The fossil flora of Great Britain; or, Figures and descriptions of the vegetable remains found in a fossil state in this country

■A'-

THE

FOSSIL FLORA

OF

GREAT BRITAIN;

M

OR,

FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS

OF THE

VEGETABLE REMAINS FOUND IN A FOSSIL STATE

IN THIS COUNTRY.
BY

JOHN LINDLEY, Ph. D. &c. &c.

PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THT UNIVERSITY OF LONDON;
AND

WILLIAM HUTTON, F.G.S. &c.

" Avant de donner un libre cours a notre imagination, il est essentiel de
rassembler un plus grand nombre de faits incontestables, dont les conse-
quences puissent se d6duire d'elles-m^mes.'' — Sternberg,

VOLUME 1.

LONDON :
JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.

1831-3.

Tiliing, Piintei, CheUea.

RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, Esq.
F.R.S. AND L.S.

President of the Geological Society, ^c. ^c. Sfc.

THIS WORK,

WHICH OWES ITS ORIGIN TO HIS SUGGESTION,

AND

ITS EXISTENCE TO HIS SUPPORT,

IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED,

The AUTHORS.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2015

https://archive.org/details/fossilfloraofgre01lind

PREFACE.

The importance of Organic Remains in pointing
out the changes which the surface of the Globe
has undergone, during periods beyond the reach
of traditionary record, has long been acknow-
ledged.

By their assistance, we are enabled to snatch a
glimpse of the early history and condition of our
Planet, and of the successive races of organized
bodies which have existed upon it. In fact, a
very large part of Modern Geology is founded
upon the evidence which they afford.

Whilst this has been generally confessed, it
was chiefly to the remains of animals that Natu-
ralists, for a long time, directed their attention ;
although there are many questions of deep inte-
rest in the elucidation of the History of the Globe,
which are likely to be solved by the study of the
position held in the Vegetable Kingdom, by plants
now known only in a fossil state.

b

vi

The identity of certain strata in which few
animal remains are now to be discovered — the
probable condition of the atmosphere at the most
remote periods — what gradual changes that cli-
mate may have undergone since living things first
began to exist — whether there has been, from the
commencement, a progressive development of their
organization — all these are questions which it is
either the peculiar province of the Botanist to
determine, or which his enquiries must, at least,
tend very much to elucidate.

Considerations of this kind have gradually
forced themselves upon the minds of Geologists,
until the overcoming the difficulties that offer
themselves to a strict examination of fossil vege-
table remains has come to be an object of indis-
pensible necessity. It is found, that neither a
barren nomenclature, destitute of all attempt at
determining the relations that former species bore
to those of our own aera, nor supposed identifica-
tions of species by vague external characters, nor
hasty determinations of analogies by means of
partial views of structure, are sufficient to satisfy
the geological enquirer ; on the contrary, it is now
distinctly seen, that nothing short of a most rigo-
rous examination is likely to serve the ends of
science, and that all conclusions that are not
drawn from the most precise evidence that the
nature of the subject will afford, must either be
rejected, or, at least, received with the greatest
caution.

vii

Unfortunately, Fossil Botany is beset with
difficulties of a peculiar character. The mate-
rials that the enquirer has to work upon, are not
only disfigured by those accidents to which all
fossil remains are exposed in common, but they
are also those which would, in recent vegetation,
be considered of the smallest degree of importance.
There is^ in most cases, an almost total want of
that evidence by which the Botanist is guided in
the examination of recent plants ; and not only
the total destruction of the parts of fructification,
and of the internal organization of the stem, but
what contributes still more to the perplexity of the
subject, a frequent separation of one part from
another, of leaves from branches, of branches from
trunks, and if fructification be present, of even it
from the parts of the plant on which it grew, so
that no man can tell how to collect the frag-
ments that remain into a perfect whole. For it
must be remembered, that it is not in Botany, as
in Zoology, where a skilful anatomist has no diffi-
culty in combining the scattered bones of a broken
skeleton. In Botany, on the contrary, the com-
ponent parts of both foliage and fructification are
often so much alike in outline, which is all that the
Fossil Botanist can judge from, as to indicate
almost nothing when separated from each other,
and from the axis to which they appertain. It is
only by the various combinations of these parts
that the genera and species of plants are to be

b2

Vlll

recognized, and it is precisely these combinations
that in fossils are destroyed.

Insurmountable as these obstacles may, at first
sight, appear, it must be confessed that they have
yielded, in a degree that could scarcely have been
anticipated, to the persevering investigations of a
few skilful observers, who, combining great acute-
ness with all the power that the modern state of
Botanical science can afford them, have clearly
pointed out the possibility of reading one of the
darkest, but most interesting pages in the history
of the globe. The aera of Sternberg, Martins,
Buckland, Witham, and more especially of
Adolphe Brongniart, will be that from which
future Geologists will date the origin of Fossil
Botany, as a separate branch of science. The
latter of these writers, in particular, has embodied
what is at present known of the subject in a work,
which, independently of its other merits, may
fairly lay claim to being by far the most exten-
sive, and best arranged general treatise upon the
ancient vegetation of the world. For ourselves,
notwithstanding the many points in which we find
it necessary to differ in opinion, we have no hesi-
tation in recommending M. Brongniart's book to
Geologists, as the most safe guide they can follow
in all that relates to Fossil Botany.

Having stated thus much, we might, on the
present occasion, content ourselves with a bare
explanation of the objects we have in view, in the

ix

work that is now laid before the public, or, at
least, with touching upon such points only as
concern the elucidation of the more immediate
object of our enquiry, by the discovery of those
lost characters of species, which, no doubt, are
still locked up in our mines and rocks, whence
it is to be hoped the skilful observer will, in
time, extract them. But^ as the whole subject
is one of great interest, and as it is impossible to
say to what future discoveries may lead, we beg
leave to offer a few brief observations upon the
existing state of what is known or conjectured, in
regard to Fossil Botany, and especially upon some
of those topics, which being of the most striking
importance, are those with regard to which it is
more particularly desirable that exact information
should be obtained.

That the face of the globe has successively un-
dergone total changes, at different remote epochs,
is now a fact beyond all dispute ; as, also, that
long anterior to the creation of man, this world
was inhabited by races of animals, to which no
parallels are now to be found ; and that those
animals themselves only made their appearance
after the lapse of ages, during which no warm
blooded creatures had an existence. It has been
further remarked by Zoologists, that the animals
which first appeared in these latitudes, were
analogous to such as now inhabit tropical regions
exclusively ; and that it was only at a period im-

b 3

X

mediately antecedent to the creation of the human
race, that species, similar to those of the existing
aera, began to appear in northern latitudes.

Similar peculiarities have been also found to
mark the vegetation of corresponding periods.
It would hardly be credited, by persons unac-
quainted with the evidence upon which such facts
repose, that, in the most dreary and desolate nor-
thern regions of the present day, there once flou-
rished groves of Tropical plants, of Coniferse like
the Norfolk Island and Araucarian Pines, of Bana-
nas, Tree-ferns, huge Cacti, and Palms; that the
marshes were filled with rush-like plants, fifteen
or twenty feet high, the coverts with ferns like the
undergrowth of a West Indian Island, and that
this vegetation, thus inconceivably rich and luxu-
riant, grew amidst an atmosphere that would have
been fatal to the animal world. Yet, nothing can
well be more certain than that such a descrip-
tion is far from being overcharged. In the Coal
formation, which may be considered the earliest
in which the remains of land plants have been
discovered, the Flora of England consisted of
ferns, in amazing abundance^ of large Coniferous
trees, of species resembling Lycopodiaceae, but of
most gigantic dimensions^ of vast quantities of a
tribe, apparently analogous to Cacteae, or Euphor-
biaceae, but, perhaps, not identical with them, of
Palms, and other Monocotyledones ; and, finally,
of numerous plants, the exact nature of which is

xi

as yet extremely doubtful. Between two and
three hundred species have been detected in this
formation, of which two-thirds are ferns.

In the New Red Sand-stone formation^ the charac-
ters of vegetation appear to be altered by the disap-
pearance of the gigantic Cacteae, or Euphorbiaceae,
by a diminution of the proportion of Ferns, and by
the appearance of a few new tribes ; but so little
is yet known of the Flora of this period, that it
is scarcely worth taking it into account.

In the Lias and Oolitic formations, an entirely
new race of plants covered the earth. The pro-
portional number of Ferns is diminished, the
gigantic Lycopodium-like and Cactoid plants of
the Coal Measures, Calamites, and Palms, all dis-
appear; vegetation has no longer a character of
excessive luxuriance, but species, undoubtedly
belonging to Cycadeae, and analogous to plants,
now natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and of
New Holland, appear to have been common ;
Coniferous plants were still plentiful, but they
were of species that did not exist at an earlier
period. Whether any other Dicotyledons, than
those of the Cycas and Pine tribes, existed at this
time, does not clearly appear.

Up to this time, the features of vegetation were
exclusively extra-European, and chiefly tropical ;
but immediately succeeding the Chalk, a great
change occurred, and a decided approach to the
Flora of modern days took place in some striking
particulars. The Plastic Clay formation is cha-

b4

xii

racterized by a total absence of Cycadea?, the
number of Ferns is again diniinished, Coniferae in-
crease in quantity, and, mixed with Palms and
other Tropical Monocotyledons, there grew Elms,
Willows, Poplars, Chesnuts, and Sycamores,
along with multitudes of Dicotyledonous plants,
not at present determined.

But little remains of the vegetation of succeed-
ing periods ; but this little suffices to shew, that a
gradual change to the existing state of things was
still in progress. In the Lower Fresh Water forma-
tion, one species of Palm still maintained an ex-
istence^, and it would seem, that it was accom-
panied by a few Tropical Trees, such as Cecropia,
Sterculia, and some Malvaceae.

Finally, in the Upper Fresh Water formation ,
nothing has been found to distinguish the Flora
from that of the present day, except in regard to
species.*

Such are the conclusions to which Geologists
have arrived, from an examination of the data that
actually exist ; but it must be confessed, that
however important the evidence already procured
may undoubtedly be considered, it is as nothing
compared with what is to be expected from future
discoveries. At the period of the Coal formation,
when vegetation was far more copious than it is in
any part of the world, at the present day, less than
300 species are known ; and M. Brongniart enu-

• In all these statements. Marine Plants have been in-
tentionally omitted.

xiii

merates only 19 from the New Red Sandstone,
74 from the Lias and Oolitic beds, 34 from the
lowest Tertiary Rocks, and 54 from all the superior
strata. The field of Fossil Botany may, there-
fore, be said to be scarcely entered, and the ma-
terials hitherto accumulated must be understood
as bearing a very small proportion to those still
remaining to be discovered. Hence, calculations
of the proportion borne by one tribe to another, in
a given formation, are by no means to be de-
pended upon ; for the discovery of a very few
additional species may, where such inconsiderable
numbers are concerned, entirely alter the result.*
Still less can we be justified in assuming, that
certain races of plants had no existence at any
former period ; thus, the Coniferous tribe, which
was, in 1828, excluded by M. Adolphe Brong-
niart from the Coal formation, has now been de-
monstrated to exist there in great abundance, and,
in some cases, in a state closely approaching that
of modern times. (See plates 1, 2, 3, 23, 24, of
this work.) In further illustration of the same
remark, it may be observed, that no trace of any
glumaceous plant has been met with, even in the
latest Tertiary Rocks, although we know that
Grasses now form a portion, and, usually, a very

* This is already apparent from the additions made by
Messrs. Phillips, and Bird and Young, to the Oolitic Flora ;
additions, however, of which we have not been able to avail
ourselves in computing the number of the Flora, because it is
impossible to tell what of their new species are different from
those named, but not defined by Adolphe Bronguiart.

XIV

considerable one of every Flora of the world, from
New South Shetland, to Melville Island, inclu-
sive. It may, indeed, be conjectured, that before
the creation of herbivorous animals, Grasses and
Sedges were not required, and, therefore, are not
to be expected in any beds below the Forest
Marble, and Stonesfield Slate; but it is difficult
to conceive how the animals of the upper Tertiary
beds could have been fed, if Grasses had not then
been present.

That the temperature of this climate was, in
the beginning, that of the Tropics, is legitimately
inferred from the nature of the vegetation of the
coal measures, as compared with that of the pre-
sent day ; for it is found, that the large proportion
there borne by Ferns to other plants, is now a
characteristic only of certain Tropical Islands.
The existence of Palms is a corroboration, al-
though not, in itself alone, a sufficient evidence of
the same fact; and the great dimensions of certain
plants^ such as Sigillariae, the exact nature of
which is uncertain, but which seem most analo-
gous to Cacteee, or Euphorbiacese, together with
the presence of Stigmaria, are all additional proofs
of a high temperature, accompanied by great
atmospheric humidity. It is curious, nevertheless,
to remark the questionable nature of the evidence,
popularly adduced in proof of a former tropical
climate in England ; viz. the existence of gigan-
tic Tree Ferns and Palms in the Coal Mines.
The latter plants are found now in the South of
Europe, and in Barbary ; and it may, therefore, be

XV

supposed that a very moderate elevation of tem-
perature, by no means Tropical, would enable
them to grow in more northern latitudes ; and, be-
sides, they are so uncommon in the Coal measures,
that three species only have been discovered, and
those are of very rare occurrence ; while of all the
supposed species of Tree Fern Stems, enumerated
by M. Brongniart, Count Sternberg, and others,
under the name of Sigillaria^ or its synonyms,
there is, in all probability, not one that can be
botanically recognized as such. A single spe-
cimen of a Tree Fern Stem, in the Coal measures,
has been pointed out to us by our friend Mr.
Lonsdale ; but we know of no other instance.

Connected with this subject is a circumstance
that we do not remember to have seen adverted to ;
but which, nevertheless, appears to us to form one
of the most curious problems that the philosopher
has yet to solve. It is well known that numerous
remains of Mastodons were found in Melville
Island : now, what kind of plants, fit for the food
of such monstrous animals, could at any period,
during which the axis of the world remained in its
present direction, have possibly grown in such
latitudes, let the temperature have been what it
might ? These animals must have had plants in
abundance to live upon, in a country which, at
the present day, affords so little means of vegeta-
tion, that the largest tree is a Willow, six inches
high. It has been said, that if it be allowed that,
in former ages, central fires operated conjointly

xvi

with the same solar heat as exists at the present
day, that cause alone may have been sufficient to
have produced a tropical atmosphere in such coun-
tries as Great Britain, without any change in the
axis of the earth ; a postulate, which, we think, may
be safely granted. But it seems to have been
overlooked, that this cannot also be conceded in
regard to climates like that of Melville Island ;
because, supposing the axis of the earth to have
been always the same, that spot must, necessarily,
from its polar situation, have been always, for many
months in every year, in darkness ; a condition
under which no plants can exist, at the present
day, unless in a torpid state. But if we can judge
of the ancient vegetation of Melville Island, by
that of Baffin's Bay, it was very like that of Great
Britain at the time of the Coal formation ; and
this was surely a vegetation in which there was
no torpidity, and to which the bright light, as well
as the high temperature of the tropics, must have
been indispensible. And although the aera of the
Mastodons, in Melville Island, is much more re-
cent than that of the Coal measures, yet we are
justified in assuming, that if the vegetation of a still
more remote period was not calculated to develope
under a long absence of light, neither was that of
the sera of the Mastodons. Unless this difficulty
can be explained, which, we think, is possible, the
state of vegetation about the north pole, in former
times, can only be accounted for by a difference in
the direction of the axis of the earth ; for light is

xvu

an agent, without which no growing plants can
exist, at the present day, for a single week, even in
a low temperature, without suffering serious in-
jury-

Of a still more questionable character is the
theory of progressive development, as applied to the
state of vegetation in successive ages. The opi-
nion, that in the beginning, only the most simple
forms of animals and plants were created, and that,
in succeeding periods, a gradual advance took
place in their degree of organization, till it was
closed by the final creation of warm blooded ani-
mals, on the one hand, and of Dicotyledonous
Trees, on the other, is one that very generally
prevails. How far this may be admissible in the
animal world, it is for Zoologists to determine ;
but, in the Vegetable Kingdom, it cannot be con-
ceded, that any satisfactory evidence has yet been
produced upon the subject; on the contrary, the
few data that exist, appear to prove exactly the
contrary. It is^ therefore, very remarkable, that
M. Adolphe Brongniart should adopt this view,
and still more so, that one of his critics, an anony-
mous, but evidently very acute Geologist, should
declare, that the law of the progressive deve-
** lopment of the classes of plants, and of a
*' gradual perfection of their organization, from
** the remotest periods, till the latest geological
" epoch, is proved by this investigation, in as
striking and evident a manner as has been done
among the incomparably more numerous tribes

XVlll

of the animal kingdom, belonging to a former
" age."* The ground of this opinion is, that no
Dicotyledonous plants existed at the period of the
Coal formation, but that vegetation was, at that
time, composed of Cryptogamic, and Monocotyle-
donous plants alone.

With reference to this subject, we would, in the
first place, ask, what trace is there of the simplest
forms of Flowerless vegetation in the Coal mea-
sures, such as Fungi, Lichens, Hepaticae, or
Mosses? to say nothing of Confervae ; many of
these would have communicated their casts as
distinctly to the matter that enveloped them, as
Ferns and Lycopodiaceae, had they existed ; but
no trace of them is found ; we have, on the con-
trary, in their room, the most perfectly organized
plants of the Flowerless or Cryptogamic class,
namely, Ferns, Lycopodiaceae, and supposed Equi-
setaceae. Secondly, we are told that of Monoco-
tyledones, the remains consist of Palms and plants
apparently analogous to Dracaenas, Bananas, and
the Arrow Root tribe (Marantaceae) ; but are
these plants of imperfect organization ? either con-
sidered per se, or when compared with the rest of
the class to which they appertain ; on the con-
trary, they are the most highly developed tribes
that are known in the Monocotyledonous class
of the existing aera ; the simplest forms of Mono-

* Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, October, 1829,
p. 112.

XIX

cotyledonous vegetation, are Grasses, Sedges,
Rushes, Fluviales, and other plants related to
Aroideae, of none of which is there any the slight-
est trace anterior to our own aera, unless a Phyl-
lites multinervis, and a few other plants in the
green-sand^ and beds above the chalk, should
prove to belong to one of them. But, it is said,
there are no Dicotyledonous plants in the Coal
measures ; we pass by the fact that has now been
so well ascertained, that Coniferous trees were
abundant at the period of the Coal formation,
because an argument might be raised about the
dignity of Coniferae, among Dicotyledonous plants ;
but what were Sigillariae, or at least Stigmariae,
the latter of which must have been one of the
most common genera of the period^ if we may
judge from the thousands of fragments that still
remain ; that the former were Tree Fern stems,
as is generally supposed, seems to us in the
highest degree improbable, as we hope hereafter
to explain ; that the latter were not Lycopodiaceag,
we trust, we have demonstrated already ; the
weight of evidence seems to incline in favour of
both having been Dicotyledonous plants^ and of
the highest degree of organization, such as Cac-
teae, or Euphorbiaceae, or even Asclepiadeae ; at
least, there is nothing whatever to prove the con-
trary. The result of this investigation is well
worthy of attention; it shews that, so far from
" a gradual perfection of organization having been
going on from the remotest period, till the latest

XX

geological epoch/' some of the most perfect
forms of each of the three great classes of the
Vegetable Kingdom were among the very first
created ; and that either the more simple plants
of each class did not appear till our own sera, or
that no trace of them at an earlier period has been
preserved. But, supposing that Sigillarias and
Stigmarias could really be shewn to be Crypto-
gamic plants, and that it could be absolutely
demonstrated, that neither Coniferse nor any other
Dicotyledonous plants existed in the first Geolo-
gical age of land plants, still the theory of pro-
gressive development would be untenable, be-
cause it would be necessary to shew, that Mono-
cotyledons are inferior in dignity, or, to use a more
intelligible expression, are less perfectly formed
than Dicotyledons. So far is this from being the
case, that if the exact equality of the two classes
were not admitted, it would be a question whe-
ther Monocotyledons are not the more highly
organized of the two ; whether Palms are not of
greater dignity than Oaks, and Cerealia than
Nettles.

