetation  of  the  globe,  during  the  different  stages  of 
its  formation,  has  undergone  very  evident  changes.  At  the 
same  time  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  plants 
may  all  be  referred  to  the  great  classes  distinguished  at 
the  present  day — namely,  Thallogens,  including  such  plants 
as  Lichens,  Alga3,  and  Fungi ;  Acrogens,  such  as  Ferns  and 
Lycopods;  Gymnosperms,  such  as  Cone-bearing  plants  and 
Cycads ;  Endogens,  such  as  Palms,  Lilies,  and  Grasses ;  and 
Exogens,  such  as  the  common  trees  of  Britain  (excluding  the 
Fir),  and  the  great  mass  of  ordinary  flowering  plants.  The 
relative  proportion  of  these  classes,  however,  has  been  different, 
and  the  predominance  of  certain  forms  has  given  a  character 
to  the  vegetation  of  different  epochs.  The  farther  we  recede 
in  geological  history  from  the  present  day,  the  greater  is  the 
difference  between  the  fossil  plants  and  those  which  now 
occupy  the  surface.  At  the  time  when  the  coal-beds  were 
formed,  the  plants  covering  the  earth  belonged  to  genera 
and  species  not  existing  at  the  present  day.  As  we  ascend 
higher,  the  similarity  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern 
flora  increases,  and  in  the  latest  stratified  rocks  we  have  in 
certain  instances  an  identity  in  sj^ecies  and  a  considerable 
number  of  existing  genera.  At  early  epochs  the  flora  appears 
to  have  been  uniform,  to  have  presented  less  diversity  of 
forms  than  at  present,  and  to  have  been  similar  in  the  dif- 
ferent quarters  of  the  globe.  The  vegetation  also  indicates 
that  the  nature  of  the  climate  was  different  from  that  which 
characterises  the  countries  in  which  these  early  fossil  plants 
are  now  found. 


DETERMINATIOX    OF    FOSSIL    PLANTS. 


Determination  of  Fossil  Plants. 

Fossil  plants  are  by  no  means  so  easily  examined  as  recent 
species.  They  are  seldom  found  in  a  complete  state.  Frag- 
ments of  stems,  leaves,  and  fruits,  are  the  data  by  which  the 
plant  is  to  be  determined.  It  is  very  rare  to  find  any  traces 
of  the  flowers.  The  parts  of  fossil 
plants  are  usually  separated  from  each 
other,  and  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain 
what  are  the  portions  which  should  be 
associated  together  so  as  to  complete  an 
individual  plant.  Specimens  are  some- 
times preserved,  so  that  the  anatomical 
structure  of  the  organs,  especially  of 
the  stem,  can  be  detected  by  very 
thin  slices  placed  under  the  micro- 
scope. In  the  case  of  some  stems  the 
presence  of  punctated  woody  tissue 
(Fig.  1)  lias  proved  of  great  service  as 
regards  fossil  Botany ;    this  structure,  Fig.  i. 

along  with  the  absence  of  large  pitted  ducts,  serving  to 
distinguish  Conifers.  The  presence  of  scalariform  vessels 
indicates  a  plant  belonging  to  the  vascular  Crj^ptogams,  of 
which  the  fern  is  the  best  known  example.  The  cautions 
to  be  observed  in  determining  fossil  plants  are  noticed  by 
Dr.  Hooker  in  the  JNIemoirs  of  the  Geological  Survey  of 
Great  Britain  (vol.  ii.  p.  387).  At  the  present  day,  the 
same  fern  may  have  different  forms  of  fronds,  which,  un- 
less they  were  found  united,  might  be  reckoned  distinct 
genera;  and  remarkable  examples  are  seen  in  Niphobolus 
rupestris  and  Lindsa3a  cordata.  Moreover,  we  find  the  same 
form  of  frond  belonging  to  several  different  genera,  which  can 

Fig.    1.    Section  of  Peuce  JVithajni,  after  Lindley  and  Hutton,  a 
fossil  Conifer  of  the  coal  epoch.     Punctated  woody  tissue  seen. 


4  PAL.S:ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

only  be  distinguished  by  the  fructification;  and  as  this  is  rarely 
seen  in  fossil  ferns,  it  is  often  impossible  to  come  to  a  decided 
conclusion  in  regard  to  them.  A  leaf  of  Stangeria  paradoxa 
was  considered  by  an  eminent  botanist  as  a  barren  fern  frond, 
but  it  ultimately  proved  to  be  the  leaf  of  a  Cycad.  The  leaf 
of  Cupania  filicifolia,  a  Dicotyledon,  might  easily  be  mistaken 
for  that  of  a  fern ;  it  resembles  much  the  frond  of  a  fossil  fern 
called  Coniopteris.  The  diverse  leaves  of  Sterculia  diversi- 
folia,  if  seen  separately,  might  easily  be  referred  to  different 
plants.  In  the  same  fern  we  meet  also  with  different  kinds  of 
venation  in  the  fronds.  Similar  remarks  may  be  made  in 
regard  to  other  plants.  Harvey  has  pointed  out  many  diffi- 
culties in  regard  to  sea-weeds. 

As  regards  the  materials  for  a  fossil  flora,  the  following 
remarks  of  Hugh  Miller  deserve  attention  : — 

*^  The  authors  of  Fossil  Floras,  however  able  or  accom- 
plished they  may  be,  have  often  to  found  their  genera  and 
species,  and  to  frame  their  restorations,  when  they  attempt 
these,  on  very  inadequate  specimens.  For,  were  they  to  pause 
in  their  labours  until  better  ones  turned  up,  they  would  find 
the  longest  life  greatly  too  short  for  the  completion  of  even  a 
small  portion  of  their  task.  Much  of  their  work  must  be  of 
necessity  of  a  provisional  character — so  much  so,  that  there 
are  few  possessors  of  good  collections  who  do  not  find  them- 
selves in  circumstances  to  furnish  both  addenda  and  errata  to 
our  most  valuable  works  on  Palasontology.  And  it  is  only  by 
the  free  communication  of  these  addenda  and  errata  that 
geologists  will  be  at  length  enabled  adequately  to  conceive  of 
the  by-past  creations,  and  of  that  gorgeous  Flora  of  the  Car- 
boniferous age,  which  seems  to  have  been  by  far  the  most 
luxuriant  and  wonderful  which  our  emphatically  ancient  earth 
ever  saw." 

The  bark  of  trees  at  the  present  day  often  exhibits 
different  kinds  of  markings  in  its  layers.     This  may  be  illus- 


DETERMINATION   OF    FOSSIL   PLANTS.  5 

trated  by  a  specimen  of  Araucaria  imbricata,  which  was 
destroyed  by  frost  in  the  Edinburgh  Botanic  Garden  on  24th 
December  1861.  The  tree  was  24 J  feet  high,  with  a  circum- 
ference of  four  feet  at  the  base  of  the  stem,  and  had  twenty 
whorls  of  branches.  The  external  surface  of  the  bark  is 
represented  in  Fig.  2.     There  are  seen  scars  formed  in  part  by 


Fig.  2. 

prolongations  from  the  lower  part  of  the  leaves,  which  have 
been  cut  off  close  to  their  union  with  the  stem.  The  base  of 
each  leaf  remaining  in  the  bark  has  the  form  of  a  narrow 
elongated  ellipse,  surrounded  by  cortical  foliar  prolonga- 
tions. The  markings  on  the  bark,  when  viewed  externally, 
have  a  somewhat  oblique  quadrilateral  form.  On  removing 
the  epiphloium  or  outer  bark,  and  examining  its  inner 
surface,  we  remark  a  difference  in  the  appearance  presented 
at  the  lower  and  upper  part  of  the  stem.  In  the  lower 
portion  the  markings  have  an  irregular  elliptical  form,  with 
a  deep  depression,  and  fissures  where  the  leaves  are  attached 
(Fig.  3).  Higher  up  the  epiphloeal  markings  assume  rather 
more  of  a  quadrilateral  form,  with  the  depressions  less  deep, 
and  the  fissures  for  the  leaves  giving  off  prolongations  on 
Fig.  2.   Bark  of  Araucaria  imhricata. 


6  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

either  side.     Farther  up  the  markings  are  smaller  in  size, 


FiR.  3. 


obliquely  quadrilateral,  and  present  circular  dots  along  the 
boundary  lines  chiefly  (Fig.  4).    Higher  still  the  quadrilateral 


Fig.  4. 

form  becomes  more  apparent,  and  the  dots  disappear  (Fig.  5). 
The  epiphloeum  thus  presents  differences  in  its  markings 
at  different  heights  on  the  stem. 

The  part  of  the  bark  immediately  below  the  epiphlceum  is 
well   developed,   and   is  of   a    spongy   consistence.      When 
examined  microscopically  it  is  seen  to  be  composed  of  cells  of 
Figs.  3,  4,  and  5.  Markings  on  Araucaria  bark. 


DETERMINATION   OF    FOSSIL   PLANTS. 


various  shapes — some  elongated  fusiform,  others  rhomboidal, 
others  with  pointed  appendages.     The  variety  of  forms  is  very 


Fig.  5. 

great,  but  it  is  possible  that  this  may  be  partly  owing  to  the 
effects  of  frost  on  the  cells.  On  the  spontaneous  separation 
of  the  bark,  the  portion  below  the  epiphlocum  was  seen  to 
consist  of  distinct  plates  of  a  more  or  less  quadrilateral  form, 
with  some  of  the  edges  concave  and  others  convex,  a  part  in 
the  centre  indicating  the  connection  with 
the  leaf,  along  with  which  it  is  detached. 
In  Fig.  6  a  leaf  is  shown  with  one  of  these 
plates  attached. 

The  appearances  presented  by  the  outer 
and  middle  bark  of  Araucaria  imbricata  bear 
a  marked  resemblance  to  those  exhibited  by 
certain  fossils  included  in  the  genera  Sigil- 
laria  and  Lepidodendron.  The  sculpturesque 
markings  on  the  stems  of  these  fossil  plants 
indicate  their  alliance  to  the  ferns  and 
lycopods  of  the  present  epoch.  But  it 
is  evident,  frmn  these  markings,  that  much 
caution  is  required  in  making  this  deter- 
mination. Other  points  of  structure  must 
be  examined  before  a  proper  decision  can  be  formed.  When, 
Fig.  6.  Leaf  of  Araucaria  with  a  portion  of  bark. 


Fi£c.  6. 


8  PALiEONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

for  instance,  the  presence  of  scalariform  tissue,  or  of 
punctated  woody  tissue,  lias  been  satisfactorily  shown  under 
the  microscope,  we  are  entitled  to  hazard  an  opinion  as 
to  the  affinities  of  the  fossils.  In  many  instances,  how- 
ever, external  appearances  are  the  only  data  on  which  to 
rely  for  the  determination  of  fossil  genera  and  species ;  and 
rash  conclusions  have  often  been  drawn  by  geologists  who 
have  not  been  conversant  with  the  structure  of  plants.  The 
Araucaria  markings  point  out  the  need  of  care  in  drawing 
conclusions,  and  their  variations  at  different  parts  of  the  bark 
indicate  the  danger  of  a  rash  decision  as  to  species.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  in  vegetable  Pala3ontology  the  number 
of  species  has  been  needlessly  multiplied — any  slight  variation 
in  form  having  been  reckoned  sufficient  for  specific  distinction. 
We  can  conceive  that  the  Araucaria  bark  markings  in  a  fossil 
state  might  easily  supply  several  species  of  Lepidodendron. 
A  naturalist,  with  little  knowledge  of  the  present  flora  of  the 
globe,  ventures  sometimes  to  decide  on  an  isolated  fragment. 
Hence  the  crude  descriptions  of  fossil  vegetable  forms,  and  the 
confusion  in  which  Pala3ophytology  is  involved.  Every  geo- 
logist who  examines  fossil  plants  ought  to  be  well  acquainted 
with  the  minute  structure  of  living  plants,  the  forms  of  their 
roots,  stems,  leaves,  fronds,  and  fructification ;  the  markings 
on  the  outer  and  inner  surfaces  of  their  barks,  on  their  stems, 
and  on  their  rhizomes  ;  the  localities  in  which  they  grow,  and 
the  climates  which  genera  and  species  affect  in  various  parts 
of  the  world.  (Professor  Balfour  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  April  1862,  vol.  iv.  p.  ^77*) 

Mode  of  Preservation  of  Fossil  Plants. 

The  mode  in  which  plants  are  preserved  in  a  fossil  state  may 
be  referred  to  four  principal  classes  : — 1.  Casts  of  the  plants ; 
from  which  all  the  original  substance  and  structure  have  been 
removed  subsequently  to  the  burial  of  the  plants,  and  to  the 


MODE   OF   PRESERVATION   OF   FOSSIL  PLANTS.  9 

greater  or  less  induration  of  the  rocks  in  which  they  are  en- 
tombed. Such  casts  are  occasionally  hollow,  but  more 
frequently  they  consist  of  the  amorphous  substance  of  the 
rock  which  has  filled  up  the  cavity,  and  which  exhibits, 
often  with  remarkable  minuteness,  the  external  aspects  of 
the  original  specimen.  2.  Carbonisation  ;  in  which  the 
original  substance  of  the  plant  has  been  chemically  altered 
and  converted  into  lignite  or  coal.  All  trace  of  the  form  of 
the  original  plant  is  generally  lost,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
extensive  beds  of  coal;  but  frequently,  when  the  organism 
has  been  buried  in  a  bed  of  clay,  the  external  appearance  is 
faithfully  preserved,  as  in  the  ferns  and  other  foliage  found 
in  the  shales  of  the  coal-measures.  3.  Infiltration  ;  in  which 
the  vegetable  tissues,  though  carbonised,  retain  their  original 
form  from  the  infiltration  of  some  mineral  in  solution,  chiefly 
lime  or  silex,  which  has  filled  the  empty  cells  and  vessels, 
and  so  preserved  their  original  form.  This  mode  of  pre- 
servation occurs  in  the  calcareous  nodules  in  coal-beds,  in  the 
remarkable  ash-beds  discovered  by  Mr.  WUnsch  in  Arran,  and 
generally  in  the  secondary  rocks.  4.  Petrifaction  ;  in  w^hicli 
the  structure  is  preserved,  but  the  whole  of  the  original 
substance  has  been  replaced,  atom  for  atom,  by  an  inorganic 
substance,  generally  lime,  silex,  or  some  ore  of  iron.  This 
is  the  condition  of  the  beautiful  fossils  from  Antigua,  and  of 
many  stems  and  fruits  from  rocks  of  all  ages  in  Britain. 

Carbonised  vegetables,  or  those  w^hich  have  passed  into 
the  state  of  Lignites,  often  undergo  modifications  which 
render  it  difiicult  to  understand  them  rightly.  Sometimes 
a  portion  of  the  organs  of  vegetables  which  have  passed  into 
the  state  of  lignite  is  transformed  into  pyrites,  or  else  pyrites 
of  a  globular  shape  is  found  in  the  middle  of  the  tissue,  and 
may  be  taken  for  a  character  of  organisation.  The  section  of 
certain  Dicotyledonous  fossil  woods,  in  that  case,  may  resemble 
Monocotyledons.      Petrifaction,  as  in  the  case  of  silicified 


10  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

woods,  often  preserves  all  the  tissues  equally,  at  other  times 
the  soft  tissues  are  altered  or  destroyed ;  the  cellular  tissue 
being  replaced  by  amorphous  chalcedony,  while  the  ligneous 
and  vascular  tissues  alone  are  petrified,  so  as  to  preserve  their 
forms.  In  some  cases  the  reverse  takes  place  as  to  these  tissues; 
the  fibrous  portions  disappear,  leaving  cavities,  while  the  cells 
are  silicified.  Sometimes  we  find  the  parts  regularly  silicified 
at  one  place,  so  as  to  retain  the  structure,  while  at  another 
an  amorphous  mass  of  silica  is  found.  In  such  cases  there 
appear,  as  it  were,  distinct  silicified  woody  bundles  in  the 
midst  of  an  amorphous  mass.  The  appearance  depends,  how- 
ever, merely  on  irregular  silicification  or  partial  petrifaction. 
Infiltrated  fossil  woods,  by  means  of  chemical  tests,  are  shown 
to  possess  portions  of  vegetable  tissues  cemented  into  a  mass 
by  silica.  In  some  cases  we  find  the  vessels  and  cells  sepa- 
rately silicified,  without  being  crushed  into  a  compact  mass. 
In  these  cases,  the  intercellular  substance  not  being  silicified, 
the  mass  breaks  down  easily ;  whereas,  when  complete  silicifi- 
cation takes  place,  the  mass  is  not  friable.  Coniferous  wood 
is  often  friable,  from  silicified  portions  being  still  separated 
from  each  other  by  vegetable  tissue  more  or  less  entire. 
During  silicification,  or  subsequent  to  it,  it  frequently  hap- 
pens that  the  plant  has  been  compressed,  broken,  and  de- 
formed, and  that  fissures  have  been  formed  which  have  been 
subsequently  filled  with  crystallised  or  amorphous  silica. 

Silicified  stems  of  trees  have  been  observed  in  various 
parts  of  the  world,  with  their  structure  well  preserved,  so  that 
their  Endogenous  and  Exogenous  character  could  be  easily 
determined.  The  Rev.  W.  B.  Clarke  notices  the  occurrence 
of  a  fossil  pine-forest  at  Kurrur-Kurran,  in  the  inlet  of 
Awaaba,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Australia.  In  the  inlet  there 
is  a  formation  of  conglomerate  and  sandstone,  with  sub- 
ordinate beds  of  lignite — the  lignite  forming  the  so-called 
Australian  coal.     Throughout  the  alluvial  flat,  stumps  and 


MODE    OF    PRESERVATION   OF    FOSSIL   PLANTS. 


11 


stools  of  fossilised  trees  are  seen  standing  out  of  the  ground, 
and  one  can  form  no  better  notion  of  their  aspect  than  by 
imagining  what  the  appearance  of  the  existing  living  forest  of 
Eucalypti  and  Casuarinas  would  be  if  the  trees  were  all  cut 
down  to  a  certain  level.  In  a  lake  in  the  vicinity  there  are 
also  some  fossilised  stumps  of  trees,  standing  vertically.  In 
Derwent  Valley,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  fossil  silicified  trees,  in 
connection  with  trap  rocks,  have  been  found  in  an  erect  posi- 
tion. One  was  measured  with  a  stem  6  feet  high,  a  circum- 
ference at  the  base  of  7  feet  3  inches,  and  a  diameter  at  the 
top  of  15  inches.  The  stems  are  Coniferous,  resembling 
Araucaria.  The  outer  portion  of  the  stem  is  of  a  rich  brown 
glossy  agate,  while  the  interior  is  of  a  snowy  whiteness.  One 
hundred  concentric  rings  have  been  counted.  The  tissue  falls 
into  a  powdery  mass.  Silica  is  found  in  the  inside  of  the 
tubes,  and  their  substance  is  also  silicified.  The  erect  silici- 
cificd  stems  of  coniferous  trees  exist  in  their  natural  positions 
in  the  ^^  dirt-bed,"  an  old  surface  soil  in  the  sandstone  strata 
of  the  Purbeck  series  in  the  Isle  of  Portland,  Dorsetshire. 
In  the  petrified  forests  near  Cairo  silicified  stems  have  been 
examined  by  Brown, 
Unger,  and  Carruthers. 
They  belong  to  dicoty- 
ledonous trees  (not 
coniferous),  to  which 
the  names  of  Nicolia 
iEgyptiaca  and  Nicolia 
Owenii  (Fig.  7)  have 
been  given.  The  wood 
consists  of  a  slender 
prosenchyma,  abundantly  penetrated  by  large  ducts.  The 
walls  of  the  ducts  are  marked  by  small,  regularly  arranged, 
oval,  and  somewhat  compressed  hexagonal  reticulations.  The 
Fig.  7.  Nicolia  Owenii  (Carr.),  from  the  Tertiary  Strata  of  Egypt. 


Fig.  7. 


12  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

ducts  have  transverse  diaphragms.  There  are  numerous 
medullary  rays.  The  wood  in  their  stems  is  converted  into 
chalcedony.  (Carruthers  on  Petrified  Forest  near  Cairo. 
Geol.  Mag.,  July  1870.) 

Examination  of  the  Structure  of  Fossil  Plants. 

When  the  structure  of  fossil  plants  is  well  preserved,  it 
may  be  seen  under  the  microscope  by  making  thin  sections 
after  the  mode  recommended  by  Mr.  William  Nicol,  the 
inventor  of  the  prism  which  bears  his  name,  and  to  whose 
memory  Unger  dedicated  the  genus  Nicolia,  which  has  just 
been  described  as  constituting  the  petrified  forest  at  Cairo. 
The  following  is  a  description  of  the  process  of  preparing 
fossils  for  the  microscope,  by  Mr.  Alexander  Bryson.  (Edin. 
N.  Phil.  Journal,  N.  S.  iii.  297.  Balfour's  Botanist's  Com- 
panion, p.  30.) 

^'  The  usual  mode  of  proceeding  in  making  a  section  of 
fossil  wood  is  simple,  though  tedious.  The  first  process  is 
to  flatten  the  specimen  to  be  operated  on  by  grinding  it  on  a 
flat  lap  made  of  lead  charged  with  emery  or  corundum 
powder.  It  must  now  be  rendered  perfectly  flat  by  hand  on 
a  plate  of  metal  or  glass,  using  much  finer  emery  than  in  the 
first  operation  of  grinding.  The  next  operation  is  to  cement 
the  object  to  the  glass  plate.  Both  the  plate  of  glass  and 
the  fossil  to  be  cemented  must  be  heated  to  a  temperature 
rather  inconvenient  for  the  fingers  to  bear.  By  this  means 
moisture  and  adherent  air  are  driven  off",  especially  from  the 
object  to  be  operated  on.  Canada  balsam  is  now  to  be 
equally  spread  over  both  plate  and  object,  and  exposed  again 
to  heat,  until  the  redundant  turpentine  in  the  balsam  has 
been  driven  off"  by  evaporation.  The  two  surfaces  are  now  to 
be  connected  while  hot,  and  a  slow  circular  motion,  with 
pressure,  given  either  to  the  plate  or  object,  for  the  purpose 
of  throwing  out  the  superabundant  balsam  and  globules  of 


EXAMINATION   OF   STRUCTURE   OF   FOSSIL  PLANTS.      13 

included  air.  The  object  should  be  below  and  the  glass  plate 
above,  as  we  then  can  see  when  all  the  air  is  removed,  by  the 
pressure  and  motion  indicated.  It  is  proper  to  mention  that 
too  much  balsam  is  more  favourable  for  the  expulsion  of  the 
air-bubbles  than  too  little.  When  cold,  the  Canada  balsam 
will  be  found  hard  and  adhering,  and  the  specimen  fit  for 
slitting.  This  process  has  hitherto  been  performed  by  using 
a  disc  of  thin  sheet-iron,  so  much  employed  by  the  tinsmith, 
technically  called  sheet-tin.  The  tin  coating  ought  to  be 
partially  removed  by  heating  the  plate,  and  when  hot  rubbing 
off  much  of  the  extraneous  tin  by  a  piece  of  cloth.  The  plate 
has  now  to  be  planished  on  the  polished  stake  of  the  tinsmith, 
until  quite  flat.  If  the  plate  is  to  be  used  in  the  lathe,  and 
by  the  usual  method,  it  ought  to  be  planished  so  as  to  i:>ossess 
a  slight  convexity.  This  gives  a  certain  amount  of  rigidity  to 
the  edge,  which  is  useful  in  slitting  by  the  hand ;  while  by 
the  method  of  mechanical  slitting,  about  to  be  described,  this 
convexity  is  inadmissible.  The  tin  plate,  when  mounted 
on  an  appropriate  chuck  in  the  lathe,  must  be  turned  quite 
true,  with  its  edge  slightly  rounded  and  made  perfectly  smooth 
by  a  fine-cut  file.  The  edge  of  the  disc  is  now  to  be  charged 
with  diamond  powder.  This  is  done  by  mingling  the  diamond 
powder  with  oil,  and  placing  it  on  a  piece  of  the  hardest 
agate,  and  then  turning  the  disc  slowly  round.  Then,  by 
holding  the  agate  with  the  diamond  powder  with  a  moderate 
pressure  against  the  edge  of  the  disc,  it  is  thoroughly  charged 
with  a  host  of  diamond  points,  becoming,  as  it  were,  a  saw 
with  invisible  teeth.  In  pounding  the  diamond,  some  care  is 
necessary,  as  also  a  fitting  mortar.  The  mortar  should  be 
made  of  an  old  steel  die,  if  accessible ;  if  not,  a  mass  of  steel, 
slightly  conical,  the  base  of  which  ought  to  be  2  inches  in  dia- 
meter, and  the  upper  part  1 J  inch.  A  cylindrical  hole  is  now 
to  be  turned  out  in  the  centre,  of  fths  of  an  inch  diameter, 
and  about  1  inch  deep.     This,  when  hardened,  is  the  mortar ; 


14 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


for  safety  it  may  be  annealed  to  a  straw  colour.  The  pestle 
is  merely  a  cylinder  of  steel,  fitting  the  hollow  mortar  but 
loosely,  and  having  a  ledge  or  edging  of  an  eighth  of  an  inch 
projecting  round  it,  but  sufficiently  raised  above  the  upper 
surface  of  the  mortar,  so  as  not  to  come  in  contact  while 
pounding  the  diamond.  The  point  of  the  pestle  ought  only 
to  be  hardened  and  annealed  to  a  straw  colour,  and  should 
be  of  course  convex,  fitting  the  opposing  and  equal  concavity 
of  the  mortar.  The  purpose  of  the  projecting  ledge  is  to 
prevent  the  smaller  particles  of  diamond  spurting  out  when 
the  pestle  is  struck  by  the  hammer." 

Mr.  Bryson  has  contrived  an  instrument  for  slitting  fossils. 
The  instrument  is  placed  on  the  table  of  a  common  lathe, 


Fig.  8. 

which  is,  of  course,  the  source  of  motion  (Fig.  8).  It  con- 
Fig.  8.  Mr.  Bryson's  instrument  for  slitting  fossils.  A  very  simple 
slicing  and  polishing  machine  has  been  invented  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Jordan  of 
the  Mining  Record  Office,  and  is  sold  by  Messrs.  Cotton  and  Johnson, 
Grafton  Street,  Soho,  London.     It  costs  about  £10. 


EXAMINATION   OF    STRUCTURE    OF   FOSSIL   PLANTS.      15 

sists  of  a  Watt's  parallel  motion,  with  four  joints,  attaclied 
to  a  basement  fixed  to  the  table  of  the  lathe.  This  base  has 
a  motion  (for  adjustment  only)  in  a  horizontal  plane,  by 
which  we  may  be  enabled  to  place  the  upper  joint  in  a  parallel 
plane  with  the  spindle  of  the  lathe.  This  may  be  called  the 
azimuthal  adjustment.  The  adjustment,  which  in  an  astro- 
nomical instrument  is  called  the  plane  of  right  ascension,  is 
given  by  a  i)ivot  in  the  top  of  the  base,  and  clamped  by  a 
screw  below.  This  motion  in  right  ascension  gives  us  the 
power  of  adjusting  the  perpendicular  planes  of  motion,  so 
that  the  object  to  be  slit  passes  down  from  the  circumference 
of  the  slitting-plate  to  nearly  its  centre,  in  a  perfectly  parallel 
plane.  When  this  adjustment  is  made  accurately,  and  the 
slitting-plate  well  primed  and  flat,  a  very  thin  and  parallel 
slice  is  obtained.  This  jointed  frame  is  counteqioised  and 
supported  by  a  lever,  the  centre  of  which  is  movable  in 
a  pillar  standing  perpendicularly  from  the  lathe  table. 
Attached  to  the  lever  is  a  screw  of  three  threads,  by  which 
the  counterpoise  weight  is  adjusted  readily  to  the  varying 
weight  of  the  object  to  be  slit  and  the  necessary  pressure 
required  on  the  edge  of  the  slitting-plate. 

The  object  is  fixed  to  the  machine  by  a  pneumatic  chuck. 
It  consists  of  an  iron  tube,  which  passes  through  an  aperture 
on  the  upper  joint  of  the  guiding-frame,  into  which  is  screwed 
a  round  piece  of  gun-metal,  slightly  hollowed  in  the  centre, 
but  flat  towards  the  edge.  This  gun-metal  disc  is  perforated 
by  a  small  hole  communicating  with  the  interior  of  the  iron 
tube.  This  aperture  permits  the  air  between  the  glass  plate 
and  the  chuck  to  be  exhausted  by  a  small  air-syringe  at  the 
other  end.  The  face  of  this  chuck  is  covered  with  a  thin  film 
of  soft  india-i-ubber  not  vulcanised,  also  perforated  with  a 
small  central  aperture.  When  the  chuck  is  properly  adjusted, 
and  the  india-rubber  carefully  stretched  over  the  face  of  the 
gun-metal,  one  or  two  pulls  of  the  syringe-piston  is  quite 


16  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

sufficient  to  maintain  a  very  large  object  under  the  action  of  the 
slitting-plate.  By  this  method  no  time  is  lost ;  the  adhesion 
is  made  instantaneously,  and  as  quickly  broken  by  opening  a 
small  screw,  to  admit  air  between  the  glass  plate  and  the 
chuck,  when  the  object  is  immediately  released.  Care  must 
be  taken,  in  stretching  the  india-rubber  over  the  face  of  the 
chuck,  to  make  it  very  equal  in  its  distribution,  and  as  thin 
as  is  consistent  with  strength.  When  this  material  is  obtained 
from  the  shops,  it  presents  a  series  of  slight  grooves,  and  is 
rather  hard  for  our  purpose.  It  ought,  therefore,  to  be 
slightly  heated,  which  renders  it  soft  and  pliant,  and  in  this 
state  should  now  be  stretched  over  the  chuck,  and  a  piece  of 
soft  copper  wire  tied  round  it,  a  slight  groove  being  cut  in  the 
periphery  of  the  chuck  to  detain  the  wire  in  its  place. 
When  by  use  the  surface  of  the  india-rubber  becomes  flat, 
smooth,  and  free  from  the  grooves  which  at  first  mar  its  use- 
fulness, a  specimen  may  be  slit  of  many  square  inches,  with- 
out resort  being  had  to  another  exhaustion  by  the  syringe. 
But  when  a  large,  hard,  siliceous  object  has  to  be  slit,  it  is 
well  for  the  sake  of  safety  to  try  the  syringe  piston,  and 
observe  if  it  returns  forcibly  to  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder, 
which  cAddences  the  good  condition  of  the  vacuum  of  the 
chuck. 

After  the  operation  of  slitting,  the  plate  must  be  removed 
from  the  spindle  of  the  lathe,  and  the  flat  lead  lap  substituted. 
The  pneumatic  chuck  is  now^  to  be  reversed,  and  the  specimen 
placed  in  contact  with  the  grinder.  By  giving  a  slightly 
tortuous  motion  to  the  specimen,  that  is,  using  the  motion  of 
the  various  joints,  the  object  is  ground  perfectly  flat  when 
the  length  of  both  arms  of  the  joints  is  perfectly  equal. 
Should  the  leg  of  the  first  joint  on  the  right-hand  side  be  the 
longer,  the  specimen  will  be  ground  hollow ;  if  shorter,  it 
will  be  ground  convex.  But  if,  as  before  stated,  they  are  of 
equal  length,  a  perfectly  parallel  surface  will  be  obtained. 


EXAIMINATION   OF    STRUCTURE    OF   FOSSIL   PLANTS.      17 

In  operating  on  siliceous  objects,  I  have  found  soap  and 
water  quite  as  speedy  and  efficacious  as  oil,  which  is  generally 
used ;  while  calcareous  fossils  must  be  slit  by  a  solution  of 
common  soda  in  water.  This  solution  of  soda,  if  made  too 
strong,  softens  the  india-rubber  on  the  face  of  the  pneumatic 
chuck,  and  renders  a  new  piece  necessary;  but  if  care  is 
taken  to  keep  the  solution  of  moderate  strength,  one  piece  of 
india-rubber  may  last  for  six  months.  The  thinner  and 
flatter  it  becomes,  the  better  hold  the  glass  takes,  until  a 
puncture  occurs  in  the  outer  portion,  and  a  new  piece  is 
rendered  necessary. 