In looking at the general character of the suc-
cessive periods of ancient vegetation, we cannot
fail to be struck with the greater variety of Fossil
species in the oldest, than in the newest rocks ;
and that as far as discoveries have gone, it would
appear, as if the number of species that have been
preserved, was in proportion to the antiquity of
the formation. Thus, in Brongniart's Prodromus,

xxi

omitting his Transition formation, the plants of
which seem to belong rather to the Coal measures;
we find in the latter 258 species of land plants
enumerated; in the New Red Sandstone only 19;
in the variegated Maries and Lias 22 ; in the
Oolitic series 49; in the Plastic Clay formation
35; in the London Clay 16; in the Lower Fresh
Water formation 15; and in the Upper Fresh
Water formation 6 species.

This is certainly not owing to any actual paucity
of species in those periods of which the fewest
remains have been preserved, but to some cause
which protected the more ancient remains from
destruction by the atmosphere, and prevented the
carbon fixed in them from being lost. Much pro-
bability is attached to the conjecture of M.
Adolphe Brongniart, that the atmosphere^ at
the time of primitive vegetation, was far more
charged with carbonic acid gas than now, and that
it was this which not only enabled gigantic species
to develope, at a time when there was little soil to
support them, but, also, in some measure, pre-
vented their dead remains from being decomposed
by the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere.
It is further supposed, that the excess of carbon
thus assumed to have existed, which would have
been fatal to all air-breathing animals, was gra-
dually abstracted from the atmosphere by plants,
until the air became fit, in the first place, for the
respiration of reptiles, and next, for that of Mam-
malia. To the first part of this proposition there

c

XXll

is no botanical objection ; into the latter it is not
our province to enquire.

Dismissing this part of our subject, we will next
explain what the objects are of the work we have
now commenced. We propose, in the first place,
to combine, in a single point, figures of all the
Fossil plants that have been discovered in the
rocks of this country. The utility of such a work
for recent plants, is attested by the English Bo-
tany of Mr. Sowerby ; and, no doubt, a similar
publication upon our Fossil Flora will become, in
time, a great mass of facts, to which Geologists
will find it much more convenient to refer, than if
the same information were scattered through many
distinct publications. A similar object is, indeed,
pursuing in France by M. Adolphe Brongniart,
of whose Histoire des V^getaux Fossiles it is dif-
ficult to speak too highly; but we confess that
this, far from discouraging us in our own attempt,
acts rather as a stimulus to greater exertion.
Besides, we are not ashamed to confess that we
have national feeling enough to make us anxious
that the elucidation of every thing that relates to
England, should come from the hands of English-
men ; and that we should not be subject to the
disgrace of being obliged to send our native
Fossils to another country for examination, from
want of the skill to determine them ourselves.
The richness of Great Britain, in the Fossil re-
mains of Vegetables, is well known to every
Geologist ; and the facilities of studying them are

XXlll

so great in the extensive excavations of our Coal
Mines, that it is in this country more especially
that information should be looked for upon the
subject.

In another point of view, we think a work of
this kind likely to be of general utility. It is a
very remarkable fact, that, in former ages, the range
of the species of plants was far more extensive
than at the present day. If we compare the
Floras of modern Europe and America, we find,
that they differ in the greater part of their species,
so that the general characters of the vegetation of
the two countries are now essentially unlike. But
M. Adolphe Brongniart assures us, that the plants
of the North American Coal Mines are, for the
most part, perfectly identical with those of
Europe, and that they all belong to the same
genera ; the same is stated of Fossils, from
Greenland, and from Baffin's Bay ; that ours are
very much the same as those of the rest of
Europe, is also certain. A Fossil Flora of Great
Britain applies, then, not only to the rest of
Europe, as might have been expected, but also to
very distant countries.

In the third place, we hope, that a work
appearing periodically, may become the focus,
as it were, of all the knowledge that will be
gradually acquired in regard to this important
subject : that it will keep the enquiry in sight of
those, who, from their local position, will be able,
most powerfully, to aid it by the examination of

c 2

XXIV

the remains within their reach ; but who may be
the least acquainted with the nature of the in-
formation that is wanted, and with the progress
that the science is making elsewhere. In order
to render it as generally useful as our means will
allow us, we have added to these introductory
remarks a concise arrangement of such genera of
Fossil plants as are at present admitted, in which,
perhaps, there is not much that is original, for it is
necessarily based upon the work of M. Brongniart,
so often already alluded to, but which serves to
explain what our own views of the subject are, at
the present moment, and contains such published
additions as have been made since 1828. To each
succeeding volume, we propose to prefix some
similar table, either applied to genera or to species,
corrected and made up to the time of its publica-
tion, by which the gradual advance of this branch
of Geology will be made apparent ; and our work
will constantly be upon a level with the existing
state of science. We further propose to introduce,
occasionally, lists, or even detailed accounts of the
species found in particular localities, or forma-
tions ; so that, in this way, the local discoveries
that may from time to time be made, will be con-
stantly brought before the world. Many changes
may be expected in a nomenclature, which is, at
present, provisional to a great extent, and per-
haps total alterations may take place in our \
ideas, respecting many fossils that have long been
known. The biennial republication, now alluded

XXV

to*, will be an effectual means of remedying the
inconveniences that would otherwise attend such
changes.

It must always be remarked^ that, in this
study, every one is a mere beginner ; that he who
has pursued it the longest, is still but upon the
very threshold of the science, and that we have
only just begun to clear away the impediments
that accident and ages have accumulated in our
path. It is no wonder that errors should be com-
mitted in such a pursuit. So perfectly hopeless is
it to escape them, that Botanists have, probably,
been deterred from engaging in the enquiry, as
much by a dread of the risk to which their scien-
tific reputation must necessarily be exposed, as by
the difficulty of the task itself. For ourselves,
however, we have no other object than the promo-
tion of science, as far as our humble means will
permit. We willingly place aside all considera-
tions of personal loss of reputation, and we trust
ourselves, if not fearlessly, at least cheerfully to the
importance of our cause, to the aid and protection
of those who can appreciate the peculiar nature of
the enquiry ; and to the persuasion^ that unless,
not one Botanist, but many, will lend their as-
sistance to its elucidation, Geology must for ever
remain deprived of the evidence to be afforded by

* As eight quarterly numbers of this work form a volume, the
tables of genera or species will necessarily appear every two
years.

C 3

xxvi

a branch of science of almost equal importance
with Zoology.

It will not be foreign to the object of these
introductory observations, if we next proceed to
explain. Firstly, in what way the state of the
Fossil remains of plants renders it almost indis-
pensible, that any investigation of their original
structure should be conducted ; and Secondly,
what the chief points are, to which the attention
of collectors should, more especially, be directed.

When a Botanist proceeds to the examination
of a recent specimen of an unknown plant, he
directs his view to certain peculiarities in the
organs, both of fructification and vegetation, taken
together ; and from what he finds to be their struc-
ture, he judges of the class, order, or genus to
which it belongs. But as in fossil plants neither
calyx, corolla, stamens, nor pistillum, are to be
recognized, an opinion has to be formed^ not from
the consideration of a complex combination of
characters, in which the loss of one organ is com-
pensated for by the peculiarities of those which
remain : but from a few isolated and very imper-
fect data exclusively afibrded by the remains of
the organs of vegetation. In the latter, unfortu-
nately, the modes of organization are not suffi-
ciently varied, to enable us to draw any precise
conclusions from their examination ; but, on the
contrary, we are often obliged to be satisfied with
a general idea only of the nature of the object of

XXVll

our enquiry. This is, perhaps, not attended with
so much practical inconvenience as might be ex-
pected, in a Geological point of view, because the
end of science will be sufficiently answered, if we
can, in the first place, determine the general cha-
racters and affinities of the plants of former seras,
and, in the second, so exactly classify their fossil
remains, as to be able to recognize them, with
such precision, as to render them available for the
identification of strata.

It usually happens that the only parts which
are capable of being examined in a fossil state,
are the internal structure of the stem, and its
external surface ; together with the position, divi-
sion, outline, and veining of the leaves. Of these
it has never yet happened that any one specimen
has afforded the whole ; more frequently it is only
two or three of those characters that the Botanist
can employ.

Suppose that he has a fragment of the fossil
trunk of some unknown tree; if no trace can be
discovered of its exact anatomical structure, it may
be possible, at least, to ascertain whether its wood
was deposited in concentric zones, or in a confused
manner ; in the former case, it would have been
Dicotyledonous, or Exogenous ; in the latter, Mo-
nocotyledonous, or Endogenous ; if a transverse
section should shew the remains of sinuous un-
connected layers, resembling arcs with their ends
directed outwards, of a solid homogeneous cha-
racter^ and imbedded among some softer sub-
stance, then it may be considered certain that

c 4

xxviii

such a stem belonged to some arborescent Fern.
But if the state of a fossil stem will admit of an
anatomical examination, it is always desirable
that it should be instituted with the assistance of
the microscope. Mr. Witham was the first to make
known the possibility of this being done ; and if it
should prove that the condition of fossil remains
is in general favourable to this kind of examina-
tion, more light is likely to be thrown upon the
extinct Flora than could be otherwise anticipated.
If the tissue of a stem should be found entirely
cellular, and it could be satisfactorily made out,
that no vascular tissue whatever was combined
with it, the specimen would, in all probability,
have belonged to that division of the Vegetable
Kingdom, which, being propagated without the
agency of sexes, is by Botanists called Crypto-
gamia ; a specimen of this kind should, however,
be examined with the most rigorous accuracy ;
because it might have been a succulent portion
of some Dicotyledonous tree, in which the vas-
cular system was so scattered among cellular sub-
stances as to be scarcely discernible. If the
tissue should have consisted of tubes placed paral-
lel with each other, without any trace of rays
passing from the centre to the circumference, it
would have been Endogenous, even if there
should be an appearance of concentric circles
in the wood ; but if any trace whatever can be
discovered of tissue, crossing the longitudinal
tubes at right angles, from the centre to the cir-
cumference, then such a specimen would have

XXIX

been Exogenous, whether concentric circles can
be made out or not; for such an arrangement of
tissue would indicate the presence of medullary-
rays, which are the most certain sign of a Dicoty-
ledonous plant. If, in a specimen having these
rays, the longitudinal tubes are all of the same
size, a circumstance obvious upon the inspection
of a tranverse section, the plant will have been
either Coniferous or Cycadeous ; but, if among
the smaller tubes, which, in fact^ are woody fibres,
some larger ones are interspersed in a definite man-
ner ; it would, in that case, have belonged to some
other tribe of Dicotyledons. It is indispensible that
the arrangement of the larger tubes should have
been definite, for appearances of the same kind
exist in much Coniferous wood ; but, in the latter,
they are scattered in an indefinite manner among
the smaller tubes, and are not vessels, but cylindri-
cal cavities for the collection of the resinous secre-
tion peculiar to the Fir tribe. Again, if the walls of
the longitudinal tubes of any fossil specimen are
found to exhibit appearances of little warts^ grow-
ing from their sides, such a specimen had cer-
tainly belonged to some Coniferous or Cycadeous
plant, no other tribes whatever possessing such a
structure at the present day. Finally, if a trace
of pith can be discovered, that circumstance alone
will be a proof of the plant having been Dicoty-
ledonous, because all other classes are destitute of
that central cellular column ; it must^ however, al-
ways be borne in mind, that absence of pith does

XXX

not prove that a specimen is not Dicotyledonous,
because the roots of those plants have no pith.

If a stem is in such a state that nothing can be
determined respecting its anatomy, we must then
proceed to judge of it by another set of characters.
In the first place, it should be enquired whether
it had a distinctly separable bark, or a cortical
integument that differed in its organization from
the wood, without being separable from it ; or
neither the one nor the other. In the first instance,
it would have been Dicotyledonous; in the second,
Monocotyledonous ; in the third, Acotyledonous or
Cryptogamic, supposing that it had been a trunk
which many successive years had contributed to
form. The distinction, as applied to the two latter
classes, is not, however, so positive as could be
wished, because Tree Ferns have a cortical integu-
ment ; but they are easily known by the long
ragged scars left by their leaves ; and no other
Cryptogamic plants possess the character of hav-
ing a spurious bark. For this reason, it is doubt-
ful whether Calamites is related to Equisetacese ;
and if we could be sure that the coaly matter found
enveloping that genus, was really the remains of
a cortical integument, there would be no doubt of
its affinity being of a different kind, as, for instance,
with Juncus. But here is a difficulty; how are
we to be sure, that this coaly matter is a part of
the original organization of the stem, and that it
is not an independent carbonaceous form.ation?
Another object of enquiry will be, whether the

xxxi

stem was articulated (as indicated by tumid nodi)
or not; and, if the former, whether it had the
property of disarticulating; these circumstances
are not of much positive value in pointing out
affinities ; but they afford negative evidence, that
must, on no account, be overlooked ; for example,
if this had been properly considered in regard to
Calamites, although the affinity of that genus might
not have been discovered, yet it never could have
been referred either to Palms or Bambusas, which,
in no instance, ever disarticulate. A third, and
very important kind of evidence, is to be collected
from the scars left upon stems by the fall of leaves.
Although these will neither inform us of the
shape, or 'other characters of the leaves them-
selves, yet they indicate, with precision, their po-
sition, the form of their base, and sometimes,
also, their probable direction ; we can tell, whether
they were opposite or verticillate, alternate or spi-
rally disposed, deciduous or persistent, and im-
bricated or remote ; all characters of great use, as
means of discrimination, and as often affording
important negative evidence upon doubtful points.
The Geologist will, however, be careful not to
ascribe too much value to modifications in the
origin of leaves, and, in particular, to the spiral
mode, which forms so striking a feature in many
Fossil remains; he will bear in mind that the
latter is theoretically the normal mode in which
all leaves originate, and that other modes are
more or less obvious modifications of it; and

XXXll

finally, he will consider, that if he is not familiar
with instances of it in recent plants, it is because
the lines of spires are broken by the leaves that
are interposed between them and the eye. He
will, possibly, only remember, that the leaves of
Firs, the fruit of the Pine Apple, and the foliage
of the Screw Pine, (Pandanus) are arranged upon
this plan ; but if he draws a line from base to
base of the leaves of any alternate-leaved plant,
always proceeding in the same direction, he will
find, that that line will describe a spire round the
axis from which the leaves originate; so that a
spiral appearance will be apparent in proportion
as leaves are approximated.

In judging of the identity of fossil stems, that
are characterized by their external appearance,
care must be taken not to distinguish as different
species those stems that have still their cortical
integument upon them, from such as have lost it.
In these two cases, the appearance of scars will
be different ; those of the former being more
rounded, broader, and, probably, more deeply fur-
rowed than the latter; for the one is a real scar,
shewing the outline of the base of the leaf, while
the latter is solely caused by the passage of
bundles of vessels out of the stem into the petiole
of the leaf.

The manner in which stems branch, is some-
times well deserving consideration ; where no
trace of leaves can be found, their position may pos-
sibly be indicated by the origin of branches ; for

XXXlll

the latter being always axillary to the leaves, can
only originate as they do : but, unfortunately, the
value of this fact is often reduced to nothing, by
the appearance of branches from the axillae of a
few leaves only, in distant parts of the stem.
The most useful character to be thus derived, is
when the branches regularly bifurcate ; for this
kind of ramification is a strong symptom of a
cryptogamic plant, especially if accompanied by
an imbricated foliage.

In Leaves we can rarely recognize, in a fossil
state, more than their mode of veiiation, division,
arrangement y and outline, to which are sometimes
added their texture and surface. All these are of
importance, but in unequal degrees. Of the
highest value is the evidence afforded by the distri-
bution of the veins, taken together with the mode
of division of a leaf. If the veins are all parallel,
unbranched, or only connected by little transverse
bars, and the leaves undivided, the plant was pro-
bably Monocotyledonous ; and if the veins of
such a leaf, instead of running side by side from
the base to the apex, diverge from the midrib, and
lose themselves in the margin, forming a close
series of double curves ; the plant was certainly
analogous to what are now called Scitaminese,
Marantaceae, and Musaceae : but supposing that
the parallel arrangement of simple veins is com-
bined with a pinnated foliage, then the plant
would probably have belonged to Cycadeae, that
curious tribe that stands on the very limits of

XX XIV

Monocotyledons, and Dicotyledons, and of Flower-
ing and Flowerless plants. By such characters
as these, however, there is no means of dis-
tinguishing certain Palms, if in a Fossil state,
from Cycadeee.

If veins are all of equal thickness, and dichoto-
mous, we have an indication of the Fern tribe,
which is seldom deceptive. Nevertheless, it must
be remembered that the flabelliform leaves, both
of Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, have oc-
casionally this kind of venation. Even if the veins
are not dichotomous, if they are all of nearly equal
thickness and very fine, or divided in a very sim-
ple manner, it is probable that they indicate the
Fern Tribe^ whether simple, as in the fossil genus,
Taeniopteris ; or reticulated, as in the modern
genus Meniscium. If veins are of obviously un-
equal thickness^ and so branched as to resemble
the meshes of a net, we have a sign of Dicoty-
ledonous structure that seldom misleads us.
Finally, if no veins at all are to be found, an opi-
nion must be formed, not from their absence, but
from other circumstances. If the leaves are small,
their absence may be due to incomplete develop-
ment ; but if the leaves are large and irregularly
divided, we may have an indication of some kind
of Marine plant. When leaves are small, and
densely imbricated, they are generally considered,
by Fossil Botanists, to belong to either Lycopo-
diaceae, or Coniferae ; and there is so little to dis-
tinguish these families, in a fossil state, that there

XXXV

is scarcely any means of demonstrating to which
such genera, as Lycopodites, Lepidodendron, Juni-
perites, Taxites, &c. and the like, actually belong.

It would be easy to extend these observations
much further, but to dwell at length upon this
branch of the subject, would carry us far be-
yond the limits of a preface. We will, therefore,
bring our remarks to a conclusion, by calling at-
tention to some of those points^ to the elucidation
of which, it is most to be wished, that Geologists,
who have opportunities of collecting fossil plants,
would apply themselves. In the first place, evi-
dence is wanted as to the plants to which the
cones called Lepidostrobi, the leaves called Le-
pidophylla, and the fruit named Cardiocarpa, re-
spectively appertain ; are they all portions of spe-
cies of the same genus, or, as seems more pro-
bable, is not Cardiocarpon a part of a plant of a
totally different affinity ? Secondly, what were
the leaves of Sigillaria, and of Stigmaria? Of
the latter, something is known ; but the leaves are
always so crushed, that no notion can be formed
of their exact nature. Mr. Steinhauer says, he has
traced them to the length of 20 feet ! In the third
place, to determine the leaves of any of the fossil
stems, that at present are only known in the latter
state, such as Sternbergia, Bucklandia, Cyca-
deoidea, Caulopteris, Exogenites, and Endogenites,
would be to supply a great desideratum. Again,
what was the real nature of the stem of Calamites ;
was it an annual shoot proceeding from a peren-

xxxvi

nial horizontal rhizoma, like that of Juncus, &c. ?
Had it any leaves^ and if so, were they of the
nature of those figured in this work, as probably
belonging to Calamites nodosus, but considered
by Sternberg and Brongniart a distinct genus^
which they call Volkmannia ? Another very
interesting object of enquiry is into the anatomical
structure of Lepidodendron, for the sake of settling
whether that extensive fossil genus belonged to
Coniferee, or to Lycopodiaceae, or to neither. We
know nothing of the leaves belonging to the fossil
fruits, called Anomocarpon, Musocarpon, &c. or of
the fruit of Cycadeoidea, Annularia, Asterophyl-
lites, and many others. Now these are difficulties
that probably may be removed by diligent research
among the beds in which such fossils occur ; and
which, if removed, would contribute much more
to fixing the science upon a solid basis, than the
discovery of species not before described. For all
such information as our friends may communicate
upon these or similar subjects, we shall always
make our grateful acknowledgments; and we trust,
that when the time shall arrive for our laying
before the world a further statement of the pro-
gress that Fossil Botany shall have made, we
shall be able to announce that light has been
thrown upon a part, at least, of those great ques-
tions, which are at present involved in great ob-
scurity.

March 31, 1832.

THE

GENERA OF FOSSIL PLANTS.

(March, 1832.)

N.B. Those genera marked (*) are recent ; the remainder are only
known in a fossil state. Characters are assigned to the latter chiefly.

Class 1 . VASC ULARES ; or FLOWERING PLANTS .
Subclass 1. EXOGEN^ ; or DICOTYLEDONS.

NYMPH^ACE^.f

Genus 1. * Nymphcea,

One species — in the Upper freshwater formation.

Laurine^.

Genus 2. * Cinnamomum.

One species — in the Tertiary freshwater formation
of Aix.

Leguminos^.

Genus 2 a. Phaseolites, Leaves compound, unequally pin-
nate ; leaflets entire, disarticulating, with nearly
equal reticulated veins.

One species — in the Tertiary freshwater formation
of Aix.

Ulmace^.

Genus 3. * Ulmus.

One species — in Tertiary formations.

CuPULIFERiE.

Genus 4. * Carpinus.

One species — in the Lignite of Tertiary beds.

Genus 5. * Castanea,

One species — in Tertiary formations.

t The reader who is anxious for information regarding the characters of
this, and the succeeding Natural Orders, is referred to the Introduction
to the Natural System of Botany,

d

xxxviii

BeTULINE-E.

Genus 6. ♦ Betula,

One species — in the Lignite of Tertiary beds.

Saligine^.

Genus 7. * Salix ?

One species — in Tertiary formations.

Genus 8. * Populus,

One or two species — in Tertiary formations.

Myrice^.

Genus 9. * Coinptonia.

One species — in the Lignite of Tertiary formations.
One species ?— in the Lower freshwater formation.

JUGLANDE^.

Genus 10. * Juglans,

Three species — in the Tertiary strata.

One species — in the upper bed of New red sand-

stone.

EUPHORBIACE^.

? Genus 11. Stigmaria, (Variolaria Sternh, Mammillaria
Ad. Br, Ficoidites Artis,) Stem originally suc-
culent ; marked externally by roundish tubercles,
surrounded by a hollow, and arranged in a direc-
tion more or less spiral ; having internally a dis-
tinct woody axis, which communicates with the
tubercles by woody processes. Leaves arising
from the tubercles, succulent, entire, and veinless,
except in the centre, where there is some trace of
a midrib.

Five or six species — in the Coal formation.

One species ? — in the Oolitic formation ; viz.

Mammillaria Desnoyersii of Ad,
Brongn. Ann* Sc, 4. t, 19./. 9, 10.

ACERINE^.

Genus 12. *Acer.

One or two species — in the Tertiary beds.

CoNIFERiE.

f Wood only known.

Genus 13. Pinites. Axis composed of pith, wood in con-
centric circles, bark, and medullary rays, but
with no vessels. Walls of the woody fibre
reticulated.

Three species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 14. Pence, Axis composed of pith, wood in con-
centric circles, bark, and medullary rays, but
with no vessels. Walls of the woody fibre
marked with oblong deciduous areolae, having a
circle in their middle.

One species — in the Coal formation.
Others — in the Oolitic formation.

ff Fruit, or branches and leaves, only known.

Genus 15. * Piniis. Leaves growing two, three, or five, in
the same sheath. Cones composed of imbricated
scales, which are enlarged at their apex into a
rhomboidal disk. Ad. Br.

Nine species — in the Tertiary strata.

Genus 16. * Abies. Leaves solitary, inserted in eight rows
in a double spire, often unequal in length, and
distichous. Cones composed of scales, without
a rhomboidal disk. Ad. Br.

One species.

Genus 17. Taxites. Leaves solitary, supported on a short
petiole, articulated, and inserted in a single spire,
not very dense, distichous. Ad. Br.

Five species — in the Tertiary beds.
One species — in the Oolitic formations.

Genus IB. * Podocarpus. Leaves solitary, much larger than
in the last genus, sharp-pointed, flat, with a dis-
tinct midrib.

One species — in the Tertiary freshwater formation
of Aix.

Genus 19. Voltzia. Branches pinnated. Leaves inserted
all round the branches, sessile, slightly de-
current or dilated at the base, and almost coni-
cal ; often distichous. Fruit forming spikes or
loose cones, composed of distant imbricated
d 2

xl

scales, which are more or less deeply three-
lobed. Ad, Br.

Four species — in the New red sandstone.

Genus 20. Juniperites. Branches arranged irregularly. Leaves
short, obtuse, inserted by a broad base, opposite,
decussate, and arranged in four rows. Ad. Br.

Three species — in the Tertiary beds.

Genus 21. Cupressites. Branches arranged irregularly. Leaves
inserted spirally, in six or seven rows, sessile,
enlarged at their base. Fruit consisting of pel-
tate scales, marked with a conical protuberance
in their centre. Ad. Br.

One species— in the New red sandstone.

Genus 22. * Thuja. Branches alternate, regularly arranged
upon the same plane. Leaves opposite, decus-
sate, in four rows. Fruit composed of a small
number of imbricated scales, terminated by a
disk, which has near its upper end a more or less
acute, and sometimes recurved point. Ad. Br,

Three or four species— in the Tertiary formations.

Genus 23. Thuytes. Branches as in Thuja. Fruit unknown.
Ad. Br.

Four? species — in schistose Oolite.

tft Doubtful Coniferae.

Genus 24. Brachyphyllum. Branches pinnated, disposed on
the same plane without regularity. Leaves very
short, conical, almost like tubercles, arranged
spirally. Ad. Br.

One species — in the lower Oolitic formation.

Genus 25. Sphenophyllum. (Rotularia Sternh.) Branches
deeply furrowed. Leaves verticillate, wedge-
shaped, with dichotomous veins.

Eight species — in the Coal formation.

Cycade^..

f Leaves only known.
Genus 26. Cycadites. Leaves pinnated ; leaflets linear, en-
tire, adhering by their whole base, having a sin-
gle thick midrib ; no secondary veins. Ad. Br.

One species — in the Grey chalk.

xli

Genus 27. * Zamia. Leaves pinnated; leaflets entire, or
toothed at their extremity, pointed, sometimes
enlarged and auricled as it were at their base,
attached only by the midrib, which is often
thickened; veins fine, equal, all parallel, or
scarcely diverging. Ad. Br.

Fifteen species — in the Lias and Oolitic formation.
One species — (bed unknown.)

Genus 28. Pterophyllum. Leaves pinnated ; leaflets almost
equally broad each way, inserted by the whole
of their base, truncated at the summit; veins
line, equal, simple, but little marked, all pa-
rallel. Ad. Br.

Three species — in the Variegated marie of the Lias.
Three species — in the Sandstone of the Lias.
One species — in the Quadersandstein.
One species — in the lower Oolitic beds.

Genus 29. Nihonia. Leaves pinnated ; leaflets approximated,
oblong, more or less elongated, rounded at the
summit, adhering to the rachis by the whole of
their base, with parallel veins, some of which
are much more strongly marked than others.
Ad. Br.

Two species — in the sandstone of the Lias,
ft Stems only known.

Cycadeoidea. Buckland. (Mantellia Ad. Brong.)
Stem roundish or oblong, covered with densely
imbricated scales, which are scarred at their apex.

Two species — in the Portland stone.

Genus 30.

Dicotyledonous Plants of doubtful affinity.

? Genus 31. Phyllotlieca. Stem simple, straight, articulated,
surrounded at equal distances by sheaths, hav-
ing long linear leaves, which have no distinct
midrib.

One species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 32. Annularia. (Bornia Sternh.) Stem slender, ar-
ticulated, with opposite branches springing from
above the leaves. Leaves verticillate, flat, usually
obtuse, with a single midrib, united at their base,
of unequal length. Ad. Br.

Six or seven species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 33. Asterophyllites. (Bornia Sternh. Bruckmannia
Sternh.) Stem scarcely tumid at the articula-
d 3

xlii

tions, branched. Leaves verticillate, linear, acute,
with a single midrib, quite distinct at their base.
(Fruit a one seeded? ovate, compressed nucule,
bordered by a membranous wing, and emarginate
at the apex. Ad. Br.)

Twelve species — in the Coal formation.
One species — in the transition beds.

Obs. This is probably an extremely heterogeneous assem-
blage, comprehending nearly all fossils with narrow veinless
verticillate leaves, that are not united in a cup at their base.

Genus 34. Bcchera. Stem branched, jointed, tumid at the
articulations, deeply and widely furrowed. Leaves
verticillate, very narrow, acute, ribless ?

One species — in the Coal formation.

Subclass 2. ENDOGEN^; or MONOCOTYLEDONS.

MARANTACEiE.

Genus 35. Cannophyllites, Leaves simple, entire, traversed
by a very strong midrib ; veins oblique, simple,
parallel, all of equal size. Ad, Br.

One species — in a bed of coal, supposed to be more
recent than the old coal formation.

AsPHODELEiE.

t Stems only known.

? Genus 36. Bucklandia, Stem covered by reticulated fibres,
giving rise to (imbricated) leaves which are not
amplexicaul, and the petioles of which are dis-
tinct to their base. Ad. Br.

One species — in Stonesfield slate,

Obs. Dr. Buckland suggests the possibility of this being
the amentum of a Cycadeous plant. G. trans, vol. 2. n. s.
p. 400.

Genus 37. Clathraj'ia. Stem composed of an axis, the sur-
face of which is covered by reticulated fibres,
and of a bark formed by the complete union of
the bases of petioles, whose insertion is rhom-
boidal. Ad. Br.

One species — in the Green sand?

xliii

ft Leaves only known.

? Genus 38. Convallarites, Leaves verticillate, linear, vv^ith
parallel slightly marked veins. Stem straight,
or curved. Ad. Br,

Two species — in the Variegated sandstone.

ttt Flowers only known.
Genus 39. Antholithes.

One species — in the Tertiary beds.

Genus 40.

Smilaceje.

Smilacites. Leaves heartshaped or hastate, with
a well-defined midrib, and two or three second-
ary ribs on each side, parallel to the edge of the
leaf. Veins reticulated. Ad. Br.

One species — in the Lower freshwater formation.

Palm^e.

t Stems only known.

Genus 41. Palmacites. Stems cylindrical, simple, covered
by the bases of petiolated leaves; petioles di-
lated, and amplexicaul. Ad. Br.

One species — in the lower beds of the London clay
formation.

ft Leaves only known.

Genus 42. Flahellaria. Leaves petiolated, flabelliform, di-
vided into linear lobes, plaited at their base.
Ad. Br.

One species — in the Plastic clay formation.
One species — in the Lower freshwater formation.
One species — in the London clay formation.
One species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 43. Phcenicites. Leaves petiolated, pinnated ; leaflets
linear, united by pairs at the base, their veins
fine, and little marked.

One species — in the Tertiary formations.

Genus 44. Nceggerathia. Leaves petiolated, pinnated; leaflets
obovate, nearly cuneiform, applied against the
edges of the petiole, toothed towards their apex,
with fine diverging veins. Ad. Br.
Two species — in the coal measures,
d 4

xliv

Genus 45. Zeugophyllites. Leaves petiolated, pinnated ; leaf-
lets opposite, oblong- or oval, entire, with a few
strongly marked ribs, confluent at the base and
summit, all of equal thickness. Ad. Br.

One species — in the Coal formation.

ttt Fruit only known.

Genus 46. * Cocos. Fruit ovate, slightly three-cornered,
marked with three orifices near their base.

Three species — in the Tertiary formations.

Fluviales.

Genus 47. Zosterites. Leaves oblong or linear, marked with
a small number of equal veins, which are at a
marked distance from each other, and are not
connected by transverse veins. Ad. Br.

Four species— in the Lower Greensand formation.
One species — in the Lias ?

Two species — in the Upper freshwater formation.

Genus 48. Caulinites. (Amphytoites X>esw.) Stem branched^
bearing semi- annular, or nearly annular scars of
leaves, alternate in two opposite rows, marked
with little equal dots. Ad. Br.

One species — in the London clay formation.

MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS OF DOUBTFUL AFFINITY.

t Stems only known.

Genus 49. Endogenites. This comprehends all fossil endo-
genous stems that do not belong to any of the
genera characterized separately. It is a mere
provisional assemblage of objects to be further
examined.

Several species — from the Tertiary strata.

Genus 50. Culmites. Stems articulated, with two or more
scars at the joints.

Three species — in the Tertiary beds.

Sternheryia. (Columnaria Sternb.) Stem taper,
slender, naked, cylindrical, terminating in a cone;
marked by transverse furrows, but with no ar-
ticulations. Slight remains of a fleshy cortical
integument.
Three species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 51.

xlv

f f Leaves only known.

Genus 52. Poacites, All Monocotyledonous leaves, the veins
of which are parallel, simple, of equal thickness,
and not connected by transverse bars.

Several species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 53. PhylHtes. (Potamophyllites Ad, Br.) All Mo-
nocotyledonous leaves, the veins of which are
confluent at the base and apex, and connected by
transverse bars, or secondary veins.

One species — in the Lower freshwater formation.

Obs. M. Ad. Brongniart now refers this fossil to Fluviales ;
but as it agrees as well with species of Alismaceae and Butomeae,
we prefer placing it here, under the name originally given it.

ttt Fruits only known.
Genus 54. Trigonocarpum. Ad. Br,

Five species — in the coal formation.

Genus 55. Amomocarpum, Ad. Br.

One species — in the Tertiary formation*.

Genus 56. Musocarpum, Ad. Br.

Two species— in the coal formation.

Genus 57. Pandanocarpum, Ad. Br.

One species — in the Tertiary strata.

Flowering Plants which cannot be with certainty
referred to either the monocotyledonous, or
Dicotyledonous classes.

Genus 58. jEthophyllu7n. Stem simple. Leaves alternate,
linear, ribless, not sheathing, having at the base
two smaller linear leaflets. (Stipules ?) Inflo-
rescence spiked ; spikes ovate. Flowers nume-
rous, with a sub-cylindrical tube, or inferior ova-
rium, and a bilabiate? perianthium with subu-
late segments.

One species — in the New red sandstone.

Obs. M. Brongniart refers this to Monocotyledons ; but if
its characters have been rightly determined, it can scarcely
belong to that Natural Class.

Genus 59. Echinostachys. Inflorescence an oblong spike,
beset on all sides with sessile, contiguous, sub-
conical flowers, or fruits. Ad. Br.

One species — in the New red sandstone.

xlvi

Obs. M. Brongniart refers this, also, to Monocotyledons,
and suggests the possibility of its affinity to Sparganium ; but
as there is nothing to show that it is not some Dicotyledonous
fruit, such as Datura Stramonium, it will be better to wait for
further information before its place is determined on.

Genus 60. Palceoxyris. Inflorescence a terminal fusiform
spike, with appressed closely imbricated scales ;
its external portion, where it is not covered by
scales, rhomboidal, concave in the middle. Ad. Br.

One species — in the New red sandstone.

Obs. One would scarcely think of doubting whether this is
Monocotyledonous, so closely does it approach the recent genus
Xyris in external characters, if it were not for a tuft of fila-
ments, noticed by M. Brongniart, as apparently proceeding
from its apex. This circumstance is at variance with Xyris,
and gives rise to a suspicion that it may, perhaps, be some
Composita, with a fusiform involucrum.

Class 2. CELLULARES ; or Flowerless Plants.

EgUISETACEiE.

Genus 61. * Equisetum. (Oncylogonatum Konig.) Stems
articulated, surrounded by cylindrical sheaths,
which are regularly tooth-letted, and pressed
close to the stem. Ad, Br,

One species — in the London clay formation.
One species — in Ihe Variegated marles of the Lias.
One species — in the lower Oolite and Lias.
Two species — in the Coal formation.

? Genus 62. Calamites. Stems jointed, regularly and closely
furrowed, hollow, divided internally at the arti-
culations by a transverse diaphragm, covered
with a thick cortical integument. ( ? Leaves
verticillate, very narrow, numerous, and simple.)

Two species — in the Transition beds.
Several species — in the Coal formation.
Two species — in the New red sandstone.
Two species— in the New red sandstone, and the
Coal formations.

xlvii

FiLICES.

Genus 63. Pachypteris. Leaves pinnated, or bipinnated ;

leaflets entire, coriaceous, ribless, or one-ribbed,
contracted at the base, but not adherent to the
midrib. Ad. Br.

Two species — in the inferior beds of the Oolitic for-
mation.

Genus 64. Sphenopteris. Leaves bi-tripinnatifid ; leaflets con-
tracted at the base, not adherent to the rachis,
lobed ; the lower lobes largest, diverging, some-
what palmate; veins bipinnate, radiating as it
were from the base. Ad. Br.

One species — in the Sand below the chalk.
Two species — in the New red sandstone.
Five species — in the Oolitic formation.
Twenty-eight species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 65. Cyclopteris. Leaves simple, entire, somewhat orbi-
cular ; veins numerous, radiating from the base,
dichotomous, equal ; midrib wanting. Ad. Br,

Four species — in the Coal formation.
One species — in the Transition rocks.
One species — in the Oolitic formation.

Genus 66. Glossopteris, Leaves simple, entire, somewhat lan-
ceolate, narrowing gradually to the base, with a
thick vanishing midrib : veins oblique, curved,
equal, frequently dichotomous, or sometimes
anastomising and reticulated at the base. Ad. Br,

Two species — in the Coal formation.

One species — in the Oolitic formation.

One species — in the Lias.

Genus 67. Neuropteris. Leaves bipinnate, or rarely pinnate ;

leaflets usually somewhat cordate at the base,
neither adhering to each other, nor to the rachis,
by their whole base, only by the middle portion
of it ; midrib vanishing at the apex ; veins ob-
lique, curved, very fine, dichotomous Fruc-

tification ; sori lanceolate, even, (covered with an
indusium,) arising from the veins of the apex of
the leaflets, and often placed in the bifurcations.
Ad. Br.

Twenty-four species— in the Coal formation.
Three species — in the New red sandstone.
One species — in the Anthracite of Savoy.
One species — in the Muschelkalk.

xlviii

Genus 68. Odontopteris. Leaves bipinnated ; leaflet, mem-
branous, very thin, adhering- by all their base to
the rachis, with no, or almost no midrib ; veins
equal, simple, or forked, very fine, most of them
springing from the rachis. Ad. Br,

Five species— in the Coal formation.

Genus 69. Anomopteris. Leaves pinnated ; leaflets linear,
entire, somewhat plaited transversely at the
veins, having a midrib ; veins simple, perpendi-
cular, curved. Fructification arising from the
veins, uncertain as to form ; perhaps dot-like, and
inserted in the middle of the veins ; or, perhaps,
linear, attached to the whole of a vein, naked (as
in Meniscia) or covered by an indusium, open-
ing inwardly. Ad, Br,

One species — in the New red sandstone.

Genus 70.

Genus 71.

Tceniopteris. Leaves simple, entire, with a stiflf
thick midrib ; veins perpendicular, simple, or
forked at the base. Fructification dot-like.
Ad, Br,

Three species — in the Lias and Oolitic formations.

Pecopteris, Leaf once, twice, or thrice pinnate ;
leaflets adhering by their base to the rachis, or
occasionally distinct ; midrib running quite
through the leaflet; veins almost perpendicular
to the midrib, simple, or once or twice dichoto-
mous. Ad. Br.

Sixty species
Ten species
Two species
One species-

-in the Coal formation,
-in the Oolitic formation,
in the Lias.

-in the beds above the Chalk.

Genus 72.

Genus 73.

Lonchoptcris. Leaf many times pinnatifid ; leaflets
more or less connate at the base, having a mid-
rib; veins reticulated. Ad, Br.

Two species— in the Coal formation.
One species — in the Greensand formation.