The  polishing  of  the  section  is  the  last  operation.  This  is 
performed  in  various  ways,  according  to  the  material  of  which 
the  organism  is  composed.  If  siliceous,  a  lap  of  tin  is  to  be 
used,  about  the  same  size  as  the  grinding  lap.  Having  turned 
the  face  smooth  and  flat,  a  series  of  very  fine  notches  are  to 
be  made  all  over  the  surface.  This  operation  is  accomplished 
by  holding  the  edge  of  an  old  dinner-knife  almost  perpendi- 
cular to  the  surface  of  the  lap  while  rotating ;  this  produces 
a  series  of  cridcUes,  or  slight  asperities,  which  detain  the 
polishing  substance.  The  polishing  substance  used  on  the 
tin  lap  is  technically  called  lapidaries'  rot-stone,  and  is 
applied  by  slightly  moistening  the  mass,  and  pressing  it  firmly 
against  the  polisher,  care  being  taken  to  scrape  off  the  outer 
surface,  which  often  contains  grit.  The  specimen  is  then  to 
be  pressed  w4th  some  degree  of  force  against  the  revolving' 
tin  lap  or  polisher,  carefully  changing  the  plane  of  action,  by 
moving  the  specimen  in  various  directions  over  the  surface. 

To  polish  calcareous  objects,  another  method  must  be 
adopted  as  follows  : — 

A  lap  or  disc  of  willoAV  wood  is  to  be  adapted  to  the 
spindle  of  the  lathe,  three  inches  in  thickness,  and  about  the 
diameter  of  the  other  laps  (10  inches),  the  axis  of  the  wood 
being  parallel  to  the  spindle  of  the  lathe,  that  is,  the  acting 

c 


18  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

surface  of  tlie  wood  is  the  end  of  the  fibres,  the  section 
being  transverse. 

This  polisher  must  be  turned  quite  flat  and  smoothed  by 
a  plane,  as  the  willow,  from  its  softness,  is  peculiarly  difficult 
to  turn.  It  is  also  of  consequence  to  remark  that  both  sides 
should  be  turned,  so  that  the  lap,  when  dry,  is  quite  parallel. 
This  lap  is  most  conveniently  adapted  to  the  common  face 
chuck  of  a  lathe  with  a  conical  screw,  so  that  either  surface 
may  be  used.  This  is  made  evident,  when  we  state  that  this 
polisher  is  always  used  moist,  and,  to  keep  both  surfaces 
parallel,  must  be  entirely  plunged  in  water  before  using,  as 
both  surfaces  must  be  equally  moist,  otherwise  the  dry  surface 
will  be  concave  and  the  moist  one  convex.  The  polishing 
substance  used  with  this  lap  is  putty  powder  (oxide  of  tin), 
which  ought  to  be  well  washed,  to  free  it  from  grit.  The 
calcareous  fossils  being  finely  ground,  are  speedily  polished 
by  this  method.  To  polish  softer  substances,  a  piece  of  cloth 
may  be  spread  over  the  wooden  lap,  and  finely-levigated 
chalk  used  as  a  polishing  medium. 

In  order  to  study  fossil  plants  well,  there  must  be  an 
acquaintance  with  systematic  botany,  a  knowledge  of  the 
microscopical  structure  of  all  the  organs  of  plants,  such  as 
their  roots,  stems,  barks,  leaves,  fronds,  and  fi'uit;  of  the 
markings  which  they  exhibit  on  their  different  surfaces,  and 
of  the  scars  which  some  of  them  leave  when  they  decay.  It 
is  only  thus  we  can  expect  to  determine  accurately  the  living 
affinities  of  the  fossil.  Brongniai't  says,  that  before  compar- 
ing a  fossil  vegetable  with  living  plants,  it  is  necessary  to 
reconstruct  as  completely  as  possible  the  portion  of  the  plant 
under  examination,  to  determine  the  relations  of  these  por- 
tions to  the  other  organs  of  the  same  plant,  and  to  complete 
the  plant  if  possible,  by  seeing  whether,  in  the  fossils  of  the 
same  locality,  there  may  not  be  some  which  belong  to  the 
same  plant.     The  connection  of  the  different  parts  of  the 


EXAMINATION   OF    STRUCTURE    OF   FOSSIL   PLANTS.      19 

same  plant  is  one  of  the  most  important  problems  in  Palaso- 
phytology,  and  the  neglect  of  it  has  led  to  many  mistakes. 
In  some  instances  the  data  have  been  sufficient  to  enable 
botanists  to  refer  a  fossil  plant  to  a  genus  of  the  present 
day,  so  that  we  have  fossil  species  of  the  genera  Ulmus, 
Alnus,  Pinus,  etc.  Sometimes  the  plant  is  shown  to  be  allied 
to  a  living  genus,  but  differing  in  some  essential  point,  or 
wanting  something  to  complete  the  identity,  and  it  is  then 
marked  by  the  addition  of  the  term  ites,  as  Pinites,  Thuites, 
Zamites,  etc. 

Before  drawing  conclusions  as  to  the  climate  or  physical 
condition  of  the  globe  at  different  geological  epochs,  the 
botanist  must  be  well  informed  as  to  the  vegetation  of 
different  countries,  as  to  the  soils  and  localities  in  which 
certain  plants  grow,  whether  on  land  or  in  the  sea,  or  in 
lakes,  in  diy  or  marshy  ground,  in  valleys  or  on  mountains, 
or  in  estuaries,  in  hot,  temperate,  or  cold  regions.  Great 
caution  must  be  employed  also  in  predicating  from  one  species 
the  conditions  of  another,  inasmuch  as  different  species  of 
the  same  genus  frequently  exist  in  very  different  habitats, 
and  under  almost  opposite  conditions  of  moisture  and  tem- 
perature. It  is  only  by  a  careful  consideration  of  all  these 
particulars  that  any  probable  inferences  can  be  drawn  as  to 
the  condition  of  the  globe.  Considering  the  physiognomy  of 
vegetation  at  the  present  day,  we  find  remarkable  associations 
of  forms.  The  Palms,  although  generally  characteristic  of  very 
warm  countries,  are  by  no  mearis  confined  to  them ;  Cha- 
mgerops  humilis  extending  to  Europe  as  far  as  lat.  43°  to  44° 
N.,  and  C.  palmetto  in  North  America  to  lat.  34°  to  36°  N., 
while  C.  Fortunei,  from  the  north  of  China,  is  perfectly  hardy 
in  the  south  of  England.  Major  Madden  mentions  the 
association  of  Palms  and  Bamboos  with  Conifers  at  consider- 
able elevations  on  the  Himalayas.  (Edin.  Bot.  Soc.  Trans, 
iv.,  p.  185.)     Epiphytic  Orchids,  which  usually  characterise 


20  PAL^EONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

warm  climates,  liave  representatives  at  great  elevations,  as 
Oncidium  nubigenum  at  14,000  feet  in  the  Andes,  and  Epi- 
dendrum  frigidimi  at  from  12,000  to  13,000  feet  in  the 
Columbia  momitains.  These  facts  point  out  the  care  neces- 
sary before  drawing  conclusions  as  to  the  climate  which  fossil 
plants  may  be  supposed  to  indicate. 

FOSSILIFEROUS  RoCKS. 

The  rocks  of  which  the  globe  is  composed  are  divided  into 
two  great  classes- — the  Stratified  or  Aqueous,  and  the  Unstra- 
tified  or  Igneous.  The  stratified  rocks  frequently  contain  fossil 
remains,  and  are  then  called  fossiliferous ;  those  with  no  such 
remains  are  designated  non-fossiliferous  or  azoic.  The  igneous 
unstratified  rocks,  included  under  the  names  of  Granitic  and 
Trappean,  show  no  appearance  of  animal  or  vegetable  remains. 
Those  trap  rocks,  however,  which  have  been  formed  of  loose 
volcanic  ashes  have  often  enclosed  and  preserved  the  remains 
of  plants  and  animals ;  while  even  between  the  successive 
beds  of  old  lava-like  trap  rocks  organic  remains  are  some- 
times found.  Thus,  in  Antrim,  near  the  Giant's  Causeway, 
deposits  containing  vegetable  remains  occur  inter-stratified 
with  basaltic  rocks.  These  remains  are  of  miocene  age, 
and  have  been  referred  to  coniferous  plants,  beeches,  oaks, 
plane  trees,  etc.  Similar  plants  have  been  discovered  in 
a  similar  position  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll  in  the  island  of 
Mull.  In  trap  rocks  near  Edinburgh,  lignite  with  distinct 
structure  has  also  been  detected.  Silicified  wood  and  coal, 
imbedded  in  trap  rocks,  have  been  seen  in  Kerguelen's  Land. 
The  wood  is  found  enclosed  in  basalt,  whilst  the  coal  crops 
out  in  ravines,  in  close  contact  with  the  overlying  porphyritic 
and  amygdaloidal  greenstone.  Hooker  has  also  seen  silicified 
wood,  in  connection  with  trap,  in  Macquarrie's  Plains,  in 
Tasmania.      Several   beds  of  trap-tuff  or  ash,  formed  into 


FOSSILIFEROUS   ROCKS. 


21 


solid  compact  rock  by  infiltrated  carbonate  of  lime^  occur  in 
the  north-east  of  Arran,  which  contain  numerous  stems, 
branches,  and  fruits  of  carboniferous  plants.  These  represent 
the  remains  of  successive  forests  which  grew  on  this  locality, 
and  were  one  after  the  other  destroyed  by  the  ash-showers 
poured  forth  from  a  neighbouring  volcano  during  its  inter- 
mittent periods  of  activity. 

Fossil  remains  are  extremely  rare  in  certain  rocks,  which, 
from  the  changes  they  have  undergone,  have  been  deno- 
minated Metamorphic.  These  include  Gneiss  and  Mica-slate, 
which  are  stratified  rocks  subsequently  altered  by  heat  and 
other  causes,  and  so  completely  metamorphosed  that  the 
traces  of  organisms  have  been  nearly  obliterated.  Never- 
theless, recognisable  traces  of  plant  and  animal  remains  have 
been  found  in  what  were  recently  thought  to  be  azoic  rocks. 
The  absence  of  organic  remains  in  rocks  is  therefore  not 
sufficient  to  enable  us  to  state  that  these  rocks  were  formed 
before  animals  or  vegetables  existed. 

The  stratified  rocks  which  contain  fossils  have  been 
divided  into  three  great  groups — the  Pala30zoic,  the  Second- 
ary, and  the  Tertiaiy,  or  into  Pala30zoic  and  Neozoic  groups. 
The  formations  included  under  these  are  exhibited  in  the 
following  table,  taken  from  Lyell's  Manual  of  Geology  : — 


1.  Recent. 

2.  Post  Pliocene. 

3.  Newer  Pliocene. 

4.  Older  Pliocene. 

5.  Upper  Miocene. 

6.  Lower  Miocene. 

7.  Upper  Eocene. 

8.  Middle  Eocene. 

9.  Lower  Eocene. 

10.  Maestricht  Beds. 

11.  White  Chalk. 

12.  Chloritic  Series. 

13.  Gault. 

14.  Neocomian. 

15.  Wealden. 


>  Post  Tertiary. 


Pliocene. 
Miocene. 

Eocene. 


Cretaceous. 


Eecent. 

Tertiary 
or 
!  Cainozoic. 


1 


Secondary 

or 
Mesozoic. 


JSTeozoic. 


22 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


16. 
17. 

18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 

30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 
36. 
37. 
38. 


Pnrbeck  Beds. 

Portland  Stone. 

Kimmeridge  Clay. 

Coral  Rag.  J>       Jurassic. 

Oxford  Clay. 

Great  or  Batli  Oolite. 

Inferior  Oolite. 

Lias. 

Upper  Trias.  ^ 

Middle  Trias.  >-        Triassic. 

Lower  Trias.  ) 

Permian.  Permian. 

Coal  Measures.  ") 

Carboniferous   lime-    ^  Carboniferous. 

stone.  ■/ 

Upper  ") 
Middle  >  Dev  oniau. 


Secondary 
or 

Mesozoic. 


>-     Neozoic. 


Lower 
Upper 
Lower 
Upper 
Lower 
Upper 


>  Silurian. 


Devonian  or 

Old  Red 

Sandstone. 

Silurian. 


Cambrian. 


Cambrian. 


Lower  / 


>  Laurentian.        Laureutian. 


Primary 

or 
Palseozoic. 


Palaeozoic. 


J 


Natural  Orders  to  which  Fossil  Plants  belong. 

The  plants  found  in  different  strata  are  either  terrestrial 
or  aquatic,  and  the  latter  exhibit  species  allied  to  the  salt  and 
fresh  water  vegetables  of  the  present  day.  Their  state  of 
preservation  depends  much  on  their  structure.  Cellular  plants 
have  probably  in  a  great  measure  been  destroyed,  and  hence 
their  rarity ;  while  those  having  a  woody  structure  have  been 
preserved.  The  following  is  the  number  of  fossil  genera  and 
species,  as  compiled  from  Unger's  work  on  Pala3ophytology — 
(linger,  Genera  et  Species  Plantarum  fossilium,  1850). 


DiCOTYLEDONES. 

Genera. 

Species 

Thalamiflorre   . 

24 

84 

Calyciflorse 

56 

182 

Corollifloriie 

23 

60 

Monoclilamyde?e  Angiospermoe 

48 

221 

■ —    Gymuosperma3 

56 

363 

ORDERS    OF    FOSSIL  PLANTS. 


23 


MONOCOTYLEDONES. 

Petaloidese 
Glumiferse 

ACOTYLEDONES. 

ThallogensB 

Acrogense 

Doubtful 


Genera. 

Species 

38 

130 

5 

12 

31 

203 

121 

969 

35 

197 

437 


2121 


These  plants  are  arranged  in  the  different  strata  as  follows  : — 


Palaeozoic 

C  Cambrian,  Silu 
J  Carboniferous 
V  Permian 
( Triassic 
■\  Jurassic 

rian,  anc 

.  Devoni 

an 

73 

683 

Mesozoic 

97 
115 
294 

Cainozoic 
Recent 

^  Cretaceous 
(  Eocene 
\  INIiocene 
V  Pliocene 
Post-Pliocene   . 

183 

414 

496 

35 

31 

Fossil  Species    .       2421 


During  the  twenty  years  that  have  elapsed  since  this  enu- 
meration was  made,  the  number  of  fossil  species  has  been 
very  greatly  increased.  The  proportion  exhibited  in  this 
table  is  likewise  greatly  altered  from  the  enormous  additions 
made  to  the  Tertiary  Flora  by  linger,  Ettingshausen,  and 
Heer,  and  from  the  important  contributions  by  Principal 
Dawson  to  the  Deyonian  Flora. 

Among  the  fossil  Thalamifloral  Dicotyledons,  Unger  men- 
tions species  belonging  to  the  orders — 


Magnoliacece. 

Anonacese. 

Nympliseaceae. 

Capparidacese. 

MalvacejB. 


Byttneriacece. 

Tiliacese. 

Aurautiaceae. 

Malpigliiaceae, 

Aceracese. 


Sapindacese. 

Cedrelacese. 

Zygopliyllacese. 

Xanthoxylaceae. 

Coriariacea3. 


24 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


Among  Calycifloral  Dicotyledons- 

Rosacese. 


Celastracese. 

Rhamnacese. 

Anacardiacea3. 

Amyridacese. 

Leguminosse. 


Calycantliacese. 
Combretacese. 
Melastomacese. 
Myrtacese. 


Among  Corollifloral  Dicotyledons — 


Ericaceae. 

Styracacese. 

Ebenacese. 


Aquifoliacese. 

Sapotacese. 

Oleaceoe. 


Halorageacese. 

Cucurbitacese. 

Cornacese. 

Loraiitbacese. 

Rubiacese. 


Apocynacese. 
Gentianacese. 


Among  Monochlamydeous  Angiosperms — 


Nyctaginacese. 

Lauracese. 

Proteacese. 

Aquilariacese. 

Samydacese. 

Santalacese. 


Eiiphorbiacese. 

Urticacese. 

Artocarpacere. 

Ceratophyllaceae. 

Salicacese. 

Myricacese. 


Betulacese. 

Altingiaceae. 

Platanacea3. 

Corylacese. 

Juglandacese. 

Rafflesiacese. 


Among  Monochlamydeous  Gymnospenns — 

Coniferse.  |       Taxacese.       |      Gnetaceae.       |      Cycadacese. 


Among  Petaloid  Monocotyledons — 

Smilacese.  Liliaceae. 

Orchidacese.  Palmse, 


Zingiberacese. 


Pandanacese. 
.ixracese. 


Musacese. 
Among  Glumiferous  Monocotyledons — 

Cyperacese.  | 

Among  Acrogenoiis  Acotyledons- 


Typhacese. 

Naiadacese. 

Restiacese. 


Graminese. 


Filices. 
Marsileacese. 


Lycopodiacese. 
Equisetacese. 


Miisci. 
Hepaticse. 


Among  Thallogenous  Acotyledons — 

Licheues.  I       Characese.     I      Algae. 


Funoji. 


PERIODS   OF   VEGETATION   AMONG   FOSSIL   PLANTS. 


Periods  of  Vegetation  among  Fossil  Plants. 

On  taking  a  general  survey  of  the  known  fossil  plants, 
Brongniart  thought  that  he  could  trace  three  periods  of  vege- 
tation, characterised  by  the  predominance  of  certain  marked 
forms  of  plants.  In  the  ancient  period  there  is  a  predomi- 
nance of  Acrogenous  Ciyptogamic  plants ;  this  is  succeeded 
by  a  period  in  which  there  is  a  preponderance  of  Gymno- 
spemious  Dicotyledons  ;  while  a  third  period  is  marked  by  the 
predominance  of  Angiospermous  Dicotyledons.  There  is  thus 
— 1.  The  reign  of  Acrogens,  which  includes  the  plants  of  the 
Devonian,  Carboniferous,  and  Permian  periods.  During 
these  periods  there  seems  to  be  a  predominance  of  Ferns, 
and  a  great  development  of  arborescent  Lycopodiacese,  such 
as  Lepidodendron  and  Sigillaria,  and  with  them  are  associated 
some  Gymnospemis,  allied  to  Araucaria,  and  some  anomalous 
plants,  as  Noeggerathia.  2.  The  reign  of  Gymnospemis,  com- 
prehending the  Triassic  and  Jurassic  periods.  Here  we  meet 
with  numerous  Conifera?  and  Cycadaceee,  while  Ferns  are 
less  abundant.  3.  The  reign  of  Angiosperms,  embracing  the 
Cretaceous  and  the  Tertiary  periods.  This  is  characterised 
by  the  predominance  of  Angiospermous  Dicotyledons,  a  class 
of  plants  which  constitute  more  than  three-fourths  of  the 
present  vegetable  productions  of  the  globe,  and  which  appear 
to  have  acquired  a  predominance  from  the  commencement  of 
the  Tertiary  formations.  These  plants  appear  sparingly  even 
at  the  beginning  of  the  chalk  formation  in  Europe,  but  are 
more  abundant  in  this  formation  as  developed  in  North 
America. 


26  PAL^EONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


FLORA  OF  THE  PRIMARY  OR  PALAEOZOIC 

PERIOD. 

Reign  of  Ackogens. 

In  the  present  day,  acrogenous  i^lants  are  represented  by 
cellular  and  vascular  Cryptogams.  In  considering  fossil 
plants  our  attention  is  specially  directed  to  the  latter.  In 
the  recent  Floras,  vascular  acrogens  are  represented  by  such 
plants  as  Ferns,  Lycopods,  and  Equisetums.  Some  of  them 
have  an  arborescent  habit,  but  the  greater  number  are  shrubby 
and  herbaceous.  Many  of  them  have  creeping  rhizomes, 
which  are  either  subterranean,  or  run  along  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  One  of  these  arborescent  forms  is  seen  in  Tree-ferns 
(Fig.  9).  Another  form  with  a  rhizome  is  seen  in  Fig.  10.  The 
trunks  of  ferns  are  marked  by  scars,  which  indicate  the  parts 
where  the  bases  of  the  fronds  were  attached,  and  where  the 
vascular  tissue  passes  out  from  the  interior  (Fig.  11,  a  and  6). 
A  transverse  section  of  the  stem  (Fig.  12)  shows  a  continuous 
cylinder  of  scalariform  vessels  (Fig.  13),  enclosing  a  large 
mass  of  cellular  tissue  frequently  penetrated  by  small  scala- 
riform bundles.  The  cylinder  is  pierced  by  meshes,  from 
the  inner  sides  of  which  rise  the  vascular  bundles  going  to  the 
leaves,  while  some  of  the  free  bundles  of  the  axis  pass  through 
the  mesh,  carrying  Avith  them  a  portion  of  the  cellular  tissue 
into  the  petiole.  The  fructification  consists  of  spore-cases 
(sporangia),  often  with  an  elastic  ring  round  them,  containing 
spores  in  their  interior  (Fig.  14). 

Among  Acrogens  of  the  j)resent  day  there  are  also  plants 
belonging  to  the  natural  order  Lycopodiacea?  or  Club-mosses 
(Fig.  15),  having  creeping  stems,  which  give  rise  to  leafy 
branches.  The  leaves  are  small,  sessile,  and  moss-like,  and 
the  fructification  consists  of  two  kinds   of  cellular   bodies. 


FLORA   OF    THE    PALEOZOIC    PERIOD. 


27 


small  spores  or  microspores  (Fig.  16),  and  large  spores  or 
macrospores  (Fig.  17).     They  consist  of  cellular  and  yascular 


Fig.  9. 

tissues,  the  latter  occurring  in  the  fonn  of  woody,  annular, 
and  scalariform  vessels,  which  occupy  the  axis  or  central  part 
of  the  stem.  They  differ  from  ferns  in  the  distribution  of  their 
vascular  bundles.  The  order  is  represented  also  by  such  plants 
as  Selaginella,  Psilotum,  Phylloglossum,  and  Isoetes.  In  the 
plant  called  Isoetes  (Quillwort)  there  is  a  peculiar  short  stem 

Fig.  9.  Tree-fern,  with  a  slender  cylindrical  trunk  and  a  crown  of 
drooping  fronds.     It  is  a  vascular  acrogen. 


28 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


which  does  not  increase  in  height.     It  produces  additions 


Fig.  10. 

laterally,  so  that  the  stem  increases  in  thickness.     The  leaves 

Fig.  10.  Asjplenium;  a  species  of  Spleen  wort.  A.  Rhizome,  r, 
covered  with  the  bases  (stalks  or  stipes)  of  the  fronds ;  /,  fronds  in 
bud,  rolled  up  in  a  circinate  manner  (this  is  very  rarely  seen  in  fossil 
ferns) ;  g,  fronds  bearing  fructification  on  their  backs.  B.  Portion  of 
a  frond  separated  to  show  the  linear  sori  or  clusters  of  sporangia 
(spore-cases). 


FLORA   OF   THE   PALEOZOIC   PERIOD. 


29 


continue  to  multiply,  and  bear  fructification  at  their  bases. 
They  have  both  large  and  small  spores. 


Fig.  11,  a. 


Fig.  11,  h. 


Fig.  12. 


Another  important  order  of  vascular  Acrogens  is  the  Equi- 
setacea3  or  Horse-tails  (Fig.  18).  These  are  Cryptogams, 
having  rhizomes,  bearing  hollow,  striated  branches,  which 
secrete  in  their  epidermis  a  considerable  amount  of  silex. 
These  branches  are  jointed  and  have  membranous  sheaths  at 
the  articulations,  which  are  whorls  of  leaves  reduced  to  a  very 
rudimentary  condition.  The  fructification  consists  of  cone- 
like bodies  (Fig.  18,  /)  bearing  peltate  polygonal  scales, 
under  which  are  spore-cases  (Fig.  19),  enclosing  spores  with 

Fig.  11,  a.  Bifurcating  (forked  or  dichotomous)  trunk  (caudex)  of 
a  Tree-fern  (Alsophila  Perrottetiana),  showing  the  scars  (cicatrices)  left 
by  the  fallen  fronds.  These  scars  exhibit  the  arrangement  of  the  vas- 
cular bundles.  Fig.  11,  b.  Rhizome  of  Lastrea  Filix-mas  (male  fern), 
showing  scars  of  the  leaves,  c,  with  markings  of  the  vascular  bundles. 

Fig.  12.  Transverse  section  of  the  stem  (caudex)  of  a  Tree-fern 
(Cyathea),  showing  the  arrangement  of  the  celhilar  and  vascular  tissue. 
The  cellular  tissue  of  the  centre,  m ;  that  of  the  circumference,  p ; 
vascular  cylinder,  /  v,  consisting  of  dark-coloured  pleurenchyma  or 
ligneous  tubes,  /,  and  paler  vessels,  v,  chiefly  scalariform  and  closed 
spiral,  and  pierced  by  the  meshes  for  the  leaf-bundles  at  m ;  the  outer 
cortical  portion  connected  with  the  bases  of  the  leaves,  e. 


30  PAL^EONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

four  liygrometric  club-shaped  filaments  called  elaters  (Figs.  20 


Fk.  13. 


Fi'4.  14. 


Fiir.  16. 


Fi?.  15. 


Fi-.  17. 


Fig.  13.  Scalariform  vessels  taken  from  a  Tree-fern.  They  are 
marked  with  bars  like  the  steps  of  a  ladder,  hence  their  name.  The 
membrane  occasionally  disappears,  so  that  the  walls  are  made  up  of 
fibres  only  at  some  parts. 

Fig.  14.  Sporangia  of  a  Fern,  supported  on  stalks,  p,  each  of 
which  ends  in  an  elastic  cellular  ring,  s,  partially  surrounding  the 
spore-case,  and  opening  it  when  mature. 

Fig.  15.  Lycoiwdium  clavatum,  a  common  Club-moss.  The  leafy 
branch,  I,  ends  in  a  stalk  bearing  two  spikes  of  fructification,  /. 

Fig.  16.  A  kidney-shaped  2-valved  case,  containing  small  spores 
(microspores)  of  Lycopodium. 

Fig.  17.  Two-valved  case,  containing  large  spores  (macrospores)  of 
Sela^inella. 


FLORA   OF    THE    PALEOZOIC    PERIOD.  31 

and  21).     At  the  present  day  some  of  these  plants  in  tropical 
regions  have  stems  of  15  or  16  feet  high. 

Among  vascular  Acrogens  is  included  the 
natural  order  Marsileaceas  or  Rhizocarpcc^,  the 
Pepperworts  (Fig.  22).  The  order  consists  of 
aquatic  plants,  with  creeping  stems,  bearing 
leaves,  which  are  either  linear,  or  divided  into 
three  or  more  wedge-shaped  portions  not  unlike 
clover.  The  fructification  is  at  the  base  of  the 
leaf-stalks,  and  consists  of  sacs  (sporocarps)  con- 
taining spores  of  two  kinds,  microspores  and 
macrospores.  The  order  contains  Marsilea,  Pilu- 
laria,  Azolla,  and  Salvinia. 

For  a  fuller  account  of  Acrogenous  plants, 
see  Balfour's  Class  Book  of  Botany,  p.  954.  ^^^ 

These  orders  are  represented  in  the  Pala3ozoic 
flora.      Many  of  the  fossil  species  assume  a  large 
size,  and  show  a  greater  degree  of  development 
than  is  seen  in  their  recent  congeners.     The  most 
important  coal  plants  belong  to  the  Ferns,  Lyco- 
pods,  and  Horse-tails.     The  examination  of  the      Fig.  is. 
structure  and  conformation  of  the  plants  of  the  present  flora 
assists  much  in  the  determination  of  the  fossil  carboniferous 
flora. 

In  the  lower  Pala3ozoic  strata  the  plants  which  have  been 

detected  are  few^     In  the  Silurian  and  Cambrian  systems,  we 

meet  with  the  remains  of  ancient  marine  plants,  as  well  as  a 

few  terrestrial  species.     Even  in  the  still  older  Laurentian 

rocks,  if  the  remarkable  structure  known  as  Eozoon  canadense 

Fig.  18.  Fructification  of  Equisetum  maximum,  Great  Water 
Horse-tail,  showing  the  stalk  surrounded  by  membranous  sheaths,  s  s, 
which  are  fringed  by  numerous  processes  called  teeth.  The  fructifica- 
tion, /,  at  the  extremity,  is  in  the  form  of  a  cone  bearing  polygonal 
scales,  under  which  are  spore-cases  containing  spores  with  fila- 
ments. 


32 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


be  considered,  as  it  generally  is,  an  animal,  the  existence  of 
contemporary  plants  may  be  inferred,  inasmuch  as  without 
vegetable  life  animals  could  not  obtain  food.  In  the  Lower 
Silurian  or  Grauwacke,  near  Girvan,  Hugh  Miller  found 
a  species  resembling  Zostera  in  form  and  appearance.  In 
the  Lower  Old  Red  Sandstone  of  Scotland  he  detected 
Fucoids,  a  Lepidodendron,  and  Lignite  with  a  distinct  Coni- 
ferous structure  resembling  that  of  Araucaria,*  besides  a 
remarkable  pinnate  frond.  In  the  middle  Old  Red  of  For- 
farshire,  as   seen   in   the   Arbroath   pavement,  he  found   a 


Fig.  19. 


Fipr.  20. 


Fiir.  21. 


fern  with  reniform  pinnas  and  a  Lepidodendron.  In  the 
Upper  Old  Red,  near  Dunse,  a  Calamite  and  the  well-known 
Irish  fern  Cyclopteris  Hibernica  occur. f     This  fern,  Palseo- 

Fig.  19.  Polygonal  scale,  s,  of  a  species  of  Horse-tail  (Equisetum), 
bearing  membranous  sacs,  t,  which  open  on  their  inner  surface  to  dis- 
charge spores. 

Fig.  20.  Spore  of  Equisetum,  surrounded  by  two  filaments  with 
club-shaped  extremities.  The  filaments  are  represented  as  coiled  round 
the  spore. 

Fig.  21.  Spore  of  Equisetum,  with  the  filaments  (elaters)  ex- 
panded. 

^  Miller's  Footprints  of  the  Creator,  192-199.  Doubts  have  been 
thrown  on  the  antiquity  of  this  specimen  by  those  who  support  the 
erroneous  progressive  development  theory ;  but  the  presence,  in  the 
same  nodule,  of  a  scale  of  a  fish  only  found  in  the  lower  Old  Ked,  puts 
the  matter  beyond  doubt.  Dr.  M'Nab  on  the  Structure  of  a  Lignite 
(Pal(Eopitys)  from  the  Old  Red  Sandstone.    (Trans.  Bot.  Soc.  x.  p.  312.) 

t  Specimens  of  these  fossil  plants,  as  well  as  numerous  others, 
illustrating  the  fossil  flora  of  Scotland,  are  to  be  seen  in  Mr.  Miller's 
collection,  now  in  the  Edinburgh  Museum  of  Science  and  Art. 


FLORA   OF   THE   PALEOZOIC   PERIOD. 


33 


pteris  Hibernica  of  Schimper  (Plate  I.  Figs.  1  to  4),  along  with 
Sigillaria  dichotoma,  is  very  abiiiiclant  in  beds  of  the  same  age 
in  the  south  of  Ireland,  from  which  the  specimens  described 


Fig.  22. 

by  Edward  Forbes  were  obtained.     The  fructification  has  re- 
cently been  discovered.     This  shows  that  the  fern  belongs  to 

Fig.  22.  Marsilea  Fahri,  a  species  of  Pepperwort  or  Rhizocarp, 
with  a  creeping  stem,  quadrifoliate  stalked  leaves  on  one  side,  and 
roots  on  the  other.  The  fructification,  s,  is  at  the  base  of  the  leaves, 
and  consists  of  sporangia,  called  sporocarps. 

D 


34  PALiEONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

the  Hymenophyllea},  and  is  consequently  nearly  related  to 
the  equally  famous  Killarney  fern,  Trichomanes  radicans. 