Clathropteris, Leaf deeply pinnatifid ; leaflets
having a very strong complete midrib ; veins nu-
merous and simple, parallel, almost perpendicular
to the midrib, united by transverse veins, which
form a net- work of square meshes upon the leaf.
Ad. Br.

One species — in the Lias,

xlix

Genus 74. Schizopteris. Leaf linear, plane, without midrib,
finely striated, almost flabelliform, dividing into
several lobes, which are linear and dichotomous,
or rather irregularly pinnated, and erect; lobes
dilated and rounded towards the extremity.
• Ad, Br.

One species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 75. Filicites. This comprehends all that are not re-
ferable to tiie preceding genera.

One species — in the New red sandstone.

Two species — in the Variegated marie of the Lias.

Genus 76. Caulopteris. Stem cylindrical, closely marked
by large, oblong, convex, uneven scars, wider
than the tortuous depressed spaces that separate
them.

One species — in the Coal formation.
(One species — in the New red sandstone.)

N.B. It has become necessary to form a new name for this
genus, in consequence of all the supposed fern-stems figured or
described by Count Sternberg, Ad. Bronguiart, and others,
under the name of Sigillaria, Favolaria, Rhytidolepis, &c., not
being such, as we have elsewhere endeavoured to show. These,
of which the nature cannot be doubted, probably belong to
species included in some of the genera characterized by the
structure of the leaves. The species from the New red sand-
stone belongs, according to M. Adolphe Brongniart, to
Anomopteris Mougeotii.

Lycopodiace^.

Genus 77. Lycopodites. (Lycopodiolithus and Walchia
Sternb.) Branches pinnated ; leaves inserted all
round the stem in two opposite rows, not leaving
clean and well-defined scars. Ad, Br,

Ten species — in the Coal formation.
One species — in the inferior Oolitic.
One species— in the sandstone of the Lias?
One species — in the marie below the chalk.

Genus 78. Selaginites. Stems dichotomous, not presenting
regular elevations at the base of the leaves, even
near the lower end of the stems. Leaves often
persistent, enlarged at their base. Ad, Br,

Two species — in the Coal formation.

1

Genus. 79. Lepidodendron, (Sagenaria.) Stems dichotomous,
covered near their extremities by simple, linear,
or lanceolate leaves, inserted upon rhomboidal
areolae ; lower part of the stems leafless ; areolae
(longer than broad) marked near their upper part
by a minute scar, which is broader than long,
and has three angles, of which the two late-
ral are acute, the lower obtuse ; the latter some-
times wanting.
Several species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 80. Ulodendroiu Stem covered with rhomboidal areo-
lae, which are broader than long; scars large,
few, placed one above the other, circular, com-
posed of broad cuneate scales, radiating from a
common centre, and indicating the former pre-
sence of organs that were perhaps analogous to
the cones of Coniferse.
Two species — in the Coal measures.

Genus 81. Lepidophyllum. Stem unknown. Leaves sessile,
simple, entire, lanceolate, or linear, traversed by
a single midrib, or by three parallel ribs; no
veins. Ad. Br.
Five species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 82. Lepidostrobus, Cones ovate, or cylindrical, com-
posed of imbricated scales, inserted by a narrow
base around a cylindrical woody axis ; their
points sometimes dilated and recurved in the form
of rhomboidal disks. Seed solitary, oblong, not
winged, nearly as long as the scales.

Five species — in the Coal formation.

? Genus 83. Cardiocarpon. Fruit compressed, lenticular,
heart-shaped, or kidney-shaped, terminated by
a sharpish point. Ad. Br.
Five species — in the coal formation. '

Genus 84.

Genus 85.

Musci.

Muscites. Stem simple, or branched, filiform,
with membranous leaves, having scarcely any
midrib, and being sessile, or amplexicaul, imbri-
cated, or somewhat spreading. Ad. Br.

Two species — in beds above the chalk.

Charace^.
Chara. (Gyrogonites Lamk.)
spheroidal, consisting of five

Fruit oval, or
valves twisted

li

spirally; a small opening at each extremity.
Stems friable, jointed, composed of straight tubes
arranged in a cylinder.
Five species — in beds above the chalk.

Alg^.

Genus 86. Confervites, Filaments simple, or branched, di-
vided by internal partitions. Ad, Br,

Two species — in the Chalk-marle.

Genus 87.

Fucoides. (Algacites Schloth.) Frond conti-
nuous, never articulated, usually not symmetri-
cal or subcylindrical, simple or oftener branch-
ed, naked or more commonly leafy; or mem-
branous, entire, or more or less lobed, w^ith no
ribs, or imperfectly marked ones, which branch
in an irregular manner, and never anastomose.
Ad. Br.

Four species — in the Transition rocks.
Seven species — in the Bituminous shale.
Three species — in the Oolitic formation.
Eleven species — in the Chalk.
Eleven species — in the London clay formation.

Plants, the affinity of vi^hich is altogether
uncertain.

Genus 88. Sigillaria. (Rhytidolepis, Alveolaria, Favularia,
Catenaria, &c. Sternb.) Stem conical, deeply
furrowed, not jointed. Scars placed between
the furrows in rows, not arranged in a distinctly
spiral manner, smooth, much narrower than the
intervals that separate them.

About forty species — in the Coal formation.

Genus 89. Volkmannia. Stem striated, articulated. Leaves
collected in approximated dense whorls.

Three species— in the Coal formation.

Obs. These are possibly the leaves of Calamites.

Genus 90. Carpolithes.

Under this name are arranged all the fossil fruits
to which no other place is assigned.

LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.

Abbs, Rev. G, C. Gateshead,

Adamson, John, Esq. F.S.A. L.S. R.S.L. ;&c. &c. New-
castle.

Alder, Mr. Joshua, Newcastle,

Allan, Thomas, Esq. F.R.S. L. & E. Lauriston Castle,

Edinburgh,
Armstrong, Robert, Esq.

Armstrong, Mr. William, Killingworth, Newcastle.
Austen, Sir Henry E. 29, Cavendish Square.

Barrow, P. Esq.

Bean, W. Esq. Scarborough.

Bedford, His Grace the Duke of, K.G. F.S.A. L.S. G.S.

and H.S. Woburn, Bedfordshire.
Bell, Thomas, Esq. F.R.S. G.S. and L.S. 17, New Broad

Street.

Bell, Thomas, Esq, Picton Place, Newcastle.
Benson, W. Esq. Bury St. Edmunds.
Berkley, Mr. John, Newcastle.

Bigge, Charles W. Esq. F.G.S. Linden, Northumberland.
Bignold, Samuel, Esq. Norwich.

Bigsby, J. J. M.D. F.G.S. East Retford, Nottinghamshire.
Bold, Robert, Esq. Edinburgh,

Bowman, J. E. Esq. F.L.S. The Court, near Wrexham.
Boyd, W. Esq. Newcastle.
Boyd, Robert, Esq. Newcastle.

h

iv

Broadley, John, Esq. F.L.S. and H.S. President of the
Hull Literary and Philosophical Society.

Broderip, W. J. Esq. F.R.S. G.S. and L.S. 2, Raymond^s
Buildings, Gray^s Inn.

Brockett, J. T. Esq. F.S.A. Newcastle.

Bryce, J. Esq. Jun. M.A. Mem. Brit. Assoc. M.G. S.D.&c.
Belfast.

Buckland, Rev. W. D.D. E.R.S. G.S. and L.S. Professor

of Mineralogy and Geology y Oxford.
Buddie, John, Esq. F.G.S. Wallsend, Northumberland,
Bunyan, R. I. Esq. 6, Crescent, Blackfriars.
Burnett, Mr. George, Jun. Newcastle.

Carr, George, Esq. Newcastle.

Charlton, W. H. Esq. Hesley side, Northumberland.
Charnley, Mr. E. Newcastle.
Cheek, H. H. Esq. Edinburgh.

Clarke, Rev. W. B. A.M. F.G.S. East Bergholt, Suffolk.
Cole, Viscount, M.P. F.R.S. F.G.S. &c.
Cole, Robert, Esq. 33, Red Lion Square.
CoUingwood, H. J. W. Esq. Lilburn, Northumberland,
Cohen, D. W. Esq. ShacklewelL

Conybeare, Rev. W. D. M.A. F.R.S. and G.S. Instit.
Reg. Soc. Paris. Corresp. Sully, near Cardiff.

Copeland, , Esq. Edinburgh.

Crawhall, Thomas, Esq. Benwell, Newcastle.

Corbet, Rev. Waters, M.A. Longmore Hall, Shropshire.

CuUey, M. Esq. F.G.S. Coupland Castle, Northumberland.

Davis, John Ford, M.D. F.L.S. Bath.

De la Beche, Henry Thomas, Esq. F.R.S. G.S. and L.S.

Dikes, W. Hey, Esq. F.G.S. Curator of the Museum of the

Hull Literary and Philosophical Society.
Dixon, Dixon, Esq. Newcastle.

V

Dolphin, John, Esq. Ruffside, Northumberland.
Drummond, James L. M.D. Professor of Anatomy, &«.
Belfast.

Dudley, Miss, King's Wainsford, Staffordshire.
Durham, The Right Hon. Lord, F.G.S. and H.S. Lambton
Castle, Durham.

Egerton, Sir Philip de Malpas Grey, Bart. F.G.S. Oulton

Park J Cheshire.
Egerton, Thomas, Esq. St. James's Square.
Ellicombe, Rev. H. T. M.A. F.A.S. Bitton Vicarage,

near Bristol,
Empson, Mr. Charles, Newcastle.

England, Rev. Thomas, 15, Surrey Square, Kent Road.

Falla, W. Esq. F.H.S. and L.S. Gateshead.
Fenwick, Thomas, Esq. F.G.S. Dipton, Durham.
Ferguson, R. Esq. M.P. of Raith.

Fitton, W. Henry, M.D. F.R.S. G.S. and L.S. Highwood

Hill, near Hendon,
Flounders, Miss, Yarm.

Forster, Mr. F. Haydeck Colliery, near Warrington.
Foster, Mr. John, Haswell, Durham.
Fox, George Townshend, Esq. F.G.S. and L.S. Durham.
Fryer, J. H. Esq. Whitley, Northumberland.

Gisborne, Rev. Thomas, Durham.

Goodhall, H. H. Esq. M.R.A.S. F.G.S. 55, Crutched
Friars.

Graham, Robert, M.D. F.R.S.E. and L.S. Professor of

Botany in the University of Edinburgh.
Grantham, Richard, Esq. Limerick.

b 2

VI

Greenough, G. B. Esq. F.R.S. L.S. & H.S. M.R. A.S. Pre-
sident of the G.S. Park Road, Regent's Park.

Guillemard, John Lewis, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. G.S. and L.S.
M.R. A.S. 27, Gower Street.

Harcourt, Rev. C. G.V. F.H.S. Whitton Tower, Northum-
berland.

Headlam, T. E. M.D. Neiocastle.

Henslow, Rev. J. S. M.A. F.L.S. and G.S. Professor of
Botany in the University of Cambridge.

Henry, W. M.D. F.R.S. and G.S. Manchester.

Hevritson, Henry, Esq. Seaton Burn, Northumberland.

Hewitson, Middleton, Esq. Newcastle.

Hewitson, W. C. Esq. Newcastle.

Hibbert, Samuel, M.D. F.G.S. Edinburgh.

Hill, George, Esq. F.G.S. Kenton, Northumberland,
(2 copies.)

Hodgson, Mr. R. W. Newcastle.

Holland, Henry, M.D. F.R.S. G.S. and L.S. 25, Lower

Brook Street.
Holroyd, Arthur, M.D. Harley Street.
Horner, Leonard, Esq. F.R.S. L.S. and G.S. Bonn.
Hoyle, Richard, Esq. Denton Hall, Northumberland.

Ingham, Robert, Esq. M.P. F.G.S. Westoe, Durham.
Ives, Mrs. Catton, near Norwich.

Joplin, Thomas, Esq.
Jukes, Frederick, Esq.

Lon glands, J. C. Esq. Old Bewick, Northumberland,
Leigh ton, W. A. Esq. of Leighton Ville, Shrewsbury.
Liddell, Hon. Mrs. Eslington House, Northumberland.

vii

Lindsay, Dr. James.

Lloyd, George, M.D. Neachills, Shropshire.

Lonsdale, W. Esq. F.G.S. Curator of the Museum of the
Geological Society, Somerset House.

Loch, James, Esq. M.P. F.G.S. 24, Hart Street, Blooms-
bury.

Losh, James, Esq. Jesmond, Newcastle.
Losh, William, Esq. Benton, Northumberland.

Mackenzie, Sir G. S. Bart. F.R.S.E. H.S. Coul, near Ding-
well, Rosshire,

Masters, Mr. W. Jun. F.H.S. Curator of the Canterbury
Museum.

Monck, Sir C. M. L. Bart. F.H.S. Belsay Castle, Nor-
thumberland.

Mosley, Sir Oswald, Bart. M.P. F.H.S. Rollestm Hall,
Staffordshire.

Murchison, R. J. Esq. Vice-President of the Geological So-
ciety, F.R.S. and L.S. 3, Bryanstone Place,
Bryanstone Square.

Murray, Dr. P. Scarborough.

Needham, John M. Esq. Beeston, Nottinghamshire.
Neill, P. Esq. F.R.S.E. S.A. L.S. G.S. and H.S.M.W.S.
Edinburgh.

Newby, Rev. Mark, Witton le Wear, Durham.
Nicol, Dr. J. J. Inverness.

Northampton, The Marquis of, F.G.S. Castle Ashby, Nor-
thamptonshire.

Northumberland, The Duke of, K.G. F.R.S. S.A. G.S.

L.S. and H.S. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland,
(2 Copies.)

Oakes, James, Esq. F.G.S. Biddings, Alfreton, Derby,

viii

Ormerod, G. W. Esq. B.A.
Orniston, Robert, Esq. Jun. Newcastle.

Parker, John Cowham, Esq. F.H.S. Hull,
Pattiuson, H. L. Esq. Ryton, Durham.
Phillips, John, Esq. F.G.S. York.

Portlock, Captain J. E. R.E. F.G.S. Depot Ordnance

Survey of Ireland, Dublin.
Pratt, S.P. Esq. F.G.S. L.S. Lansdown Place West, Bath.

Rawson, Christopher, Esq. Hope House, near Halifax.

Reddie, John, Esq.

Rennie, Mr. Robert, Sunderland.

Rippon, Cuthbert, Esq. M.P. Stanhope Castle, Durham,

Salvin, William T. Esq. F.H.S. Croxdale Hall, Durham.

Scott, Rev. T. Hobbs, Archdeacon of New South Wales,
F.G.S. Whitfield Rectory , Northumberland.

Sebright, Sir J. S. Bart. M.P. F.G.S. and H.S. Beech-
wood, near Market Street, Herts.

Sedgwick, Rev. A. M.A. F.R.S. G.S. Fellow of Trinity
College, and Woodwardian Professor of the Uni-
versity of Cambridge.

Sharpe, D. Esq. F.L.S. G.S. Lisbon.

Silvertop, George, Esq. F.H.S. Minsteracres, Northum-
berland.

Steggall, Rev. W. A.M. Bury St. Edmunds.
Stephenson, George, Esq. Alton Grange, near Ashby de la
Zouch.

Stephenson, Robert, Esq. Newcastle.

Stirling, W. F. Esq. 5, New Square, Lincoln's Inn.

Stobart, Henry, Esq. Pelaw, Durham.

IX

Stokes, C. Esq. RR.S. S.A. G.S. and L.S. M.R.A.S.

4, Verulam Buildings^ Gray^s Inn.

Straker, John, Esq. Jarrow Lodge, Durham.

Surtees, Anthony, Esq. Hamsterley Hall, Durham.

Swinburne, Sir J. E. Bart. F.R.S. S.A. Capheaton, Nor-
thumberland.

Swinburne, Lady, Capheaton, Northumberland, (2 Copies.)
Swinburne, Thomas, Esq. Gateshead.

Taylor, William, Esq.

Thorp, Rev. Charles, Archdeacon of Durham, Ryton.
Torrie, T. J. Esq. Edinburgh.
Trollope, Henry, Esq. Harrow.

Turner, Rev. W. M.A. F.G.S. Trinity College, Cambridge.
Turner, Rev. W. F.G.S. Newcastle.
Turner, J. A. Esq. Manchester.

Trevelyan, W. C. Esq. M.A. F.L.S. and G.S. Wallington,
Northumberland.

Vigors, N. A. Esq. M.P. M.A. Sec. Z.S. F.R.S. S.A.
G.S. L.S. H.S. and M.R.I.A. Regent's Park.

Warburton, H. Esq. M.P. M.A. Vice-President G.S.

F.R.S. & H.S. 45, Cadogan Place, Sloane Street.
White, H. C. Esq. F.G.S.

Williams, Rev. D. Bleadon, near Cross, Somersetshire,

Williamson, J. W. Esq. Whickham, Durham.

Winch, N. J. Esq. A.L.S. F.G.S. Newcastle,

Witham, H. T. M. Esq. F.R.S.E. G.S. &c. Lartington

Hall, Yorkshire.
Wood, George W. Esq. M.P. F.G.S. Manchester.

X

Wood, Nicholas, Esq. Killing woitu, JSewcastle.
Wood, Thomas, Esq. HettoUy Durham,

Youens, Rev. Dr. Ushaw College, Durham.

Belfast Natural History Society.

Geological Society of London.

Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle.

Literary, Scientific, and Mechanical Institution, Newcastle.

Literary and Philosophical Society, Leeds.

Nottingham Subscription Library.

RatclifFe Library, Oxford.

Scarborough Philosophical Society.

University of London.

York Subscription Library.

Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

P>J>iithf/) Ify.rAidflw^ and ■•■■ons London rvlr 1 1S.H1.

PINITES BRANDLING!,

THE WIDEOPEN FOSSIL TREE.

With AM, Observations upon Fossil Vegetables, />. 31. tab. 4.
Jigs, 1, 2, 3, 4.

This plate represents a portion of an immense
fossil, which has lately occurred in a grindstone
quarry, at Wideopen, near Gosforth, about five
miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The bed
in which this quarry is worked, is considered one
of the highest members of the coal formation ;
and has its name of Grindstone Bed" from
being extensively quarried for millstones and
grindstones. The fossil measured, in its whole
length, seventy-two feet ; the portion figured being
of the lower end, and not quite one half the
length. It followed a bed or parting in the stone,
and lay nearly at right angles with the dip of
the strata, which is a little to the southward of
east ; its direction was nearly north-east and

B

2

south-west, the lower end being towards the
north-east ; it tapered gradually from the bottom,
which was four feet nine inches, to the top,
which was eighteen inches in breadth. The sub-
stance of the fossil, where the wood was perfectly
petrified, was of a silicious nature, and of a brown
colour, having well defined crystals of ferruginous
quartz, in cavities interspersed through it, and
differing entirely from the surrounding mechanical
deposit of sandstone. A few fine veins of white
quartz, approaching chalcedony, passed through
the substance of the fossil longitudinally. A
thickness of thirty feet of solid stone had been
worked away before it was discovered, which was
at first accidentally, in the operations of the
quarry. It is to the scientific zeal and liberality
of the Rev. R. H. Brandling, on whose estate the
quarry is, that we are indebted for our complete
knowledge of this fossil giant of the vegetable
kingdom ; he having, at considerable trouble and
expense, caused it to be laid open to its full extent,
with the greatest care ; and, besides, having had
an artist upon the spot, who took a drawing before
any attempt was made to move it from its bed.

When that portion of the stone which covered
the fossil was carefully removed, there appeared
a dull black carbonaceous substance, soft and
wet, and which soiled the fingers ; this completely
enveloped the whole fossil, and was a little more
than an inch thick, but without any markings

3

upon the surface indicative of the bark or outside
of the plant. Beneath this was a layer of a
bright ochrey yellow substance, also soft and
wet, but which, when undisturbed, shewed marks
of the woody fibre ; these two substances coated
the whole of the fossil, but never intermixed.
Beneath the yellow matter was the petrified
wood ; and when the double coating was removed,
so complete was the likeness of the fossil to the
trunk of a decayed tree, that any one would have
been tempted to try it with a knife. The relative
situation of the different parts just described,
will be best understood by a sketch, where

A is the petrified wood.
B the yellow substance.
C the black ditto.

It must be observed, that the cavity in which the
fossil lay was never circular, but had one dia-
meter longer than the other, apparently from
compression, which generally had caused it to

B 2

4

assume the pointed shape shewn in the sketch,
these points being completely filled with the
black matter; there was, also, frequently an
empty space between the upper side of the fossil
and the covering of stone, as if from the shrinking
or diminution of bulk in the tree, as shewn in the
sketch, at D.

It is difficult to account for the strongly marked
difference of colour in the two enveloping sub-
stances, unless we suppose the black to have been
the bark, and the yellow to have arisen from the
decay of part of the woody fibre, before the slow
petrifying process, by which the silicious particles
were substituted for those of the wood, had time
to operate. It is probable the outer part all round,
as well as portions of the whole tree, had been in
a state of decay before it was deposited where we
now find it, as the whole of the fossil, for six feet
in length at the lower end, was composed of the
soft, black, and yellow substances, just described ;
the black always forming the outer coating only,
and the yellow being substituted for the entire
woody part. Where this occurred, the compres-
sion was very great, the breadth being at the
lowest part four feet nine inches, whilst the per-
pendicular thickness was only nine inches; the
higher end of the fossil was also entirely com-
posed of these substances, and very much flat-
tened ; in one or two places in the length, also,
the woody fibre was almost entirely changed into

5

them. No roots could be seen, nor any thing
like branches, except the large knots shewn in the
drawing. The greatest diameter of the petrified
part was about two feet. In attempting to move
it, notwithstanding every possible care and
anxiety to preserve it whole, it fell to pieces, so
that the largest fragment obtained is not above
eighteen inches long, and displays little more than
half the diameter of the fossil.

Many impressions of Calamites occur in the
sandstone of this quarry ; and it is worthy of
observation, that their whole substance is com-
posed of the same kind of black powdery carbo-
naceous matter which covered the outside. A
thin seam of coal occurs immediately under the
sandstone, and about seven feet below the bed of
the fossil.

There is a striking difference between the
nature of this fossil, and of those we usually find
in the sandstone or shale beds of our coal fields,
where we generally have a cast of the outside
form only, without the least indication of in-
ternal organization, their substance being of the
same nature as that of the rock in which they
occur; but here the case is entirely different.
The outer form is ill defined, whilst the in-
ternal structure, even to the minutest vessel,
is perfectly preserved. This circumstance suffi-
ciently indicates the difference of the nature
of the two classes of plants ; one was of a

B 3

6

soft membranous texture, easily yielding to pres-
sure and decay, whilst the strong woody fibre
of the other would long withstand both, and allow
that gradual substitution of matter, by infiltration,
by which alone delicate internal organic structures
can be preserved.

Ea:pla7iation of Plate 1.

a and Z>, the lower portion of the fossil, as it
appeared when the covering of stone and the
powdery enveloping substances were removed.

Z> to c, a continuation of the bed of the fossil.

c, a section of the lower half of the bed of the
fossil.

fy part of the lower portion of the tree on an
enlarged scale.

g, section of ditto.

Our tree was plainly, judging from its external
appearance alone, Exogenous ; of this the irregu-
lar arrangement of the knots, indicating the origin
of branches upon its trunk, and its manifest ten-
dency to a conical form, are sufficient evidence.
This is confirmed by an examination of its anato-
mical structure, which is nearly as perfect as in
recent wood.

Beautiful figures of the appearance of its
tissue in a transverse section, have been given by

7

Mr. Witham ; and, in this view, it is so extremely
similar to that of Coniferae*, that it might ahuost
be inferred that the tree actually belonged to that
tribe. But, in the first place, neither Mr. Witham,
nor ourselves, have been able to discover any trace
of concentric circles; and, secondly, a longitu-
dinal section, in the direction of its medullary rays,
shew^s that the woody fibre (or elongated cellular
tissue) of the trunk differs in some important
particulars.

In Coniferae, the walls of the woody fibre are
occupied by a peculiar kind of pore-like glands,
by which they are distinguished from all other
tribes of recent plants, except Cycadeae these
glands may be readily seen by inspecting a thin
shaving of pine wood, or reference may be made
to excellent figures of them in Kieser's Memoire sur
r organisation des plantes, tab, 15, Jig, 74, b andc, &c.
But in the tissue of this fossil, no such structure
is discoverable. On the contrary, the walls of
the woody fibre are beautifully reticulated, or
covered with hexagonal meshes, a structure with
nothing analogous to which are we acquainted
in the wood of recent plants. This is represented
at fig. 2, where a small portion of the tissue is
very highly magnified.

The anatomical structure of this fossil is more

* Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p. 247.

t Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p. 245.

B 4

8

perfectly preserved than of that which forms the
subject of the next plate ; but they are, never-
theless, so extremely similar, that no doubt can
exist of their both being, if not the same species,
at least very nearly allied. The principal difference
between them, consists in the reticulations of
the woody fibre of this fossil being more regular
and larger than those in the Craigleith plant.

2

PINITES WITHAMI.

CRAIGLEITH FOSSIL TREE.

WiTHAM, in the Philosophical Magazine and Annals, for
January, 1830. The same, Observations on Fossil
Vegetables, p. 30. tab. 3. fgs, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Found in the year 1826, in the great quarry,
at Craigleith, near Edinburgh, which we take to
be in a sandstone, considerably below the coal
formation proper ; perhaps, even, in the mountain
limestone group. It was thirty-six feet long, and
three feet in diameter at its base ; its position
was nearly horizontal, or corresponding with the
dip. No branches were discovered, although
there are indications of them upon that portion
of the fossil which yet remains. Unlike the
Wideopen fossil, last described, the outward form
of this was entire, the bark being converted into
coal. The mineralizing substance was principally
carbonate of lime, the crystallization of which had
broken up and distorted the fine vegetable tissue
in a considerable portion of the fossil.

10

The figures represent highly magnified views of
portions of the wood, drawn from specimens pre-
pared by Mr. Sanderson, of Edinburgh.

1. Exhibits a longitudinal section, made in the
direction of the medullary rays, some of which are
seen adhering to it, and lying across it. The tissue
consists of elongated cellules (woody fibre) fitted
together by their rather abruptly pointed extremi-
ties, and very like those of Cupressus sempervirens.
There is no trace of any kind of vessel passing
through this tissue. The membrane of the cel-
lules has, now and then, a reticulated appearance,
as if it had been itself composed of extremely
minute spheroidal cellules, or filled with such ;
these are, occasionally, apparent, where the spe-
cimen is sufficiently transparent to allow light to
be transmitted freely, except when the membrane
of the tissue has been destroyed in the grinding
down and polishing ; they seem to have been
smaller than in the Wideopen fossil, but are by
no means so beautifully preserved. Whether
this difference in the reticulation was connected
with external characters, we have, at present,
no means of judging ; there is no trace of any
other kind of organization. The medullary rays
are merely indicated by various transverse bars,
such as are represented.

2. Seems to be a longitudinal tangental sec-
tion, in which the elongated cellules of the wood

11

appear more distorted and injured, than in
the last; and the passages of the medullary
rays, from the centre to the circumference, are
distinctly cut through. These passages are
variable in size, sometimes appearing to consist
of as many as four layers of muriform cellu-
les placed side by side, sometimes not having
more than two. The same reticulated structure
of the membranes of the elongated cellules of the
wood, as described in figure 1, is more or less
visible in places; and would, no doubt, have been
equally so, if the specimen described had not been
ground down so much thinner. The mouths of
the medullary passages are from the 200th to the
400th of an inch across.

3. Shews the appearance of a minute portion of
a transverse section, highly magnified, with three
medullary rays, one of which consisted, at the
line where it was cut through, of four layers of
muriform cellules. The mouths of the elongated
cellules of the wood are unequal in size, but
average the 400th of an inch in diameter. No
trace was discoverable either of concentric zones,
or of the orifices of ducts.

4. Is an ideal figure, to explain the parts whence
these sections are supposed to have been taken.
a, refers to fig. 2. h, to fig. 1. and c, to fig. 3.

Our observations on the specimens we have
seen of this fossil, agree entirely with those of

12

Mr. Witham, in his beautiful work on Fossil Vege-
tables, above quoted ; especially in the absence
of any trace of concentric zones in the wood. In
a polished piece, four inches and a half across,
nothing of the kind is to be detected. Mr. Witham
correctly observes, that, in every thing else, in a
horizontal view, the accordance between this plant
and Coniferae is perfect ; but in a longitudinal
section of Coniferse, the walls of the woody tissue
are, as has been before stated, in all the recent
species that have been examined, distinctly
marked with circular elevations, equal to about
half the breadth of the elongated cellules, each
having the appearance of a perforation in its
centre. Of these circular elevations, no trace is
discoverable in this fossil ; on the contrary, the
walls appear, as above described, to consist of
very minute cellules, arranged in a reticulated
manner. We are, therefore, compelled to conclude,
notwithstanding the great similarity between the
transverse sections of this wood, and those of recent
Coniferae, and notwithstanding the total absence of
ducts, in what seems to have been a tree, having
an Exogenous structure, yet that as the very re-
markable organization of the walls of the woody
tissue of recent Coniferae does not exist in this
fossil, but is supplied by another kind of structure
of an equally unusual nature, the inference that
this tree belonged to the Coniferous tribe, cannot
be considered altogether just.

J^Mi/h.^,' };y ^ RiUff^ay arid Sonj.Zendon.Jul,- J.laSI.

3

PINITES MEDULLARIS.
A CRAIGLEITH FOSSIL BRANCH,

WiTHAM, in tlie Transactions of the Natural History Society
of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Vol. 1. p. 297. tab. 25.Jigs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

This represents the tissue of a branch found
in the same quarry, at Craigleith, as the last,
in the early part of the present year, 1831. A
fragment of a stem occurred in one of those hard
indurated masses, not uncommon in this quarry,
which are very difficult to work ; in this instance,
powder was used, which probably detached the
branch, part of which is here figured ; but this
could not be satisfactorily ascertained.

In this specimen, the concentric circles, me-
dullary rays, and pith of an Exogenous tree, are
distinctly seen ; otherwise, the appearance of the
tissue is as nearly as possible that of the tree from
the same quarry, figured at plate 2. It is, how-

14

ever, remarkable, that in a specimen no more than
half an inch thick, there are distinct traces of
four concentric zones, while, in the plant repre-
sented at plate 2, there is not an appearance of
a single zone in a specimen four inches and a half
thick.

The principal difference between this and the
usual structure of Coniferous wood, is the large
proportion that is borne to the zones by the pith,
which is four times greater in diameter than the
first zone of wood that surrounds it. We are not
acquainted with any recent Coniferous species in
which so great a difference between the woody
zones and the pith has been observed. We have
seen no longitudinal section of this specimen ; it
is, therefore, uncertain whether the tissue agrees
in other respects with that of the large stem of the
Craigleith quarry, figured at plate 2.

Fig. 1, is a view of the section of the branch of
the natural size, as it appears to the naked eye,
with the pith and the concentric circles.

Fig. 2, is a portion of the same, very highly
magnified, shewing the structure of the pith, the
medullary rays, and the mouths of the cellules of
the woody tissue. In this, the medullary sheath
is so much converted to a coaly matter, that its
exact structure is no longer to be detected.

4

LEPIDODENDRON STERNBERGII.

Lepidodendron dichotomura. Sternberg essai d'un exposi
qeoqnoMco-botanique, p. 25. tab. 1 . and part of tab. 2.

L. Sternbergii. Ad. Brongniart Prodrome d'me histoire
des VigHaux Fossiles, p. 85.

The specimen here figured is from the shale,
forming the roof of the low main coal seam m
Felling Colliery, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Ve-
getable fossils occur in all the sandstone and
shale beds of the coal formation, and in many of
the members of the subjacent mountain limestone
group. The coal itself very rarely retains any
marks of organic structure. In many of the sand-
stones, although the fossils are numerous, it is only
the large and strongly marked individuals which
have left their forms impressed upon the rough-
grained mechanical deposit of these rocks, when
their bark or outer coating is generally found
converted into a fine coal.

16

The limestone itself has, hitherto, afforded but
few vegetable remains ; nevertheless, we shall
have to notice, in the progress of this work, some
beautiful examples, both from the limestones of
Northumberland, and from those in the neighbour-
hood of Edinburgh, which are curious from their
intimate connexion with the remains of animals.
It is the beds of shale, or argillaceous schistus,
which afford the most abundant supply of these
curious relics of a former world ; the fine particles
of which they are composed, having sealed up and
retained, in wonderful perfection and beauty, the
most delicate outward forms of the vegetable
organic structure.

Where shale forms the roof of the workable
seams of coal, as it generally does, we have the
most abundant display of fossils ; and this, not,
perhaps, arising so much from any peculiarity in
these beds, as from their being more extensively
known and examined than any others. The
principal deposit is not in immediate contact with
the coal, but about twelve to twenty inches above
it; and such is the immense profusion in this
situation, that they are not unfrequently the cause
of very serious accidents, by breaking the adhe-
sion of the shale bed, and causing it to separate
and fall, when, by the operations of the miner,
the coal which supported it is removed. After
an extensive fall of this kind has taken place, it
is a curious sight to see the roof of the mine

17

covered with these vegetable forms, some of them
of great beauty and delicacy ; and the observer
cannot fail to be struck with the extraordinary
confusion, and the numerous marks of strong
mechanical action exhibited by their broken and
disjointed remains. The Lepidodendrons are, after
the Calamites, the most abundant class of fossils
occurring in the coal formation of the North of
England, and are sometimes of a large size, frag-
ments of stems occurring from 20 to 45 feet long ;
we have, ourselves, measured in the shale forming
the roof of the Bensham coal seam in Jarrow
Colliery, an individual of this class, four feet and
a half in breadth.

In examining the species of Lepidodendron, a
botanist finds four characters by v^hich he may
compare them with recent plants, viz., their
surface, their foliage, their ramifications, and
their texture.

It is with Coniferae, and Lycopodiaceae,* that
Lepidodendrons have to be compared in all these
particulars.

With regard to their surface, in both Coniferae
and Lycopodiaceae, the leaves have a similar
arrangement, and the scars, or marks, caused by
the fall of the latter, are of a similar kind. In
Coniferae, the leaves are arranged upon the stem,
in two very different ways. First, in the species

* Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p, 316.

18

having, what botanists denominate, fascicled fo-
liage, such as the Scotch Fir (Pinus Sylvestris),
the Pinaster (Pinus Pinaster), the Weymouth
Pine (P. Strobus), and the like, the first leaves
that are developed are brown and membra-
nous, roll back and wither away, almost imme-
diately after the young branch has acquired its
first growth. From the axilla of each of these,
sprouts forth a bud, that never or rarely elongates,
but which produces several leaves, the outermost
of which are membranous and perishable like the
first ; but the innermost, narrow and rigid, form-
ing the permanent green foliage of the species ; in
these, where the foliage has fallen away, the stem
is covered with numerous narrow projections,
thickest at the upper end, where the remains of
withered leaves are visible, arranged, spirally, with
great symmetry, and separated by intervals, usually
equal, at least to twice the breadth of the projections.

Secondly, In the species in which the leaves are
solitary, as in the Spruce fir, the Araucaria, the
Cunninghamia, &c., the leaves that are originally
developed when the young shoot forms, never
undergo any material alteration, but are those
which subsequently become the green foliage of
the plant ; none, or few, apparent axillary buds
are developed ; and, finally, the leaves either sepa-
rate by a clean scar of a rhomboidal or roundish
figure, with a depressed point in its middle, where
the vascular bundle connecting the stem and leaf

19

was broken through, or separate imperfectly,
leaving behind an irregular mark upon a rhom-
boidal areola. The yew is an instance of the
former ; Cunninghamia and Araucaria of the
latter. In all cases, the scars, or the rhomboidal
areolae, are disposed in a spiral manner, with
the most exact symmetry. With Coniferous
plants of the latter kind, Lycopodiaceae ac-
cord so much in the arrangement of their leaves,
and, consequently, in the appearance of the surface
of the stems, after the leaves have fallen, that it
would be difficult to point out any difference,
except that they are often, as in Lyccpodium
clavatum, rigidum, divaricatum. See, less spiral,
having a tendency to become verticillate. Lepi-
dodendra accord equally with Coniferse, and
Lycopodiaceae, in the arrangement of the scars of
the leaves.

The foliage of certain Coniferae, such as Arau-
caria, and of Lycopodiaceae, is so similar, that
their casts would be scarcely distinguishable,
except by the larger size of the former. Lepido-
dendra accord better with Coniferae than with
Lycopodiaceae, in this respect.

The ramifications of Coniferae and Lycopodia-
ceae are essentially different. In the former, the
branches arise from the same plane on opposite sides
of the main stem, often assuming a verticillate ar-
rangement. In the latter, the branches bifurcate,

c S

20

whenever a new bud is brought into action, so that
the whole of the divisions are dichotomous ; and
the same takes place in the inflorescence whenever
the latter is compound, as in L. Phlegmaria. Hence,
Lepidodendra are more related to Lycopodiaceae
than to Coniferae, in their manner of branching ;
and as dichotomous ramifications are extremely
rare in recent plants, this circumstance, taken
together with their other characters, strengthens
M. A. Brongniart's opinion of their strong analogy
with Lycopodiaceae.

The texture and size of Lycopodiaceae and
Coniferae are very dissimilar. The former are
soft cellular plants, with small creeping or
erect stems, no bark, and an imperfect formation
of a woody axis ; the latter are large trees,
with a thick bark, and a hard woody centre,
which is incapable of compression by any ordi-
nary force. With neither tribe do Lepidoden-
dra agree in these points : they resemble Lyco-
podiaceae in their soft stem ; for specimens, some
inches in diameter, are found so compressed, as to
be nothing more than a thin plate; but they
agree with Coniferae in the size they seem to have
attained, and in the presence of bark, although
that part is thin, compared with the bark of recent
Coniferae.

Upon the whple, we are led to conclude, that
the Lepidodendron genus was not exactly like

21

either Coniferae or Lycopodiaceae, but that it
occupied an intermediate station between those
two orders, approaching more nearly to the latter
than to the former.

The species now represented appears not to be
distinct from the L. Sternbergii of A. Brongniart ;
the broader figure of the areolations of the speci-
men, represented by De Sternberg, being, proba-
bly, due to their younger state.

The rhomboidal spaces were doubtless the base
of the leaves, which appear to have been linear
lanceolate, and slightly curved. The depression a
little above the middle of the spaces, was where
these leaves separated ; and the obscure line,
that runs from the depression towards, or to the
base of the rhomboidal space, was a depression
originally, and does not seem to have had any
relation to the organic union of some part now
obliterated. The depression, in some specimens, is
evidently caused by the breaking off of the fossil
leaves from the axis, where the bed, in which the
specimen laid, was divided.

5

ULODENDRON MAJUS.

Rhode Beitrdge zur Pflanzenkunde der Vorwelt, t, 3. f, 1.