Mr.  Carruthers  states  that  the  frond-stalk  of  this  fern  is 
thick,  of  considerable  length,  and  clothed  with  large  scales, 
Avhich  form  a  dense  coyering  at  the  somewhat  enlarged  base. 
The  well-defined  separation  observed  in  several  specimens 
probably  indicates  that  the  frond-stalks  were  articulated  to 
the  stem  or  freely  separated  from  it,  and  some  root-like 
structures  which  occur  on  the  slabs  with  the  ferns  may  be 
their  creeping  rhizomes.  The  pinn«  are  linear,  obtuse,  and 
almost  sessile.  The  i^innules  are  numerous,  overlapping,  of 
an  ovate  or  oblong- ovate  form,  somewhat  cuneate  below,  and 
with  a  decurrent  base.  The  veins  are  very  numerous,  uni- 
form, repeatedly  dichotomous,  and  run  out  to  the  margin, 
where  they  form  a  slight  serration.  Single  pinnules  rather 
larger  than  those  of  the  pinnae  are  placed  over  the  free  spaces 
of  the  rachis,  as  was  pointed  out  by  Brongniart.  Carruthers 
has  not  met  with  any  recent  fern  in  which  this  occurs ;  but  it 
has  been  observed  in  several  fossil  species,  as  in  the  allied 
American  Pala3opteris  Halliana  (Sch.),  in  Sphenopteris  erosa 
(Morris),  and  others.  The  pinnules  are  sometimes  entirely,  but 
only  partially  fertile.  The  ovate-oblong  sori  are  generally 
single  and  two-lipped,  the  slit  passing  one-third  of  the  way 
down  the  sorus.  The  vein  is  continued  as  a  free  receptacle 
in  the  centre  of  the  cup  or  cyst,  as  in  existing  Hymenophyllea3, 
in  which  it  is  included,  not  reaching  beyond  its  entire  i^ortion. 
In  some  specimens  the  receptacle  is  broad  or  thick,  indicating 
the  presence  of  something  besides  itself  in  the  cup,  and  giving 
the  aj^pearance  that  would  be  produced  if  it  were  covered 
with  sporangia ;  there  is  no  indication  on  the  outer  surface 
which  might  have  been  expected  from  the  separate  sporangia. 
The  compression  of  the  specimens  in  the  rock,  which  has 
made  the  free  receptacle  appear  like  a  vein  on  the  wall  of 
the  cup,  together  with  the  highly  altered  condition  of  the 
rock  in  which   the  fossils  are  contained,  accounts  for  the 


FLOKA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.       35 

imperfect  preservation  of  the  minute  structures.  The  inter- 
pretation here  given  of  the  fructification  of  this  interesting 
fossil  exhibits  so  close  a  resemblance  to  what  we  find  in  the 
living  genus  Hymenophyllum,  that,  were  it  not  for  the  vege- 
tative portions,  it  would  be  placed  in  that  genus.  Several 
ferns  have  been  described  by  Bunbury  from  Devonian  rocks 
at  Oporto.  A  still  more  extensive  and  varied  land  flora  of 
Devonian  age  (or  Erian,  as  he  calls  it)  has  been  described 
and  illustrated  by  Principal  Dawson  from  the  rocks  of  that 
period  occurring  in  Canada ;  and  during  a  recent  visit  to 
Britain  he  has  correlated  many  of  the  fragments  collected  by 
Miller,  Peach,  and  others,  with  the  American  species  he  has 
described.  The  following  are  some  of  the  fossil  plants  from 
beds  older  than  the  Carboniferous  system  :  * — Prototaxites 
Logani,  Dadoxylon  Ouangondianum,  Calamites  transitionis, 
Asterophyllites  parvulus,  SpliQuophyllum  antiquum,  Lepido- 
dendron  Gaspianum,  Lepidostrobus  Richardsoni,  L.  IMatthewi, 
Psilophyton  princeps,  P.  robustius,  Selaginites  formosus, 
Cordaites  Robbii,  C.  angustifolius,  Cyclopteris  Jacksoni. 

From  the  microscopic  examination  of  the  structure  of 
specimens  of  fossil  trunks  described  under  the  name  of  Pro- 
totaxites Logani,  and  which  Principal  Dawson  believes  to  be 
the  oldest  known  instance  of  Coniferous  wood,  INIr.  Carruthers 
has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  are  really  the  stems  of 
huge  Alg£e,  belonging  to  at  least  more  than  one  genus.  They 
are  very  gigantic  when  contrasted  with  the  ordinary  Alga?  of 
our  existing  seas,  nevertheless  sojiie  approach  to  them  in  size 
is  made  in  the  huge  and  tree-like  Lessonias  which  Dr.  Hooker 
found  in  the  Antarctic  Seas,  and  which  have  stems  about 
20  feet  high,  with  a  diameter  so  great  that  they  have  been 
collected  by  mariners  in  these  regions  for  fuel,  under  the 
belief  that  they  were  drift-wood.    They  are  as  thick  as  a  man's 

''^  Dawson,  Jour.  Geol.  Soc.  Lond.  xv.  Canadian  Naturalist,  v. 
Acadian  Geology,  2d  edit.  Fossil  plants  of  the  Devonian  and  upper 
Silurian  Formations  of  Canada,  with  20  plates ;  in  Report  of  Geolo- 
gical Survey  of  Canada. 


36  PALuEONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

thigh.  Schimper  regards  the  Psilophyton  of  Dawson  (Plate 
IV.  Fig.  5)  as  allied  to  Pilularia,  one  of  the  Rhizocarps  (Fig.  22), 
and  Carruthers  ]3laces  it  among  the  true  Lycopodiacea3. 

The  Carboniferous  period  is  one  of  the  most  important 
as  regards  fossil  plants.  The  vegetable  forms  are  numerous, 
and  have  a  great  similarity  throughout  the  whole  system, 
whether  exhibited  in  the  Old  or  the  New  World.  The 
important  substance  called  Coal  owes  its  origin  to  the 
plants  of  this  epoch.  It  has  been  subjected  to  great 
pressure  and  long-continued  metamorphic  action,  and  hence 
the  appearance  of  the  plants  has  been  much  altered.  It 
is  difficult  to  give  a  definition  of  Coal.  The  varieties  of  it 
are  numerous.  There  is  a  gradual  transition  from  Anthracite 
to  Household  and  Parrot  Coal ;  and  the  limit  between  Coal 
and  what  is  called  bituminous  shale  is  by  no  means  distinct. 
Coal  may  be  said  to  be  chemically-altered  vegetable  matter 
interstratified  with  the  rocks,  and  capable  of  being  used  as 
fuel.  On  examining  thin  sections  of  coal  under  the  micro- 
scope, we  can  detect  vegetable  tissues  both  of  a  cellular  and 
vascular  nature.  In  AVigan  cannel  coal,  vegetable  structure 
is  seen  throughout  the  whole  mass.  Such  is  likewise  the 
case  with  other  cannel,  parrot,  and  gas  coals.  In  common 
household  coal,  also,  evident  traces  of  organic  tissue  have 
been  observed.  In  some  kinds  of  coal  punctated  woody  tissue 
(Plate  III.  Fig.  5)  has  been  detected,  in  others  scalariform 
tissue  (Plate  III.  Fig.  6),  as  well  as  cells  of  different  kinds. 
Sporangia  are  also  frequently  found  in  the'substance  of  coal, 
as  shown  by  Mr.  Daw  in  that  from  Fordel  (Plate  III.  Figs. 
1  to  3) ;  and  some  beds,  like  the  Better  bed  of  Bradford,  are 
composed  almost  entirely  of  these  sporangia  imbedded  in 
their  shed  microspores,  as  has  been  recently  shown  by  Huxley. 
The  structure  of  coal  in  different  beds,  and  in  different  parts 
of  the  same  bed,  seems  to  vary  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  plants  by  which  it  has  been  formed,  as  well  as  to  the 
metamorj)hic   action   which   it  has   undergone.     Hence  the 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.       37 

different  yarieties  of  coal  which  are  worked.  The  occur- 
rence of  punctated  tissue  indicates  the  presence  of  Coni- 
fera3  in  the  coal-bed,  while  scalariform  vessels  point  to  ferns, 
and  their  allies,  such  as  Sigillaria  and  Lepidodendron.  The 
anatomical  structure  of  the  stems  of  these  plants  may  have 
some  effect  on  the  microscopic  characters  of  the  coal  pro- 
duced from  them.  In  some  cannel  coals  structure  resembling 
that  of  Acrogens  has  been  observed.  A  bro^vnish -yellow 
substance  is  occasionally  present,  which  seems  to  yield  abund- 
ance of  carburetted  hydrogen  gas  when  exposed  to  heat. 

It  appears  that  in  general  each  bed  of  coal  is  accompanied 
by  the  remains  of  a  somewdiat  limited  amount  of  species. 
Their  number,  particularly  in  the  most  ancient  beds,  is  scarcely 
more  than  eight  or  ten.  In  other  cases  the  number  is  more 
considerable,  but  rarely  more  than  thirty  or  forty.  In  the 
same  coal-basin  each  layer  often  contains  several  characteristic 
species  which  are  not  met  with  either  in  the  beds  above  or 
below.  Thus,  there  are  sometimes  small  local  or  temporary 
floras,  each  of  which  has  given  birth  to  layers  of  coal.  The 
quantity  of  carbonaceous  and  other  matter  required  to  form 
a  bed  of  coal  is  immense.  Maclaren  has  calculated  that  one 
acre  of  coal  three  feet  thick  is  equal  to  the  produce  of  1940 
acres  of  forest.*  The  proportion  of  carbon  varies  in  different 
kinds  of  coal.  Along  with  it  there  is  always  more  or  less  of 
earthy  matter  which  constitutes  the  ashes.  When  the  earthy 
substances  are  in  such  quantity  that  the  coaly  deposit  will 
not  burn  as  fuel,  then  we  have  what  is  called  a  shale.  The 
coal  contains  plants  similar  to  those  of  the  shales  and  sand- 
stones above  and  below  it.  Underneath  a  coal-seam  lies 
the  Underclay,  containing  roots  only,  and  representing  the 
ancient  soil ;  then  comes  the  Coal,  composed  of  plants  whose 
roots  are  in  the  clay,  Tvith  others  which  have  grown  along  with 
and  upon  them,  in  a  manner  precisely  similar  to  the  growth  of 
peat  at  the  present  day ;  while  above  the  coal  is  the  Shale, 

'''  Mat'lareu,  Geology  of  Fife  and  the  Lothiaus,  p.  11 G. 


38 


PALi^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


marking  how  mud  was  laid  down  on  the  plants,  and  bearing 
evidences  of  vigorous  vegetation  on  neighbouring  land,  from 
which  currents  brought  down  the  fine  sediment,  mingled  with 
broken  pieces  of  plants. 

The  total  thickness  of  coal  in  the  English  coal-fields  is 
about  50  or  60  feet.  In  the  Mid-Lothian  field  there  are 
108  feet  of  coal.  Coal-beds  are  Avorked  at  1725  feet  below 
the  sea-level,  and  probably  extend  down  to  upwards  of 
20,000  feet.  They  rise  to  12,000  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
and  at  Huanuco,  in  Peru,  to  14,700.*  It  is  said  that  the 
first  coal-works  were  opened  at  Belgium  in  1198,  and  soon 
after  in  England  and  Scotland ;  it  was  not  till  the  fifteenth 
century  that  they  were  opened  in  France  and  Gennany. 

The  following  calculations  have  been  made  as  to  the  extent 
of  the  coal  formation  in  difierent  countries,  and  the  amount 
of  coal  raised  : —  "f* 


Cou:n'tries. 


Square  Miles  of 
Coal  Formation. 


Great  Britain  and  Ireland  

British  North  America    

United  States  

Belgium   

France  

Prussia  and  Austria    

Saxony 

Eussia  

Japan,  China,  Borneo,  Australia,  etc. 

Total  Produce  of  the  World... 


5,400 

7,530 

196,650 

518 

1,719 


30 
100 


Annual  Production 
of  Coal  in  Tons.  \ 


65,887,900 
1,500,000 
5,000,000 
8,409,330 
7,740,317 
4,200,000 
1,000,000 
3,500,000 
2,000,000 


99,237,547 


The  total  quantity  of  coal  annually  raised  over  the  globe  ap- 
pears thus  to  be  about  100  millions  of  tons,  of  which  the  produce 
of  Great  Britain  is  more  than  two-thirds,  and  would  be  sufficient 
to  girdle  the  earth  at  the  equator  with  a  belt  of  3  feet  in  thick- 
ness and  nearly  5  feet  in  width.  The  coal-fields  of  the  United 
States  are  nearly  forty  times  larger  than  those  of  Great  Britain. 

*  Our  Coal-fields,  by  a  Traveller  under  Ground. 

t  See  Hall's  Coal-fields  of  Great  Britain,  18G1  ;  Roscoe's  Lec- 
tures on  Coal,  Manchester,  18G6-67  ;  Hunt's  Mineral  Statistics  of 
Great  Britain;  Taylor's  Statistics  of  Coal,  1855-56. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


39 


Roscoe  gives  the  following  estimated  quantities  of  coal 
iu  the  principal  countries  : — 


CorSTRIES. 

Average  Tliickness. 
No.  Feet. 

Tons. 

Belgium  

France 

British  Islands   

60 
60 
35 
25 
25 
25 
10 

20 

36,000,000,000 

59,000,000,000 

190,000,000,000 

316,400,000,000 

1,3S7,500,000,000 

l.-277,500,000,000 

739,000,000,000 

4,000,000,000,000 

Pennsylvania 

Great  Appalachian  Coalfield 

Indiana,  Plinois,  Western  Kentucky 

Missoui'i,  and  Arkansas  Basin  

North  America  (assumed  thickness 
over  an  area  of  200,000    square 
miles)  

Unger  enumerates  683  plants  of  the  coal-measures,  while 
Brongniart  notices  500.     Of  the  last  number  there  are  6 
Thallogens,  346  Acrogens,  135  Gvmnospenns,  and  13  doubt- 
ful plants.     This  appeai-s  to  be  a  very  scanty  yegetation,  as  for 
as  regards  the  number  of  species.     It  is  only  equal  to  about 
l-20th  of  the  number  of  species  now  growing  on  the  sui-fiice 
of  the  soil  of  Europe.     Although,  however,  the  number  of 
species  was  small,  yet  it  is  probable  that  the  individuals  of  a 
species  were  numerous.     The  proportion  of  Ferns  was  very 
lai'ge.    There  are  between  200  and  300  enumerated.    Schimper 
thinks  there  are  7  species  congeneric  mth  Lycopodium  found 
in  tlie  coal-measures.     The  following  are  some  of  the  Crypto - 
gamous  and  Phanerogamous  genera  belonging  to  the  flora 
of   the    Carboniferous    period : —  Cyclopteris,    Xeuropteris, 
Odontopteris,  Sphenopteris,  H}inenophyllites,  Alethopteris, 
Pecopteris,    Coniopteris,    Cladophlebis,  Seuftenbei'gia,  Lon- 
chopteris,  Glossopteris,  Caulopteris,  Lepidodendron  (Lepido- 
strobus,  Lepidophyllum,  Knorria),  Flemingites,  Ulodcudron, 
Halonia,    Psaronius,    Sigillaria    and    Stigmaria,    Calamites 
(Asterophyllites  and  Sphenophyllum),  Xoeggerathia,  Walchia, 
Peuce,  Dadoxylon,  Pissadcndron,  Trigonocarpum. 

Ferns  are  the  carboniferous  fossil  group  which  present  the 
most  obvious  and  recognisable  relationship  to  plants  of  the 
present  day.    While  cellular  plants  and  those  with  lax  tissues 


40  PALJEONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

have  lost  their  characters  by  the  maceration  to  which  they 
were  subjected  before  fossilisation  took  place,  ferns  are  more 
durable,  and  retain  their  structure.     It  is  rare,  howeyer,  to 
find  the  stalk  of  the  frond  completely  preserved  down  to  its 
base.     It  is  also  rare  to  find  fructification  present.     In  this 
respect,  fossil  Ferns  resemble  Tree-ferns  of  the  present  day, 
the  fronds  of  which  rarely  exhibit  fructification.      Hooker 
states  that  of  two  or  three  kinds  of  New  Zealand  Tree-fern, 
not  one  specimen  in  a  thousand  bears  a  single  fertile  frond, 
though  all  abound  in  barren  ones.    Only  one  surface  of  the  fossil 
Fern-frond  is  exposed,  and  that  generally  the  least  important 
in  a  botanical  point  of  view.     Fructification  is  sometimes  evi- 
dently seen,  as  figured  by  Corda  in  Senftenbergia.    In  this  case 
the  fructification  is  not  unlike  that  of  Aneimidictyon  of  the 
present  day.     Carruthers  has  recently  detected  the  separate 
sporangia  of  Ferns  full  of  spores  in  calcareous  nodules  in 
coal  (Plate  I.  Fig.  5).     These  have  the  elastic  ring  character- 
istic of  the  Polypodiacea3,  and  in  their  size,  form,  and  method 
of  attachment,  they  are  allied  to  the  group  Hymenophylleas. 
The  absence  of  fructification  presents  a  great  obstacle  to  the 
determination  of  fossil  Ferns.     Circinate  vernation,  so  com- 
mon in  modem  Ferns,  is  rarely  seen  in  the  fossil  species,  and 
we  do  not  in  general  meet  with  rhizomes.     Characters  taken 
from  the  venation  and  forms  of  the  fronds  are  not  always  to 
be  depended  upon,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  Ferns  of  the 
present  day.     There  is  a  great  similarity  between  the  carboni- 
ferous Ferns  of  Britain  and  America ;  and  the  same  species, 
or  closely  allied  species  of  the  same  genera  as  those  found  in 
Britain  have  been  met  with  in  South  Africa,  South  America, 
and  Australia.     In  the  English  coal-measures  the  species  are 
about  140.     The  PalaBozoic  flora  of  the  Arctic  regions  also 
resembles  that  of  the  other  quarters  of  the  globe.     Heer,  in 
his  account   of  the   fossil  flora   of   Bear   Island,*   enumer- 
ates the  following  plants : — Cardiopteris  frondosa,  C.  poly- 

'^  Heer,  Flora  fossilis  Arctica;  Fossile  Flora  der  Biiren  Insel.,  1871. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


41 


morplia,  Palasopteris  Roenieriana,  Sphenopteris  Schimperi, 
Lepidodendroii  Yeltheimianiim,  L.  commutatum,  L.  Cariieg- 
giannum,  L.  Wilkianum,  Lepidopliylliim  Roemeri,  Knorria 
imbricata,  K.  acicularis,  Calamites  radiatiis,  Cyclostigma 
Kiltorkense,  Stigmaria  ficoides,  etc.,  Cardiocarpiim  ursiuum, 
C.  punctulatum,  besides  various  sporangia  and  spores. 

The  preponderance  of  Ferns  over  flowering  plants  is  seen 
at  the   present   day  in   many   tropical  islands,  such  as  St. 
Helena  and  tbe  Society  group,  as  well  as  in  extra-tropical 
islands,  as  New  Zealand.     In  the  latter.  Hooker  picked  36 
kinds  in  an  area  of  a  few  acres ;  they  gave  a  luxuriant  aspect 
to  the  vegetation,  which  presented  scarcely  twelve  flowering 
plants  and  trees  besides.     An  equal  area  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Sydney  (in  about  the  same  latitude)   would   have 
yielded  upwards  of  100  flowering  plants,  and  only  two  or 
three  Ferns.    This  Acrogenous  flora, 
then,  seems  to  favour  the  idea  of  a 
humid  as  well  as  mild  and  equable 
climate   at   the   period  of  the  coal 
formation — the  vegetation  being  that 
of  islands   in   the  midst  of  a  vast 
ocean.      Lesquereux,   in   Silliman's 
Journal,  gives  three  sections  of  Ferns 
in   the   Carboniferous    strata  —  viz. 
Neuropteridea3,    Pecopteridea3,    and 
Sphenopteridea3.     In  Neuropteridea; 
fructification  has  been  seen  in  Odon- 
topteris.      In  this  genus  the  spores 
are  in  a  peculiar  bladdery  sporan- 
gium.    In  Neuropteridea3  the  fructification  appears  to  have 
resembled  Dana?a  in  some  cases,  and  Osmunda  in  others. 
Professor  Geikie   has   noticed   in    the   lower   Carboniferous 
shales  of  Slateford,  near  Edinburgh,  a  fern  which  has  been 
named  Adiantites  Lindseasformis  by  Bunbury  (Fig.  22,  his). 
Fig.  22,  his.  Adiantites  Lindseseformif?. 


Fi<?.  22,  bis. 


42  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

It  has  pinnules  between  crescent  and  fan  shaped.      (Mem. 
Geol.  Survey  of  Edinburgh,  1861,  p.  151.) 

Among  the  Ferns  found  in  the  clays,  ironstones,  and  sand- 
stones of  the  Carboniferous  period,  we  shall  give  the  characters 
of  some  by  way  of  illustration.*  Pecopteris  (Fig.  23)  seems  to 
be  the  fossil  representative,  if  not  congener,  of  Pteris.  Peco- 
pteris heterophylla  (Fig.  24)  has  a  marked  resemblance  to 
Pteris  esculenta  of  New  Zealand.  The  frond  of  Pecopteris 
is  pinnatifid,  or  bi-tri-pinnatifid — the  leaflets  adhering  to  the 
rachis  by  the  whole  length  of  their  base,  sometimes  confluent ; 
the  midrib  of  the  leaflets  runs  to  the  point,  and  the  veins 
come  off"  from  it  nearly  perpendicularly,  and  the  fructification 
when  present  is  at  the  end  of  the  veins.  Neuropteris  (Figs. 
25,  26,  27)  has  a  pinnate  or  bipinnate  frond,  with  pinna3 
somewhat  cordate  at  the  base — the  midrib  of  the  pinnge 
vanishing  towards  the  apex,  and  the  veins  coming  off*  obliquely, 
and  in  an  arched  manner.  Neuropteris  gigantea  (Fig.  26) 
has  a  thick  bare  rachis,  according  to  Miller,  and  seems  to 
resemble  much  Osmunda  regalis.  Odontopteris  has  leaves 
like  the  last,  but  its  leaflets  adhere  to  the  stalk  by  their  whole 
base,  the  veins  spring  from  the  base  of  the  leaflets,  and  pass 
on  towards  the  point.  Splienopteris  (Fig.  28)  has  a  twice  or 
thrice  pinnatifid  frond,  the  leaflets  being  narrowed  at  the 
base,  often  wedge-shaped,  and  the  veins  generally  arranged  as 
if  they  radiated  from  the  base.  Splienopteris  elegans  resem- 
bled Pteris  aquilina  in  having  a  stout  leafless  rachis,  which 
divided  at  a  height  of  seven  or  eight  inches  from  its  club-like 
base  into  two  equal  parts,  each  of  which  continued  to  undergo 
two  or  three  successive  bifurcations.  A  little  below  the  first 
forking  two  divided  pinna3  were  sent  off:  A  very  complete 
specimen,  with  the  stipe,  w^as  collected  in  the  coalfield  near 

■'''■  In  giving  names  to  fossil  Ferns,  the  Greek  word  -Trrs^lg,  meaning 
a  Fern,  is  often  used  with  a  prefix  indicating  some  character  in  the 
form  of  the  leaves,  or  stem,  or  fructification  :  such  as,  'ttUoc,  a  comb ; 
vs-j^ov,  a  nerve;  odovg,  a  tooth;  6(priv,  a  wedge;  zavXog,  a  stalk  or 
stem ;  '/.vaXog,  a  circle ;    ^X'^^^}  ■"•  ^pli^  ^^^- 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


43 


Edinburgh  by  Hugh  Miller,  who  has  described  it  as  above. 
Lonchopteris  has  its  frond  multi-j^innatifid,  and  the  leaflets 
more  or  less  united  together  at  the  base ;  there  is  a  distinct 
midrib,  and  the  veins  are  reticulated.  Cyclopteris  (Fig.  29)  has 
simple  orbicular  leaflets,  undivided  or  lobed  at  the  margin, 
the  veins  radiating  from  the  base,  with  no  midrib.  Schizo- 
pteris  resembles  the  last,  but  the  frond  is  deeply  divided  into 


Fig.  23.  Fig.  25.         Fig.  26.         Fig.  27. 

numerous  unequal  segments,  which  are  usually  lobed  and 

taper-pointed. 

The  rarity  of  Tree-ferns  in  the  coal-measures  has  often 

been  observed,  and  it  is  the  more  remarkable  from  the  durable 

nature  of  their  tissues.     Several  species  have,  however,  been 

noticed.     They  are  referred  to  the  genus  Caulopteris.     One 

of  them,  C.  macrodiscus  (Fig.  30)  has  the  leaf-scars  in  linear 

series.     Two  other  species  are  figured,  the  one  a  slender  form 

Fio's.  23  to  29  exhibit  the  fronds  of  some  of  the  Ferns  of  the 
Carboniferous  epoch.  Fig.  23.  Pecopteris  (^Alethoioteris)  aquilina. 
Fig.  24.  Pecopteris  (Alethopteris)  heterophylla.  Fig.  25.  Neuropteris 
Loshii.  Fig.  26.  Neurop>teris  gigantea.  Fig.  27.  Neuropteris  acuminata. 
Fig.  28.  Sphenopteris  affinis.     Fig.  29.   Cyclopteris  clilatata. 


44 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


with  the  scars  widely  separated^  as  in  some  Alsophilas,  C.  Bal- 
fouri  (Fig.  31)  from  the  Somersetshire  coal-field ;  and  the  other 
with  larger  stems  and  more  closely  aggregated  scars,  C.  Morrisi 
(Fig.  32),  from  the  coal-measures  at  Newcastle.  The  latter 
species  shows  the  cavities  at  the  base  of  the  petiole  described 
by  Mohl  in  many  living  fern-stems.  The  fossils  named  Psa- 
ronius  appear  to  have  been  fern-stems  with  a  slender  axis  and 
a  large  mass  of  adventitious  roots,  as  in  some  Dicksonias  and 
in  Osmunda  regalis.  These  stems  probably  belong  to  some  of 
the  fronds  to  which  other  names  are  given,  but  as  they  have 


Fig.  30.  Fig.  31.  Fig.  32. 

not  been  found  attached,  it  is  impossible  to  determine  the 
point.  Miller  has  described  a  fern  as  occurring  in  the  coal- 
measures,  which  at  first  sight  presents  more  the  appearance 
of  a  Cycadaceous  frond  than  any  other  vegetable  organism 
of  the  carboniferous  age  except  the  Cycadites  Caledonicus 
(Salter),  from  Cockburnspath  Cove.  He  thus  describes  it : — 
"From  a  stipe  about  a  line  in  thickness  there  proceed  at. 

Figs.  30  to  32.  Stem  of  Tree-ferus,  called  Caulopteris.  Fig.  30. 
Caulopteris  macrodiscus.  Fig.  31.  Caidopteris  BaJfouri  (Carr.),  Coal- 
measures.      Fig.   32.    Caulopteris  Morrisi  (Carr.),  Coal-measures. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


45 


right  angles,  and  in  alternate  order,  a  series  of  sessile  lanceo- 
late leaflets,  rather  more  than  two  inches  in  length,  by  abont 
an  eighth  part  of  an  inch  in  breadth,  and  about  three  lines 
apart.  Each  is  furnished  mth  a  slender  midrib  ;  and, 
what  seems  a  singular,  though  not  entirely  unique  feature  in 
a  Fern,  the  edges  of  each  are  densely  hirsute,  and  bristle 
with  thick  short  hair.  The  venation  is  not  distinctly  pre- 
served." 

Sigillaria  (Plate  IV.  Figs.  1  and  2)  is  perhaps  the  most 
important  plant  in  the  coal  formation.  The  name  is  derived 
from  sigillum,  a  seal,  to  indicate  the  seal-like  markings  in  the 
stem.     It  is  found  in  all  coal-shales  over  the  world.     Schim- 


Shale 


ri£c.  33. 


Fi^.  34. 


per  mentions  83  species.  It  occurs  in  the  form  of  lofty 
stems,  40-50  feet  high,  and  5  feet  broad  (Figs.  33  and  34). 
Many  stems  of  Sigillaria  may  be  Seen  near  Morpeth,  standing 
erect  at  right  angles  to  the  planes  of  alternating  strata  of 
shale  and  sandstone  (Fig.  33).  They  vary  from  10  to  20  feet 
in  height,  and  from  one  to  three  feet  in  diameter.     Sir  W.  C. 

Figs.  33  to  37  exhibit  forms  of  Sigillaria  stems  found  in  the 
shales  of  the  Carboniferous  epoch.  Fig.  33.  Stem  of  Sigillaria  ixichy- 
clerma  in  an  erect  position,  covered  by  successive  deposits  of  sandstone 
and  shale ;  one  of  the  stems  is  bifurcated.  Fig.  34.  Sigillaria  reni- 
formis,  with  its  external  markings,  and  roots  which  are  Stigmarias,  as 


46 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 


Trevelyan  counted  20  portions  of  these  trees  witliin  the  length 
of  half-a-mile,  of  which  all  but  four  or  five  were  upright. 

Bronsfniart   mentions   similar 


erect  stems  as  being  found 
near  St.  Etienne.  The  stem 
of  Sigillaria  is  fluted  in  a 
longitudinal  manner,  like  a 
Doric  column,  and  has  a  suc- 
cession of  single  scars,  which 
indicate  the  points  of  inser- 
tion of  the  leaves  (Figs.  35, 
36,  and  37).  When  the 
outer  part  of  the  stem  sepa- 
rates like  bark,  it  is  found  that 
the  markings  presented  by 
the  inner  surface  differ  from 
those    seen    externally.     This  has  sometimes  given  rise  to 


Fiaf.  36. 


Fit?.  37. 


the   erroneous  multiplication  of  species  and  even  of  genera. 

proved  by  Mr.  Binney.  Fig.  35.  Sigillaria  2')achydemia,  after  Lindley 
and  Hutton,  from  the  shale  of  Killingworth  Colliery,  showing  the 
scars  or  places  through  which  the  vessels  of  the  stem  passed  to  the 
leaves.  Fig.  36.  Sigillaria  (Favularia)  tessellata,  from  the  Denbigh 
coal-shale,  showing  the  fluted  stem  with  scars.  Fig.  37.  Sigillaria 
pachyderma ;  the  stem  marked  with  scars,  and  fluted  longitudinally. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


47 


Sigillaria  elegans,  as  figured  hj  Brongniart  in  Archives  du 
Museum,  i.  405,  has  a  stem  consisting  of  a  central  cellular  axis 
or  medulla,  surrounded  by  a  vascular  cylinder,  and  this  is  in- 
vested by  a  thick  cellular  cortical  layer,  the  outer  portion  com- 
posed of  fusifonii  cells  of  less  diameter  than  those  of  the  inner 
portion.  What  Brongniart  calls  medullary  rays  are  mere  cracks 
or  separations  in  the  wedges  traversed  by  vessels.  In  its 
structure  it  resembles  its  root  Stigmaria,  and  must  be  referred 
to  Lycopodiacea3,  along  with  Lepidodendron,  Halonia,  Ulo- 
dendron,  etc.     The  small  round  sporangia  of  Sigillaria  are 


Fi?.  38. 


Fiff.  39. 


borne  in  a  single  patch  on  the  somewhat  enlarged  bases  of 
some  of  the  leaves.  (See  Carruthers  on  Structure  and  Affini- 
ties of  Sigillaria,  in  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  Aug.  1869.) 

It  has  been  ascertained  by  Professor  King  and  Mr.  Binney 
of  ^lanchester,  that  the  plant  called  Stigmaria  (Fig.  38)  is  not  a 
separate  genus,  but  the  root  of  Sigillaria  (Plate  IV.  Figs.  1  and 
2).  The  name  is  derived  from  oTty/xa,  a  mark,  indicating  the 
markings  on  the  axis.  It  is  one  of  the  most  common  produc- 
tions of  the  coal-measures,  and  consists  of  long  rounded  or 
compressed  fragments,  marked  externally  by  shallow  circular, 

Fig.  38.  Stigmaria  ficoides,  root  of  Sigillaria,  giving  off  rootlets, 
which  have  been  compressed. 

Fig.  39.  Stigmaria  ficoides  (S.  Anahatlira  of  Corda),  which  is  the  root 
of  a  Sigillaria.     The  markings  are  the  points  whence  rootlets  proceed. 