The specimen here figured, is from the shale
forming the roof of the Bensham coal seam, in
Jarrovv Colliery, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

It would be probable that this was an old stem
of a Lepidodendron, and even, perhaps, of L. Stern-
bergii, notwithstanding the areolse of the surface
being different in figure from those of that species,
if the figure of the areolations were altered by age
in Lepidodendron, as in recent Coniferse. In the
latter, areolse, which, when young, have their per-
pendicular diameter the greatest, alter into rhom-
boids, having their horizontal diameter the longest ;
a circumstance which arises from the tissue of the
bark being strained horizontally by the formation
of new wood beneath it. But M. Adolphe
Brongniart has well observed, (^Prodrome, p. 84,)
that the scars of Lepidodendron, instead of

Pluu 5.

shortening, lengthen during the growth of the
plant, as is shown in the first plate of Count
Sternberg's Essai, and as is also seen in plates
4 and 9 of this work, whence he infers, that Lepi-
dodendra did not increase in diameter. Without
adopting this conclusion, we have no difficulty in
recognizing the accuracy of the observation. It
is therefore probable, that this fossil, although very
similar to a Lepidodendron, was really of a dif-
ferent nature. At all events, it contains evidence
of its genus having been very unlike any thing
we have among Coniferae, or Lycopodiaceae ; for
in these two orders we have nothing that can
be compared to those large scars upon the surface
of this specimen, which indicate points whence
branches, or, more probably, masses of inflorescence
must have fallen. It would seem that these lost
portions, whatever they were, consisted of scales,
imbricated closely over each other around a com-
mon woody axis, in the same way as the scales of
the cone of a Pinus ; and it also appears that the
scales had a figure different from the leaves.
There are connected with these scars two con-
siderations of much importance ; viz. 1. That the
supposed masses of inflorescence were not only
neither terminal, nor disposed spirally upon the
stem, but were also produced upon the old trunks,
and not upon the young branches ; circumstances
at variance with any thing we know of recent
Coniferae, or Lycopodiaceae ; and 2. That the

c 4

24

scars are placed one beneath the other, and not spi-
rally, or alternately, upon the stem. The furrows
upon the surface of the specimen shew, that it has
been pressed from a cylindrical into a flat figure.

For the convenience of speaking of fossils of
this kind, we have provisionally called them by a
name suggested by their scars, notwithstanding a
possibility of their being old stems of Lepido-
dendron ; and we have done this with the less
reluctance, seeing that the nomenclature of fossil
botany must, for some time, be necessarily merely
provisional to a great extent.

1

6

ULODENDRON MINUS.

Allan in Edinburgh Philosoph. Trans, vol 9. p. 235. 1. 14.
Lepidodendron ornatissimum. Ad. Brong. prodr. p. 85.

The specimen from which this figure is taken is
in shale, from the roof of the high main coal seam
at South Shields Colliery, county of Durham.
That figured by Mr. Allan, in the Edinburgh
Philosophical Transactions, was from the Craig-
leith quarry.

It is most likely a younger state of Ulo-
dendron majus ; we, nevertheless, distinguish it,
because, in recent plants, the size of the masses
of inflorescence, in the same species, is not ma-
terially different, whatever may be the age of the
individual that bears them; while, in this, the
scars indicate traces of lost bodies, that are
scarcely half as large as those of Ulodendron
majus. The stem has been pressed flat, and both
sides of it are preserved in the specimen figured ;

26

on the opposite side to that which has been
drawn is a similar row of scars, having the same
arrangement. It would be probable, that this
specimen is represented in an inverted position,
if we were sure that the laws of its structure
were the same as those of recent plants; but
there is no satisfactory evidence upon this point.

y ■

7

Fig. 1.

LEPIDODENDRON ACEROSUM.

See Plate 8.
From shale, in the roof of the Bensham Colliery.

Fig. 2.

LEPIDODENDRON DILATATUM.

From the roof of the low main coal seam in
Felling Colliery, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

This fossil is scarcely referable to any figured
Lepidodendron. It appears to have been the
fragment of the apex of some dilated species,
which has been compressed, without the arrange-
ment of its parts having been disturbed. Pos-
sibly, it may be the same as that represented by
the upper left hand figure of the second plate in
Count Sternberg's Flore du monde primitif. The
leaves are longer than in L. Sternbergii, to which
that author considered his to belong.

28

Fig. 3 and 4.
LEPIDOPHYLLUM LANCEOLATUM.

Both these specimens are from the shale, form-
ing the roof of the Bensham coal seam at Jarrow
Colliery.

It is probable that these leaves belonged to
some species of Lepidodendron ; they were evi-
dently of a w^oody rigid texture, had a middle
rib, and were triangular at the base, becoming
flat upwards. Perhaps, it is to Lepidodendron?
acerosum, that they should be referred.

9

LEPIDODENDRON GRACILE.

From shale, in the roof of the low main coal
seam, Felling Colliery. A fine specimen is in the
possession of the Geological Society.

This beautiful fossil gives a good idea of what
a true Lepidodendron was, and exhibits a more
distinct approach to Lycopodium, especially such
species as L. squarrosum, than the larger species.
It resembles Lepidodendron Sternbergii in many
respects, but seems to have been more slender, and
to have had smaller leaves, leaving more acutely
rhomboidal scars.

Fig. 2 represents a portion of one of the
branches, of the natural size.

Fi^. 2.

Puil^^i llX -7. Ri^tra^ and Sou. Zc7uij>'; J-tly -l.jeSJ.

10

LEPIDOSTROBUS VARIABILIS.

All the specimens here figured, are from the
shale, forming the roof of the Bensham coal seam,
at Jarrow Colliery.

These are, no doubt, bodies analogous to that
figured by Parkinson, in his organic remains,
(vol. 1. pi. 9. f. 1.) which M. A. Brongniart calls
Lepidostrobus ornatus, and which he considers
as a cone, the scales of which are terminated by
rhomboidal disks, imbricated from above down-
wards.

The arrangement of the terminations of the
scales in this species is certainly the reverse ; the
scales are sharp pointed, and are imbricated in
the usual way, all their ends turning towards the
apex of the cone.

It might be supposed, that it was such bodies
as these that left behind them the scars on the
Ulodendra, tab. 5 and 6, and that they were
really the fructification of that genus. Upon
this subject we shall have some conservations to
offer, in discussing the structure of the fossil,
represented at tab. II.

■ ilTi^d trt . ■.Hi(ljiwiiy/i--^ on<'.Lon<icn.i'ct.''lMit

11

LEPIDOSTROBUS variabilis.

Lepidostrobus variabilis. Suprd, tab, 10.

From the roof of the Bensham coal seam, at
Jarrow Colliery.

These specimens exhibit other states of the
fossil represented in the last plate. That they all
belong to the same species, we can scarcely doubt,
considering their being constantly found together ;
and that their differences are apparently depen-
dent only upon their different ages ; thus tab. 10.
fig. 2., a. and fig. 1. of this plate, are very young ;
tab. 10. fig. 2. b, is rather older; fig. 3. tab. 10.
may be the same thing further developed, the
conical termination visible in the young speci-
mens having changed into a rounded one.
Fig. 1. tab. 10., shews the fossil at a yet more
advanced age ; and we have a specimen now
before us still longer, with the end doubled back,
in consequence, as it would seem, of some pres-
sure.

34

A conical axis, around which a great quantity
of scales were compactly imbricated from the
base upwards, was obviously the structure of this
species of Lepidostrobus. These scales were nar-
row, and gradually acuminated, as represented at
tab. 1 1 . fig. 1. when young ; but when older, they
appear, from other specimens, to have become
broadly ovate, with a rigid mucro. That the
scales were imbricate from below upwards, their
points being directed to the apex of the cone, is
evident, in young specimens, such as fig. 1. tab. 11.
and, indeed, from many older specimens also.
Sometimes, however, they are apparently turned
downwards, a circumstance that is owing to their
having been forcibly compressed from above down-
wards; an instance of this is given at fig. 1. a.
tab. 10., in which the left side is in such a state,
while the right side retains its natural position.
Their axis appears, notwithstanding its thickness,
to have been soft and pliable ; at least, such an
inference seems warranted by the specimen before
alluded to, in which the cone is bent almost
double, without any fracture, an inch and a half
below its apex ; a circumstance which certainly
would not have taken place in any part, of which
the axis was woody and rigid.

Mr. Adolphe Brongniart entertains no doubt of
these cones being reproductive bodies, analogous
to those of recent Coniferae, and Lycopodiaceae ;
and, it is probable, that this view of their nature

35

is correct ; at the ^ame time, it must be confessed,
that if all the species had, like the original species,
scales, with a dilated reflexed, rhomboidal disk, it
might be a matter of doubt whether they were not
more nearly related to Cycadeae.* It may further
be remarked, that in some specimens, there seems
to have been a cylindrical, or oblong body, lying
in the axilla of each scale ; and, in such instances,
the appearance of the fossil is very like that of a
young shoot of the genus Pinus, before the first
ramentaceous leaves are pushed aside by the
secondary green permanent ones, (see page 18, at
the top) ; nor is this the only important point of
resemblance between Lepidostrobus, and the young
shoots of Pinus ; the latter vary much in appear-
ance, according to their age ; and their ramen-
taceous scales, which point upwards when young,
roll backwards when older. Such shoots are,
also, very flexible ; and their axis, when stripped
of the scales, has scars, arranged much in the
same manner as in the fossil. So striking, indeed,
are these analogies, that there is only one point
that decides us in adopting M. Brongniart's view,
namely, that the Lepidostrobi were always articu-
lated with their stem; a circumstance which is
common in those masses of inflorescence, which
Botanists call amenta, or strobili, and to which

* See Introduction to the Natural System of Botany ^
p. 246.

D 2

36

Lepidostrobi must be referable, but which is ex-
tremely rare in mere branches.

As Lepidostrobi may be considered to have
been almost proved to be organs of fructification,
it is a point of great moment to discover to what
other fossil remains they appertain. In the opi-
nion of M. Brongniart, they undoubtedly belong
to Lepidodendron ; and supposing that Ulodendra
could be shewn to be old stems of Lepidodendra,
we should entirely agree with him ; for, although
no one has succeeded in discovering Lepidostrobi,
except in their detached state, yet there is so
much resemblance between the base of these cones,
and the scars of Ulodendron, that one can hardly
doubt their having been separated from each other.
We have a specimen of the base of what appears
to have been a Lepidostrobus, from the Barnsley
coal field, given us by Mr. Edgar, which is so like
in size and structure the lower scar of Ulodendron
minus, tab. 6., that they actually look as if one
had been broken off the other. But even in regard
to the identity of Ulodendra and Lepidostrobi,
there is this difficulty, that while the latter are
very common, the former are extremely rare ; and
in taking M. Brongniart's view of the question, the
difficulty seems increased. In the first place, it
has been shewn, (p. 20-21,) that the affinity of
Lepidodendra, judging from their stems and leaves
only, is greater with Lycopodiaceae than anything

37

else that is recent. Now, this opinion is incom-
patible with the Lepidostrobi belonging to Lepi-
dodendra, because the fructification of Lycopodia-
ceae consists in a mere alteration of the leaves at
the ends of the branches, without any dis-articu-
lation ever, in any known instance, taking place.
Moreover, the fructification of Lycopodiaceae is
always terminal ; and, although we have numerous
well preserved ends of Lepidodendron branches, no
one has seen them assuming the appearance of a
Lepidostrobus. Another difficulty in the way of
M. A. Brongniart's supposition, is, that Lepidos-
trobi are much more common in company with
Ferns and Calamites, than with Lepidodendra. Of
four large specimens now before us, containing im-
pressions of Lepidostrobi, there is not a trace of a
Lepidodendron ; in one specimen, a single large
cone lies among fragments of ferns ; in a second,
we have five Lepidostrobi, with a few indistinct
casts, either of a Calamites, like C. arenaceus, or
of the stalk of some large fern- leaf ; in a third,
there are nine Lepidostrobi, with a morsel of some
Calamites, and a fragment of the leaf of some Neu-
ropteris ; while, in the fourth, a single cone lies
among fragments of Calamites, and various fern
stems.

We shall take an early opportunity of return-
ing to this enquiry. In the mean while, we would
particularly direct the attention of Geologists to
the importance of discovering these bodies actually

D 3

38

attached to the plants to which they belong. Such
is the uncertainty of all these inquiries, that, until
the cones shall have been discovered in such a
state, any view of the subject must be extremely
conjectural.

12

LEPIDODENDRON SELAGINOIDES.

L. selaginoides. Sternberg essai d'un expose geognostico-
botanique, Src. p. 35. t. 16. /. 3. and t. 17. /. 1. Ad Brongn.
prodrome, p. 85.

Pinus sylvestris Mugo Tabernaemontani et ^
Mathioli. Volkm, Siles. subterr. t, 12. /. 6." f ^ Sternb.
Tithymalus cyparissias. lb, / 3." {
Pinus montana. lb, t, 14. /. 4." _/
? Palmacites incisus. Schlotk, Petrefacienkunde, p, 395.
f. 15./. 6.

? Lepidodendron imbricatum. Ad, Brongn. prodr. p. 86.

From the roof of the Low Main coal seam, at
Felling Colliery.

This species is no doubt identical with the plant
figured by Count Sternberg, from the coal mines
of Schatzlar and Swina, which he particularly
characterizes by the rounded figure of the scars
left by its leaves. This distinction, it must be
observed, is only applicable to young branches of
the species ; in the old stems, with which Count

d4

40

Sternberg seems to have been unacquainted, the
scars are narrow lozenges, with a depression in
their centre ; and are so like the figure of Palma-
cites incisus, given by Schlotheim, in his Petrefac-
tenkiinde, upon which M. Adolphe Brongniart
founded his Lepidodendron imbricatum, that we
can scarcely doubt their being the same. If we
are right in this reference, the species has also
been noticed in the slate-clay of Wettin, and
Eschweiler.

It is readily known by its short compactly im-
bricated leaves, the form of which seems to have
been ovate-acuminate, by the rounded scars on
the young branches, and the narrow lozenge-
shaped spaces, with a single central depression in
the old ones.

In the specimen from which our figure was
taken, two of the young branches were thickened,
as if their leaves concealed axillary bodies. Should
these be really the fructification of a Lepidoden-
dron, we presume it will be no longer possible to
admit the identity of Lepidostrobus, and that
genus.

13

SPHENOPHYLLUM EROSUM.

Very rare in the shale above the Bensham coal
seam, at Jarrow.

Whether this is either the S. truncatum, or
S. dissectum, of M. Adolphe Brongniart, to which
neither characters or references are assigned, we
have no means of knowing ; it is certainly distinct
from all his other species. We beg, therefore,
that our distinguished friend, whom we have
no scruple in most conscientiously designating as
the father of Fossil Botany, and as the only per-
son that has hitherto viewed the subject, as Cuvier
has the Fossil Animal Kingdom, with the eye of a
man of science, and a skilful Naturalist, — we beg,
we say, that he will not impute any deviation from
his terminology, if into such we may fall, to dis-
respect; but rather, as we have already said, to
mere unacquaintance with his materials. For
differences in opinion, as to the inferences to be
drawn from particular data, we feel that apology

42

is unnecessary. No man is more capable than
the learned Botanist, to whose name we are thus
appealing, of appreciating the almost hopeless in-
vestigations of those who attempt to investigate
the analogy of recent and fossil vegetable struc-
ture.

M. Brongniart refers Sphenophyllum to the
family of Marsileaceae ;* but it seems to us, we
confess, that this decision has been too hasty.
It is true, that the leaves have the dichotomous
veins of that family ; and some analogy may, per-
haps, be traced between their form and that of cer-
tain Marsileas. But when it is considered that
the latter belong to a division of the vegetable
kingdom, in which no such thing as verticillate
leaves is known, and that all the Sphenophylla
have their leaves most perfectly verticillate, it will
at once be seen, that doubts may be reasonably
entertained of the correctness of the approxima-
tion. An idea that Ceratophyllum has some rela-
tion to Sphenophyllum, has, probably, by this
time, been abandoned.

While we thus differ from M. Brongniart, in
regard to the families to which he has approxi-
mated Sphenophyllum, we are scarcely prepared to
say to what else they are related. Perhaps, how-
ever, the following considerations may not be
inappropriate.

* Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p, 317.

43

There are no recent plants in which the veins
of the leaves are dichotomous, except Ferns and
their allies, and Coniferae.

The veins of the leaves of Sphenophyllum are,
in all cases, distinctly dichotomous, as is particu-
larly seen in beautiful specimens of Sph. Schlo-
theimii, of which our indefatigable friend, Mr.
Lonsdale, has shewn us specimens in the splendid
collection of the Geological Society, to which they
had been presented by the Rev. Mr. Skinner ;
therefore, Sphenophyllum is analogous, either to
Ferns or Coniferae, among recent plants.

While Ferns, and their allies, have constantly
leaves with an alternate origin, Coniferae have the
leaves as frequently verticillate as alternate.

The leaves of Sphenophyllum are verticillate ;
therefore, Sphenophyllum is more nearly related to
Coniferae than to Ferns, and their allies.

This seems to us a legitimate conclusion, and it
is strengthened by some circumstances that
deserve notice. In the first place, the leaves
of Sphenophyllum are dilated at the apex, like
those of Salisburia, a genus of Coniferae, and
have exactly the same sort of veining : secondly,
in the specimens above referred to, from Mr.
Skinner, in the collection of the Geological
Society, there seems to be a slight squamulose
appearance at the base of each leaf, which, all
Botanists will admit, would, if distinctly proved,
be almost decisive of the question of the fossil

44

belonging to Coniferse ; and thirdly, in the same
beautiful specimens from Mr. Skinner, particularly
in one numbered 16,916, from the Somerset coal
field, the stem is distinctly marked with deep
furrows, the ridges of which plainly correspond
with the leaves. Now this is a character, so com-
pletely in accordance with that of the Yew, the
Spruce Fir, and other Coniferous plants, that,
taken together with what we have previously re-
marked, it leaves scarcely any doubt in our mind,
that, Sphenophyllum was one of those plants,
which in the ancient world represented the Pine
tribe of modern Floras.

i!

.1

14

ASTEROPHYLLITES TUBERCULATA.

Ast. tuberculata. Ad, Brongn. Prodr. No. G.

Bruckmannia tuberculata. Sternberg Essai d^im expose
gtognostico-botanique. fasc. 4. p, xxix. t. 45. f. 2.

From the shale forming the roof of the Low Main
coal seam, in Felling Colliery, near Newcastle.

Nothing more than fragments, such as are here
represented, have been seen of this fossil ; from
which it is extremely difficult to form any clear
idea of its nature. We have only portions of cylin-
drical stems, with internodia about twice as broad
as they are long, and verticillate leaves, which are,
however, so imperfectly preserved, that neither
their outline, length, or number, can be judged
of. They seem, however, to have been numerous.
In some places, the central substance of the branch
is laid bare, by the separation of what appears to
have been a bark, of considerable thickness, in

46

proportion to the whole diameter, and here the
nodi are distinctly shewn to have been prominent.
Such a specimen is represented at fig. 1. The
only inference that can be safely drawn from this,
seems to be, that the plant was not endogenous ;
if it had been, its cortical integument would not
have separated in so distinct a manner, as it is
evident that it did.

It might be suspected that it belonged to some
species of Calamites, in consequence of its resem-
blance to the subjects of the two next plates, and
more especially because specimens have been
found of a size intermediate between the two ; but
there is no trace of the distinct parallel furrows,
by which the stems of Calamites are to be recog-
nized when their cortical integument is removed.
Had the furrows been discoverable, it would
certainly have been probable, that this fossil did
belong to a Calamite, and C. approximatus might
have even been named as the species ; but the objec-
tion just mentioned, appears to render the supposi-
tion unsafe, until, what is not improbable, it shall
have been discovered that very young branches of
Calamite are destitute of the furrows.

This, undoubtedly, is very nearly the same as
the fossil represented at fig. 2, of the first plate of
Von Schlotheim's Beitr'age zur Flora der Vorwelt,
and compared, by that author, to the modern Hip-
puris vulgaris ; but it would seem to have had
shorter and more numerous leaves. That species,

47

with a few others, are placed by M. Adolphe
Brongniart at the end of his Arrangement of Fossil
Plants, under the genus Asterophyllites, with the
note, that they are perhaps the only traces of
Dicotyledonous plants in the coal measures, and a
suggestion that it is with modern Haloragese,* or
Ceratophyllese,! that they must be compared. The
latter part of this opinion being derived from an
inspection of specimens, apparently in fruit, such
as we have not seen, we are unable to judge of its
value : the former it is necessary to abandon en-
tirely, in consequence of the discovery of those
undoubted Dicotyledonous plants already figured
in this work, under the name of Pinites ; to say
nothing of such others as it may be conjectured
belonged to the same great division of the vegeta-
ble kingdom.