48  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

oblong,  or  lanceolate  cavities  (Fig.  39)  in  the  centre  of  slight 
tubercles,  arranged  more  or  less  regularly  in  a  quincuncial 
manner  (Plate  III.  Fig.  7).  The  canities  occasionally  present 
a  radiating  appearance.  The  axis  of  the  fragments  is  often 
hollow,  and  different  in  texture  from  the  parts  around.  This 
axis  consists  of  a  vascular  cylinder  or  woody  system,  penetrated 
by  quincuncially  arranged  meshes  or  openings,  through  which 
the  vascular  bundles  proceed  from  the  inner  surface  of  the 
cylinder  to  the  rootlets  (Plate  III.  Figs.  8  and  9).  From  the 
scars  and  tubercles  arise  long  ribbon-shaped  processes,  which 
were  cylindrical  cellular  roots,  now  compressed  (Fig.  38).  The 
vascular  cylinder  of  Stigmaria  is  composed  entirely  of  scalari- 
form  tissue,  pierced  by  meshes  for  the  passage,  from  the  inner 
surface  of  the  cylinder,  of  the  vascular  bundles  which  supply 
the  rootlets.  (Carruthers  in  Geol.  Proc,  Aug.  1869.)  Stig- 
maria ficoides  (Fig.  38)  abounds  in  the  under-clay  of  a  coal- 
seam,  sending  out  numerous  roots  from  its  tubercles,  and 
pushing  up  its  aerial  stem,  in  the  form  of  a  fluted  Sigillaria. 
On  the  Bolton  and  Manchester  Railway  Mr.  Binney  dis- 
covered Sigillarias  standing  erect,  and  evidently  connected 
with  Stigmarias  which  extended  20  feet  or  more.*  Stigmaria 
is  regarded  by  Schimper  as  roots,  not  of  Sigillaria  only,  but 
of  Knorria  longifolia  (one  of  the  Lepidodendreas).  The  base 
of  the  stem  of  this  species  of  Knorria  is  Ancestrophyllum,  and 
the  upper  part  is  Didymophyllum  Schottini  of  Goeppert.  Pro- 
fessor King  and  others  suppose  that  the  Fem-like  frond  called 
Neuropteris  is  connected  with  Sigillaria,  but  this  is  a  mere 
conjecture,  set  aside  by  the  discovery  of  leaves  attached  to  a 
species  allied  to  Sigillaria  elegans,  which  establishes  that  the 
long  linear  leaves  described  under  the  name  Cyperites  are  the 
foliage  of  this  genus.  Goldenberg  has  figured  the  fructifica- 
tion, which  consists  of  small  sporangia  like  those  of  Fleming- 

*  The  imbedding  of  plants  in  an  erect  state  in  strata  is  similar  to 
what  was  noticed  at  the  present  day  by  Gardner  in  Brazil,  where 
stems  of  recent  Coco-nut  Palms  were  seen  covered  with  sand  to  the 
depth  of  50  feet. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


49 


ites,  borne  on  the  basis  of  but  slightly  modified  leaves.  This 
establishes  the  opinion  that  Sigillaria  was  an  acrogenous  plant 
belonging  to  Lycopodiacea3.  Brongniart  reckons  it  as  repre- 
senting an  extinct  form  of  Gymnospeniis,  and  King,  having 
erroneously  associated  the  Cyclopteris  with  it,  places  it  between 
the  Ferns  and  Cycadace^e.  Mr.  Carruthers  informs  me  that 
he  has  examined  the  stem  of  a  true  fluted  Sigillaria,  with  the 
tissues  preserved,  and  that  these  agree  with  the  structure  of 
Lepidodendron,  a  position  in  which  he  had  already  placed  it 
from  the  structure  of  its  fruit. 

Lepidodendron  (Figs.  40  to  44)  is  another  genus  of  the 
coal-measures  which  differs  from  those  of  the  present  day 


Fig.  41. 

(Plate  IV.  Fig.  3).  Lepidodendrons,  or  fossil  Lycopodiacese, 
had  spikes  of  fructification  comparable  in  size  to  the  cones 
of  firs  and  cedars,  and  containing  very  large  sporangia,  even 
larger  than  those  of  Isoetes,  to  which  they  approach  in  form 
and  structure.  Schimper,  in  1870,  enumerates  56  species  of 
Lepidodendron,  all  arborescent  and  carboniferous.  The  stem 
of  a  Lepidodendron  is  from  20  to  45  feet  high,  marked  outside 

Figs.  40  to  44  exhibit  the  stems  and  fructification  of  Lepidoden 
dron.     Fig.  40.   Bifurcating  stem  of  Lepidodendron  ohovatum  (elegans)^ 
showing  the  scale-like  scars,  and  the  narrow-pointed  leaves,  resembling 
those  of  Lycopodium,  but  much  larger.     Fig.  41.  Stem   oi  Leindo- 
dendron  crenatmn,  with  the  scars  of  its  leaves. 

E 


50 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


by  peculiar  scale-like  scars  (Fig.  41),  hence  the  name  of  the 
plant  (XcTTtg,  a  scale,  and  hivZpov,  a  tree).  Although  the  scars 
on  Lepidodendron  are  usually  flattened,  yet  in  some  species 
they  occupy  the  faces  of  diamond-shaped  projections,  elevated 
one-sixth  of  an  inch  or  more  above  the  surface  of  the  stem,  and 
separated  from  each  other  by  deep  furrows; — the  surface 
bearing  the  leaf  being  perforated  by  a  tubular  cavity,  through 
which  the  bundle  of  vessels  that  diverged  from  the  vascular 


Fig.  42.  Fig.  43. 

axis  of  the  stem  to  the  leaf  passed  out.  The  linear  or  lanceo- 
late leaves  are  arranged  in  the  same  way  as  those  of  Lycopo- 
diums  or  of  Conifera3,  and  the  branches  fork  like  the  former. 
The  internal  structure  of  the  stem  is  the  same  as  that  of  Sigil- 
laria.  The  fruit  of  Lepidodendron  and  allied  genera  is  seen 
in  Lepidostrobus  and  Triplosporites  (Figs.  42,  43 ;  Plate  III, 

Fig.  42.  Fructification  of  Lepidodendron,  showing  its  cone-like  form 
and  spiral  arrangement  of  scales.  It  is  called  Lepidostrobus  Dahadianus 
by  Schimper,  but  it  is  probably  Triplosporites. 

Fig.  43.  Longitudinal  section  of  the  fructification,  showing  central 
axis  and  scales  carrying  sporangia.  The  upper  sporangium  contains 
microspores,  the  lower  macrospores ;  hence  it  has  the  character  of 
Triplosporites. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.      51 

Fig.  10).     Carmthers,  iii  his  lecture  to  the  Royal  Institution, 


WOSM-TH   DEL 


Fig.  44. 


Ill  woodcut  44  are  represented  the  fruits  of  Selaginella  (one  of 
the  Lycopodiums  of  the  present  day),  Lepidostrobus,  Triplosporites, 
and  Flemingites.  Fig.  1.  Selagmella  spinulosa,  A.  Braun  [Lycopo- 
dium  selaginoides,  Linn.)  2.  Scale  and  sporangium  from  the  upper 
portion  of  the  cone.  3.  Antheridian  microspores  from  the  same. 
4.  Macrospore.  5.  Scale  and  sporangium  from  the  lower  part  of 
the  cone,  containing  macrospores.  6.  Lepidostrobus  ornatus,  Hooker. 
7.  Three  scales  and  sporangia  of  ditto,  8.  Microspores  from  the 
sporangia  of  the  upper  part  of  the  cone  of  Triplosporites  Broivnii, 
Brongn.  9.  Macrospore  from  the  sporangia  of  the  lower  part  (drawn 
from  Brongniart's  description  and  measurements).  10.  Scales  and 
sporangia  of  a  cone  of  Flemingites.  * 

*  For  woodcuts  44,  47,  and  48,  I  am  mdebted  to  Dr.  H.  Bence 


52  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

in  describing  the  forms  of  Lcpidostrobus,  says — "  The  fRiit  is  a 
cone  composed  of  imbricated  scales  arranged  spirally  on  the  axis 
like  the  true  leaves,  and  bearing  the  sjDorangia  on  their  hori- 
zontal pedicels.  Three  different  forms  of  fruit  belong  to  this 
genus,  or  it  should  perhaps  rather  be  called  group  of  plants. 
The  first  of  these  is  the  cone  named  by  Robert  Brown  Triplo- 
sporites  (Figs.  42,  43),  and  described  by  him  from  an  exquisitely 
preserved  specimen  of  an  upper  portion,  in  which  the  parts  are 
exhibited  as  clearly  in  the  petrified  condition  as  if  they  belonged 
to  a  fresh  and  living  plant.  The  large  sporangia  have  a  double 
wall,  the  outer  composed  of  a  compact  layer  of  oblong  cells 
placed  endwise,  or  with  the  long  diameter  i:)erpendicular  to 
the  surface ;  the  inner  is  a  delicate  cellular  membrane.  The 
sporangium  is  filled  with  a  great  number  of  very  small  spores, 
each  composed  of  three  roundish  bodies  or  sporules.  Recently 
Bronguiart  and  Schimper  have  described  a  complete  specimen 
of  this  fruit,  in  which  the  minute  triple  spores  are  confined 
to  the  sporangia  of  the  upper  and  middle  part  of  the  cone, 
but  the  lower  portion,  which  was  wanting  in  Brown's  speci- 
men, bears  sporangia  filled  with  simple  spherical  spores  ten 
or  twelve  times  larger  than  the  others  (woodcut  44,  9). 

"  The  structure  of  another  form  of  cone  (Lepidostrobus) 
has  been  expounded  by  Dr.  Hooker.  The  arrangement  of 
the  different  parts  comprising  it  is  precisely  similar  to  what 
occurs  in  Triplosporites ;  but  the  sporangia  are  filled  with  the 
minute  triple  spores  throughout  the  whole  cone  (woodcut  44, 
6  and  8). 

''  The  third  form  of  cone,  described  by  me  under  the  name 
Flemingites,  differs  from  the  other  two  in  having  a  large  num- 
ber of  small  sporangia   supported  on   the   surface   of  each 

Jones,  who  has  kindly  placed  them  at  my  disposal.  They  were  used 
to  illustrate  Mr.  Carruthers'  remarks  on  the  Cryptogamic  forests  of 
the  Coal  period,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institution  of 
Great  Britain,  April  16,  18G9.  Mr.  Carruthers'  observations  are 
given  in  the  text. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.       53 

scale;    and  it  agrees   with   Lepidostrobus   in   the  sporangia 
containing  only  small  spores  (woodcut  44,  10). 

^'  In  comparing  these  fossils  with  the  living  club-mosses,  one 
is  struck  with  the  singular  agreement  in  the  organisation  of 
plants  so  far  removed  in  time,  and  so  different  in  size,  as  the 
recent  humble  club-mosses  and  the  palaeozoic  tree  Lepidoden- 
drons.  The  fruit  of  Triplosporites,  like  that  of  Selaginella 
(woodcut  44,  1),  contains  large  and  small  spores,  the  micro- 
spores being  found  in  both  genera  on  the  middle  and  upper 
scales  of  the  cone,  and  the  macrospores  on  those  of  the 
lower  portion  (Fig.  43). 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  fruits  of  Lepidostrobus  and 
Flemingites  agree  with  that  of  Lycopodiiim  in  having  only 
microsj)ores.  The  size  of  the  two  kinds  of  spores  also  singu- 
larly agrees  in  the  t^vo  groups.  This  is  of  some  importance, 
for  among  the  recent  vascular  Cryptogams  there  is  a  remark- 
able uniformity  in  the  size  of  the  spores  in  the  members 
of  the  different  groups,  even  when  there  is  a  great  variety  in 
the  size  of  the  plants.  Thus  the  spore  of  our  humble  wall- 
rue  is  as  large  as  that  of  the  giant  Alsophila  of  tropical 
regions.  So  also  the  spores  of  Equisetum  and  Calamites 
agree  in  size,  as  may  be  seen  in  woodcut  47,  Figs.  3,  4,  and  9, 
where  the  spores  of  the  two  genera  are  magnified  to  the  same 
extent.  And  a  similar  comparison  of  the  macrospore  and 
microspore  of  Triplosporites  with  those  of  Selaginella,  and  of 
the  microspore  of  Lepidostrobus  with  that  of  Lycopodium, 
exhibits  a  similar  agreement.  .This  is  made  apparent  by 
the  drawings  in  woodcut  44  of  the  two  kinds  of  spores  of 
Selaginella,  3  and  4,  with  those  of  Triplosporites,  8  and  9, 
which  are  drawn  to  the  same  scale." 

The  genus  Sigillaria,  as  we  have  already  said,  has,  according 
to  the  observation  of  Hooker,  small  sporangia  exactly  agreeing 
in  size  and  form  with  those  of  Flemingites.  Most  probably 
the  contents  of  these  small  sporangia  were  the  same  in  both 
genera,  so  that  Sigillaria  W' ould  be  placed  with  Flemingites 


54  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

and  Lepiclostrobus  as  arborescent  Lycopodiacea)  having  their 
affinities  with  Ly  cop  odium,  as  they  have  all  microspores  only 
in  their  fructification. 

The  scales  upon  the  Lepidodendron  stems,  as  well  as  those 
in  the  cones,  are  arranged  in  a  spiral  manner,  in  the  same 
way  as  plants  of  the  present  day.  Professor  Alexander 
Dickson  has  examined  the  phyllotaxis  of  Lepidodendrons,  and 
gives  the  following  results  of  his  observations  (Trans.  Bot. 
Soc.  Edin.  xi.  145).  The  fossil  remains  of  Lepidodendrons 
are  often  so  compressed  that  it  is  difficult,  or  even  impossible, 
to  trace  the  secondary  spirals  round  the  circumference  of  the 
stem.  In  those  cases,  however,  where  there  is  comparatively 
little  compression,  i.e.  where  the  stem  is  more  or  less  cylin- 
drical, the  determination  of  the  phyllotaxis  is  easy.  Of  such 
stems  he  has  examined  fifteen  specimens,  which  may  be 
classed  according  to  the  series  of  spirals  to  which  the  leaf- 
arrangement  belongs : — 

A.  Ordinary  series,  i  i,  f ,  f,  -^^  etc. 
(a.)  Single  spirals  (D  turning  to  the  right,  S  to  the  left). 
(1.)  Lepidodendron  (Possil  Ironstone  series).       Stem  about  |- 

of  an  inch  in  diameter.     Secondary  spirals  8  D,  1 3  S,  2 1  D. 

Divergence  =  ^|-  (or  possibly  -f^). 
(2.)  Lepidodendron  (Knightswood,  near  Glasgow,  Mr.  J.  Young). 

Stem  about  IJ  inch  in  diameter.     Secondary  spirals  13  D, 

21  S,  34  D.     Divergence  =  fi. 
(3.)  Lepidodendron  (Possil  Sandstone   series).      Trunk  about 

2  feet  long,  with  an  average  diameter  of  20  inches.     Steepest 

secondary  spirals  55  S.  89  D.     Divergence  ==  y^^j^^^. 
(b.)  Conjugate  spirals.* 
(4.)  Lepidostrohus  ornatus  (Bathgate  coal-field).     About  |   of 

an  inch  in  diameter.     Secondary  spirals  10  D,  16  S,  26  D, 

42  S.     Divergence  =  ~~^  (Bijugate  arrangement). 

*  Conjugate  spirals  result  from  u-horls  of  usually  2,  3,  5,  8,  etc., 
leaves  arranged  so  as  to  give  2,  3,  5,  8,  etc.,  parallel  spirals,  each 
with  an  angular  divergence  equal  to  ^,  ^,  ~,  ^,  etc.,  of  one  of  the 
fractions  expressing  the  divergence  in  an  arrangement  of  alternate 
leaves. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.      55 

(5.)  Lepidostrobus  (Plean,  Stirlingshire,  Mr.  Mackenzie). 
About  i  an  inch  in  diameter.  Secondary  spirals  9  S,  1 5  D, 
24  S,  39  D.     Divergence  =  gi^  (Trijngate  arrangement). 

(6.)  Knorria  taxina  (from  collection  of  Dr.  Eankin,  Carluke). 
Somewhat  compressed,  2-2^  inches'^  in  diameter.  Second- 
ary spirals  15  D,  24  S.  Divergence  -  j^^  (Trijugate  ar- 
rangement). 

(7.)  Lejjidodendron  (from  Dr.  Eankin's  collection).  About  1^^ 
inch  in  diameter.  Secondary  spirals  10  D,  15  S,  25  D,  40 
S.     Divergence  =  -^.  (Quinquejugate  arrangement). 

(8.)  Lepidodendron  (Dowanhill,  Glasgow,  Fossil  Sandstone 
series).  Trunk  about  1  foot  long,  and  1  foot  in  diameter. 
The  upper  portion  exhibits  secondary  spirals  35  D,  56  S, 
91  D;  thus  indicating  a  7 -jugate  arrangement,  with  diver- 
gence -  .:j-^.  The  arrangement  on  the  middle  and  lower 
portion  is  indistinct  and  confused  ;  so  much  so  as  to  render 
any  determination  of  the  arrangement  doubtful. 
±5.   beries,  g^,  -j-,  -fj  yt'  ^^^' 

(9.)  Lepidodendron  (Messrs  Merry  and  Cunningham's  Clayband 
Iron-Pit,  Carluke).     Stem  2  inches  in   diameter.     Second- 
ary spirals  18  S,  29  D,  47  S.     Divergence  = -fi- 
Kj.  beries,  -^,  g-,  -g-,  y^,  etc. 

(10.)  Lepidodendron  (R.  B.  Garden,  Edinburgh,  Museum). 
Stem  somewhat  flattened,  1-1 -|  inch  in  diameter.  Second- 
ary spirals  9  D,  14  S,  23  D,  37  S.     Divergence  -  if . 

(11.)  Lepidodendron  (Redhaugh,  near  Edinburgh,  Mr.  Peach). 
Stem  somewhat  flattened,  f  to  ^  inch  in  diameter. 
Secondary  spirals  9  S,  14  D,  23  S,  37  D.     Divergence  = 

1  .3 
60* 

D  Spripc;  1  i  _2_  _3_  _5_  pff. 
(12.)  Knorria  taxina  (Stockbriggs,  Lesmahagow, — Hunterian 
Museum).  About  1  inch  in  diameter.  The  specimen  con- 
sists of  a  main  stem  and  one  of  the  branches  into  which  it 
has  forked.  On  the  main  stem  the  secondary  spirals  are 
6  D,  11  S,  17  D.  Divergence  =  2V  (series,  i  I,  yV?  _^^ 
-/g-,  etc.) — On  the  branch  the  secondary  spirals  are  8  S, 
1 3  D.     Divergence  =  2^  (ordinary  series,  i,  -|-,  f ,  f ,  etc.) 

'^  By  inadvertence,  the  diameter  is  stated  in  my   Class-book  as 
4-5  inches. 


56  PALiEONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

F.     Spn'pS     -1      -2     -3-     _5_    _8_     1_3      2J.    pfp 
J^.    KOt;ilt;&,    2)    5J    71    125    19J    31?    5  0J^^^' 

(13.)  Leiy'idodendron  (from  Dr.  Rankin's  collection).     About  |- 
inch  in  diameter.     Secondary  spirals   12  D,   19   S,   31   D. 
Divergence  =  |-^. 
F   Sprips   -1   -3_   _iL_  __7_   ii   jLA   etc 

(14.)    Lepidodendron  elegans    (Possil  Ironstone).      About    Ij 

inch  in   diameter.     Secondary  spirals   10  S,   13  D,  23   S, 

36  D.     Divergence  =  ^. 
(15.)    Lejndodendron   (Possil    Ironstone).      About    2 J    inches 

in  diameter.     Secondary  spirals  23  S,  36  D,  59  S,   95  D. 

Divergence  =  yYt- 

From  the  above  it  is  evident  that  the  phyllotaxis  of 
Lepidodendron  is  extremely  variable,  as  much  so  perhaps  as 
that  of  those  most  variable  plants,  in  this  respect,  the  Cacti. 
It  is  also  clear  that  what  has  been  enmiciated  by  Professor 
Haughton  (Manual  of  Geology,  Lond.  1866,  pp.  243,  245) 
as  the  law  according  to  which  the  leaves  of  paleozoic  plants 
were  arranged — viz.  that  of  alternate  whorls — does  not  apply 
to  these  ancient  Lycopods.  Lepidodendron  aculeatum  is 
noted  by  Naumann  as  exhibiting  an  /y  arrangement.  (Pog- 
gendorff,  Annalen,  1842,  p.  5.)  Professor  Alexander  Braun 
(Nov.  Acta  Ac.  C.  L.  C.  xv.  I,  pp.  558-9),  speaking  of  the 
excessive  deviation  from  ordinary  arrangements  in  Equise- 
tacege  (including  Calamites),  compares  them  in  this  respect 
with  Lycopodiacea3  (including  Lepidodendron),  saying  that 
in  these  two  families  "  the  utmost  limits  of  the  domain  of  all 
leaf-arrangement  appears  to  be  attained." 

Lepidophyllum  is  certainly  leaves  of  Lepidodendron,  the 
different  Lepidophylla  belonging  to  different  species  of  the 
genus.  The  slender  terminal  branches  are  noticed  under  the 
name  of  Lycopodites.  In  coal  from  Fordel  Mr.  Daw  has 
detected  innumerable  bodies  (Plate  III.  Figs.  I,  2,  3)  which 
have  been  shown  to  be  sporangia.  (Balfour,  Trans.  Roy. 
Soc.  Ed.  xxi.  187.)  On  their  under  surface  Mr.  Carruthers 
has  observed  a  triradiate  ridge  (Plate  III.  Fig.  4).  (Geological 
Magazine,  1865,  vol.  ii.  p.  140.)     These  sporangia  have  been 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


57 


found  connected  with  the  cone-like  fructification  called 
Flemingites,  and  resembling  Lycopodium  (woodcut  44,  Fig. 
4).  Many  forms  of  fossil  plants,  such  as  Halonia,  Lepidophloios, 
Kuorria,  and  Ulodendron,  belong  to  the  Lepidodendron  group. 
Knorria  is  said  to  be  the  internal  cast  of  a  Lepidodendron. 

Ulodendron  minus  and  U.  Taylori  (Plate  III.  Fig.  11), 
found  in  ferruginous  shale  in  the  Water  of  Leith,  near 
Colinton,  exhibit  beautiful  sculptured  scars,  ranged  recti- 
linearly  along  the  stem.  The  surface  is  covered  with  small, 
sharply  relieved  obovate  scales,  most  of  them  furnished  with 
an  apparent  midrib,  and  with  their  edges  slightly  turned  up. 
The  circular  or  oval  scars  of  this  genus  are  probably  impres- 
sions made  by  a  rectilinear  range  of  aerial  roots  placed  on 
either  side.  When  decorticated,  the  stem  is  mottled  over 
with  minute  dottings  arranged  in  a 
quincuncial  manner,  and  its  oval  scars 
are  devoid  of  the  ordinary  sculpturings. 
Bothrodendron  is  a  decorticated  con- 
dition of  Ulodendron. 

Calamites  (fcaXa/xo?,  a  reed)  is  a 
reed-like  fossil,  having  a  sub-cylindri- 
cal jointed  stem  (Fig.  45,  a  and  h  ; 
Fig.  46;  Plate  IV.  Fig.  4).  The  stem  is 
often  crushed  and  flattened,  and  was  originally  hollow.  Cala- 
mites is  thus  defined  by  Grand  d'Eury  (Ann.  Nat.  Hist.  ser.  4, 
vol.  iv.  p.  124) : — Stem  articulated,  fistular,  and 
septate;  outer  part  comparatively  thin,  formed  of 
three  concentric  zones — 1,  an  exterior  cortical  layer 
now  converted  into  coal ;  2,  a  thin  subjacent  zone 
of  vascular  tissue,  now  invariably  destroyed ;  3,  a 
sort  of  inner  lining  epidermis,  which  is  carbonified.  Cortical 
envelope  marked  interiorly  with  regular  flutings,  interrupted 
and  alternate  at  the  articulations.     Inner  epidermis  smooth, 


Fi.cr.  45  a. 


Fiir.  45  6. 


Fig.  45.  a,  Calamites  Suckovii,  composed  of  jointed  striated  frag- 
ments having  a  bark.     Fig.  45.  b,  Septum  or  phragma  of  a  Calamite. 


58 


PAL.5]0NT0L0GICAL   B0TA:NT. 


or  scarcely  striated.  Vascular  cylinder  thin;  outer  surface 
of  bark  more  fully  fluted  and  articulated  than  the  inner  surface. 
Carruthers  gives  the  following  description  of  the  structure 
of  a  species  of  Calamite  which  he  examined  : — The  stem  was 
composed  of  a  central  medulla,  which  disappeared  with  the 
growth  of  the  plant,  surrounded  by  a  woody  cylinder,  com- 
posed entirely  of  scalariform  vessels,  and  a  thin  cortical  layer. 
The  medulla  penetrated  the  woody  cylinder  by  a  series  of 
regular  wedges,  which  were  continued,  as  delicate  laminas  of 


Fig.  46. 

one  or  two  cells  in  thickness,  to  the  cortical  layer.  The  cells 
of  those  lamince  were  not  muriform ;  their  longest  diameter 
was  in  the  direction  of  the  axis.  The  wedges  were  continuous, 
and  parallel  between  each  node.  As  the  axial  appendages 
were  produced  in  whorls,  the  only  interference  with  the  regu- 
larity of  the  tissues  was  by  the  passing  out  through  the  stem 
at  the  nodes  of  the  vascular  bundles  which  supplied  these  ap- 
pendages.    As  the  leaves  of  each  whorl  were  (with  one  or 

Fig.  46.  Vertical  stems  of  fossil  trees,  Calamites  chiefly,  found  in 
the  coal-measures  of  Treuil,  near  Saint  Etienne. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.       59 

two  exceptions)  opposite  to  the  interspaces  of  the  whorls  above 
and  below,  there  was  also  at  each  node  a  re-arrangement  of 
the  wedges  of  vascular  and  cellular  tissues. 

Schimper  considers  Calamites  as  having  an  analogy  with 
Equisetum  in  its  fructification.  He  looks  on  them  as  fossil 
Equisetacea3.  Annularia  and  Sphenophyllum  are  considered 
as  establishing  a  passage  from  the  Equisetaceas  to  the  Lycopo- 
diacege.  Some  gigantic  fossil  Equiseta  had  a  diameter  of 
nearly  5  inches,  and  a  height  of  30  or  more  feet.  The 
branches,  which  adorned  the  higher  part  of  them  in  the 
form  of  a  crown,  are  simple,  and  have  at  their  extremity  a 
spike  of  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg,  and  organised  exactly  like 
the  spikes  of  living  Equiseta.  The  subterranean  rhizomes  are 
well  developed,  and  gave  origin,  like  many  Equiseta,  to 
tubercles  which  had  the  fonn  and  size  of  a  hen's  egg. 

The  characters  of  Equisetum  of  the  present  day  and 
Calamites,  are  exhibited  in  woodcut  47.  They  show  a  marked 
resemblance  in  the  fructification.     (See  also  page  31.) 

Plants  of  Calamites  have  been  seen  erect  by  Mr.  Binney, 
and  he  has  detennined  that  what  were  called  leaves  or  branches 
by  some  are  in  reality  roots.  Mr.  Binney  gives  a  full  descrip- 
tion of  various  Calamites,  under  the  name  of  Calamodendron 
commune,  in  his  Memoir  published  by  the  Pal^ontographical 
Society,  1868.    There  are  between  50  and  60  species  recorded.* 

In  Spitzbergen,  in  rocks  of  the  Carboniferous  epoch,  there 
have  been  found  Calamites,  Sigillaria,  Lepidodendron,  and 
ferns,  apparently  the  same  as  those  found  in  the  Carboniferous 
epoch  in  Europe — Calamites  radiatus,  Lepidodendron  Velthei- 
mianum,  Sigillaria  distans,  Stigmaria  ficoides.  Some  species 
— Sigillaria  INIalmgreni,  Lepidodendron  Carneggiannum,  and 
L.  Wilkianum — seem  to  be  peculiar  to  Bear  Island. 

According  to  Carruthers  the  Equisetacea?  are  represented 
in  Britain  by  the  two  genera  Calamites  found  in  primary  beds, 

*  See  Eemarks  on  the  Structure  of  Calamites  by  W.  C.  William- 
son, Philos.  Trans.,  161,  p.  477. 


GO 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


and  Equisetum  found  in  secondary  rocks  and  living  at  the 
present  day.     Tlie  difference  in  the  structure  of  their  fruits 


Fig.  47. 

is  shown  in  woodcut  47.  The  fruit  of  Calamites,  called 
Volkmannia  Binneyi  (woodcut  47,  7),  is  a  small  slender 
cone  composed  of  alternating  whorls  of  imbricate  scales, 
twelve    in    each  verticil.      The    scales    completely   conceal 

Fig.  47.  Fruits  of  Equisetum  and  Calamites.  1.  Equisetum  arvense, 
L.  2.  Portion  of  sporangium  wall.  3,  4.  Spores,  with  the  elaters  free. 
5.  Longitudinal  section  of  the  part  of  one  side  of  cone.  6.  Trans- 
verse section  of  cone.  7.  Calamites  (Volkmannia)  Binneyi,  Carr., 
magnified  three  times.  8.  Portion  of  the  sporangium  wall.  9.  Two 
spores.  10.  Longitudinal  section  of  the  part  of  one  side  of  cone., 
11.  Transverse  section  of  cone. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.       61 

the  leaves  connected  with  the  fructification.  The  fmit- 
bearing  leaves  are  stalked,  peltate,  and  are  arranged  in 
whorls  of  6.  There  are  four  sporangia  borne  on  the  under- 
surface  of  the  peltate  leaves.  These  spore- cases  have  cellular 
parietes,  and  in  their  interior  there  is  a  deposit  of  cellulose 
in  the  fonn  of  short  truncate  processes  not  unlike  imperfect 
spirals.  The  spores  are  spherical,  and  appear  to  have  thread- 
like processes  proceeding  from  them,  similar  to  elaters.  The 
fruit-cone  bears  a  marked  resemblance  to  the  fruit  of  Equi- 
setum  in  its  fiiiit-bearing  leaves,  sporangia,  spores,  and 
elaters  (see  Figs.  18,  19,  20,  21).  In  the  modem  plant  all 
the  leaves  of  the  cone  are  fructiferous,  while  in  the  fossil 
plant  some  are  fruit-bearing,  and  others  are  like  the  ordinary 
leaves  of  the  plant.  It  is  thought  that  the  fossil  may  be 
reckoned  as  having  a  somewhat  higher  position  than  that  pos- 
sessed by  the  living  genus. 

The  different  forms  of  foliage  called  Asterophyllites, 
Sphenophyllum,  and  Annularia,  belong  to  the  one  genus 
Calamites,  but  they  may  form,  perhaps,  well-characterised 
sections  when  their  fruits  are  better  known.  In  woodcut  48 
representations  are  given  of  the  foliage  and  fruit  of  varieties 
of  Calamites.  In  1  and  2  we  see  the  simplest  form  called 
Asterophyllites.  The  leaves  are  linear  and  slender,  with  a 
single  rib.  The  form  called  Annularia  (3  and  4)  differs  chiefly 
in  having  a  larger  amount  of  cellular  tissue  spread  out  on 
either  side  of  the  midrib.  This  form  has  a  different  aspect 
in  a  fossil  state  from  the  other,  from  its  whorls  of  numerous 
broad  leaves  spread  out  on  the  surface  of  deposition,  while 
the  acicular  leaves  of  Asterophyllites  have  penetrated  the  soft 
mud,  and  are  generally  preserved  in  the  position  they  origin- 
ally occupied  in  reference  to  the  supporting  branch.  The 
third  form  (5  and  6)  is  called  Sphenophyllum,  and  consists  of 
whorls  of  wedge-shaped  leaves,  with  one  or  more  bifurcating 
veins.  They  occur  like  those  of  Annularia,  spread  out  on  the 
surface  of  the  shale. 


62 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


True  Exogenous  trees  exist  in  the  coal-fields  both  of  Enir- 
land  and  Scotland,  as  at  Lennel  Braes  and  Allan  Bank,  in 
Berwickshire ;  High-Heworth,  Fellon,  Gateshead,  and  Wide- 
open,  near  Newcastle-upon-Tyne ;  and  in  quarries  to  the  west  of 


Fig.  48. 

Durham ;  also  in  Craigleith  quarry,  near  Edinburgh,  and  in  the 
quany  at  Granton,  now  under  water.  In  the  latter  localities 
they  lay  diagonally  athwart  the  sandstone  strata,  at  an  angle  of 
about  30°,  with  the  thicker  and  heavier  part  of  their  trunks 
below,  like  snags  in  the  Mississippi.  From  their  direction  we 
infer  that  they  have  been  drifted  by  a  stream  which  has  flowed 

Fig.  48.  Foliage  and  fruits  of  Calamites.     1  and  2.   Asterophyl- 
lites;  3  and  4.  Annularia;  5  and  6.  Sphenophyllum. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


63 


from  nearly  north-east  to  south-west.  At  Granton,  one  of 
the  specimens  exhibited  roots.  In  other  places  the  specimens 
are  portions  of  stems^  one  of  them  6  feet  in  diameter  by  61 
feet  in  length,  and  another  4  feet  in  diameter  by  70  feet  in 
length.  These  Exogenous  trees  are  Gymnosperms,  having 
woody  tissue  like  that  of  Conifer^e.  We  see  under  the 
microscope  punctated  woody  tissue,  the  rows  of  disks  being 
usually  two,  three,  or  more,  and  alternating.  They  seem  to 
be  allied  in  these  respects  to  Araucaria  and  Eutassa  (Fig. 
61,  p.  74)  of  the  present  flora.  Araucarioxylon  or  Pinites 
Withami  (Fig.  49)  is  one  of  the  species  found  in  Craigleith 


Ficr.  49. 


Fig.  50. 


quarry ;  the  concentric  layers  of  the  wood  are  obsolete ;  there 
are  2,  3,  or  4  rows  of  disks  on  the  wood,  and  2-4  rows  of 
small  cells  in  the  medullary  rays.  Along  Avith  it  there  have 
also  been  found  Dadoxylon  medullare,  with  inconspicuous 
zones,  2,  3,  and  4  rows  of  disks,  and  2-5  series  of  rows  of  cells 
in  the  rays.     Pissadendron  antiquum  (Pitus  antiqua)  having 

Fig.  49.  Araucarioxylon  Withami,  Krauss  {Pinites  Withami),  from 
the  Coal-measures,  Craigleith,  near  Edinburgh,  showing  pleurenchyma 
with  disks,  and  medullary  rays.  An  excellent  specimen  of  a  stem  of 
this  pine  may  be  seen  in  the  Edinburgh  Royal  Botanic  Garden. 

Fig.  50.  Trigonocarjmm  olivmforme,  an  ovate,  acuminate,  three- 
ribbed,  and  striated  fruit  or  seed,  which  some  suppose  to  be  a 
sporangium  of  a  Lepidodendron,  others  refer  it  to  Cycadacese. 
Hooker  refers  it  to  Coniferse  like  Salisburia. 


64  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

4-5  series  of  cells  in  the  medullary  rays,  and  P.  prima3vum 
(Pitus  primtBva),  with  10-15  series  of  cells  in  the  medullary 
rays,  occur  at  Tweedmill  and  Lennel  Braes  in  Berwickshire ; 
Pence  Withami  (Fig.  1,  p.  3)  at  Hilltop,  near  Durham,  and 
at  Craigleith.  Sternbergia  is  considered  by  Williamson  as  a 
Dadoxylon,  with  a  discoid  pith  like  that  seen  now-a-days  in 
the  Walnut,  Jasmine,  and  Cecropia  peltata,  as  well  as  in  some 
species  of  Euphorbia.*  Sternbergia  approximata  is  named  by 
him  Dadoxylon  approximatum.  Hooker  believes  from  the 
structure  of  Trigonocarpum  (Fig.  50)  that  it  is  a  coniferous 
fruit  nearly  allied  to  Salisburia  (Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  1854). 
Several  species  of  Trigonocarpum  occur  in  the  Carboni- 
ferous rocks,  such  as  T.  oliv^eforme  from  Bolton  (Plate  II. 
Fig.  5),  and  T.  sulcatum  from  Wardie,  near  Edinburgh  (Plate 
II.  Fig.  6).  Noeggerathia  and  a  few  other  plants,  such  as 
Flabellaria  and  Artisia,  are  referred  by  Brongniart  to  Cyca- 
dacege.  Flabellaria  borassifolia,  according  to  Peach,  has 
leaves  like  Yucca.  Noeggerathia  has  pinnate  leaves,  cunei- 
form leaflets,  sometimes  fan-shaped ;  the  veins  arise  from  the 
base  of  the  leaflets,  are  equal  in  size,  and  either  remain  simple 
or  bifurcate,  the  nervation  (venation)  being  similar  to  that  of 
some  Zamias. 

The  fossils  of  this  period,  referred  to  as  Antholithes,t  have 
just  been  shown  by  Mr.  Carruthers  to  be  the  inflorescence  of 
Cardiocarpum  (Geol.  Mag.  Feb.  1872),  and  he  proposes  to  set 
aside  the  former  name,  confining  it  to  the  tertiary  fossils  to 
which  it  was  originally  given  by  Brongniart,  and  to  use  the 
latter  name.  The  main  axis  of  the  inflorescence  is  simple, 
stout,  and  marked  externally  with  interrupted  ridges.     The 

*  Williamson  on  the  Structure  and  Affinities  of  Sternbergise,  in 
Manch.  Lit.  and  Phil.  Soc.  Mem.  ix.  Dawson  on  Sternbergia,  in 
Edin.  New  Phil.  Journ.,  new  series,  vii.  140. 

t  See  Notice  of  A7itholithes  Pitcairnice,  by  0.  W.  Peach,  in  Bot.  Soc. 
Trans.  Edin.  vol.  xi. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.       65 

axis  bears  in  a  distichous  manner  sub-opposite  or  alternate 
bracts  of  a  linear-lanceolate  form  and  with  decurrent  bases. 
In  the  axils  of  the  bracts  were  developed  flower-like  leaf- 
bearing  buds,  and  from  them  proceeded  three  or  four  linear 
pedicels,  which  terminated  upwards  in  a  somewhat  enlarged 
trumpet-shaped  apex.  To  this  enlarged  articulating  surface 
was  attached  the  fruit,  to  which  has  been  given  the  generic 
name  Cardiocarpum''''  (Fig.  51).  The  place  of  attachment  is 
indicated  by  the  short  straight  line  which  separates  the  cordate 
lobes  at  the  base  of  the  fruit.  The  fruit  is  flattish,  broadly 
ovatC;  with  a  cordate  base  and  sub-acute  apex.     It  consists  of 


Fig.  51.  Fig.  52. 

an  outer  pericarp,  inclosing  an  ovate-acute  seed.  That  the 
pericarp  was  of  some  thickness,  and  formed  probably  a  sub- 
indurated  rind,  is  shown  by  a  specimen  preserved  in  the 
round,  and  figured  (Fig.  53  a).  The  pericarp  is  open  at  the 
apex;  and  the  elongated  tubular  apex  of  the  spermodei-m 
passes  up  to  this  opening.  The  seed  forms  a  distinct  swelling 
in  the  centre  of  the  fruit,  and  a  slight  ridge  passes  up  the 
middle  to  the  base  of  the  apical  opening. 

These  fossils  are  believed  to  be  an  extinct  form  of  Gymno- 
sperms.     Two  species  have  been  described,  of  both  of  which 

Fig.  51.  Cardiocaiyum  Lindleyi,  Carr.    Fig.  52.  Do.,  Coal-measures, 
Falkirk. 

*   See  Professor  Duns  ou  the  associatiou  of  Cardiocarpum  with 
Sphenopteris.     Proc.  R.S.E.,  April  1,  1872. 

F 


66  - 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


we  are  able  to  give  figures.  The  first  figure  is  from  the  spe- 
cimens collected  by  Mr.  Peach  at  Falkirk.  It  is  Cardiocarpum 
Lindleyi  (Figs.  51,  52);  it  has  a  primary  axis  with  sub- 
opposite  axillary  axes,  bearing  four  to  six  lanceolate  leaves 
and  three  or  four  pedicels.  Primary  bracts  short  and  arcuate. 
Fruit  ovate-cordate,  with  an  acute  bifid  apex,  and  a  ridge 
passing  up  the  middle  of  the  fruit. 

The  second  species  is  Cardiocarpum  anomalum  (Fig.  53) 

from  Coalbrookdale  ; 
it  has  a  primary  axis 
with  alternate  or  sub- 
opposite  axillary  axes, 
slender  and  elongated, 
bearing  many  linear 
leaves,  and  several 
slender  pedicels;  pri- 
mary bracts  long,  slen- 
der, and  straight  ; 
Fig.  53.  fruits  small,  margined. 

The  somewhat  magnified  separate  fruit  {a)  shows  the  thickness 
of  the  pericarp  and  the  enclosed  seed. 

In  the  bituminous  shale  at  Granton,  near  Edinburgh,  Dr. 
Robert  Paterson  discovered  in  1840  a  peculiar  fossil  plant, 
which  he  called  Pothocites  Grantoni  (Fig.  54,  a).  It  is  figured 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Edinburgh  Botanical  Society,  vol.  i. 
March  1840.  It  is  a  spike  covered  by  parallel  rows  of  flowers 
(Fig.  54,  5),  each  apparently  *vith  a  4-cleft  calyx  (Fig.  54,  c). 
It  was  supposed  to  be  allied  to  Potamogeton  or  Pothos,  more 
probably  to  the  latter.  In  that  case  it  must  be  referred  to  the 
natural  order  Arace«.  The  original  specimen  is  deposited  in 
the  museum  at  the  Royal  Botanic  Garden,  Edinburgh. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  real  state  of  the  vegetation  of  the 

Fig.  53.  Cardiocarpum  anomalum  (Carr.),  natural  size :  with  sepa- 
rate fruit  (a),  twice  natural  size — Coal-measures,  Coalbrookdale. 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH. 


67 


Ficr.  54. 


earth  when  coal  was  formed  must  be  very  limited,  when  we 
reflect  how  seldom  the  fructification  of  coniferous  trees  has 
been  met  with  in  the  coal-measures. 
A  very  doubtful  fragment,  supposed 
to  be  a  cone,  is  given  in  Lindley  and 
Hutton's  work,  under  the  title  of  Pinus 
anthracina ;  but  it  is  believed  by  Car- 
ruthers  to  be  a  fragment  of  a  Lepido- 
dendroid  branch.  Lyell  never  saw  a 
fossil  fir-cone  of  the  Carboniferous 
epoch,  either  in  the  rocks  or  museums 
of  North  America  or  Europe.  Bunbury 
never  heard  of  any  other  example  than 
that  noticed  by  Lindley  and  Hutton. 
Principal  Dawson  is  disposed  to  think 
that  the  suberin  of  cork,  of  epidermis  in 
general,  and  of  spore-cases  in  particular,  is  a  substance  so  rich 
in  carbon  that  it  is  very  near  to  coal,  and  so  indestructible  and 
impermeable  to  water,  that  it  contributes  more  largely  than  any- 
thing else  to  the  mineral.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  remarks — "To  pre- 
vent ourselves,  therefore,  from  hazarding  false  generalisations, 
we  must  ever  bear  in  mind  the  extreme  scantiness  of  our  present 
information  respecting  the  flora  of  that  peculiar  class  of  sta- 
tions to  which,  in  the  Palaeozoic  era,  the  coal-measures  pro- 
bably belonged.  I  have  stated  elsewhere  my  conviction  that 
the  plants  which  produced  coal  were  not  drifted  from  a  dis- 
tance, but  nearly  all  of  them  grew  on  the  spot  where  they 
became  fossil.  They  constituted  the  vegetation  of  low  regions, 
chiefly  the  deltas  of  large  rivers,  slightly  elevated  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  and  liable  to  be  submerged  beneath  the 
waters  of  an  estuary  or  sea  by  the  subsidence  of  the  ground 
to  the  amount  of  a  few  feet.     That  the  areas  where  the  car- 


Fig.  54.  PotJiocites    Grantoni,   Paterson.     a,   Spike  natural  size  ; 
6,  Portion  of  spike  magnified ;  c,  Perianth,  4-cleft,  magnified. 


68  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

boniferous  deposits  accumulated  were  low,  is  proved  not  only 
by  the  occasional  association  of  marine  remains,  but  by  the 
enomious  thickness  of  strata  of  shale  and  sandstone  to  which  the 
seams  of  coal  are  subordinate.  The  coal-measures  are  often 
thousands  of  feet,  and  sometimes  two  or  three  miles,  in  yerti- 
cal  thickness,  and  they  imply  that  for  an  indefinite  number  of 
ages  a  great  body  of  water  flowed  continuously  in  one  direc- 
tion, carrying  doTvn  towards  a  given  area  the  detritus  of  a 
large  hydrographical  basin,  draining  some  large  islands  or 
continents,  on  the  margins  of  which  the  forests  of  the  coal 
period  grew.  If  this  view  be  correct,  we  can  know  little  or 
nothing  of  the  upland  flora  of  the  same  era,  still  less  of  the 
contemporaneous  plants  of  the  mountainous  or  alpine  regions. 
If  so,  this  fact  may  go  far  to  account  for  the  apparent  mono- 
tony of  the  vegetation,  although  its  uniform  character  may 
doubtless  be  in  part  oAving  to  a  greater  uniformity  of  climate 
then  prevailing  throughout  the  globe.  Mr.  Bunbury  has  suc- 
cessfully pointed  out  that  the  peculiarity  of  the  carboniferous 
climate  consisted  more  in  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  and 
the  absence  of  cold,  or  rather  the  equable  temperature  pre- 
served in  the  different  seasons  of  the  year,  than  in  its  tropical 
heat ;  but  we  must  still  presume  that  colder  climates  existed 
at  higher  elevations  above  the  sea." 

The  plants  of  the  coal-measures  are  evidently  terrestrial 
plants.  Brongniart  agrees  with  Lyell  in  thinking  that  the 
layers  of  coal  have  in  general  accumulated  in  the  situation 
where  the  plants  forming  them  grew.  The  remains  of  these 
plants  covered  the  soil  in  the  same  way  as  layers  of  peat,  or 
the  vegetable  mould  of  great  forests.  In  a  few  instances, 
however,  the  plants  may  have  been  transported  from  a  dis- 
tance, and  drifted  into  basins.  Phillips  is  disposed  to  think 
that  this  was  the  general  mode  of  formation  of  coal-basins. 
He  is  led  to  this  conclusion  by  observing  the  fragmentary 
state  of  the  stems  and  branches,  the  general  absence  of  roots, 


FLORA  OF  THE  CARBONIFEROUS  EPOCH.       69 

and  the  scattered  condition  of  all  the  separable  organs.  Those 
who  support  the  drift  theory,  look  on  the  coal  plants  as  having 
been  swept  from  the  land  on  which  they  grew  by  watery 
currents  at  different  times,  and  deposited  in  basins  and  large 
sea-estuaries,  and  sometimes  in  lakes.  The  snags  in  the 
Mississippi,  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  other  large  rivers,  are  given 
as  instances  of  a  similar  drifting  process. 

The  vegetation  of  the  coal  epoch  seems  to  resemble  most 
that  of  islands  in  the  midst  of  vast  oceans,  and  the  prevalence 
of  ferns  indicates  a  climate  similar  to  that  of  New  Zealand  in 
the  present  day.  In  speaking  of  the  island  vegetation  of  the 
coal  epoch,  Professor  Ansted  remarks  (Ancient  World,  p. 
88) — "The  whole  of  the  interior  of  the  islands  may  have 
been  clothed  with  thick  forests,  the  dark  verdure  of  which 
would  only  be  interrupted  by  the  bright  green  of  the  swamps 
in  the  hollows,  or  the  brown  tint  of  the  ferns  covering  some 
districts  near  the  coasts.  The  forests  may  have  been  formed 
by  a  mixture  of  several  different  trees.  We  would  see  then, 
for  instance,  the  lofty  and  widely-spreading  Lepidodendron, 
its  delicate  feathery  fronds  clothing,  in  rich  luxuriance, 
branches  and  stems,  which  are  built  up,  like  the  trunk  of 
the  tree-fern,  by  successive  leafstalks  that  have  one  after 
another  dropped  away,  giving  by  their  decay  additional 
height  to  the  stem,  which  might  at  length  be  mistaken  for  that 
of  a  gigantic  pine.  There  also  should  we  find  the  Sigillaria,  its 
tapering  and  elegant  form  sustained  on  a  large  and  firm  basis — 
enormous  matted  roots,  almost ,  as  large  as  the  trunk  itself, 
being  given  off  in  every  direction,  and  shooting  out  their 
fibres  far  into  the  sand  and  clay  in  search  of  moistm-e.  The 
stem  of  this  tree  would  appear  like  a  fluted  column,  rising 
simply  and  gracefully  without  branches  to  a  great  height,  and 
then  spreading  out  a  magnificent  head  of  leaves  like  a  noble 
palm-tree.  Other  trees,  more  or  less  resembling  palms,  and 
others  like  existing  firs,  also  abounded,  giving  a  richness  and 


70  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

variety  to  the  scene;  wliile  one  gigantic  species^  strikingly 
resembling  the  Norfolk  Island  pine,  might  be  seen  towering 
a  hundred  feet  or  more  above  the  rest  of  the  forest,  and 
exhibiting  tier  after  tier  of  branches  richly  clothed  with  its 
peculiar  pointed  spear-like  leaves,  the  branches  gradually 
diminishing  in  size  as  they  approach  the  apex  of  a  lofty 
pyramid  of  vegetation.  Tree-ferns  also  in  abundance  might 
there  be  recognised,  occupying  a  prominent  place  in  the 
physiognomy  of  vegetation,  and  dotted  at  intervals  over  the 
distant  plains  and  valleys,  the  intermediate  spaces  being 
clothed  with  low  vegetation  of  more  humble  plants  of  the 
same  kind.  These  we  may  imagine  exhibiting  their  rich 
crests  of  numerous  fronds,  each  many  feet  in  length,  and 
produced  in  such  quantity  as  to  rival  even  the  palm-trees  in 
beauty.  Besides  all  these,  other  lofty  trees  of  that  day,  whose 
stems  and  branches  are  now  called  Calamites,  existed  chiefly 
in  the  midst  of  swamps,  and  bore  their  singular  branches  and 
leaves  aloft  with  strange  and  monotonous  unifomiity.  All 
these  trees,  and  many  others  that  might  be  associated  with 
them,  were,  perhaps,  girt  round  with  innumerable  creepers 
and  parasitic  plants,  climbing  to  the  topmost  branches  of  the 
most  lofty  amongst  them,  and  relieving,  in  some  measure,  the 
dark  and  gloomy  character  of  the  great  masses  of  vegetation." 
Hugh  Miller  remarks — "The  sculpturesque  character  of 
the  nobly-fluted  Sigillarias  was  shared  by  not  a  few  of  its 
contemporaries.  Ulodendrons,  with  their  rectilinear  rows  of 
circular  scars,  and  their  stems  covered  with  leaf-like  carvings, 
rivalled  in  effect  the  ornately  relieved  torus  of  a  Corinthian 
column.  Favularia,  Halonia,  many  of  the  Calamites,  and 
all  the  Lepidodendrons,  exhibited  the  most  delicate  sculp- 
turing. In  walking  among  the  ruins  of  this  ancient  flora,  the 
pala3ontologist  almost  feels  as  if  he  had  got  among  the  broken 
fragments  of  Italian  jDalaces  erected  long  years  ago,  when  the 
architecture  of  Rome  was  most  ornate,  and  every  moulding 


FLORA  OF  THE  PERMIAN  EPOCH.  71 

was  roughened  A^dth  ornament ;  and  in  attempting  to  call  up 
in  fancy  the  old  Carboniferous  forests,  he  has  to  dwell  on  this 
peculiar  feature  as  one  of  the  most  prominent ;  and  to  see  in  the 
multitude  of  trunks  darkened  above  by  clouds  of  foliage  that 
rise  upon  him  in  the  prospect,  the  slender  columns  of  an  older 
Alhambra,  roughened  with  arabesque  tracery  and  exquisite 
filigree  work." 

The  nature  of  the  vegetation  during  the  Permian  period, 
which  is  associated  with  the  Carboniferous,  under  the  reign 
of  Acrogens,  has  been  extensively  illustrated  by  Goeppert. 
Brongniart  has  enumerated  the  fossils  in  three  different 
localities,  which  he  refers  doubtfully  to  this  period.  1. 
The  flora  of  the  bituminous  slates  of  Thuringia,  composed 
of  Algsd,  Ferns,  and  Conifera3.  2.  Flora  of  the  Pemiian  sand- 
stones of  Russia,  comprehending  Ferns,  Equisetacet^,  Lycopo- 
diacea?,  and  Nocggerathite.  3.  Flora  of  the  slaty  schists  of 
Lod^ve,  composed  of  Ferns,  Asterophyllites,  and  Conifera?. 
The  genera  of  Ferns  here  met  with  are  those  found  in  the 
Carboniferous  epoch ;  the  Gymnosperms  are  chiefly  species  of 
Walchia  and  Noeggerathia  (the  latter  is  supposed  by  Schimper 
to  be  a  Cycad) ;  Lepidodendron  elongatum,  Calamites  gigas, 
and  Annularia  floribunda,  are  also  species  of  this  period. 
Walchia  is  a  conifer  characteristic  of  the  Permian  epoch,  of 
which  there  are  eight  species  described  (Figs.  55  and  56).  It 
has  a  single  seed  to  each  scale  of  the  cone,  and  two  kinds  of 
leaves,  the  one  short  and  imbricated,  the  other  long  and  spread- 
ing. Among  the  plants  of  the  Pemiian  formation  Goeppert 
enumerates  the  following  :* — Equisetites  contractus,  Calamites 
Suckowi,  C.  leioderma,  Asterophyllites  equisetiformis,  A. 
elatior,  Huttonia  truncata,  H.  equisetiformis,  many  species  of 
Psaronius,  one  of  the  filicoid  plants,  Hymenophyllites  com- 
planatus,  Sphenopteris  crassinervia,  Sagenopteris  ta^nigefolia, 
Neuropteris  imbricata,  and  many  other  species  of  these 
*  See  Meyer's  Palaeontographica,  Cassel,  1864. 


n 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


genera;  several  species  of  Odontopteris,  Callipteris,  Cyclop- 
teris,  Dioonopteris,  Cyatheites,   Alethopteris,   Noeggerathia, 


Fig.  55. 

Cordaites,  Antliodiopsis,  Dictyotlialamus,  Calamodendron, 
Artliropitys ;  besides  species  of  Sigillaria,  Stigmaria^  and 
Lepidodendron.  Various  fruits  are  also  mentioned,  under 
the  names  of  Rhabdocarpum,  Cardiocarpum,  Acanthocarpum, 
Trigonocarpum,  and  Lepidostrobus. 


FOSSIL  FLORA  OF  THE  SECONDARY  OR 
MESOZOIC  PERIOD. 

Reign  of  Gymnosperms. 

The  Gymnospermous  plants  of  the  present  day  are  included 
in  two  natural  orders,  Coniferas  and  Cycadaceas.  Under 
Conifers  are  enumerated  the  yarious  species  of  Pine  (Fig.  57), 
Spruce  (Fig.  58),  Larch  (Fig.  59),  Cedar  (Fig.  60),  Eutassa, 

Figs.  55  and  56.  WaWiia  jnniformis,  Sternb.,  a  common  species 
in  the  Permian  rocks  of  Europe.  Fig.  55.  Plant  with  leaves  and 
fructification.     Fig.  56.   Fructification,  natural  size. 


FLORA   OF   THE   MESOZOIC   PERIOD.  73 

Araucaria  (Fig.  61),  Sequoia,  Ciyptomeria,  Taxodium,  Cypress, 


Fig.  58.  Fig.  60. 

Juniper  (Fig.  70),  Salisburia,  Dacrydium,  Yew  (Fig.  71),  etc. 

Fig.  57.   Pinus  sylvestrisj  Scotch  Fir, 

Fig.  58.  Abies  excelsa,  common  Sioruce  Fir  of  northern  Europe. 
Fig.  59.  Larix  Eurojjcea,  the  Larch,  indigenous  on  the  Alps  of 
middle  Europe. 

Fig.  60.   Gedrus  Libani,  Cedar  of  Lebanon. 


74 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


The  ConiferaD  of  the  present  day  are   distinguished  as 
resinous  trees  or  shrubs  with  punctated  woody  tissue  (Figs. 


Fg.  61. 


Fisr.  65. 


Fi?.  62. 


Fig.  63. 


Fig.  64. 


62,  63,  64,  65),  linear  acerose  or  lanceolate  parallel-veined 
leaves,  sometimes  clustered,  and  having  a  membranous  sheath 

Fig.  61.  Araucaria  excelsa,  csiWed  siiso  Altingia  or  Eutassa  ov  Eutacta 
excelsa,  Norfolk  Island  Pine. 

Fig.  62.  Woody  tubes  of  fir,  with  single  rows  of  discs. 

Fig.  63.  AVoody  tubes  of  fir,  with  double  rows  of  discs,  which  are 
opposite  to  each  other. 

Fig.  64.  Woody  tubes  of  Araucaria  excelsa,  with  double  and  triple 
rows  of  discs,  which  are  alternate. 

Fig.  65.  Longitudinal  section  of  the  stem  of  a  Gymnosperm,  show- 
ing tubes  of  wood  marked  with  punctations  in  one  or  more  rows,  and 
a  medullary  ray  composed  of  cells  running  across  the  pleurenchyma. 


FLORA   OF    THE   MESOZOIC   PERIOD. 


75 


at  the  base  (Fig.  66).     Male  flowers  in  deciduous  catkins; 
female  flowers  in  cones  (Figs.  67,  68).     The  seeds  are  con- 


Fig.  66. 


Fiir.  68. 


Fit?.  69. 


sidered  by  most  botanists  as  being  naked,  ^.  e,  not  contained 
in  a  true  pistil  (Fig.  69).  Some  of  the  conifers  have  a  succu- 
lent cone,  as  the  juniper  (Fig.  70),  and  the  yew  (Figs.  71- 
73)  has  a  succulent  mass  covering  a  single  naked  seed  (Fig. 
73).  The  yew  also  has  its  pleurenchyma  marked  both  with 
punctations  and  spiral  fibres.  The  arrangement  of  the  punc- 
tations  in  the  Conifera?  gives  characters  which  enable  us  to 
classify  the  woods  into  groups  that  have  some  relation  to  the 

Fig.  Q6.  Linear  leaves  of  Pinus  Strohus,  Weymouth  Pine,  in  a 
cluster  of  five,  with  scaly  sheath  at  the  base. 

Fig.  67.   Cone  of  Pinus  sylvestris,  Scotch  Fir. 

Fig.  68.   Cone  of  Ciqjressus  semijervirens,  common  Cypress. 

Fig.  69.  Scale,  5,  of  mature  cone  of  Pinus  sylvestris,  with  two  naked 
winged  seeds,  m  m,  at  its  base ;  ch  marks  the  chalaza,  m  the  micropyle. 


n 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 


genera  established  from  the  reproductive  organs  (see  Figs. 
62-65). 

The  natural  order  Cycadaceas  is  not  so  largely  represented 
at  the  present  day  as  it  was  during  the   Mesozoic  epoch. 


Fig.  72. 


Fig.  70. 


Fig.  71. 


Among  the  genera  of  the  present  day  are  Cycas  (Fig.  74), 
Zamia,  Macrozamia,  Encephalartos  (Fig.  75),  Dion,  Stangeria, 
etc.  They  are  small  palm-like  trees  or  shrubs,  with  un- 
branched  stems,  occasionally  dichotomous,  marked  with  leaf- 
scars,  and  having  large  medullary  rays  along  with  pitted 
woody  tissue.  The  leaves  are  pinnate,  except  in  Bowenia, 
which  has  a  bipinnate  leaf.  Males  in  cones.  Females  con- 
sisting of  naked  ovules  on  the  edges  of  altered  leaves,  or  on 
the  inferior  surface  of  the  peltate  apex  of  scales.* 

Fig.  70.  Fruiting  branch  of  Juniperus  communis,  common  Juniper, 
with  linear  acerose  leaves  and  succulent  cones. 

Fig.  71.   Branch  of  Taxiis  haccata,  common  Yew. 

Fig.  72.  Male  flower  of  Yew,  with  bracts  at  the  base. 

Fig.  73.  Fruit  of  Yew,  consisting  of  a  single  naked  seed  partially 
covered  by  a  succulent  receptacle. 

*  See  fuller  description  of  Coniferse  and  Cycadacese  in  Balfour's 
Class  Book  of  Botany,  pp.  906-912. 


FLORA   OF   THE    TRIAS   AND    LIAS   EPOCHS. 


11 


In  tliis  reign  the  Acrogenous  species  are  less  numerous; 
the  Gymnosperms  ahuost  equal  them  in  number,  and  ordinarily 
surpass  them  in  frequency.  There  are  two  periods  in  this 
reign,  one  in  which  Coniferae  predominate,  while  Cyca- 
dacese  scarcely  appear;  and  another  in  which  the  latter 
family  preponderates  as  regards  the  number  of  species, 
and  the  frequency  and  variety  of  generic  forms.  Cyca- 
dacea3    occupied   a  more   important    place   in   the   ancient 


ir:-  .iiti 


-,..-f^ 


Fig.  74. 


than  in  the  present  yegetable  world.  They  extend  more  or 
less  from  the  Trias  formation  up  to  the  Tertiary.  They  are 
rare  in  the  Gres  bigarr^  or  lower  strata  of  the  Triassic  system. 
They  attain  their  maximum  in  the  Lias  and  Oolite,  in  each  of 
which  upwards  of  40  species  have  been  enumerated,  and  they 
disappear  in  the  Tertiary  formations.  Schimper  describes  13 
genera  of  fossil  Zamiee,  and  about  20  Cycadeae.  He  thinks 
that  Trigonocarpum  (15  species),  Rhabdocarpum  (24  species), 

Fig.  74.   Cycas  revoluta,  one  of  the  false  Sago-plants  found  in  Japan. 
Fig.  75.  Encephalartos  {Zamia)  pimgens,  another  starch-yielding 
Cycad. 


78 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


Cardiocarpum  (21  species),  and  Carpolitlies  (9  species),  are  all 
fruits  of  Cycade^e.  Many  supposed  fossil  Cycads  are  looked 
upon  by  Carrutliers  as  Coniferte.  Zamia  macrocepliala,  or 
Zamites  macrocephalus,  or  Zamiostrobus  macrocephalus,  is 
called  by  him  Pinites  macrocephalus ;  Zamia  ovata,  or  Zamites 
ovatus,  or  Zamiostrobus  ovatus,  is  Pinites  ovatus ;  Zamia 
Sussexiensis  is  Pinites  Sussexiensis.  Among  other  species  of 
Pinites  noticed  by  Carruthers  are  Pinites  oblongus,  P.  Ben- 
stedi,  P.  Dunkeri,  P.  Mantellii,  P.  patens,  P.  Fittoni,  P. 
elongatus.  It  is  important  to  notice  that  in  an  existing  Cycad 
called  Stangeria  paradoxa  the  veins  of  the  pinnas  rise  from  a 
true  midrib  and  fork,  characters  which  render  untenable  the 
distinction  usually  relied  upon  between  the  foliage  of  Ferns 
and  Cycads. 

In  Brongniart's  Yosgesian  period,  the  Gr^s  bigarr^,  or  the 
Red  Sandstones  and  Conglomerates  of  the  Triassic  system, 
there  is  a  change  in  the  flora.     Sigillarias  and  Lepidodendrons 


Fig.  76. 


disappear,  and  in  their  place  we  meet  with  Gymnosperms, 
belonging  to  the  genera  Voltzia,  Haidingera,  Zamites,  Ctenis, 

Fig.  76.  Schizo7ieura  heterojjhylla,  one  of  the  fossil  Coniferoe  of  the 
Triassic  system. 


FLORA   OF   THE    TRIAS   AND    LIAS   EPOCHS. 


79 


^thophyllum,  and  Schizoneura  (Fig.  7Q).  The  genus  Yoltzia 
is  confined  to  the  Trias,  and  though  a  true  conifer,  it  is  not 
easy  to  correlate  it  with  any  living  form.  It  is  apparently 
Abietineous,  having  two  seeds  to  each  scale,  but  they  are 
placed  on  the  dilated  upper  portion  of  the  scale.  The  leaves 
are  of  two  kinds,  the  one  broad  and  short,  and  the  other  at 
the  tops  of  the  branches  long  and  linear.  Species  of  Neu- 
ropteris,  Pecopteris,  and  other  acrogenous  coal  genera  are 
still  found,  along  with  species  of  Anomopteris  and  Crenia- 
topteris — peculiar  Fern-forms,  which  are  not  found  in  later 
formations.  Stems  of  aborescent  Ferns  are  more  frequent 
than  in  the  next  period. 

The  Jurassic  period  of  Brongniart  embraces  the  Keupric 
period  or  variegated  marls  of  the  Triassic  system,  the  Liassic 
epoch,  the  Oolitic  and  the  Weal  den.  The  flora  of  the 
Keupric  epoch  differs  from  that  of  the  Gr^s  bigarre  of  the 
Vosges.  The  Acrogens  are  changed  as  regards  species,  and 
frequently  in  their  genera. 
Thus  we  have  the  genera 
Camptopteris,  Sageno- 
pteris,  and  Equisetum. 
Among  Gymnospenns, 
the  genera  Pterophyllum 
and  Taxodites  occur. 

In  the  Lias  the  essen- 
tial characters  of  the  flora 
are  the  predominance  of 
Cycadacef©,  in  the  fonn  of 
species  of  Cycadites,  Oto- 
zamites,  Zamites  (Fig.  77), 
Ctenis,  Pterophyllum  (Fig.  78),  and  Nilssonia  (Fig.  79), 
Palasozamia  (Fig.  80),  and  the  existence  among  the  Ferns  of 

Figs.  77  to  81.  Cycadacese  of  the  Jurassic  epoch  of  Brongniart, 
and  of  the  Oohte.     Fig.  77.  Zamites,  one  of  the  fossil  Cycadacese. 


Fig.  77. 


80 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


Fig.  78.  Fig.  79. 

many  genera  with  reticu- 
lated venation,  such  as 
Camptopteris  and  Thau- 
matopteris,  some  of  which 
began  to  appear  at  the 
Keupric  epoch.  Coni- 
ferous genera,  as  Brachy- 
phyllum  (Fig.  81),  Taxo- 
dites,  Palissya,  and  Pence, 
are  found.  In  the  Lias  near 
Cromarty,  Miller  states 
that  he  found  a  cone  with 
long  bracts  like  those  of 
Pinus  bracteata. 