These traces of axillary fructification are also
strongly dwelt upon by Count Sternberg, who re-
fers the fossil to the heterogeneous assemblage
called, by some botanists. Naiades ; they are,
however, not represented in his figure.

* Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p, 57.
t Ibid, p, 176.

I

I

i

silt.

J^bttfhed by J.Ridipra,v * ^^n-f. London . i 'i t' J. A

15-16

CALAMITES NODOSUS.

C. nodosus, Schloth, Petref act, p. 401. t. 20. f, Ad.
Brongn. hist, des Vegetaux Fossiles, 1. 133. t. 23. ^g. 2 — 4.

C. tumidus. Sternh. fasc. 4. p. xxvi. according to Brong-
niart.

Volkmannia polystacha. Sternh. fasc. 4. />. xxx. 51. y. 1.

From the roof of the Low Main coal seam, in
Felling Colliery.

This belongs to a large and well known class of
fossils, of which the stems are more abundant in
the beds of the Carboniferous formation of the
north of England, than any others. They are often
found in close alliance with the coal itself, espe-
cially when thin layers of mineral charcoal are
discovered upon it.

In consequence of their abundance, and the
prominent feature they must have formed in the

T

52

matter were the whole stem, there ought, in all
cases, to be a fractured surface in impressions
of the circumference of the nodi, because the
phragmata which would, in that case, be conti-
nuous with the outer coaly invelope, must neces-
sarily be broken through round all the circum-
ference ; this never happens, as far as we have had
an opportunity of observing.

We have said that the cavity of the stem was
apparently separated by phragmata^ or horizontal
partitions, at the nodi ; and in speaking thus, we
have adopted the expression of M. Adolphe Brong-
niartj and the common opinion upon the subject.
At the same time, we feel considerable doubt of
the accuracy of this view of their structure. It is
not impossible, that what we call phragmata, may
represent, in reality, the whole thickness of the
wood, and that the open space that occupies the
centre of these supposed phragmata^ is all the ca-
vity that existed in the stem. Supposing it should
be demonstrated that there was both wood and
bark in these plants, the latter opinion will be ma-
terially strengthened,
j Some have supposed these fossils to have been

! analogous to reeds, whence the name of Calamites ;

but there does not appear to be any solid ground
for that opinion. M. Adolphe Brongniart has en-
deavoured to make out a close affinity with Equi-
setum, relying chiefly upon the resemblance in
their furrowed stems, the lines of which alternate

i

53

at their union at the nodi^ and upon the presence
of a sheath in his C. radiatus, analogous to that of
Equisetum; and accounting for the more general
absence of the sheath upon the well known, and,
in Botany, incontestible principle, that the exces-
sive developement of one organ (in this case the
stem) often causes an abortion, or non-develope-
ment of a contiguous organ, (here the sheath.) But
notwithstanding the ingenuity with which M.
Brongniart has maintained his proposition, we
confess there appear to us to be grave objections to
it. He does not appear to have attached that va-
lue to the presence of wood and bark, which, in
such an enquiry as this, is so important a circum-
stance in determining affinity. Nothing of the kind
is known either in recent Equisetacese^ or in any
endogenous or monocotyledonous plants ; it is, on
the contrary, strictly characteristic of exogenous
or dicotyledonous plants. In Equisetum itself,
nothing could produce such a clean separation of
the inner and outer portions of the stem, as we
find in Calamites ; neither do w^e know of any re-
cent endogenous plants in which it w ould happen ;
it wouldj in all probability^ not occur even in
such as Aloe, which, although endogenous, have a
distinct cellular integument.

We should rather consider Calamites as the re-
mains of some dicotyledonous plants, the affinity of
which^ if any exists has still to be traced.

One of M. Brongniart's arguments in favour of

e3

a relationship with Equisetuiri^ is derived^ as has
been stated above, from the discovery of a species
of Calamite with the remains of a sheath^ like that
of the modern genus. It would be very desirable
to ascertain whether that sheath is not of the same
nature as the verticil li of leaves upon the specimens
now represented, and which seem to be the leaves
of a Calamite. We say seem, because, although
we can scarcely doubt the fact, yet we know how
unsafe it is, in this department of science, to make
a single step without using the greatest caution.
Although we have examined a fine series of speci-
mens of this fossil, where the leaf-bearing branch is
always associated with the stem, yet^ as in no in-
stance they have been found actually in conjuncs
tion, fig. 1. tab. 15., being the nearest approach
to it that we have seen, we pause before we finally
decide. Our specimens are too much mutilated
for us to determine, with accuracy, either the
form of the leaves^, or their number, or the exact
figure and manner of insertion of the young
branches : the latter, however, always arise from a
nodus, in the manner that is represented. In a
part of one of our specimens a verticillus of leaves
is depressed, and then resembles so very much the
supposed sheath figured by M. Brongniart, that it
is difficult not to suspect their identity.

Although we do not at present see that the
discovery of these supposed leaves throws much
light upon the affinity that Calamites bear to

65

modem plants, yet it is obviously so extremely
desirable to ascertain whether or not they really
belong to the genus, that we trust our geological
friends will neglect no opportunity of settling the
question.

In the genus Calamites it is exceedingly difficult
to determine what are called the species, even by
the comparison of authentic specimens ; and it is
scarcely possible to doubt that a large number of
them are merely different states of the same spe-
cies. We presume this is the C. nodosusofVon
Schlotheim^ and A. Brongniart, although it does
not retain the thick bark mentioned by the latter,
as characteristic of that species. It is difficult to
understand why C. ramosus is not also the same.

We think that Count Sternberg's Volkmannia
polystachya, which seems to have been a little
embellished by his artist, must be referable here.

E 4

s

1

i

17

ASTEROPHYLLITES GRANDIS.

From the roof of the Low Main coal seam, in
Felling Colliery.

We find no record of this fossil, which is too
imperfect to enable us to judge distinctly of its
nature. It appears to have been a plant of con-
siderable size, with numerous verticillate branches,
and verticillate subulate leaves, arising from nodi,
very remote from each other. Little more can be
said about it, except that, in many respects, it
may be compared with Calamites^ from which it
only differs in having its branches very imper-
fectly furrowed ; a circumstance not unlikely to
be due to the peculiar state of the specimen, and
to its not^ being subject to such ready disarticu-
lation, as is usual in that genus.

18

ASTEROPHYLLITES LONGIFOLIA.

A. longifolia. Ad. Brongn. Prodr. No. 4.
Brukmannia longifolia. Sternb, essai d'un expose geognostico-
botanique. fasc. 4. t. 5S,f.l.

From the shale in Jarrow coal mine.

It is probable, that this plant is of the same
nature as Asterophyllites tuberculata, from which
it differs specifically, in the much greater length
of its leaves. At the same time, it must be re-
marked,, that the specimens in our possession,
although very perfect^ do not exhibit any trace of
the axillary bodies, said to exist in that species ;
and by which, indeed^ the genus Asterophyllites
is essentially characterized.

Count Sternberg refers it to Equisetaceas, an
approximation which it is difficult to reconcile

60

witli the existence of the axillary bodies. We
suspect it is better^ in the present state of our
knowledge^, to hazard no conjecture upon the
subject.

19

Fig. 1.
BECHERA GRANDIS.

B. grandis. Sfernb. essai d^un expose geognostico-botanique.
fasc. 4. p. 30. t. 49. f. 1.

Asterophyllites dubia. Ad. Brongn. Prodi . No. 10.

From the shale in the roof of the Low Main
coal seam, in Jarrow Colliery.

M. Ad. Brongniart refers this to his genus
Asterophyllites, among the doubtful species. We,
however, think it better to preserve Count Stern-
berg's name, because it is scarcely to be doubted,
that although it agrees with Asterophyllites in its
verticillate leaves, it will prove, when better
known, to be something widely different. This
is indicated by its tumid joints, and deeply but
widely furrowed stems, characters that are so
distinctly marked^ as to render it probable^ that
its texture was firmer, and its constitution dif-
ferent, from that of the other plants referred to
Asterophyllites.

G2

The leaves in this specimen are almost de-
stroyed ; but they appear, from Count Stern-
berg's figure, to be short, slender, pointed, and
about four in a whorl.

No reasonable conjecture can be offered as to
the affinity of this fossil and recent plants, until
some more distinct information shall have been
procured respecting its other states.

Fig. 2.

ASTEROPHYLLITES GRANDIS.

Ast. grandis. Supra, t. 17.

From the roof of the Low Main coal seam,
in Felling Colliery.

This represents the leaves of the fossil, figured
at plate 17. They appear to have been about
14 in a whorl, very narrow, subulate, rather
rigid, and perfectly distinct to the base. The
stem was finely striated, and the joints not tumid.

19 bis.

LEPIDODENDRON OBOVATUM.

L. obovatum. Sternberg, cssai cah. 1. p. 21. ^. 6. y. 1. and 8.
f. 1. a. Ad. Brongn. prodr, p. 86.

From the roof of the Bensham coal seam at
Jarrow Colliery.

This is evidently the same species as that found
by Count Sternberg in the coal mines of Radnitz ;
and was, probably, a tree of considerable size.
Specimens of a neighbouring species, L. acule-
atum, were found in the same place, sixteen inches
in diameter, at the lower end, [Stemb.) ; but these
were even pigmies when compared with some that
occasionally appear in the northern coal mines
of this country. Portions of Lepidodendron have
been there met with, in the roofs of the mines,
from 20 to 45 feet long, and as much as lour feet
and a half in diameter.

64

It is perfectly distinguished by its obovate
areolae, of which the apex is rounded, the base
tapering, the central ridge even and undivided, and
the scar at the very apex of the areola bounded
by a nearly circular outline.

m

1

\

1

20

CALAMITES ; its phragma.

Specimens of this kind are very common in
nodules of carbonate of iron lying among the shale
in the coal measures ; those now figured are from
the roof of the Bensham coal seam, at Jarrow.
We have several others from the coalfield of
Barnsley, for which we are indebted to Mr. Edgar.

Their appearance is that of a circular flat body,
with a crenated margin, from the re-entering
angles of which run simple lines, converging to-
wards the centre, but uniformly stopping short of
it. In the specimens figured, they are but just
within the margin ; in others, they are equal to
more than two-thirds of the whole diameter. In
the latter case, they have very much the appear-
ance of the recent fern, called Trichomanes reni-
forme, from which, however, they are distin-
guishable by their lines not being dichotomous.*

* A specimen of this kind formerly led me to suppose that I
had met with a fossil instance, either of Trichomanes reniforme,

66

No one would suspect what these fossils are,
from an examination of such specimens as those
now figured ; they are proved by other instances
to be nothing more than casts of the supposed
partition, or phragmaof the stem of some Calamite,
of which two internodia have separated from each
other. The crenatures are sections of the parallel
striae, and the converging lines are continuous with
the furrows.

It is, perhaps, impossible, in the actual state of
our knowledge of these plants, to tell whether
the converging lines are horizontal vessels, or the
ends of vertical plates, analogous to medullary
rays. Supposing Calamites to have thin phragmata,
the former would be most likely, although the
absence of ramifications is a very unusual feature
in veins ; but in the event of the supposed phrag-
mata turning out to be disarticulated portions of
wood, in that case, it may be expected, that they
would indicate medullary rays ; to which the cir-
cumstance of several lines occasionally running

or of some species very nearly related to it. I took the cre-
natures for the remains of marginal fructification, and the lines
for veins ; an error from which I did not escape, until after a
paper upon the subject had been read before the Geological
Society. My mistake was pointed out to me by Mr. Robert
Brown, who, when I first communicated to him my fossil,
appeared to entertain the same opinion with myself ; but who,
after the paper was read, shewed me a proof of its being really
the phragma of a Calamite. J. L.

67

side by side with each other, gives additional
probability.

We have no means of offering even a conjec-
ture as to the species to which these fragments
belong.

F 2

I-uhl'fihed ly RLdfjwuv £: Son^.T mdcn. Jan'

21

CALAMITES ; a crushed portion of the

stem (?)

From the roof of the Bensham coal seam, in
Jarrow Colliery.

This is no doubt a portion of a Calamites, which
has been struck perpendicularly so as to separate
it into many portions. Whether it was a young
stem, that had acquired no strength, or solidity,
or whether it was a part of its cortical integument
only, or whether, finally, it was an old stem,
which had, previous to the crushing, been so
much rotted, as to separate into several layers,
like the stems of many of our recent herbaceous
plants, it seems impossible to say.

We publish it chiefly, because any fact that
is connected with the illustration of the orga-
nization of this extensive fossil genus, is of too
much importance to be lost sight of.

The specimen from which the drawing was
taken, was about one-fourth larger.

F 3

I

I

i

PubhfheJ hv Podqvov ^ V« < London. liOt': 1632

22

CALAMITES MOUGEOTII.

Calamites Mougeotii. Ad. Brongn. hist, des Vtgttaux fos-
siles, vol. 1. />. 137. t. 25. f. 4—5. Annales des sciences y
vol. 15. p. 438.

Copied from a drawing furnished for this
work by Henry Witham, Esq. of a fine specimen
in his collection, from the sandstone of the
Edinburgh coalfield. The figure is one half the
natural size.

In this instance we have the mode of branching
peculiar to Calamites distinctly ascertained. The
branches proceed from the nodi, gradually thicken
as they lengthen, and afterwards taper oflf, so
that the diameter of the two extremities is much
less than that of the centre. In this respect
Calamites resembles those recent Endogenous
plants, which, like the Arrow-root, or some Cy-
peracese, emit subterranean stolones ; and also
differs from Equisetum, in which the young shoots

F 4

72

are of nearly equal diameter throughout, even in
the most gigantic species.

One of the branches on the left of our figure is
divided, and seems as if the young lateral shoot
emitted by it had a gradually attenuated termina-
tion. There is no trace of leaves upon any part
of the specimen.

Although this is from the sandstone of the
Edinburgh coal formation, yet it appears undis-
tinguishable from C. Mougeotii, one of the few
plants described from the new red sandstone of
the Vosges by Mons. Adolphe Brongniart.

tlih try Muiffway -i Scns. hovjion. Jan '^

I

I

JPub: hy Ji'^daM/^v & Send: Inn Jen. Jari'^l^'i?

23—24

PEUCE WITHAMI.

This fossil was found in a sandstone quarry at
Hill Top, near Ushaw, about four miles north
west of the city of Durham. Unfortunately it
was not in situ, but laid among the refuse of the
quarry in a multitude of fragments, none of
which were more than six inches in size ; and which
have been ascertained by Mr. Witham to have
belonged to more than one species. The bed of
sandstone is of the coal formation proper, and
rather high in the series ; a coal mine is worked
beneath it, which is probably the Shield Row
seam, as it is called in that division of the northern
coalfield.

Another specimen, in the state of a rolled
fragment, was found by Dr. Youens in a brook
near Ushaw ; and Mr. Witham picked another
from a stone- heap by the road side.

The polished slices from which the drawings
were taken, were communicated by the highly
valued correspondent after whom we have named
the species.

74

The transverse section (tab. 23.) utters to the
naked eye a fibrous undulated surface, with seve-
ral concentric lines of a deeper colour, at unequal
and irregular distances (a a a, fig. 1.); but these,
vv^hen examined by the microscope, are found not
to be the concentric circles of an Exogenous
plant, but to be merely waves, or slight altera-
tions in the direction of the tissue of the fossil
(see flj, fig. 2.) Viewed by transmitted light be-
neath a magnifying power of 180, the appearance
is such as is represented at fig. 2. ; the tissue,
which consists of the unequal elongated cellules
of Coniferae crossed by medullary rays, being dis-
placed in many places by a deposit of inorganic
semitransparent matter. The general character
of this section is so much that of the Craigleith
Fossil (Pinites Withami, tab. 2.) that it would be
difficult to distinguish them. Like it, there is no
trace of any concentric zones in a slice more
than two inches across.

But in a longitudinal section (tab. 24.) the
resemblance between these two entirely ceases.
Instead of the finely reticulated structure of the
walls of the cells of Pinites Withami, and which
are peculiar to the genus Pinites, we have cells
with a character entirely that of many Coniferae of
the present day ; as, for example, of Pinus Stro-
bus. The walls of the cells appear, under a
power of 180 (tab. 24. fig. 1.) to have here and
there upon their surface small roundish or oval
areolae lying either in single rows, or in two rows,

75

side by side, never occupying tlie whole of a cell,
but crowded irregularly towards one of its extre-
mities, and often having themselves the appear-
ance of having been pushed from their places by
violence. Still more highly magnified, as at
fig. 2., where a power of 500 is employed, many
of these areolae are distinctly seen to have a mi-
nute central circle, which is sometimes opaque,
like the areolae themselves, and occasionally trans-
parent ; when, if this happens upon an opaque
areola, it looks like a small hole. The greater
part of the areolae are opaque, like the walls of
the cellules, but some of them are transparent ;
and these latter may be observed, by the reflec-
tion of the light thrown upon them from the mirror
of the microscope, not to be plane, but to be
slightly convex. All this (with the exception of
the areolae being often in two parallel rows upon
the walls of the cells, and in contact with each
other,) is so like that of Pinus Strobus, that no
reasonable doubt can be entertained of this fossil
being really a part of some tree analogous to re-
cent Coniferae. To distinguish it from Pinites,
which, as we have already shewn, can only be
considered an approximation to Coniferae, the
name Pence has suggested itself, that of Pinus
having been already applied to certain fossil cones
found in formations of a date much more recent
than the coal measures. Pence will stand for the
generic title of all fossil wood that appears abso-
lutely coniferous.

76

We are acquainted with no recent species in
which either the areolae of the tissue occupy two
collateral rows upon the walls, or where there is
no trace of concentric circles in so large a space
as two inches across.

^1

Fw 7.

25

Fjg. 1.

ASTEROPHYLLITES FOLIOSA.

From the roof of the Bensham coal seam, in
Jarrovv Colliery.

This was a tall branching plant, with long slen-
der shoots, which were rather thicker at the
base than at the apex. The nodi were scarcely
at all tumid, and the internodia very slightly
striated. The leaves grew 8 or 10 in a whorl,
were perfectly distinct at their base, a little
shorter than the internodia, and of a linear-lan-
ceolate figure, with a slightly falcate direction.
There seems to have been a midrib ; but this is
so imperfectly indicated, that nothing certain can
be determined about it. No trace of fructifi-
cation has been found.

At first sight, this seems to resemble some
species of Asparagus; but, upon a more careful
comparison, it will be found, that, while the
branches of this are opposite, those of Asparagus
are alternate ; and that the leaves of the latter,
although seemingly verticillate, are, in reality,

78

fasciculate, and alternate ; or, in other words,
grow in clusters from alternate points of the stem.

It is much more probable that this fossil, like
the next, was of the same nature as our modern
StellattE ;* from which we can only distinguish
it in its actual state, by the want of sharp angles
to the stem.

From Asterophyllites equisetiformis, it differs
in its leaves not being more than one half the
length; from A. rigida, in the same circumstance,
and in their being broader in proportion to their
length ; and from A. diffusa, in their being much
longer, and larger.

* Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p, 202.

25

Fig. 2.

ASTEROPHYLLITES GALIOIDES.

From the shale of the Barnsley coalfield, com-
municated by Mr. Edgar.

Our specimen occurs among the remains of
ferns, in fragments like that represented at fig. 2.
No stem is visible. The leaves were in whorls
of 10, had a lanceolate figure, were very acute
at the apex, and had a distinct midrib, without
a trace of lateral veins. Fig. 2 ^, represents one
of the most perfect of these leaves magnified ; the
specimen itself is of the natural size.

This is so very like some recent species of Galium,
such as G. maritimum and murale, that it is
scarcely possible to doubt its having been, at
least, nearly related to them ; and if any minute
projecting points could be discovered upon the
margin, or midrib, the identity would be almost
established. In the mean while, we refer it to

80

the heterogeneous assemblage called Asterophylli-
tes, because it is impracticable, from the imper-
fect state of our materials, to fix upon any generic
characters by which the verticillate leaved fossils
of this kind can be satisfactorily disunited.