In  the  Oolitic  epoch  the 

flora  consists  of  numerous 

Cycadacece  and  Conifer£e, 

Fig.  80.  some  of  them  having  pecu- 

Fig.  78.  Pterophyllum  Pleiningerii,  leaf  of  a  fossil  Cycad.     Fig.  79. 
Nilssoiiia  compta  {Pterophyllum  comptum  of  Lindley  and  Hutton),  from 


FLORA   OF   THE   OOLITIC   EPOCH. 


81 


liar  forms.  Its  distinctive  characters  are,  the  rarity  of  Ferns 
with  reticulated  venation,  which  are  so  numerous  in  the  Lias,  the 
frequency  of  the  Cycadaceous  genera  Otozamites  and  Zamites, 
which  are  most  analogous  to  those  now  existing ;  the  occur- 
rence of  a  remarkable  group  presenting  very  anomalous  struc- 
ture in  their  organs  of  reproduction,  to  which  Carruthers  has 
given  the  name  of  Williamsonia ;  and  the  diminution  of  Ctenis, 
Pterophyllum,  Pal^ozamia,  and  Nilssonia,  genera  far  removed 


Fig.  81. 

from  the  living  kinds ;  and  lastly,  the  greater  frequency  of 
the  coniferous  genera,  Brachyphyllum  and  Thuites,  which 
are  much  more  rare  in  the  Lias.     In  the  Scottish  Oolite  at 

the  Oolite  of  Scarborough.  Lower  part  of  the  piunatifid  leaf,  with 
bkmt  ahnost  square  divisions.  There  are  numerous  veins,  slightly 
varying  in  thickness  ;  while  in  Pterophyllum  there  are  numerous  veins 
of  equal  thickness,  in  Cycadites  there  is  a  solitary  vein  forming  a  thick 
midrib.  Fig.  80.  Pakuozamia  ijectinata  (Zamia  xiectinata  of  Brong- 
niart,  and  Lindley  and  Hutton),  a  pimiated  leaf,  with  a  slender  rachis. 
The  pinnae  are  linear,  somewhat  obtuse,  with  slender  equal  ribs.  It 
is  found  in  the  Oolite  of  Stonesfield  (Lindley  and  Hutton). 

Fig.  81.  Brachy2)hyllu7ii   mammillare,  a    Coniferous  plant  of  the 
Oolitic  system,  Yorkshire. 

Fig.  82.  Equisetum  columnare,  a  fossil   opecies  of  the  Oolite  of 
Yorkshire. 

G 


5Z5^ 


82 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


Helmsdale,  Miller  detected  about  60  species  of  plants,  in- 
cluding Cycadacege  and  Conifera3,  with  detached  cones,  and 
Fern-forms  resembling  Scolopendrium.  He  also  discovered  a 
species  of  Equisetum,  and  what  he  supposed  to  be  a  Calamite. 
There  is  an  absence  of  true  coal-fields  in  the  secondary 
formations  generally ;  but  in  some  of  the  Oolitic  series,  as  in 
the  lower  Oolite  at  Brora,  in  Sutherlandshire,  and  in  the 
north-east  of  Yorkshire,  and  the  Kimmeridge  clay  of  the 
upper  Oolite,  near  Weymouth,  there  are  considerable  deposits 
of  carbonaceous  matter,  sometimes  forming  seams  of  coal 
which  have  been  worked  for  economic  purposes.*  Some  sup- 
pose that  the  Brora  coal  was  formed  chiefly  by  Equisetum 
columnare  (Fig.  82).     In  the  sandstones  and  shales  of  the 


Yis.  84. 


Fis,  83. 


Fig.  85. 


Oolitic  series,  especially  in  the  lower  Oolite  of  the  north  of 
England,  as  at  Whitby  and  Scarborough,  as  well  as  in  Stones- 
field  slate,  the  Portland  Crag  of  the  middle,  and  the  Port- 
land beds  of  the  upper  Oolite,  numerous  fossil  plants  are 
found.  Pence  Lindleyana  is  one  of  the  Coniferge  of  the 
lower   Oolite.     Beania  (Plate  H.  Fig.  2)  is  a  Cycadaceous 

Fig.  83.  Araucarites  sphcerocarpus,  Carr.,  found  in  the  inferior 
Oolite  at  Bruton,  Somersetshire. 

Fig.  84.   Termination  of  a  scale  of  Araucarites  sjjhcerocarjms,  Carr. 

Fig.  85.  Section  of  a  scale  of  Araucarites  sphcerocarpus,  Carr., 
showing  the  size  and  pc^'tion  of  the  seed. 

*  Coal  in  the  Kimmeridge  clay  is  probably  of  animal  origin. 


FLORA   OF   THE   OOLITIC   EPOCH.  83 

fossil  from  tlie  Oolite  of  Yorkshire  (Carrutliers,  Geol.  Mag. 
yi.  91).  Araucarites  sph^roearpus  (Figs.  83,  84,  85)  is  found 
in  the  inferior  Oolite,  and  separate  scales  of  Araucarian  fruits 
occur  in  the  Oolitic  shales  of  Yorkshire  (Araucarites  Phil- 
lipsii,  Plate  II.  Fig.  11),  and  in  the  "  slate  "  at  Stonesfield  (A. 
Brodiei,  Plate  II.  Fig.  10).  The  upper  Oolite  at  Portland  con- 
tains an  interesting  bed,  about  a  foot  in  thickness,  of  a  dark 
brown  substance.  This  is  the  Dirt-bed  (Fig.  86)  made  up  of 
black  loam,  which,  during  the  Purbeck  period,  formed  a  sur- 
face soil  which  was  penetrated  by  the  roots  of  trees,  frag- 
ments of  whose  stems  are  now  found  in  it  fossilised.  These 
consist  of  an  assemblage  of  silicified  stumps  or  stools  of  large 
trees,  from  1-3  feet  high,  standing  in  their  original  position, 


Fig.  86.  Fig.  87. 

with  the  roots  remaining  attached  to  them,  and  still  pene- 
trating the  earth  in  which  they  grew.  Besides  the  erect  trunks 
many  stems  haye  been  broken  and  throAvn  down,  and  are  buried 
in  a  horizontal  position  in  the  bed.  They  belong  to  Conifera) 
and  Cycadace^.  One  of  these  is  Mantellia  nidiformis,  shown  in 
Fig.  87.  Carpolithes  conicus  and  C.  Bucklandi  are  fruits  found 
in  the  Oolite.     Some  look  upon  them  as  fruits  of  palms. 

Fig.  86.  The  Dirt-hed  of  the  Island  of  Portland,  containing  stumps 
of  fossil  Cycadacese  in  an  erect  position. 

Fig.  87.  Cycadoidea  megalophylla  (Mantellia  nidiformis  of  Brong- 
niart),  a  subglobose  depressed  trunk,  with  a  concave  apex,  and  with 
the  remains  of  the  petioles  disposed  in  a  spiral  manner,  the  markings 
being  transversely  elliptical.  It  is  found  in  the  Oolite  of  the  Island 
of  Portland,  in  a  silicified  state. 


84 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 


Several  species  of  Pandanaceoiis  fruits  have  been  found 
in  Oolitic  strata.  Buckland  described  one  of  them  as  Podo- 
carya,  which  is  remarkable,  as  it  consists  of  a  single  but  many- 
seeded  drupe.  To  another  form,  more  nearly  allied  to  the 
existing  plants,  Carruthers  has  given  the  name  Kaidacarpum, 
and  has  described  three  species.  These  fruits  are  made  up  of 
a  large  number  of  single  -  seeded  drupes.  The  species 
figured  (Fig.  88)  is  from  the  great  Oolite,  near  Northampton. 


Fit?.  88. 


Fi?.  89. 


In  Fig.    89  a   representation   is  given  of  one   of  the   Pan- 
danacete,  the  screw-pines  of  the  present  day. 

The  flora  of  the  Wealden  epoch  is  characterised  in  the 
south  of  England  by  the  abundance  of  the  fern  called  Loncho- 
pteris  Mantellii,  and  in  Germany  by  the  predominance  of  the 
Conifer  denominated  Abietites  Linkii  (Fig.  90),  and  the  pre- 
sence of  Araucarites  Pippingfordensis,  as  well  as  by  numerous 
Cycadaceas,  such  as  species  of  Cycadites,  Zamites,  Pterophyl- 
lum,  Mantellia,  Bucklandia,  and  a  remarkable  genus  having  a 
fleshy  fruit,  and  related  to  the  ordinary  Cycadaceas  as  Taxus 
is  to  the  other  Coniferee,  which  has  been  fully  described  in 

Fig.  88.  Kaidacarimm  ooliticum,  Carr.,  fruit  of  a  fossil  allied  to 
Pandanacete,  from  the  great  Oolite  near  Northampton. 

Fig.  89.  Pandanus  odoratissimus,  Screw-pine,  with  adventitious  roots. 


FLORA   OF   THE   WEALDEN   EPOCH. 


85 


the  Linn.  Trans.,  under  the  name  of  Bennettites  (Plate  II. 
Fig.  3).  In  the  Wealden  at  Brook  Point,  Isle  of  Wight, 
Cycads  have  been  detected  allied  to  Encephalai-tos.  The 
fruits  of  them  are  described  by  Carruthers  as  Cycadeostrobus. 
He  describes  the  following  species : — Cycadeostrobus  oyatus 
(Plate  II.  Fig.  1),  C.  truncatus,  C.  tumidus,  C.  elegans,  C. 
Walkeri,  C  sphtericus,  in  the  Oxford 
clay  of  Wiltshire ;  C.  prima3vus  in  the 
inferior  Oolite  at  Burcott  Wood  and 
Livingston,  and  C  Brunonis.  Mantell 
states  that  he  has  found  40  or  50  fossil 
cones  in  the  Wealden  of  England  ;  they 
belong  either  to  the  genus  Cycadeo- 
strobus or  to  the  pines  mentioned  below 
as  occurring  in  the  Wealden.  The 
Wealden  fresh-water  formation  termi- 
nates the  reign  of  Gymnosperms.  Car- 
ruthers gives  the  following  list  of  the  remains  of  Conifene 
which  have  been  found  in  the  secondary  strata  of  Britain, 
excluding  the  Trias  : — 

Upper  Chalk. — Wood  in  flint  nodules. 

Upper  Greensand. — Foliage  and  cone  of  Sequoiites  Woodwardii  3 
cone  of  Pinites  oblongus. 

Gault. — Cones  of  Pinites  gracilis  and  P.  hexagoniis,  Sequoiites 
Gardneri  and  S.  ovalis. 

Lower  Greensand. — Water-worn  and  bored  pieces  of  wood  ;  cones 
of  Pinites  Benstedi,  P.  Sussexiensis,  and  P.  Leckenbyi. 

Wealden. — Driftwood,  foliage' of  Abietites  Linkii;  cones  of  Pinites 
Dunkeri,  P.  Mautellii,  P.  patens,  and  P.  Fittoni,  and  of  Ai'aucaria 
Pippingfordensis  ;  foliage  (and  drupes  1)  of  Thuites  Kurrianus. 

Purbeck. — Fossil  forest  in  situ  at  Isle  of  Portland ;  cone  "  nearly 
related  to  Araucaria  excelsa  "  in  the  Dirt-bed. 

Portland  Stone. — Driftwood  Araucarites. 

Kimmeridge  Clay. — Cone  of  Pinites  depressus. 


Ficr,  90. 


Fig.  90.   Fossil  Wood,  Ahietites  LinJcii.     A  Coniferous  plant  from 
the  Wealden,  showing  punctated  woody  tissue  and  medullary  rays. 


86  PALJEONTOLOGICAL    BOTANY. 

Oxford  Clay. — Driftwood  and  foliage  of  Araucarites. 

Great  Oolite. — Driftwood  of  Araucarites  ;  foliage  of  Thuites 
aciitifolius,  T.  articiilatus,  T.  cupressiformis,  T.  divaricatiis,  and  T. 
expansiis,  and  of  Taxites  podocarpoides ;  detached  cones  at  Helmsdale, 
Sutherland. 

Inferior  Oolite. — Wood  of  Pence  Eggensis  (Tertiary  according 
to  Geikie) ;  foliage  of  Brachyphyllum  niammillare,  Cryptomerites  1 
divaricatus,  and  Palissya  1  Williamsonis ;  cones  of  Araucarites  sphsc- 
rocarpus,  A.  Brodiei,  and  A.  Phillipsii.  Pinites  primseva  (Lindl.  and 
Hutt.)  is  a  Cycadean  fruit. 

Lias. — Wood  of  Pinites  Huttonianus  and  P.  Lindleyanus ;  foliage 
of  Araucaria  peregrina  and  Cupressus  latifolia  ;  cone  of  Pinites  elon- 
gatus,  and  "  cone  with  long  bracts  lil^  those  of  Pinus  bracteata,"  from 
Cromarty. 

Carruthers  gives  the  following  arrangement  of  fossil  Cyca- 
dacege  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Linn.  Soc.  vol.  xxvi. — 
Firstly,  the  Cycadefe  :  including  the  genus  Bucklandia,  Presl ; 
and  species  B.  anomala,  B.  Mantellii,  B.  squamosa,  B.  Mil- 
leriana — the  two  first-named  species  being  from  the  Wealden, 
and  the  two  last-named  from  the  Oolite,  Secondly,  the 
Zamieas :  including  the  genus  Yatesia,  Carr. ;  and  species  Y. 
Morrisi,  Lower  Cretaceous ;  Y.  gracilis,  Lias ;  Y.  crassa,  M. 
Oolite ;  Y.  Joassiana,  M.  Oolite :  the  genus  Fittonia,  Carr., 
and  species  F.  squamata,  U.  Cretaceous ;  the  genus  Crosso- 
zamia,  Pomel,  and  species  C.  Moreaui,  Pomel,  Jurassic,  and 
C.  Buvignieri,  Pomel,  Jurassic — both  from  St.  Michel,  France. 
Thirdly,  the  Williamsonie^  :  including  the  genus  William- 
sonia,  Carr. ;  and  species  W.  gigas,  W.  pecten,  W.  hastula,  all 
from  the  inferior  Oolite.  Fourthly,  the  Bennettiteas :  includ- 
ing the  genus  Bennettites,  Carr.,  and  species  B.  Saxbyanus, 
Wealden ;  B.  Gibsonianus,  Lr.  Greensand ;  B.  maximus, 
Wealden ;  B.  Portlandicus,  Lr.  Purbeck  ;  and  B.  Peachianus, 
I\L  Oolite  :  the  genus  Mantellia,  Brong.,  and  species  M.  nidi- 
formis,  M.  intermedia,  M.  microphylla,  from  the  Lr.  Purbeck  ; 
and  M.  inclusa,  from  the  Lr.  Cretaceous  ;  the  genus  Raumeria, 
Goeppert,  and  species  R.  Reichenbachiana,  from  Galicia,  and 
R.  Schulziana  from  Silesia. 


FLORA   OF   THE    CAINOZOIC   PERIOD.  87 

FOSSIL  FLORA  OF  THE  TERTIARY  OR 

CAINOZOIC  PERIOD, 

(including  the  cretaceous  epoch). 

Reign  of  Angiosperms. 

This  reign  is  characterised  bj  the  appearance  of  Angio- 
spermous  Dicotyledons,  plants  which  constitute  more  than 
three-fourths  of  the  species  of  the  existing  flowering  plants 
of  the  globe,  and  which  appear  to  have  acquired  the  pre- 
dominance from  the  commencement  of  the  Tertiary  epoch. 
They  are  plants  with  seeds  contained  in  seed-vessels,  and 
each  seed  with  two  cotyledons.  These  plants,  however, 
appear  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  Cretaceous  period. 
In  this  reign,  therefore,  Brongniart  includes  the  upper 
Secondaiy  period,  or  the  Cretaceous  system,  and  all  the 
Tertiary  period.  The  Cretaceous  may  be  considered  as  a 
sort  of  transition  period  between  the  reign  of  Gymnosperms 
and  Angiosperms.  The  Chalk  flora  is  characterised  by  the 
Gymnospermous  almost  equalling  the  xVngiospermous  Dicoty- 
ledons, and  by  the  existence  of  a  considerable  number  of 
Cycadacea3,  which  do  not  appear  in  the  Tertiary  period.  The 
genus  Credneria  is  one  of  the  characteristic  fomis.  In  this 
period  we  find  Alg^  represented  by  Cystoseirites,  Confervites, 
Sargassites,  and  Chondrites;  Ferns  by  peculiar  species  of 
Pecopteris  and  Protopteris ;  Naiadaceas  by  Zosterites ;  Palms, 
by  Flabellaria  and  Palmacites;  Cycadace^e  by  Cycadites, 
Zamites,  Microzamia,  Fittonia,  and  Bennettites ;  Coniferas, 
by  Brachyphyllum,  Widdringtonites,  Cryptomeria,  Abietites, 
Pinites,  Cunninghamites,  Dammarites,  Araucarites ;  and  An- 
giospennous  Dicotyledons,  by  Comptonites,  Alnites,  Carpi- 
nites,  Salicites,  Acerites,  Juglandites,  and  Credneria.  At  the 
base  of  the  Tertiary  period  there  are  deposits  of  Algce  of  a 
very  peculiar  form,  belonging  to  the  genera  Chondrites  and 
Munsteria.  No  land  plants  have  been  found  mingled  with 
these  marine  species. 


88 


PALiEONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


In  the  Gault,  near  Folkestone,  an  interesting  association 
of  coniferous  fruits  has  been  found,  consisting  of  two  species 

of  Sequoia,  along  with  two  of  Pinus. 
The  pines  belong  to  the  same  group 
as  those  which  now  grow  with  the  Wel- 
lingtonias  in  California,  showing  the 
remarkable  fact  that  the  coniferous 
vegetation  of  the  high  lands  of  the 
Upper  Cretaceous  period  had  a  fades 
similar  to  that  now  existing  in  the 
mountains  on  the  west  of  North 
America.  We  figure  both  the  species 
of  Sequoiites — viz.  S.  ovalis  (Fig.  91),  a 
large  cone,  and  S.  Gardneri  (Plate  11. 
Fig.  7).  In  the  present  day  there  are 
two  species  of  the  genus  Sequoia — 
viz.  S.  gigantea  (Wellingtonia  gigantea) 
and  S.  sempervirens.*  In  the  Lower 
Greensand  a  remarkably  fine  cone  belonging  to  the  same 
group  as  the  Cedar  has  been  found.  This  is  the  Pinites  Leck- 
enbyi  (Plate  II.  Fig.  4).  A  section  exhibits  the  seeds  in 
their  true  position,  some  of  which  are  preserved  so  as  to 
exhibit  the  form  and  position  of  the  embryo. 

The  Tertiary  period  is  characterised  by  the  abundance  of 
Angiospermous  Dicotyledons  and  of  Monocotyledons,  more 
especially  of  Palms.  By  this  it  is  distinguished  from  the 
more  ancient  periods.  Angiosperms  at  this  period  greatly 
exceed  Gymnosperms.  Cycadace^e  are  very  rare,  if  not  com- 
pletely wanting,  in  the  European  Tertiary  strata,  and  the 
Conifera3  belong  to  genera  of  the  temperate  regions.  In  the 
lower  Tertiaries  Carruthers  has  found  a  fossil  Osmunda,  and 
the  existence  of  a  group  of  Pines  having  cones  with  a  very 
thick   apophysis.     From  their  remarkable   external   aspect. 


Fig.  91. 


Fig.  91.   Sequoiites  ovalis. 


Large  cone. 


*  Carruthers,  Geol.  Mag.,  vol.  viii.  December  1871. 


FLORA  OF   THE   CAINOZOIO   PERIOD. 


89 


these  cones  had  been  considered  to  be  Cjcadean,  but  their 
internal  structure  indicates  that  they  are  coniferous.  Pinites 
ovatus  is  one  of  these  cones  (Fig.  92).  The  Cupres- 
sinea3  are  found  in  the  Tertiary  beds  only.  Taxodiese  are 
represented  by  Sequoiites  (Plate  II.  Fig.  7)  in  the  Cretaceous 
and  Eocene  strata.  Pence  australis  of  Van 
Diemen's  Land  and  P.  Pritchardi  of  Ire- 
land are  Tertiary  plants.  The  Pence  of 
Eigg  (P.  Eggensis),  according  to  Geikie,  is 
also  Tertiary,  and  not  Oolitic.  Isoetes  is 
mentioned  by  Schimper  as  a  Tertiary  genus. 
Although  the  vegetation  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  Tertiary  period  presents  pretty 
uniform  characters,  still  there  are  notable 
differences  in  the  generic  and  specific  forms, 
and  in  the  predominance  of  certain  orders  at  different  epochs. 
Brougniart  does  not  entirely  agree  with  linger  as  to  these 
epochs.  Many  of  the  formations  classified  by  Unger  in  the 
Miocene  division  he  refers  with  Raulin  to  the  Pliocene.  He 
divides  the  Tertiary  period,  as  regards  plants,  into  the  Eocene, 
IVIiocene,  and  Pliocene  epochs,  and  gives  the  following  com- 
parative results  from  an  examination  of  their  floras  : — 


Fiir.  92. 


Classes  and  Sub-Classes. 

Eocene  Epoch. 

Miocene  Epoch. 

Pliocene  Epoch. 

Thallogenae    

16 
17 
33 

40 
103 

6 

4 

26 

19 

78 

6 

7 
4 

31 

164 

Acrogeiice 

Monocotyledones 

Dicotyledones — 

GyinnospermtB 

Angiospernise   

209 

133 

212 

In   the   Eocene  formation   the  fossil   fruits  of  the   Isle   of 

Fig.  92.  Pinites  ovatus  (Zamia  ovata  of  Lindley  and  Hutton),  an 
ovate  cone  with  a  truncated  base  and  obtuse  apex,  nearly  allied  to  tlie 
stone-pine. 


90 


PAL^ONTOLOGIOAL   BOTANY. 


Sheppey  increase  the  number  of  Phanerogamous  plants,  only 
a  small  proportion  of  which  have  as  yet  been  described.  This 
is  an  exceptional  locality,  and  the  deposit  in  which  the  fruits 
occur  is  probably  the  silt  found  at  the  mouth  of  a  large  river 
which  flowed,  like  the  Nile,  from  tropical  regions  towards  the 
north.  The  number  of  plants  as  given  by  Brongniart  is  much 
smaller  than  that  mentioned  by  Unger  (p.  23).  The  latter 
includes  in  his  enumeration  a  considerable  amount  of  uncer- 
tain species. 

The  Eocene  epoch  in  general  is  characterised  by  the  predo- 
minance of  Alg^  and  marine  Naiadace^,  such  as  Caulinites  and 
Zosterites ;  by  numerous  Conifers,  the  greater  part  resembling 
existing  genera  among  the  Cupressine^,  and  appearing  in  the 
form  of  Juniperites,  Thuites,  Cupressinites  (Plate  II.  Figs.  8,  9), 
Callitrites,  Frenelites,  and  Solenostrobus ;  by  the  existence  of  a 

number  of  extra-European 
forms,  especially  of  fruits. 
W\  such  as  Nipadites,  Legu- 
^'''^'  minosites,  Cucumites,  and 
Hightea ;  and  by  the  pre- 
sence of  some  large  species 
of  Palm  belonging  to  the 
genera  Flabellaria  and 
Palmacites  (Fig.  93). 

Unger  says  that  the 
Eocene  flora  has  resembled 
in  many  respects  that  of 
the  present  Australian  vegetation.  He  gives  the  following 
genera  as  occurring  at  the  Eocene  epoch  : — Araucaria,  Podo- 
carpus,  Libocedrus,  Callitris,  Casuarina,  Pterocarpus,  Dre- 
panocarpus,  Centrolobium,  Dalbergia,  Cassia,  Cfesalpinia, 
Bauhinia,  Copaifera,  Entada,  Acacia,  Mimosa,  Inga.  (See- 
mann's  Journal  of  Bot.  vol.  iii.  p.  43.)     Amber  is  considered 

Fig.  93.  Palmacites  Lamanonis.     Fan-shaped  (flabellate)  leaf  of  a 
Palm. 


FLORA  OF  THE  EOCENE  EPOCH. 


91 


Cryptogamese 
Phaneroorameoe 


Amber  Flora, 
60 
102 


to  be  the  produce  of  many  Conifers  of  tMs  epoch,  such  as 
Peuce  succinifera  or  Pinites  succinifera,  and  Pinus  Rinkianus. 
It  occurs  in  East  Prussia  in  great  quantity,  and  it  is  said  that 
many  pieces  of  fossil  wood  occur  there,  which,  when  mode- 
rately heated,  give  out  a  decided  smell  of  amber.  Connected 
with  these  beds  are  found  cones  belonging  to  Pinites  sylves- 
trina  and  P.  Pumilio-miocena,  species  nearly  allied  to  the 
living  species ;  others  to  Pinites  Thomasianus  and  P.  brachy- 
lepis.  Goeppert  contrasts  the  present  flora  of  Germany  and 
that  of  the  Amber  epoch  as  follows  : — 

German  Flora. 

6800 
3454 

and  gives  the  following  specimens  of  two  of  the  orders  : — 

Ciipulifer^  .  .  12  10 

Ericaceae   ...  23  24 

(See  remarks  by  Goeppert  on  the  Amber  Flora,  etc.,  Edin. 

N.  Phil.  Journ.  Ivi.  368;  and  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  x. 

37.)     In  the  lower  Eocene  of  Heme 

Bay,  Carruthers  noticed  a    fern  like 

Osmunda   (Fig.  94),  which   he  calls 

Osmundites  Dowkeri  (Plate  I.  Figs. 

8,  9).     This  specimen  was  silicified; 

starch  grains  contained  in  its  cells, 

and  the  mycelium  of  a  parasitic  fungus 

traversing  some  of  them,  were  perfectly 

preserved.     Berkeley  has  detected  in 

amber    fossil    fungi,   which    he    has 

named  Penicillium  curtipes,  Brachy- 

cladium   Thomasinum,  and   Strepto- 

thrix    spiralis.*      Some    Characese    are    also    met  with,   as 

Fig.  94.   Osmunda  regalis,  Royal  Fern,  having  a  bipinnate  frond 
and  fructification  in  a  spike-like  form,  the  branches  bearing  sporangia. 


*  Annals  and  Mag.  of  Nat.  Hist.  2d  ser.  ii.  380. 


92 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 


Chara  meclicaginiila  and  C.  prisca,  with  a  fossil  called 
Gjrogonites,  the  nucule  or  the  fructification  of  these  plants. 
Carpolithes  ovatus,  a  minute  seed-vessel,  occurs  in  the  Eocene 
beds  of  Lewisham.  Another  small  fruit,  of  a  similar  nature, 
called  Folliculites  minutulus,  occurs  in  the  Bovey  Tracey  coal, 
which  belongs  to  the  Tertiary  beds. 

The  most  striking  characters  of  the  Miocene  epoch  consist 
in  the  mixture  of  exotic  forms  of  warm  regions  with  those  of 
temperate  climates.  linger  says  that  it  resembles  that  of  the 
southern  part  of  North  America.  Thus  we  meet  with  Palms, 
such  as  species  of  Flabellaria  and  Phoeni- 
cites,  a  kind  of  Bamboo  called  Bambusium 
sepultum;  Lauracea3,  as  Daphnogene  and 
Laurus ;  Combretaceae,  as  Getonia  and  Ter- 
minalia ;  Leguminos^,  as  Phaseolites, 
Desmodophyllum,  Dolichites,  Eiythrina, 
Bauhinia,  Mimosites,  and  Acacia — all  plants 
haying  their  living  representatives  in  warm 
j^  climates;  Echitonium,  Plumiera,  and  other 
Apocynacese  of  equatorial  regions ;  Comp- 
tonia  (Fig.  95),  a  Proteaceous  genus,  and 
Steinhauera,  a  Cinchonaceous  genus; 
mingled  with  species  of  Acer  (Fig.  96),  Ulmus 
(Fig.  97),  Rhamnus  (Fig.  98) ;  and  Amenti- 
ferous  forms,  such  as  Myrica,  Betula,  Alnus  (Fig.  99),  Quercus, 
Fagiis,  Caq^inus,  all  belonging  to  temperate  and  cold  climates. 
The  statements  as  to  the  occurrence  of  Pinus  sylvestris  and 
Betula  alba  among  the  Miocene  fossils  have  not  been  founded 
on  complete  data.  It  is  by  no  means  easy,  even  in  the  present 
day,  to  distinguish  fragments  of  dried  specimens  of  Pinus 
Pumilio  from  those  of  P.  sylvestris,  and  from  a  great  many 


Fis.  95. 


Fig.  95.  Comptonia  acutiloha,  apparently  the  leaf  of  a  jjlant  belong- 
ing to  the  natural  order  Proteacese,  which  abound  in  Australia,  and  are 
also  found  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  at  the  present  day. 


FLORA   OF    THE   MIOCEXE   EPOCH. 


93 


other  Pines.  The  difficulty  is  still  greater  in  fossils  (Hook. 
Kew  JouiTi.  T.  413.  There  are  a  very  small  number  of 
plants  belonging  to  ordei*s  with  gamopetalous  corollas.     In 


Fi?.  96. 


FiiT.  97 


the  Miocene  formation  of  Lough  Xeagh  in  Ireland,  and  of 
Mull  in  Scotland,  silicified  trunks  of  considerable  size  have 
been  foimd.  The  Irish  silicified  wood  has  been  denominated 
Cupressoxylon  Pritchardi  from  its  apparent  resemblance  to  the 
Cypress.  As  connected  with  the  Miocene  epoch,  we  may 
notice  the  leaf-beds  found  at  Ardtun,  in  the  island  of  Mull, 

Figures  96  to  99  show  the  leaves  of  plants  belonging  to  the 
Miocene  epoch. 

Fig.  96.  Acer  triloba  turn,  a  three-lobed  palmate  leaf,  like  that  of 
the  Maple,  with  the  lobes  unequal,  inciso-dentate,  the  lateral  ones 
spreading,  found  at  (Euingen.  Fig.  97.  Ubnus  Bronnii,  a  petiolate 
leaf,  like  that  of  the  Elm,  unequally  ovato-acuniinate,  feather-veined 


94 


PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 


by  the  Duke  of  Argyll.*     Above  and  below  these  beds  basalt 
occurs,  and  there  are  peculiar  tufF-beds  alternating  with  the 


Fig.  98. 

leafy  deposits.  These  tufF-beds  were  formed  by  the  deposit 
of  volcanic  dust  in  pools  probably  of  fresh  water.  They 
contain  fragments  of  chalk  and  flint.  The  leaves  are 
those  of  plants  allied  to  the  Yew,  Rhamnus,  Plane,  and 
Alder,  along  with  the  fronds  of  a  peculiar  Fern,  and  the 
stems  of  an  Equisetum.  The  genera  are  Taxites  or  Taxo- 
dites  (Fig.  100),  Rhamnites  (Fig.  101),  Platanites,  Alnites, 

and  toothed,  found  in  Bohemia.  Fig.  98.  Rhamnus  Aizoon,  a  petiolate 
elliptical  obtuse  feather-veined  leaf,  with  an  entire  margin,  found  in 
Styria. 

*  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  of  London,  vii. 


FLORA  OF   THE   MIOCENE   EPOCH. 


95 


Filicites,  and  Eqiiisetum  (Fig.    102).     In   the   leaf-beds  at 
Bournemouth  Mr.  Wanklyn  detected  several  ferns.     One  is 


Fiff.  100. 


Fig.  99. 


Fig.  101. 


a  species  of  Dldymosorus,  and  shows  distinct  venation  and 
fructification.  Fossilised  v^^ood  was  found  in  the  Arctic 
Regions  by  Captain  M'Clure.  At  the  KW.  of  Banks  Land 
he  found  trees  with  tmnks  1  foot  7  inches  in  diameter. 

Fig.  99.  Almis gracilis,  an  ovate-oblong  leaf,  like  that  of  the  Alder, 
found  in  Bohemia. 

Figures  100,  101,  102,  exhibit  fragments  of  plants  which  occur  in 
the  leaf-bed  at  Ardtun  Head,  in  Midi,  and  which  is  referred  to  the 
Miocene  epoch.     The  figures  are  from  the  Duke  of  Argyll's  paper. 

Fig.  100.  Taxites,  or  perhaps  Taxodites  Camidhellii,  a  branch  with 
leaves  resembling  those  of  the  Yew,  or  rather  those  of  Taxodium. 
Fio-.  101.  Rham7iiUs  multinervatus,  a  leaf  resembling  that  of  Khamnus. 


96  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

Dr.  Oswald  Heer'"  has  examined  the  plants  preserved  in 
the  lignite  beds  of  Bovey  Tracey,  in  Devonshire,  and  he  finds 
that  they  belong  to  the  Miocene  formation.  There 
is  a  remarkable  coincidence  between  this  and  several 
of  the  continental  fossil  floras,  such  as  those  of  Salz- 
hauser  in  the  Wetterau,  Manosque  in  Provence,  and 
of  some  parts  of  Switzerland.  Bovey  Tracey  has  no 
species  in  common  with  Iceland,  although  the  Tertiary 
flora  of  Iceland  belongs  to  the  same  period.  Two  of  its 
species  (Corylus  MacQuarrii  and  Platanus  aceroides) 
have  been  found  in  the  Miocene  of  Ardtun  Head. 
Even  the  genera  are  distinct,  with  the  exception  of 
Sequoia  and  Quercus.  The  Bovey  Tracey  flora  has  a 
much  more  southern  character,  corresponding  entirely 

Fio",  102. 

with  that  of  the  Lower  Miocene  of  Switzerland.  It 
contains  three  species  of  Cinnamon,  one  Laurel,  evergreen  Figs, 
one  Palm,  and  large  Ferns,  thus  manifesting  a  subtropical 
climate.  One  of  the  most  important  plants  is  Sequoia  Coutt- 
si^,  a  Conifer  which  supplies  a  link  betAveen  S.  Langsdorfii 
and  S.  Sternbergi,  the  widely-distributed  representatives  of 
S.  sempervirens  and  S.  gigantea  (AYellingtonia),  which  are  Cali- 
fornian  trees.  Among  other  characteristic  plants  may  be  men- 
tioned Cinnamomum  lanceolatum  and  C.  Scheuchzeri ;  Quercus 
Lyellii,  an  evergreen  oak ;  species  of  evergreen  fig  (Ficus  Fal- 
coneri  and  F.  Pengellii),  Palmacites  Da3monorops,  a  prickly 
twining  Rotang-palm ;  species  of  Vine  (Yitis  Ilookeri  and  V. 
Britannica) ;  Pecopteris  lignitum,  a  large  tree-fern ;  species  of 
Nyssa,  at  present  confined  to  North  America.  Among  other 
plants  recorded  by  Heer  in  his  paper  are  the  following : — Lau- 
rus  primigenia,  Daphnogene  Ungeri,  species  of  Dryandroides, 
Andromeda,  Vaccinium  acheronticum,  Echitonium  cuspidatum, 

Fig.   102.  Equisetum  Camphellii,  a  stem  like  that  of  an  Equisetum  of 
the  present  day. 

*  Philosophical  Transactions,  R.  Soc.  Lond.,  vol.  clii.  p.  1039. 


FLORA   OF   THE    MIOCENE   EPOCH.  97 

Gardenia  Wetzleri,  species  of  Anona,  Nyniphaea  Doris, 
Carpolithes  Websteri,  C.  Boveyanus,  and  other  species.  In 
the  post-tertiary  white  clay  of  Bovey  Tracey,  Salix  cinerea, 
and  a  species  allied  to  S.  repens,  as  well  as  Betula  nana,  are 
found. 

The   Arctic  fossil   flora   (Miocene),   according  to   Heer, 
amounts  to  162  species :  Crypt ogamia,  18  species,  of  which 
9  are  large  ferns ;  Phanerogamia,  Coniferte,  31 ;  Monocoty- 
ledons, 14;  Dicotyledons,  99.     Among  the  Coniferge  are — 
Pinus  M'Clurii,  Sequoia  Langsdorfiii,  Sternbergi,  and  Coutt- 
siae,  Taxodium  dubium,  Glyptostrobus  europgeus,  Thujopsis 
europgea.     Among  leafy  trees  are — Fagus  Deucalionis,  Quer- 
cus   Olafseni,    Platanus    aceroides,   willows,   beeches,   Acer, 
Otopteryx,  tulip-tree,  walnuts.  Magnolia  Inglefieldi,  Prunus 
Scottii,  Tilia  Malmgreni,  Corylus  INPQuarrii,  Alnus  Kefer- 
steinii,  Daphnogene  Kaimii,  probably  one  of  the  Laurace^e ; 
and   among   Proteaceas,    MacClintockia  ?    and   Hakea.      In 
Greenland  are  found  species  of  Rhamnus,  Paliurus,  Cornus, 
Ilex,  Crata3gus,  Andromeda,  ]\Iyrica,  Ivy,  and  Vine.     From 
the  flora  of  Spitzbergen,  in  the  IVIiocene  epoch,  we  may  con- 
clude that  under  79°  N.  lat.  the  mean  temperature  of  the 
year  may  have  been  41°  Fahr.,  while  at  the  same  epoch  that 
of  Switzerland  was  69°-8  Fahr. ;  judging  from  the  analogy  of 
floras,  it  appears  that  the  mean  temperature  has  fallen  6° -9. 
From  this  it  follows  that  at  Spitzbergen,  at  78°  IS",  lat.,  the 
mean  temperature  was  perhaps  41°-9  Fahr.     In  Greenland, 
at  70°,  it  would  be  49°-l  Fahr.,  and  in  Iceland  and  on  the 
Mackenzie,  in   lat.  65°,  it  would  be  52°-7   Fahr.     At  the 
Miocene  epoch  the  temperature  seems  to  have  been  much  more 
uniform,  the  mean  heat  diminishing  much  more  gradually  in 
proportion   as   the   pole  was   approached.      The   isothermal 
line  of  32°  Fahr.  might  have  fallen  upon  the  pole,  while  now 
it  is  situated  under  58°  N.     (See  Heer's  conclusions  as  to 
changes  of  temperature  depending  on  proportion  of  sea  and 

H 


98  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

land,  eccentricity  of  tlie  eartli,  and  the  earth  moving  through 
warm  and  cold  spaces  in  the  universe — Ann.  Nat.  Hist.  4th 
ser.  i.  66.) 

In  speaking  of  the  Polar  flora  of  former  epochs,  Heer  says  that 
every  plant  executes  a  slow  and  continuous  migration.  These 
migrations,  the  starting-point  of  which  is  the  distant  past,  are 
recorded  in  the  rocks ;  and  the  interweaving  of  the  carpets  of 
flowers  which  adorn  our  present  creation  retraces  them  for  us 
in  its  turn.  For  the  vegetation  of  the  present  day  is  closely 
connected  with  that  of  preceding  epochs ;  and  throughout  all 
these  vegetable  creations  reigns  one  thought,  which  not  only 
reveals  itself  around  us  by  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
images,  but  strikes  us  everywhere  in  the  icy  regions  of  the 
extreme  north.  Organic  nature  may  become  impoverished 
there,  and  even  disappear  when  a  cold  mantle  of  ice  extends 
over  the  whole  earth;  but  where  the  flowers  die  the  rocks 
speak,  and  relate  the  marvels  of  creation ;  they  tell  us  that 
even  in  the  most  distant  countries,  and  in  the  remotest  parts, 
nature  was  governed  by  the  same  laws  and  the  same  harmony 
as  immediately  around  us."*" 

The  flora  of  the  Pliocene  epoch  has  a  great  analogy  to 
that  of  the  temperate  regions  of  Europe,  North  America,  and 
Japan.  We  meet  with  Conifera3,  Amentiferas,  Rosace£e,  Le- 
guminosae,  RhamnaccEe,  Aceraceae,  Aquifoliaceas,  Ericaceae, 
and  many  other  orders.  There  is  a  small  number  of  Dicoty- 
ledons with  gamopetalous  corollas.  The  twenty  species  with 
such  corollas  recognised  by  Brongniart  are  referred  to  the 
Hypogynous  Gamopetalous  group  of  Exogens,  which  in  the 
general  organisation  of  the  flowers  approach  nearest  to  Dialy- 
petalee.  In  this  flora  there  is  the  predominance  of  Dicotyle- 
dons in  number  and  variety ;  there  are  few  Monocotyledons. 

*  Heer,  Flore  Fossile  des  Regions  Polaires,  Zurich ;  also  Biblio- 
theque  Univ.  xxxix.  p.  12;  see  also  Ann.  Nat.  Hist.  4th  ser.  i.  61, 
iv.  81. 


FLORA   OP   THE    PLIOCENE   EPOCH.  99 

No  species  appear  to  be  identical,  at  least  with  the  plants 
which  now  grow  in  Europe.  Thus  the  flora  of  Europe,  even 
at  the  most  recent  geological  epoch  of  the  Tertiary  period, 
was  very  different  from  the  European  flora  of  the  present  day. 
Taking  the  natural  orders  which  have  at  least  four  repre- 
sentatives, Raulin'"'  gives  the  following  statement  as  to  the 
Tertiary  flora  of  central  Europe.  The  Eocene  flora  of  Europe 
is  composed  of  128  species,  of  which  115  belong  to  Algse, 
Characea3,  Pandanace^,  Palmas,  Naiadaceas,  Malvace^,  Sapin- 
daceae,  Proteace^e,  Papilionacese,  and  Cupressineas.  The 
Miocene  flora  has  112  species,  of  which  69  belong  to  Algge, 
Palmee,  Naiadacece,  Apocynace^e,  Acerace^,  Lauracese,  Papi- 
lionace^,  Platanaceas,  Quercinea3,  Myricace^e,  and  Abietinege. 
The  Pliocene  flora  has  258  species,  of  which  226  belong  to 
Algas,  Fungi,  Musci,  Filices,  Palmas,  Ericaceas,  Aquifoliacege, 
Aceracea3,  Ulmaccfe,  Rhamnacea3,  Papilionacea3,  Juglandacese, 
Salicaceas,  Quercine^e,  Betulacete,  Taxaceae,  Cupressineee, 
and  Abietine^e.  The  Eocene  species  are  included  in  genera 
which  belong  at  the  present  day  to  inter-tropical  regions, 
comprising  in  them  India  and  the  Asiatic  islands  of  Australia. 
Some  are  peculiar  to  the  Mediterranean  region.  The  aquatic 
plants,  which  form  almost  one-third  of  the  flora,  belong  to 
genera  now  peculiar  to  the  temperate  regions  of  Europe  and 
of  North  America,  or  occurring  everywhere.  The  Miocene 
species  belong  to  genera,  of  which  several  are  found  in  India, 
tropical  America,  and  the  other  inter-tropical  regions,  but 
which  for  the  most  part  inhabit  the  sub-tropical  and  temperate 
regions,  including  the  United  States.  Some  of  the  genera 
are  peculiar  to  the  temperate  regions.  The  aquatic  genera, 
poor  in  species,  occur  everywhere,  or  else  solely  in  the  tem- 
perate regions.  The  Pliocene  species  belong  to  genera  which 
almost  all  inhabit  the  temperate  regions,  either  of  the  old 

*  Raulin,  sur  les  Transformations  de  la  Flore  de  TEurope  centrale 
pendant  la  periode  Tertiaire. — Ann.  des  Sc.  Nat.  3d  ser.  Bot.  x.  193. 


100  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

continent  or  of  the  United  States.  A  few  only  are  of  genera 
existing  in  India,  Japan,  and  the  north  of  Africa.  These 
various  floras,  which  present  successively  the  character  of 
those  of  inter-tropical,  sub-tropical,  and  temperate  regions, 
seem  to  indicate  that  central  Europe  has,  since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Tertiary  period,  been  subjected,  during  the 
succession  of  time,  to  the  influence  of  these  three  different 
temperatures.  It  would  appear,  then,  Raulin  remarks,  that 
the  climate  of  Europe  has  during  the  Tertiary  period  gra- 
dually become  more  temperate. 

Brown  coal  occurs  in  the  upper  Tertiary  beds,  and  in  it 
vegetable   structure    is   easily   seen  under  the   microscope. 
Goeppert,  on  examining  the  brown  coal  deposits  of  northern 
Germany  and  the  Rhine,  finds  that  Coniferge  predominate  in 
a  remarkable  degree;  among  300  specimens  of  bituminous 
wood  collected  in  the  Silesian  brown  coal  deposits  alone,  only 
a  very  few  other  kinds  of  Exogenous  wood  occur.    This  seems 
remarkable,  inasmuch  as  in  the  clays  of  the  brown  coal  for- 
mation in  many  other  places  leaves  of  deciduous  Dicotyle- 
donous trees  have  been  found ;  and  yet  the  stems  on  which 
we  may  suppose  them  to  have  grown  are  wanting.    The  leaves 
have  been  floated  away  from  the  place  where  they  grew  by  a 
current  of  water  which  was  not  powerful  enough  to  transport 
the  stems.    The  coniferous  plants  of  these  brown  coal  deposits 
belong  to  Taxine^e  and  CupressineaB  chiefly ;  among  the  plants 
are  Pinites  protolarix  and  Taxites  Ayckii.    Many  of  the  Coni- 
ferse  exhibit  highly  compressed,  very  narrow  annual  rings,  such 
as  occur  in  Coniferee  of  northern  latitudes.     Goeppert  has 
described  a  trunk,  or  rather  the  lower  end  of  a  trunk,  of 
Pinites  protolarix,  discovered  in  1849  in  the  brown  coal  of 
Laasan  in  Silesia.     It  was  found  in  a  nearly  perpendicular 
position,  and  measured  more  than  32  feet  in  circumference. 
Sixteen  vast  roots  ran  out  almost  at  right  angles  from  the 
base  of  the  trunk,  of  which  about  four  feet  stood  up  perfect 


GENERAL   CONCLUSIONS.  101 

in  form,  but  stripped  of  bark.  Unfortunately  the  interior  of 
the  stem  was  ahnost  entirely  filled  with  structureless  brown 
coal,  so  that  only  two  cross  sections  could  be  obtained  from 
the  outer  parts,  one  sixteen  inches,  the  other  three  feet  six 
inches  broad.  In  the  first  section  Goeppert  counted  700,  in 
the  second  1300  rings  of  wood,  so  that  for  the  half-diameter 
of  5  J  feet,  at  least  2200  rings  must  have  existed.  As  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  rings  were  formed  in  earlier 
ages  just  as  the  annual  zones  are  now,  this  tree  would  be 
from  2200  to  2500  years  old.  Exogenous  stems  in  lignite 
are  often  of  great  size  and  age.  In  a  trunk  near  Bonn, 
Noggerath  counted  792  annual  rings.  In  the  turf  bogs  of 
the  Somme,  at  Yseux  near  Abbeville,  a  trunk  of  an  oak-tree 
has  been  found  above  14  feet  in  diameter. 

>Ye  have  thus  seen  that  the  vegetation  of  the  globe  is 
represented  by  numerous  distinct  floras  connected  with  the 
different  periods  of  its  history,  and  that  the  farther  back  we 
go,  the  more  are  the  plants  diff'erent  from  those  of  the  present 
day.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  have  been  successive 
deposits  of  stratified  rocks,  and  successive  creations  of  living 
beings.     We  see  that  animals  and  plants  have  gone  through 
their  different  phases  of  existence,  and  that  their  remains  in 
all  stages  of  growth  and  decay  have  been  imbedded  in  rocks 
superimposed  upon  each  other  in  regular  succession.     It  is  im- 
possible to  conceive  that  these  were  the  result  of  changes  pro- 
duced within  the  limits  of  a  few  days.    Considering  the  depth 
of  stratification,  and  the  condition  and  nature  of  the  living 
beings  found  in  the  strata  at  Various  depths,  we  must  conclude 
(unless  our  senses  are  mocked  by  the  phenomena  presented 
to  our  view)  that  vast  periods  have  elapsed  since  the  Creator 
in  the  beginning  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.     How 
far  it  may  be  possible  in  the  future  to  correlate  the  history  of 
the  earth  inscribed  on  its  rocky  tablets  and  deciphered  by  the 
geologist,  and  that  short  narrative  which  forms  the  introduc- 


102  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

tiou  to  the  Sacred  Volume,  it  is  to  difficult  to  say.  At 
present  there  are  no  satisfactory  materials  for  such  a  correla- 
tion ;  but  one  thing  is  certain,  that  both  Revelation  and 
Geology  testify  with  one  voice  to  the  work  of  a  Divine 
Creator. 

"  Who  shall  declare  (Hugh  Miller  remarks)  what  through 
long  ages  the  history  of  creation  has  been  ?  We  see  at  wide 
intervals  the  mere  fragments  of  successive  Floras  ;  but  know 
not  how,  what  seem  the  blank  interspaces,  were  filled ;  or 
how,  as  extinction  overtook  in  succession  one .  tribe  of 
existences  after  another,  and  species,  like  individuals,  yielded 
to  the  great  law  of  death,  yet  other  species  were  brought  to 
the  birth,  and  ushered  upon  the  scene,  and  the  chain  of  being 
was  maintained  unbroken.  We  see  only  detached  bits  of  that 
green  web  which  has  covered  our  earth  ever  since  the  dry 
land  first  appeared.  But  the  web  itself  seems  to  have  been 
continuous  throughout  all  time;  though,  as  breadth  after 
breadth  issued  from  the  creative  loom,  the  pattern  was  altered, 
and  the  sculpturesque  and  graceful  forms  that  illustrated  its 
first  beginnings  and  its  middle  spaces  have  yielded  to  flowers 
of  richer  colour  and  blow,  and  fruits  of  fairer  shade  and  out- 
line ;  and  for  gigantic  club-mosses  stretching  forth  their  hir- 
sute arms,  goodly  trees  of  the  Lord  have  expanded  their 
great  boughs ;  and  for  the  barren  fern  and  the  calamite  clus- 
tering in  thickets  beside  the  waters,  or  spreading  on  flowerless 
hill-slopes,  luxuriant  orchards  have  yielded  their  ruddy  flush, 
and  rich  harvests  their  golden  gleam." 

When  we  find  animals  and  plants,  of  forms  unknown  at 
the  present  day,  in  all  stages  of  development,  we  read 
a  lesson  as  to  the  histoiy  of  the  earth's  former  state  as 
conclusive  as  that  which  is  derived  from  the  Nineveh  relics 
(independent  of  Revelation)  in  regard  to  the  history  of 
the  human  race.     There  is   no  want   of  harmony  between 


RECAPITULATION.  103 

Scripture  and  Geology.  The  Word  and  the  Works  of  God 
must  be  in  unison,  and  the  more  we  truly  study  both,  the 
more  they  will  be  found  to  be  in  accordance.  Any  apparent 
want  of  correspondence  proceeds  either  from  imperfect  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture  or  from  incomplete  knowledge  of  science. 
The  changes  in  the  globe  have  all  preceded  man's  appearance 
on  the  scene.  He  is  the  characteristic  of  the  present  epoch, 
and  he  knows  by  Revelation  that  the  world  is  to  undergo  a 
further  transformation,  when  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
fervent  heat,  and  when  all  the  present  state  of  things  shall 
be  dissolved,  ere  the  ushering  in  of  a  new  earth,  wherein 
righteousness  is  to  dwell. 

Recapitidation    of    the   chief    points    connected    with 
Fossil  Botany  : — 

1.  The  vegetation  of  the  globe  has  varied  at  difFereut  epochs  of  the 

earth's  history. 

2.  The  farther  we  recede  in  geological  history  from  the  present  day, 

the  greater  is  the  difference  between  the  fossil  plants  and  those 
which  now  occupy  the  surface. 

3.  All  fossil  pkints  may  be  referred  to  the  great  classes  of  plants  of 

the  present  day,  Acotyledons,  Monocotyledons,  and  Dicoty- 
ledons. 

4.  The  fossil  species  are  diflferent  from  those  of  the  present  flora,  and 

it  is  only  when  we  reach  the  Tertiary  periods  that  we  meet 
with  some  genera  which  are  without  doubt  identical. 

5.  Fossil  plants  are  preserved  in  various  conditions,  according  to  the 

nature  of  their  structure,  and  the  mode  in  which  they  have 
been  acted  upon.  Sometimes  mere  casts  of  the  plants  are 
found,  at  other  times  they  are  carbonised  and  converted  into 
coal,  while  at  other  times,  besides  being  carbonised,  they  are 
infiltrated  with  calcareous  or  siliceous  matter,  and  finally,  they 
may  be  petrified. 

6.  Cellidar  plants,  and  the  cellular  portions  of  vascular  plants,  have 

rarely  been  preserved,  while  woody  species,  and  especially 
Ferns,  which  are  very  indestructible,  have  retained  their  forms 
in  many  instances. 

7.  In  some  cases,  especially  when  silicified  or  charred,  the  stmcture 


104  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

of  the  woody  stems  can  be  easily  seen  in  thin  sections  under 
the  microscope. 

8.  The  determination  of  fossil  plants  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty, 

and  requires  a  thorough  knowledge  of  structure,  and  of  the 
markings  on  stems,  roots,  etc. 

9.  The  rocks  containing  organic  remains  are  called  fossiliferous,  and 

are  divided  into  Primary,  Secondary,  and  Tertiary,  or  into 
Palseozoic,  Mesozoic,  and  Cainozoic,  each  of  these  series  being 
characterised  by  a  peculiar  facies  of  vegetable  life. 

10.  The  mere  absence  of  organic  remains  will  not  always  be  a  correct 

guide  as  to  the  state  of  the  globe. 

11.  The  number  of  fossil  species  has  been  estimated  at  between  3000 

and  4000 ;  but  many  parts  of  j^lants  are  described  as  separate 
species,  and  even  genera,  and  hence  the  number  is  perhaps 
greater  than  it  ought  to  be. 

12.  Brongniart  divides  the  fossil  flora  into  three  great  epochs  : — 1. 

The  reign  of  Acrogens  ;  2.  The  reign  of  Gymnosperms  ;  3.  The 
reign  of  Angiosperms. 

13.  The  reign  of  Acrogens  embraces  the  Silurian,  Carboniferous,  and 

Permian  epochs,  in  which  there  was  a  predominance  of  plants 
belonging  to  the  natural  orders  Filices,  Lycopodiacese,  and 
Equisetacese,  associated,  however,  with  others  of  a  higher  class. 

14.  The  reign  of    Gymnosperms   embraces   the   lower   and   middle 

Secondary  periods,  and  is  characterised  by  the  presence  of 
numerous  Coniferse  and  Cycadacese. 

15.  The  reign  of  Angiosperms  includes  the  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary 

periods,  and  is  marked  by  the  predominance  of  Angiospermous 
Dicotyledons. 

16.  Coal  is  a  vague  term,  referring  to  all  kinds  of  fuel  formed  from 

the  chemically-altered  remains  of  plants. 

17.  When  there  is  a  great  admixture  of  mineral  matter,  so  that  it  will 

not  burn  as  fuel,  then  a  shale  is  produced. 

18.  The  microscopic  structure  of  Coal  probably  varies  according  to 

the  nature  of  the  plants  of  which  it  is  composed,  and  the 
changes  produced  by  pressure,  heat,  and  other  causes.  Cell- 
ular tissue,  punctated  woody  tissue,  and  scalariform  vessels, 
have  been  detected  in  it. 

19.  Certain  temporary  and  local  floras  seem  to  have  given  origin  to 

peculiar  layers  of  coal. 

20.  During  the  Carboniferous  epoch  we  meet  with  Ferns,  Sigillarias, 

and  their  roots  called  Stigmarias,  Lepidodendrons,  Uloden- 
_drons,  Calamites,  Gymnosperms,  etc. 


LITERATURE    OF   THE    SUBJECT.  105 

21.  The  plants  forming  coal  have  grown  in  the  basin  where  the  coal 

is  found ;  but  sandstone  rocks  in  the  coal-measures  deposited 
by  water  having  a  considerable  velocity,  and  consequently 
carrying  power,  contain  sometimes  trunks  of  large  trees  which 
have  been  drifted  like  snags. 

22.  The  strata  between  the  Permian  epoch  and  Chalk  display  nume- 

rous Gymnosperms,  especially  belonging  to  the  Cycadaceous 
Order.     Some  of  them  exhibit  limited  coal  deposits. 

23.  The  Chalk  and  Tertiary  strata  display  not  only  Acrogens  and 

Gymnosperms,  but  also  Angiospermous  Dicotyledons,  some  of 
which,  at  the  Miocene  period,  belong  apparently  to  genera  of 
the  present  day. 

24.  Brown  Coal  occurs  in  the  Upper  Tertiary  beds,  and  in  it  vegetable 

structure  is  easily  seen  under  the  microscope. 

25.  Raulin  thinks  that  during  the  Tertiary  epoch  the  flora  of  Europe 

has  gradually  assumed  a  more  temperate  character. 

26.  The  Eocene  flora,  according  to  linger,  resembled  in  many  respects 

that  of  Australia  at  the  present  day. 

27.  The  Miocene  flora  is  characterised  by  a  number  of  exotic  forms  of 

warm  regions  with  those  of  temperate  climates.     It  is  largely 
seen  in  the  Arctic  Regions. 
29.  The  Pliocene  flora  has  great  analogy  with  that  of  the  temperate 
regions  of  Europe,  North  America,  and  JajDan. 

On  the  subject  of  Fossil  Botany  the  following  works  may 
be  consulted : — 

Abhandlungen  der  Kaiserlich  Koniglichen  Geologischen  Reichsanstalt, 

Band.  ii.  Wien.  1855. 
Argyll,  Duke  of,  on   Tertiary  Leaf-Beds  in  the  Isle  of  Mull,  Journ. 

Geol.  Soc.  Lond.,  vii.  May  1851. 
Balfour,  J.  H.,  on  certain  Vegetable  Organisms  in  Coal  from  Fordel, 

Trans.  R.S.E.,  vol.  xxi.  p.  187. 
Baily,  W.  H.,  Figures  of  Characteristic  British  Fossils,  1871-2. 
Bennett,  J.  Hughes,  on  the  Structure  of  Torbane  Hill  Mineral  and 

other  Coals,  Trans.  R.  Soc.  Ed.,  vol.  xxi.  p.  173. 
Binney,  E.  AV.,  on  Calamites  and  Calamodendron,  Palseontographical 

Society's  Memoirs,  1868. 
on  the  Structure  of  Fossil  Plants  found  in  the  Carboniferous 

Strata.     Palseontographical  Society's  Memoirs,  1871. 
Description  of  some  Fossil  Plants,  showing  Structure  in  the 


106  PALiEONTOLOGICAL  BOTANY. 

Lower  Coal  Seam  of  Lancaster  and  Yorkshire,  Phil.  Trans.,  vol. 

155,  p.  579. 
Bowerbank,  Fossil  Fruits  and  Seeds  of  the  London  Clay. 
Brongniart,  Histoire  des  Vdgdtaux  Fossiles,  1828-44. 
Observations  sur  la  Structure  interieure  du  Sigillaria,  etc.,  in 

Archives  du  Museum,  i.  405. 

Exposition  Chronologique  des  Periodes  de  Vdgdtation,  in  Ann. 


des  Sc.  Nat.  3d  series,  Bot.  xi.  285. 
Carruthers,  on  Gymnospermatous  Fruits  from  the  Secondary  Kocks  of 

Britain,  Journ.  Bot.,  Jan.  1867. 
on  the  Structure  of  the  Stems  of  the  Arborescent  Lycopodiacese 

of  the   Coal  Measures,  Nos.  i.  to  iv.,  Month.  Microsc.  Journ., 

vols.  i.  ii.  iv. 
on  the  Cryptogamic  Forests  of  the  Coal  Period,  Paper  read 

before  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain,  16th  April  1869. 
on  the  Structure  and  Affinities  of  Sigillaria  and  Allied  Genera, 

Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  Aug.  1869. 

on  a  Fossil  Cone  from  the  Coal  Measures,  Geol.  Mag.,  1865. 

on  Caulopteris  punctata,  ihid. 

on  Araucaria  Cones  from  the  Secondary  Beds  of  Britain,  ihid. 

1866. 
■ on  an  Aroideous  Fruit  from  the  Stonesfield  Slate,  ihid.  1867. 


on  Cycadoidea  Yatesii,  ihid.  1867. 

on  the  Structure  of  the  Fruit  of  Calamites,  Journal  of  Botany, 

1867. 

on  British  Fossil  Pandanacese,  ihid.  1868. 

on  British  Fossil  Coniferse,  ihid.  1869. 


on  the  Petrified  Forest  near  Cairo,  Geol.  Mag.,  vii.  306. 

on  the  Structure  of  a  Fern-Stem  from  the  Lower  Eocene, 

Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  xxvi.  349. 

on  the  Structure  and  Affinities  of  Lepidodendron  and  Cala- 
mites, Trans.  Bot.  Soc.  Edin.,  viii.  495. 

on  some  Fossil  Coniferous  Fruits,  Geol.  Mag.,  vols.  iii.  vi. 

on  Beania,  a  new  genus  of  Cycadean  Fruit,  from  the  York- 


shire Oolites,  Geol.  Mag.,  vol.  vi. 
on  Plant-remains  from  the  Brazilian  Coal-beds,  with  Remarks 

on  the  genus  Flemingites,  Geol.  Mag.,  vol.  vi. 
on  the  Fossil  Cycadaceous  Stems  from  the  Secondary  Rocks 

of  Britain,  Linn.  Trans.,  xxvi.  675. 
on  the  History  and  Affinities  of  the  British  Coniferse,  Brit. 


Assoc.  Reports,  40th  Meeting,  p.  71, 


LITERATURE   OF   THE   SUBJECT.  107 

Carruthers,  List  of  New  Genera  and  Species  of  Fossil  Plants,  Nos.  i. 

ii.  and  iii.,  Journal  of  Botany,  vols.  viii.  ix.  x. 
Coalfields,  by  a  Traveller  under  ground. 
Corda,  Beitrage  zur  Flora  der  Vorwelt,  Prag.  1845. 
Cotta,  Dendrolithen,  Leipzig,  1850. 
Dawson,  J.  W.,  on  Spore-Cases  in  Coal,  Ann.  Nat.  Hist.,  1871,  p. 

321. 
on  Vegetable  Structures  in  Coal,  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc, 

1860. 
on  the  Pre-Carboniferous  Flora  of  New  Brunswick  and  Eastern 

Canada,  Canadian  Naturalist,  May  1861. 
on   the   Flora  of  the   Devonian   Period    in   North-Eastern 

America,  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  Nov.  1862. 
on  an  Erect  Sigillaria  and  a  Carpolite  from  Nova  Scotia, 

Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  Lond. 

on  Calamites,  Ann.  Nat.  Hist.  4th  ser.  vol.  iv.  272. 

on  the  Varieties  and  Mode  of  Preservation  of  the   Fossils 

known  as  Sternbergite,  Canadian  Naturalist ;  also  in  Edin.  New 

Phil.  Journal,  N.S.  vii.  140. 

Acadian  Geology,  1868. 

the  Fossil  Plants  of  the  Devonian  and  Upper  Silurian  For- 
mations of  Canada,  Geol.  Survey  of  Canada,  1871. 
on  the  Pre-Carboniferous  Floras  of  North-Eastern  America, 

with  special  reference  to  that  of  the  Erian  (Devonian)  Period, 

Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Lond.,  May  5,  1870. 
on  the  Grapliite  of  the  Laurentian  Rocks  of  Canada,  Quart. 


Journ.  Geol.  Soc,  xxvi.  112. 
Dimker,  Zettel,  and  Meyer,  Beitrage  zur  Naturgeschichte  der  Vorwelt. 
Ettingshausen,  Beitrage  zur  Flora  der  Vorwelt  in  Abhandlungen  der 

Geolog.  Reichsanstalt,  Vienna,  1851. 
Forbes,    on    Tertiaiy  Leaf-Beds  in  the  Isle  of  Mull,   discovered  by 

the   Duke   of  Argyll,  F.G.S.,  with   a   note  on  the  Vegetable 

Remains  from  Ardtun   Head,  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  Lond., 

vol.  vii. 
Giebel,  Palseontologie. 
Goeppert,  Beitrage  zur  Bernsteinflora ;  sur  la  Structure  de  la  Houille. 

Die  Gattungen  der  Fossilen  Pflanzen,  Bonn,  1841. 

Monographic  des  Fossilen  Coniferen,  1850. 

Systema  Filicum  Fossilium,  Nova  Acta,  xvii. 

Ueber  die  Fossilen  Cycadeen,  Breslau,  1844. 

Erlauteruns:  der  Steinkohlen-Formation. 


108  PAL^ONTOLOGICAL   BOTANY. 

Goeppert,  Die  Fossile  Flora  der  Permischen  Formation,  Palseonto- 

graphica,  Hermann  von  Meyer,  Cassel,  1864. 

Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss  Fossilen  Cycadeen,  Breslau. 

Grand  d'Eiiry,  on  Calamites  and  Asterophyllites,  Ann.  Nat.  Hist., 

ser.  4,  vol.  iv.  124. 
Harkness,  on  Coal,  Edin.  Phil.  Journ.,  July  1854. 
Heer,  Flora  Tertiaria  Helvetise,  3  vols. 

Flora  Fossilis  Arctica,  1868-1871. 

on  the  Fossil  Flora  of  Bovey  Tracey,  Phil.  Trans.  R.S.L.,  152, 

p.  1039. 
on  the  Fossil  Flora  of  North  Greenland,  Phil.  Trans,,  vol.  159., 

p.  445. 
Hooker,  on  Some  Minute  Seed- Vessels  (Carpolithes  ovulum,  Brong- 

niart)  from  the  Eocene  beds  of  Lewisham,  Proceed.  Geol.  Soc, 

1855. 
Vegetation  of  the  Carboniferous  Period,  in  Mem.  of  Geol. 

Survey,  ii. 

on  a  New  Species  of  Volkmannia,  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc. 


Lond.,  May  1854. 
King,  on  Sigillaria,  etc.,  in  Edin.  New  Phil.  Journal,  xxxvi. 
Lesquereux,  on  the  Coal  Measures  of  America,  Silliman's  Journal,  1863. 
Lindley  and  Hutton,  Fossil  Flora,  3  vols.     A  revision  of  the  original 

work,  with  a  supplementary  volume  containing  the  recent  addi- 
tions, and  a  Synopsis  of  the  Fossil  Plants  of  Britain  by  Mr.  W. 

Carruthers,  is  announced  as  about  to  be  published. 
Lowry,  Table  of  the  Characteristic  Fossils  of  Different  Formations. 
M'Nab,  on  the  Structure  of  a  Lignite  (Paloeojntys)  from  the  Old  Red 

Sandstone,  Trans.  Bot.  Soc.  Edin.,  x.  312. 
Mueller  and  Smyth,  on  Some  Vegetable  Fossils  from  Victoria,  Geol. 

Mag.,  vii.  390. 
Meyer,  Hermann  Von,  Palseontographica.    Beitrage  zur  Naturgeschichte 

der  Vorwelt,  1864. 
Nicholson,  on  the  Occurrence  of  Plants  in  the  Skiddaw  Slates,  Geol. 

Mag.,  vol.  vi. 
Paterson,  Description  of  Pothocites  Grantoni,  a  New  Fossil  Vegetable 

from  the  Coal  Formation,  Trans.  Bot.  Soc.  Edin.,  vol.  i. 
Penny  Cyclopaedia,  vol.  vii..  Coal  Plants. 
Pictet,  Traitd  de  Pal^ontologie. 
Quekett,  on  the  Minute  Structure  of  Torbane  Hill  Mineral,  Journ. 

Microsc.  Sc,  1854. 
Raulin,  Flore  de  I'Europe  pendant  la  Pdriode  Tertiaire,  in  Ann.  des  Sc. 

Nat.,  3d  ser.  x.  193. 


LITERATURE    OF    THE    SUBJECT.  109 

Redfern,  on  the  Nature  of  the  Torbane  Hill  and  other  Varieties  of 

Coal,  Brit.  Assoc.  Liverpool,  1854. 
Roehl,  A.  von,  Fossile  Flore  der  Steinkohlen  Formation  Westphalens. 
Saporta,  Etudes  sur  la  Vdgdtation  du  Sud-Est  de  la  France  a  I'Epoque 

Tertiaire,  Annales  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  ser.  4,  tome  xvi.  309, 

xvii.  191,  xix.  5 ;  ser.  5,  tome  iii.  5,  iv.  5. 
Schenk,  Professor,  die  Fossile  Flore  der  Nordwest  Deutschen  Wealden 

Formation. 
Schimper,  Traitd  de  Paldontologie  Vdgdtale,  1870-71. 
Tate,  on  the  Fossil  Flora  of  the  Mountain  Limestone  Formation  of  the 

Eastern  Borders,  in  connection  with  the  Natural  History  of  Coal 

(in  Johnstone's  Eastern  Borders). 
Torbane  Coal,  as  noticed  in  the  Report  of  the  Trial  as  to  the  sub- 
stance called  Torbane  Mineral  or  Torbanite. 
linger.  Genera  et  Species  Plantarum  Fossilium. 

Chloris  Protogsea. 

Le  Monde  Primitive  (a  work  which  contains  picturesque  views 

of  the  supposed  state  of  the  earth  at  different  geological  epochs), 
on  the  Flora  of  the  Eocene  Epoch,  Journ.  Bot.,  iii.  39. 


Weber  and  Wersel,  Die  Tertiarflore  der  Nieder  Sheinescher  Braun- 

kohlen  Formation. 
Williamson,  W.  C,  on  the  Organisation  of  the  Fossil  Plants  of  the 

Coal  Measures,  Ann.  Nat.  Hist.,  1871,  p.  134. 
on    the    Structure    and   Affinities   of  the    Plants   hitherto 

known  as  Sternbergise,  Mem.  Manch.  Lit.  and  Phil.  Soc,  ix. 
on  a  New  Form  of  Calamitean  Strobilus,  from  the  Lancashire 

Coal  Measures,  Mem.   Lit.  Phil.   Soc.  Manchester,   vol.  iv.   3d 

series. 
on  the  Structure  of  the  AVoody  Zone  of  an  Undescribed  Form 

of  Calamite,  Mem.  Lit.  Phil.  Soc.  Manchester,  vols.  iv.  and  viii. 

3d  series. 

on  Volkmannia  Dawsoni,  ibid.  1870-71. 

on  Zamia  gigas  (Williamsonia  gigas),  Linn.  Trans.,  xxvi.  663. 

—.^—.  on  the  Organisation  of  Fossil  Plants  of  the  Coal  Measures, 

Part  I.,  Calamites,  Phil.  Trans.  R.S.L.,  vol.  161,  p.  477. 
Witham,  on  the  Structure  of  FossU  Vegetables. 
Yates,  on  Zamia  gigas.  Proceed.  Yorkshire  Phil.  Soc,  April  1847. 
Young,  J.,  and  Armstrong,  Jas.,  on  the  Carboniferous  Fossils  of  the 

West  of  Scotland,  Trans.  Geol.  Soc.  Glas.,  vol.  iii. 

Besides    geological    treatises    such    as    those    of    Ansted, 
Beudant,  Jukes,  Lyell,  and  others. 


EXPLANATION   OF   PLATES. 


PLATE  I. 

Fig.  1.    Palreopteris    Hibernica,    Schiinper    (Cyclopteris    Hibernica, 

Forbes).     One-sixth  the  natural  size. 
Fig.  2.  A  pinnule  somewhat  magnified,  showing  the  venation. 
Fig.  3.  A  fertile  pinna,  natural  size. 
Fig.  4.  Two  cup-shaped  indusia  borne  on  the  rachis. 
Fig.  5.  Sporangia  enclosing  spores.     From  the  Coal-measures. 
Fig.  6.   Sporangia  of  Hymenophyllum   Tuubridgense,  Sm.     (Fern  of 

present  epoch.) 
Fig.  7.  Sporangium  of  Polypodium  vulgare,  Linn.     (Fern  of  present 

epoch.)     Figs.  5,  6,  and  7,  magnified  to  the  same  extent. 
Fig.  8.  Transverse  section  of  Osmundites  Dowkeri,  Carruthers. 
Fig.  9.  Two  cells  of  Osmundites,  filled,  the  one  with  starch  granules, 
and  the  other  with  mycelium  of  a  fungus. 

PLATE   n. 

Fig.  1.   Cycadeostrobus  ovatus,  Carr.     From  the  Wealden,  Isle   of 
Wight. 

Fig.  2.  Beania  gracilis,  Carr.     From  the  Yorkshire  Oolite. 

Fig.  3.  Bennettites  Saxbyanus,  Carr.     From  the  Lower  Greensand  of 
the  Isle  of  Wight. 

Fig.  4.  Pinites  Leckenbyi,  Carr.     From  the  Lower  Greensand  of  the 
Isle  of  Wight. 

Fig.  5.  Trigonocarpon  olivseforme,  Lindl.  and  Hutt.    From  the  Coal- 
measures,  Manchester. 

Fig.  6.  Trigonocarpon  sulcatum,  Carr.     Coal-measures,  Wardie,  Edin- 
burgh. 

Fig  7.  Sequoiites  Gardner!,  Carr.     Erom  the  Gault  at  Folkestone. 

Figs.  8,  9.  Cupressinites  Thujoides,  Bowerbank.     From  the  Eocene 
at  Sheppey. 

Fig.  10.  Scale  of  Ai'aucarites  Brodiei,  Carr.     From  the  Great  Oolite 
at  Stonesfield. 


112  EXPLANATION   OF   PLATES. 

Fig.  11.  Scale  of  Araucarites  Pliillipsii,  Carr.     From  the  Oolite  of 
Yorkshire. 
All  the  figures  on  this  Plate  (except  Fig.  2,  which  is  one- 
half  of  the  natural  size)  are  drawn  the  size  of  nature. 

PLATE   III. 

Fig.  1.  Mass  of  coal  from  Fordel,  Fifeshire,  containing  numerous 
sporangia  of  Flemiugites.  These  sporangia  occur  in  coal 
from  different  localities  in  England  and  Scotland.  Binney 
has  seen  them  in  Wigan  coal.  Huxley  has  found  them 
abounding  in  coal  near  Bradford  (Balfour,  R.S.E.  Trans.) 

Fig.  2.  One  of  the  Sporangia  entire,  and  separated  from  the  coal 
(Balfour). 

Fig.  3.  Sporangium  with  its  valves  separated,  containing  a  quantity 
of  black  carbonaceous  matter  in  its  interior  (Balfour). 
This  matter  is  formed  by  the  altered  spores  (microspores). 

Fig.  4.  Sporangium,  showing  the  triradiate  marking  on  the  under  sur- 
face, and  a  granulation  produced  probably  by  the  spores  in 
the  interior. 

Fig.  5.  Punctated  woody  tissue  (Coniferous).  From  the  needle  coal  of 
Toplitz,  Bohemia  (Harkness). 

Fig.  G.  Scalariform  vessels  from  coal  (Balfour). 

Fig.  7.  Stigmaria,  with  markings  of  rootlets.  One  showing  the 
papilla  to  which  the  rootlet  was  articulated  (Hooker). 

Fig.  8.  Transverse  section  of  Stigmaria,  showing  the  vascular  cylinder 
divided  into  wedges  (Hooker). 

Fig.  9.  Tissues  of  Stigmaria,  showing  the  inner  portion  of  the  vas- 
cular cylinder  (Hooker). 

Fig.  10.  Transverse  section  of  a  Lepidostrobus,  the  fructification  of 
Lepidodendron,  showing  scales  and  sporangia  (Hooker). 

Fig.  11.  Ulodendron  Taylori  (Carruthers). 

PLATE   IV. 

Fig.  1.  Sigillaria  Brownii,  restored  (Dawson). 

Fig.  2.  Sigillaria  clegans,  restored  (Dawson). 

Fig.  3.  Lepidodendron,  restored  (Carruthers,  Bot.  Soc.  Trans.) 

Fig.  4.  Calamites,  restored  (Carruthers,  Bot.  Soc.  Trans.) 

Fig.  5.  Psilophyton,  a  fossil  of  the  Devonian  epoch  (Dawson). 


Pll 


BaJfour's  PalaeoTitoIogical  Botany. 


A.T.HoThctad  e'.  ViUi 


Fossil  Ferns 


IJtrticra  uLk'oKjiTtr  - 


PI  II 


-BaIfoij3"'s  Paleeontolo^caJ  Bol  Ajry. 


AT  Hoi  1; ok  dLei   e+.  iiUi 


Minler  n  Br  o  »  rmp 


Fos8ii  Cry  rnno  sperm  OILS  Fruits 


PI.  III. 


Balfour's  Talseontolo^ical  Botairy. 


J.    \^ 


12. 


e     " 


/    >ni?">% 


■"  1       %  ' 
\ 


^!. 


M'Fariajie  8^  Erslune,  LitW^Eaui'' 


Coal   ancL    Coal-Planis. 


PL  IV. 


Balfo-afs  Talaeontological  Botany. 


Pi 


M'^Parlane  8c;'i;Ts;cine,  LiWEaiit^ 


Jjevonian  and  CarlDOTiiferous   Flora. 


INDEX. 


Abietites,  84,  85,  87. 

Acacia,  90,  92. 

Acanthocarpum,  72. 

Acer,  92,  97. 

Acerites,  87. 

Acrogens  of  present  day,  26. 

Acrogens,  fossil,  reign  of,  25,  26. 

Adiantites,  41. 

iEthophyllum,  79. 

Alder,  94. 

Aletliopteris,  43,  72. 

Algfe,  35. 

Algse  of  Cretaceous  epocli,  87. 

Alnites,  87,  94. 

Alnus,  94,  97. 

Alsopliila,  29. 

Amber,  90. 

Amber  flora,  Goeppert  on  the,  91. 

Amentiferse,  fossil,  92. 

Ancestropbyllum,  48. 

Andromeda,  96,  97. 

Angiosperms,  fossil,  reign  of,  25,  87. 

Annularia,  61,  71. 

Anomopteris,  79. 

Anona,  97. 

Antliodiopsis,  72. 

Antliolithes,  64. 

Anthracite,  36. 

Apocynacese,  fossil,  92. 

Araucaria,  5,  6,  7,  85,  90. 

Arancarioxylon,  structure  of,  63. 

Araucarites,  82,  83,  84,  85,  86,  87. 

Arctic  fossil  flora  (Miocene),  97. 

Ai-ctic  Regions,  Palseozoic  flora  of,  40. 

Arctic  Regions,  fossU  wood  of,  95. 

Arthropitys,  72. 


Artisia,  64. 
Aspleuium,  28. 
Asterophyllites,  35,  61,  71. 

Bambusium,  92. 

Bauhinia,  90,  92. 

Beania,  82. 

Bear  Island,  fossil  flora  of,  40,  59. 

Beeches,  97. 

Bennettitese,  86. 

Bennettites,  85,  87. 

Betula,  94,  97. 

Bothrodendron,  57. 

Bovey  Tracey  flora,  96. 

Bovey   Tracey,   Devonshire,   lignite 

beds  of,. 96. 
Brachyphyllura,  80,  86,  87. 
Bryson's  instrument  for  slitting,  14. 
Bucklandia,  84,  86. 

Csesalpinia,  90. 

Cainozoic  period,  fossil  plants  of,  87. 

Calamites,  35,  41,  53. 

Calamites,  foliage  and  fruit  (woodcut), 

62. 
Calamites,  structure  of,  57. 
'  Calamites,  structure  of  fruit,  60. 
Calamodendron,  59,  72. 
Callipteris,  72. 
Callitris,  90. 
Camptopteris,  79,  80. 
Carboniferous  epoch,  36. 
Carboniferous  vegetation,  its  general 

character,  69. 
Carbonisation,  9. 
Cardiocarpum,  41,  72,  78. 


114 


INDEX. 


Cardiocarpum,  structure  of,  64. 

Cardiopteris,  40. 

Carpinites,  87. 

Carpinus,  94. 

Carpolitlies,  78,  83,  92,  97. 

Cassia,  90. 

Casts  of  plants,  8. 

Casuarina,  90. 

Caulinites,  90. 

Caulopteris,  43, 

Centrolobium,  90. 

Chalk  flora,  characteristics  of,  87. 

Chara,  92. 

Characeae,  fossil,  91. 

Chondrites,  87. 

Cinchonacere,  fossil,  92. 

Cinnamomum,  96. 

Classes  to  which  fossil  ]plants  belong, 

2. 
Climate  as  determined  by  fossil  plants, 

19. 
Climate  of  the  Tertiary  period,  100. 
Club-mosses,  26,  30. 
Coal-basins,  37. 
Coal,  brown,  structure  of,  100. 
Coal,  Fordel,  36,  56. 
Coal-formation,  extent  of,  38. 
Coal,  household,  36. 
Coal-measures,  flora  of,  39. 
Coal,  parrot,  36. 

Coal-plants,  in  situ,  or  drifted,  67. 
Coal,  structure  in,  36. 
Coal,  Wigan  cannel,  36. 
Coal  of  Oolitic  epoch,  82. 
Coal  of  Tertiary  beds,  100. 
Combretacese,  fossil,  92. 
Comptonia,  92,  94. 
Comptonites,  87. 
Cones,  fossil,  of  Wealden,  85. 
Confervites,  87. 
Coniferae,  87. 
Coniferse,  modern,  72. 
Coniferae,  number  of  Miocene  species, 

97. 
Coniferae,  Oolitic,  80. 
Coniferae,  structure  of  recent,  74. 
Coniferae    of     brown     coal     deposits, 

100. 
Coniferae     of    Miocene     Arctic    fossil 

flora,  97. 


Coniferae  of  Secondary  strata,  85. 

Coniferae  of  Tertiary  period,  89. 

Coniferous  genera  ot  Lias,  79. 

Coniferous  vegetation  of  Upper  Cre^ 
taceous  period,  appearance  of,  89. 

Copaifera,  90. 

Cordaites,  35,  72. 

Cornus,  97. 

Corylus,  96,  97. 

Crataegus,  97. 

Credneria,  87. 

Crematopteris,  79. 

Cretaceous  system,  fossil  plants  of, 
87. 

Crossozamia,  86. 

Cryptogamia,  number  of  Miocene 
species  of,  97. 

Cryptomeria,  87. 

Cryptomerites,  86. 

Ctenis,  78,  79. 

Cucumites,  90. 

Cunninghamites,  87. 

Cupressineae,  89. 

Cupressoxylon,  93. 

Cyathea,  29. 

Cyatheites,  72. 

Cycadaceae,  87. 

Cycadaceae,  fossil,  Carruthers'  arrange- 
ment of,  86. 

Cycadaceae,  modern,  72,  75. 

Cycadaceae,  Oolitic,  80. 

Cycadaceae  in  Mesozoic  period,  77. 

Cycadaceae  of  Lias,  79. 

Cycadaceae  of  Tertiary  period,  89. 

Cycadaceae  of  Wealden  epoch,  84. 

Cycadeostrobus,  85. 

Cycadites,  44,  79,  84,  87. 

Cycadoidea,  83. 

Cycas,  76. 

Cyclopteris,  32,  35,  43,  72. 

Cyclostigma,  41. 

Cyperites,  48. 

Cystoseirites,  87. 

Dadoxylon,  35,  63. 
Dalbergia,  90. 
Dammarites,  87. 
Daphnogene,  92,  96,  97. 
Dawson  on  Devonian  fossils,  35. 
Desmodophyllum,  92. 


INDEX. 


115 


Dicotyledons  of  Pliocene  epoch,  98. 
Dictyotlialamus,  72. 
Didymophyllum,  48. 
Didymosorus,  95. 
Dioonopteris,  72. 
Dirt-bed,  Portland,  83. 
Dolichites,  92. 
Drepanocarpus,  90. 
Dryandroides,  96. 

Echitonium,  92,  96. 
Encephalartos,  76. 
Entada,  90. 

Eocene  epoch,  Algfe  of,  90. 
Eocene  epoch,  characteristics  of,  90. 
Eocene  epoch,  Coniferse  of,  90,  91. 
Eocene  epoch,  flora  of,  89,  90. 
Eocene  epoch,  fruits  of,  90. 
Eozoon  Canadense,  31. 
Eqiiisetacese,  29,  59. 
Equisetites,  71. 
Equisetum,  31,  53,  79,  94,  95. 
Equisetum  spores,  32. 
Equisetum,  structure  of  fruit,  60. 
Erian  fossil  plants,  35. 
Erythrina,  92. 

Exogenous  trees  of  Carboniferous  epoch, 
62. 

Fagus,  94,  97. 
Eavularia,  46. 
Fern -flora  in  connection  with  climate, 

41. 
Ferns,  96. 

Ferns,  structure  of,  29. 
Ferns  of  Carboniferous  strata,  41. 
Ferns  of  present  day,  26. 
Ficus,  96. 
Fig,  evergreen,  96. 
Filicites,  94. 
Fittonia,  86,  87. 
Flabellaria,  64,  87. 
Flemingites,  51,  52,  57. 
Floras   of  present  day  in   connection 

with  fossil  plants,  19. 
Folliculites,  92. 
Fossil  botany,  recapitulation   of  chief 

points  connected  with,  103, 
Fossil  botany,  list  of  works  treating 

of,  105. 


Fossil  plants   compared  with  modern 

plants,  3,  4. 
Fossil  plants,  determination  of,  3. 
Fossil  plants,  mode  of  preservation  of, 

8. 
Fossil  plants,  number  of,  23. 
Fossiliferous     periods,     according    to 

Brongniart,  25. 
Fossiliferous  rocks,  20. 
Fructification  in  ferns  of  Carboniferous 

epoch,  40. 
Fruits,  fossil,  of  Isle  of  Sheppey,  90. 
Fungi,  fossil,  91. 

Gardenia,  97. 

Gault,  Coniferje  of,  80,  85, 

Getonia,  92. 

Glyptostrobus,  97. 

Gres  bigarre,  78, 

Gymnosperms,  fossil,  reign  of,  25. 

Gyrogonites,  92. 

Haidingera,  78. 

Hakea,  97. 

Halonia,  57. 

Heer's  list  of  plants  from  the  Bovey 

Tracey  Miocene  formation,  96. 
Heer  on  the  migration  of  plants,  98. 
Heer  on  the  number  of  species  in  the 

Arctic  fossil  flora,  97. 
Heer's    remarks    on    the   Polar   flora, 

98. 
Hightea,  90. 
Horse-tails,  29. 
Huttonia,  71, 
HjTnenophylleae,  34, 
H}Tiienophyllites,  71. 
Hymenopliyllum,  35, 

Ilex,  97. 
Infiltration,  9. 
Inga,  90. 

Isoetes,  27,  49,  89. 
Ivy,  97. 

Juglandites,  87. 

Jurassic  period  of  Brongniart,  79. 

Kaidacarpum,  84. 
Keupric  period,  79. 


116 


INDEX. 


Kimmeridge  Clay,  Coniferse  of,  85, 
Knorria,  41,  48,  57. 
Knorria,  pliyllotaxis  of,  55. 

Lastrea,  29. 

Lauracese,  97. 

Lauracese,  fossil,  92. 

Laurel,  96. 

Laurentian  rocks,  31. 

Laurus,  92,  96. 

Leaf-beds  of  Ardtun,  Mull,  93. 

Leaf-beds  of  Bournemouth,  95. 

Leaf -beds,  geuera  of,  94. 

Leguminosae,  fossil,  92. 

Leguminosites,  90. 

Lepidodendron,  35,  41,  49. 

Lepidodendron,  pliyllotaxis  of,  54. 

Lepidophloios,  57. 

Lepidopliyllum,  41,  56. 

Lepidostrobus,  35,  50,  52. 

Lias,  Coniferse  of,  80, 

Lias,  fossil  plants  of,  79 , 

Libocedrus,  90. 

Lignite,  32. 

Lignite  beds  of  Bovey  Tracey,  96. 

Lignites,  9. 

Lonchopteris,  43,  84. 

Lough  Neagli,  Miocene  formation  of,  93. 

Lower  Greensand,  cone  of,  89. 

Lower  Greensand,  Coniferse  of,  85. 

Lycopodiacese,  49,  54. 

Lycopodiacese,  modern,  26. 

Lycopodites,  56. 

Lycopodium,  30,  53. 

MacClintockia,  97. 

Macrospores,  30. 

Magnolia,  97. 

Mantellia,  83,  84,  86. 

Marsilea,  31,  33. 

Marsileaceee,  31. 

Mesozoic  period,  flora  of  the,  72. 

Microspores,  30. 

Microzamia,  87. 

Mimosa,  90. 

Mimosites,  92. 

Miocene  epoch,  flora  of,  89,  92. 

Miocene  period,  temperature  of,  97. 

Mull,  leaf-beds  of,  93. 

Mull,  Miocene  formation  of,  93. 


Munsteria,  87. 
Myrica,  94,  97. 

Naiadaceae,  87. 

Natural  orders  to  which  fossil  plants 

belong,  22. 
Neuropteridese,  41. 
Neuropteris,  42,  71. 
Nicolia,  11. 

Nicol's  mode  of  preparing  sections,  13. 
Nilssonia,  79. 
Nipadites,  90. 
Noeggerathia,  64,  71,  72. 
NjTnphsea,  97. 

Odontopteris,  42,  72. 

Oolitic  epoch,  flora  of,  80. 

Oolite,  fruits  of,  83. 

Oolite,  Inferior,  Coniferse  of,  86. 

Oolite,  Lower,  82. 

Oolite,  Scottish,  plants  of,  81. 

Oolite,  Upper,  82. 

Oolite,  Yorkshire,  83. 

Osmunda,  89. 

Osmundites,  91. 

Otopteryx,  97. 

Otozamites,  79. 

Oxford  Clay,  Coniferse  of,  86. 

Paleeophytology,  1. 
Palseopitys,  32. 
Palseopteris,  32,  34,  41. 
Palseozamia,  79. 

Palaeozoic  or  Primary  period,  26. 
Palseozoology,  1. 
Palissya,  80,  86. 
Paliurus,  97. 
Palm,  96. 

Palmacites,  87,  90,  96. 
Pandanacese,  84. 
Pecopteris,  42,  96. 
Pecopteridese,  41. 
Pepperworts,  31. 
Permian  flora,  71. 
Permian  period,  fruits  of,  72. 
Petrifaction,  9. 
Petrified  forests,  11. 
Pence,  64,  80,  82,  86,  89. 
Phanerogamia,    number    of    Miocene 
species  of,  97. 


INDEX. 


117 


Phaseolites,  92. 

Phoenicites,  92. 

Phyllotaxis,  54,  55. 

Pilularia,  31. 

Pinites,  78,  85,  86,  87,  89,  100. 

Pinites,  structure  of,  63. 

Pinus,  86,  94,  97. 

Pissadendron,  63, 

Pitus,  structure  of,  64. 

Plane,  94. 

Platanites,  94. 

Platanus,  97. 

Pliocene  epoch,  flora  of  the,  89,  98. 

Plumiera,  92, 

Podocarpus,  90. 

Podocarya,  84, 

Portland  beds,  82. 

Portland  Crag,  82. 

Portland  stone,  Coniferse  of,  85, 

Pothocites,  66. 

Proteacese,  fossil,  92,  97. 

Protopteris,  87. 

Prototaxites,  35, 

Prunus,  97. 

Psaronius,  44,  71. 

Psilophyton,  35. 

Pterocarpus,  90. 

Pteroiihyllum,  84,  79, 

Purbeck,  Coniferse  of,  85. 

Purbeck  period,  83. 

Quercus,  94,  96,  97. 

Raulin  on  the  Tertiary  flora  of  Central 

Eui'ope,  99. 
Raumeria,  86, 
Recapitulation  of  chief  points  connected 

with  fossil  botany,  103. 
Rhabdocarpum,  72,  77. 
Rhamnites,  94,  95. 
Rhamnus,  94,  97. 
Rhizocarj)e8e,  31. 
Rings,    number    of   annual,   in    fossil 

Exogens,  100. 

Sagenopteris,  71,  79, 
Salicites,  87. 
Salix,  97. 
Sargassites,  87. 
Scalariform  vessels,  30. 


Schizopteris,  43. 

Secondary  period,  flora  of  the,  72. 

Sections    of    fossils     for    microscope 

12, 
Selaginella,  27,  51,  53. 
Selaginites,  35. 
Senftenbergia,  40. 
Sequoia,  87,  96,  97. 
Sequoiites,  85,  89, 
Shale,  37. 

Sheppey,  fruits  of  Isle  of,  90. 
Sigillaria,  45. 
Silicified  stems,  10. 
Sphenophyllum,  35,  61. 
Sphenopteridese,  41. 
Sphenopteris,  34,  41,  42. 
Sporangia,  30,  56. 
Stangeria,  78. 
Steinhauera,  92. 
Sternbergia,  64,  97. 
Stigmaria,  41,  47,  48. 
Stonesfield  slate,  82. 
Stratified  rocks,  21, 
Structure  of  fossil  plants,  12. 

Table  of  formations,  21. 

Taxites,  86,  94,  95,  100. 

Taxodieai,  89. 

Taxodites,  79,  80,  94,  95. 

Taxodium,  97. 

Terminalia,  92. 

Tertiary  flora  of  Europe,  99. 

Tertiary  period^  characteristics  of,  89, 
100. 

Tertiary  period,  fossil  plants  of,  87. 

Tertiary  vegetation,  Brongniart's  divi- 
sions of,  89. 

Thaumatopteris,  80. 

Thuites,  81,  85,  86. 

^Thnjopsis,  97. 

Tilia,  97. 

Trap  rocks,  20. 

Tree  fern,  27. 

Trees    of  Miocene  Arctic   fossil  flora 
97. 

Triassic  fossils,  77. 

Trigonocarpum,  64,  72. 

Triplosporites,  50,  53. 

TuflF-beds,  94. 

Tulip  tree,  97. 


118 


INDEX. 


Ulmus,  92. 

Ulodendroii,  57. 

Underclay,  37.  ' 

Unger's  list  of  genera  of  Eocene  epocli, 

90. 
Upper  Chalk,  85. 
Upper  Greensand,  Coniferse  of,  85. 

Vaccinium,  96.' 

Vitis,  96. 

Yolkmannia,  60. 

Voltzia,  78,  79. 

Vosgesian  period,  Brongniart's,  78. 

Walchia,  71. 
Walnuts,  97. 
Wealden,  Coniferse  of,  85. 


"Wealden  epocli,  flora  of,  84. 
Widdringtonites,  87. 
Williamsonia,  81. 
Willianisonieae,  86. 
Willow,  97. 

Works,  list  of,  treating  of  fossil  botany, 
105. 

Yatesia,  86. 
Yew,  94. 

Zamia,  78. 
Zamiepe,  86. 
Zamiostrobus,  78. 
Zamites,  78,  79,  84,  87.     ^ 
Zostera,  32. 
Zosterites,  87. 


THE    END. 


Pritttedby  R.  &  R.  Clark,  Edinburgh. 


PROFESSOR   BALFOUR'S 
BOTANY. 


In  one  vol.,  royal  8vo,  pp.  1117,  with  1800  Illustrations, 

price  21s., 

CLASS-BOOK    OF    BOTANY. 

Being  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  VegetaUe  Kingdom. 
By  J.  HUTT0:N'  BALFOUE,  M.D.,  F.K.S., 

Professor  of  Medicine  and  Botany  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  Regius  Keeper 
of  the  Royal  Botanic  Garden,  and  Queen's  Botanist  for  Scotland. 

{May  also  he  had  in  two  Parts^  price  21s.) 


"  In  Dr.  Balfour's  '  Class-Book  of  Botany,'  the  author  seems  to  have 
exhausted  every  attainable  source  of  information.  Few,  if  any,  works  on 
this  subject  contain  such  a  mass  of  carefully  collected  and  condensed 
matter,  and  certainly  none  are  more  copiously  or  better  illustrated." — 
Hooker^ s  Journal  of  Botany. 

"  Professor  Balfour's  '  Class  Book  of  Botany '  is  too  well  and  favourably 
known  to  botanists,  whether  teachers  or  learners,  to  require  any  introduc- 
tion to  our  readers.  It  is,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  only  work  which  a 
lecturer  can  take  in  his  hand  as  a  safe  text-book  for  the  whole  of  such  a 
course  as  is  required  to  prepare  students  for  our  University  or  medical 
examinations.  Every  branch  of  botany,  structural  and  morphological, 
physiological,  systematic,  geographical,  and  pala^ontological,  is  treated  in 
so  exhaustive  a  manner,  as  to  leave  little  to  be  desired. 

"  The  work  is  one  indispensable  to  the  class-room,  and  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  every  teacher." — Nature, 

"  The  voluminous  and  profusely  illustrated  work  of  Dr.  Balfour  is  too 
well  known  to  need  any  words  of  comment." — Lancet. 


EDINBURGH  :   ADAM  AND  CHARLES  BLACK. 


JUKES'    GEOLOGY. 


Just  Published,  in  crown  8vo,  clotla,  price  12s.  6d,, 
NEW  EDITION  OF  BEETE  JUKES' 

MANUAL    OF    GEOLOGY. 

THIRD  EDITION. 
Illustrated  with  numerous  Woodcuts. 

Edited  by  AECHIBALD  GEIKIE,  F.E.S, 

Professor  of  Geology  and  Mineralogy  in  tlie  University  of  Edinburgh,  and 
Director  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Scotland. 


"A  book  which  every  earnest  student  of  geology  will  welcome  with 
delight,  and  than  which  he  can  find  no  better  guide  to  his  studies." — 
Edinburgh  Courant. 


OWEN'S    PALEONTOLOGY 


Second  Edition,  8vo,  illustrated^  price  7s.  6d. 

PAL/EONTOLOGY, 

OR 

A  SYSTEMATIC  SUMMARY  OF  EXTINCT  ANIMALS 
AND  TEEIB  GEOLOGICAL  RELATIONS 

By  KICHAED  OWEN,  E.E.S., 

Superintendent  of  the  Natural  History  Department  in  the 
British  Museum. 


"The  Prince  of  Pala3ontologists  has  here  presented  us  with  a  most 
comprehensive  survey  of  the  characters,  succession,  geological  position,  and 
geographical  distribution  of  the  various  forms  of  life  that  have  passed 
away." —  Medical  Times  and  Gazette. 

EDINBUEGH  :    ADAM  AND  CHAELES  BLACK.