I

26

LEPIDOSTROBUS ORNATUS.

Lepidostrobus ornatus. Ad. Bronyn. prodr. p.
Parkinson's Organic remains, vol 1. tab. 9. /. 1.

From the shale of the Barnsley coalfield,
whence our specimen has been kindly sent, by
Mr. Edgar.

This, the original species upon which Mons.
Ad. Brongniart has chiefly founded his genus
Lepidostrobus, can scarcely be distinguished,
generically, from the fossils figured at our t. 10.
and 11., under the name of L. variabilis; and yet
it exhibits some striking marks of difference. It
evidently was a cone, or strobilus, and consisted
of a number of woody plates, or scales, originating
in the surface of a central woody axis, of an elon-
gated conical, or almost cylindrical figure, spread-
ing nearly horizontally, turning backwards towards
the point of the cone at their extremities, and
enclosing organs of fructification. From the scars
left upon the surface of this central axis, it is

certain that the scales, notwithstanding their ap-
parent breadth, originated from a small roundish
base ; and that they had, also, a spiral arrange-
ment. The recurved points of the scales seem to
have formed rhomboids transverse with regard to
the axis of the cone.

All these things are visible in the accompany-
ing plate, in which fig. 1. is a portion of the up-
per end of a cone, of the natural size, lying im-
bedded in its stone, upon which the marks of
the ends of the scales are impressed ; and fig. 2.
is the same portion of the cone separated from its
bed, and magnified.

Ifthe impressions of the origin of the scales upon
the central axis be compared with those of any of
the Pine tribe, in which the scales of the cone are
deciduous, such as the Silver Fir, no one can fail
to remark their general identity, as far as our
means of comparison extend ; but we can scarcely
say that the resemblance goes further ; and we
certainly should not be justified in asserting, from
what we at present know, that the structure of
the organs of fructification enclosed between the
scales of the cone, is the same as that of modern
Coniferse. In the conebearing genera of the
latter, there are generally two short naked winged
seeds, lying above each scale ; and immediately
upon the seeds, reposes the bracteal leaf that sub-
tends each scale. But here it would seem, as if,
between the scales, were enclosed several mem-
branes, or leaves ; and the seeds, of which we

83

have fortunately discovered one, in situ, (see
fig. 2. ^.), w^ere oblong bodies, nearly as long as
the scales, and, most probably, altogether des-
titute of a v^ing. From the extremely brittle and
mouldering state of the specimen we are now
describing, we regret that we are unable to speak
more exactly upon the subject. As these fossils
are far from uncommon, we do trust that some of
our friends will be able to discover the cones, not
only in a still better state, but actually in connec-
tion with the leaves to which they belong. That
the latter are well known, can hardly be doubted.

g2

27

SPHENOPHYLLUM SCHLOTHEIMII.

Sphenophyllum Schlotheimii. Ad. Brongn. prodr. p. 68.
Palmacites verticillatus. Schlotkeim Flora der Vorvelt,
U 'l.f. 24.

No. 16,916. Mils. Soc. Geol Lond.

At page 41, we alluded to the existence, in
the cabinet of the Geological Society, of fine spe-
cimens of this fossil, sent from the Somerset
coalfield, by the Rev. Mr. Skinner. By the
permission of the Society, we are enabled to
publish the accompanying representation of these
curious remains.

The stems appear to have been branched, and
deeply channelled, the projecting ribs correspond-
ing with the base of the leaves ; the internodia
were rather shorter than the leaves. The leaves
were whorled, and from six to nine in each verti-
cillus ; they probably spread nearly horizontally :
in figure they were exactly cuneate ; their apex
was transversely truncate, and finely crenated.

86

with a very slight appearance of an emargination
in the centre ; the veins were dichotomoiisly
branched, and uniformly terminated in the sinuses
of the crenatures of the apex ; the sides of the
leaves were perfectly straight and undivided. At
the base of the leaves, are here and there to be
found obscure traces of what seem to have been
scales ; but they are so imperfectly seen, that it
is impossible to speak with confidence of their
nature. No trace of any thing like fructification
is discernable.

In the drawing, fig. 1 . represents a portion of
the fossil of its natural size, and fig. 2. a single
leaf apart, and magnified so as to shew the veins
distinctly.

We have already, in speaking of Sphenophyilum
erosum, t. 13., adverted to the possibility of this
fossil having more relation to Coniferse than to
any other recent family. In illustration of this
suggestion, a drawing of a leaf of Salisburia
adiantifolia, (fig. 3.) has been added to this
plate, for the purpose of showing the great simi-
larity in the arrangement of its veins. We con-
fess we have no better arguments to offer upon this
subject than those formerly adduced, but we still
think them sufficiently powerful to render it im-
probable that Sphenophyilum belonged to Mar-
sileaceae, even if its approximation to Coniferse
should be rejected. Like all other questions in
this department of science, nothing can positively
be determined until fructification shall have been

87

observed ; to the search after which we earnestly
commend our readers.

Schlotheim asserts, that the leaves in his plant
are always in sixes, and he so represents them :
he also makes them have an entire roundish ex-
tremity. If these characters could be considered
constant, his plant would be a different species
from ours. We confess, however, that we dis-
trust such supposed differences too far, to form a
new species, when the general resemblance is so
great. The conjecture of the learned German,
that Sphenophyllum was of the Palm kind, seems
by no means probable.

28—29

NCEGGERATHIA FLABELLATA.

Found, occasionally, in the shale, covering the
Bensham seam of coal, in Jarrow Colliery. Tab 28.
represents a leaf, one third the natural size ; tab. 29.
is a detached leaflet of the size of nature.

Palms are so rare in the coal measures, that
only one certain species, the Noeggerathia foliosa
of Count Sternberg, of which a single specimen
from Bohemia is in the Museum at Prague, has
been discovered in Europe. We are so fortunate
as to add another, which is referable to the same
genus, but which is very distinct from Count
Sternberg's plant.

A portion of a compound leaf, and a few scat-
tered pinnae, are all that have been met with.
The leaf appears to have consisted of 6 or 7, or
perhaps more, pairs of leaflets, which became
generally smaller towards the extremity of the
leaf ; the midrib has not been distinguished. The
most perfect pinnae are cuneate, taper very much
to the base, have a dilated, undulated, slightly
lobed, crenated extremity, and appear to have

H

90

been flabelliform ; others are narrower, and look
like split portions of larger pinnse, which, perhaps,
they are.

That this is not a fern, is obvious from the veins
not being distinctly dichotomous, but gradually
separating, imperceptibly, as the pinnas widen
from the base, without any obviously marked point
of divergence. Single pinnse may, by this cha-
racter, be safely distinguished from specimens of
whatMons. Brongniart calls Cyclopteris digitata,*
or suniiar plants.

The name Noeggerathia was given by Count
Sternberg, in honour of Dr. Noeggerath, who has
occupied himself specially in the study of fossil
trees, and from whom much valuable information
upon the subject is one day to be expected.

• Compare the figure of this in the Histoire des Vegetaux
fossiles, t. 61. bis fig. 2., with that of Salisburia adiantifolia,
t. 27. fig. 3. of this work.

Pub hv Hideiway * Sorus. Londor, .. fnn y

30

PINITES EGGENSIS.

With AM. Observations upon Fossil Vegetables , p. 37. 5.
Jigs, 13 and 14.

For the preparation from which the annexed
figure has been taken, we are indebted to Mr.
Witham, by whom it was first described and
figured in the work above referred to.

The bed to which this fossil belongs is not
quite certain ; but is supposed to belong to
the upper strata of the great Oolitic series."
Mr. Witham obtained it from the base of the
magnificent mural escarpment of the Scuir of
Egg," one of the Inner Hebrides.

In structure, it is obviously different from any
of the Coal Coniferse ; its medullary rays appear
to be more numerous, and frequently are not
continued through from one zone of wood to
another, but more generally terminate at the
concentric circles ; it abounds in Turpentine
vessels, or lacunae of various sizes, the sides of

I

92

which are very distinctly defined ; and here and
there, rows of flattened tubes are found among
the ordinary cylindrical woody tissue. These
are distinctly visible in a cross section.

This forms one of the proofs, of which so many
have now accumulated, that Dicotyledonous
plants existed during the period of the Oolitic
formation ; and there seems to be no want of
evidence to shew, that the earliest remains of
land plants consist, more or less, of the highest
orders of vegetables. It is, however, very re-
markable, that, hitherto, no other kind of wood
than the Coniferous should have been discovered
in the older fossiliferous rocks, and that no po-
sitive trace of any other kind of Dicotyledonous
tree should have been discovered earlier than
the Lias.

We have not met with any recent plant of the
same order, with the wood of which this can
be considered identical.

Fig. 1. is a representation of a transverse slice
the natural size; it is of a deep rich brown,
which cannot be expressed without colour.

Fig. 2. is a small portion of the same, mag-
nified 180 diameters; the larger oval, or round
spaces, are the mouths of lacunae ; in the second
zone of wood, from the bottom, are two rows
of the flattened tubes, above alluded to; a third
may be perceived, on the right of the third zone
from the bottom.

Fub by h'!,(ji'',i\

'luiMi.Apnl.iaj:'

Ptib try R'/iflw/ty /t Son.'.: T.oruton. dfrrU. }f):^:l

FUte

X I ^ .

lit ^

-„ w fj^,*

4^ ^) li» ^'

^ 0> ^

Tiih hv fi/iaway * Son.f.T.ondon./iprd, 7932

Flute Jo

31—30

STIGMARIA FICOIDES.

** Schistus variolis depressis; schistus variolis elevatis Mo-
rand, die kunst auf Steinkohlen zu bauen, t. 9.f. 3 — 4."

Lithophyllum opuntiae majoris facie. Volkm. Siles. sabterr,
p. 106. t, 11./. 1."

Cylindrus lapideus Byerleus compressior echinites lati-
clavii maximi facie, acetabulis rotundis e puteis carbonariis prope
Byerley in Yorkshire. Petiv. gazoph. dec. 2. t. IS.f. 11."

Phytolithus verrucosus. Martin Petrijicata Derby ensia,
plate 11, 12, 13. Parkinson's Organic Remains, vol. 1. plate
3./. 1. Steinhauer in Am. Phil. Trans. N.S. vol. 1. p, 268.
f.4./.l-6.

Variolaria ficoides. Sternb. essai. p. 23. t.l2.
Ficoidites furcatus ^

. verrucosus ( Artis, Antediluvian Phytology,

^ major \ t^^- 3. 10. 18.

Stigmaria ficoides. Ad. Brongn. in Mem. Mus. vol. 8. t. 12.
/. 7. Prodr. p. 88.

One of the most common, if not the most
common, of the fossil vegetables of the Coal
formation, is that now represented ; which has,
as its long list of synonyms indicates, been fre-

I 2

94

quently before the subject of description. As the
great multitude of its fragments, that are still
every where to be found, assure us, that it must
have formed a striking feature in primaeval ve-
getation, v^e shall dwell at more than usual length
upon its structure, and supposed affinities. But
before we proceed to state our own notions upon
the subject, we shall quote Mr. Steinhauer's in-
genious paper in the first volume of the new
series of the American Philosophical Transactions;
which, although erroneous in some respects, is by
far the best account of the plant that has yet
appeared.

The fossil which has received the name of
Phytolithus Verrucosus from the ingenious author
of the Petrificata Derbiensia, is by far the most
common, and, perhaps, the most remarkable of
this class. Woodward seems already to have
collected numerous specimens, notwithstanding
their bulk and comparative unsightliness ; (Cata-
logue of English Fossils, vol. i. part ii. p. 104.
vol. ii. p. 59, &c.) and Mr. Parkinson has exercised
considerable, though fruitless ingenuity, in eluci-
dating them. It might appear presumptuous, after
the labout^ of men of such distinguished abilities,
to obtrude to public notice any further remarks,
had not these authors left abundant room for ob-
servation, which place of abode and inclination
have enabled the writer to pursue, during a series
of several years. Within this period we have col-
lected several hundred specimens, worked many

96

from the bed of clay in which they were im-
bedded, and examined in quarries, on coalpit hills,
among heaps of stone by the road side, and in
various other situations, several thousand. The
Geological situation of this fossil is well known
to be the coal strata, in almost all which, as far as
the writer is enabled to judge, it is found. Its
geographical habitats in these strata, may be
partly collected from the works already quoted;
the specimens more immediately examined were
found in the neighbourhood of Fulneck, near
Leeds, or in the space included by the towns of
Leeds, Otley, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, and
Wakefield ; but we have also found it on the top of
Ingleborough, in the coal strata of Northumber-
land; abundantly in Derbyshire; at Dudley, in
Shropshire, and in the neighbourhood of Bristol.
With respect to mineralogical constituent matter,
it seems always to coincide with that of the stra-
tum in which it is imbedded, with a slight modifi-
cation of density.

It is most abundant in the fine grained siliceous
stone, provincially called Calliard and Gannister,
and in some of the coal Binds or Crowstones, which
have probably received this appellation from spots
of bitumen, or coal attached to these petrifac-
tions. It is rather less frequent in the beds of
scaly clay, or clay mixed with siliceous sand and
mica; very common but completely compressed
in the coal shales, or bituminous slate clay ; of
occasional occurrence in the argillaceous iron

I 3

96

stone; not rare in the common grit, and upper
thick beds of argillaceomicaceous sand stone or
rag^ and sometimes, though rarely, discoverable in
the coal itself. Mr. White Watson, of Bakewell,
had also in his collection which we examined, a
specimen in the Derbyshire Toadstone or Trap,
and we have also noticed it in the limestone be-
hind the Bristol Hot Wells, at its junction with
the sand stone. So immense, however, is the
number of relics, that when the eye has been
accustomed to catch their appearance, it is scarcely
possible to walk a furlong in the districts where
they are at home, without meeting them in one
shape or another. The most perfect form in which
this fossil occurs, is that of a cylinder, more or
less compressed, and generally flatter on one side
than the other, (Plate IV. fig. 1 and 2.) Not un-
frequently, the flattened side turns in so as to
form a groove. The surface is marked in quin-
cuncial order with pustules, or rather depressed
areolae, with a rising in the middle, in the centre
of which rising a minute speck is often obser-
vable. From different modes and degrees of
compression, and, probably, from different states
of the original vegetable, these areolae assume
very different appearances, sometimes running
into indistinct rimae, like the bark of an aged
willow, sometimes, as in the shale impressions,
exhibiting little more than a neat sketch of the
concentric circles. Mr. Martin suspected that
these pustules were the marks of the attachment

97

of the peduncles of leaves; and his Tab. XI I .
represents a specimen, in which he thought that
he had discovered the reliquia of the leaves
themselves. We have examined the specimen,
whence the drawing, which is extremely cor-
rect, was made; but are convinced, that Mr.
Martin was misled by an accidental compression,
in describing these leaves as being flat. Nume-
rous specimens in gannister, in which the lateral
compression of the trunk is generally trifling,
place the assertion beyond a doubt, that the
fibrous processes, acini, spines, or whatever else
they may be called, are cylindrical ; and small
fragments of these cylinders shew distinctly a
central line, (pith?), coinciding with the point
in the centre of the pustule. Convinced of the
existence of these fibres, we were soon able to
detect their remains forming considerable masses
of stone, particularly of Coal Bind on Wibsey
Slack, and at Lower Wyke, where their con-
torted figure imitates the figures of Serpulae ; but
it excited much surprise on examining the pro-
jecting ends of some trunks, which lay horizon-
tally in a bed of clay, extending along the sou-
thern bank of the rivulet which separates the
townships of Pudsey and Tong, and which is
exposed, in several places, to find traces of these
fibres, proceeding from the central cylinder, in
rays through the stratum, in every direction, to
the distance of above twenty feet. Repeated ob-
servations, and the concurrent conviction of un-

I 4

98

prejudiced persons, made attentive to the phe*
nomenon, compelled the belief, that they, origi-
nally, belonged to the trunks in question ; and,
consequently, that the vegetable grew in its
present horizontal position, at a time that the
stratum was in a state capable of supporting
its vegetation, and shot out its fibres in every
direction through the then yielding mud. For
if it grew erect, even admitting the fibres to have
been as rigid as the firmest spines with which
we are acquainted, it would be difficult to de-
vise means gentle enough to bring it into a re-
cumbent posture, without deranging their po-
sition. This supposition gains strength from the
circumstance, that they are found lying in all
directions across one another, and not directed
towards any particular point of the compass.

The flattened and sometimes grooved form of
one side of the cylinder has already been noticed.
Woodward already observed, that along this side,
there generally, or at least, frequently, ran an in-
cluded cylinder, which at one extremity of the
specimen would approach the outside, so as almost
to leave the trunk, while, at the other, it seemed
nearly central. A reference to his Catalogue,
vol. 1. part 2, p. 104, to Mr. Parkinson's Organic
Remains, vol. 1. p. 427, and to Martin's Petrifi-
cata Derbiensia, 1. c. will show how much this
included cylinder has embarrassed those who
have considered it with a view to the vegetable
organ to which it owes its origin. In the spe-

99

cimens in Calliard, which have suffered little com-
pressioD, but which are seldom above a few inches
in length, this body is generally nearly central ;
perhaps, in no instance, perfectly lateral. In the
specimens in clay, from one of which we are able
to detach upwards of six feet, the flattened or
grooved side is invariably downward^ and, conse-
quently, the included cylinder in the position
which it would assume, if it had subsided at one
end, while the other was supported, or which
would be the result of its sinking through a
medium of nearly the same specific gravity with
itself, provided it was at one end rather denser
than at the other. It must be observed, that this
included body appears to have suffered various
degrees of compression, being sometimes cylindri-
cal, which was evidently its original form, and
sometimes almost entirely flattened. In the coal
shale we were never able to detect a trace of its
existence.

Besides these indications of organization, we
have met with several specimens, which, on being
longitudinally split, discovered marks of perfora-
tions or fibres, more or less parallel with the axis
of the cylinder, and, in some degree, resembling
the perforations of Terebellae, in the fossil wood of
Highgate, and some other places. Whether these
configurations be owing to the organization of the
original vegetable, or to some process which it
underwent during its decay, seems impossible to
determine. The specimens examined, afforded no

100

opportunity of discovering a connection between
these tubes, and either the internal cylinders or
the external surface.

" Among the vast number of specimens exa-
mined, only one w^as detected, which appeared to
terminate, closing from a thickness of three inches
to an obtuse point. Two instances also came to
our knowledge of branched specimens, in which
the trunk divided into two nearly equal branches.
So rare an occurrence of this circumstance
would, however, rather induce the supposition
that the original was properly simple, and that
these were only exceptions or monstrosities. The
size of different specimens vary greatly, but we
have seen none under two inches in diameter ; the
general size is three or four, and some occur, but
with very indistinct traces of the pustules, even
12 inches across.

From the above, it appears rational to suppose
that the original was a cylindrical trunk or root,
growing in a direction nearly horizontal, in the
soft mud at the bottom of fresh water lakes or
seas, without branches, but sending out fibres
from all sides. That it was furnished in the
centre with a pith of a structure, different from
the surrounding wood or cellular substance, more
dense and distinct at the older end of the plant,
and more similar to the external substance, to-
wards the termination which continued to shoot.
And, perhaps, that besides this central pith,
there were longitudinal fibres proceeding through

101

the plant, like those in the roots of Pteris aqui-
lina. With respect to any stem arising from it,
if a root, or foliage belonging to it, if a creep-
ing trunk, we have hardly ground for a supposi-
tion.

" If these points be assumed as ascertained, the
manner in which the reliquia were formed, is
easily accounted for. Annual decay, or an accu-
mulation of incumbent mud having deprived the
trunk of the vegetating principle, the clay would
be condensed by superior pressure around the
dead plant, so as to form a species of matrix. If
this took place so rapidly, that the mould had ob- .
tained a considerable degree of consistency before
the texture of the vegetable was destroyed by
putrefaction, the reliquium was cylindrical ; if, on
the contrary, the new formed stratum continued
to subside, while the decomposition was going on,
it became flattened, and the inferior part might
even be raised up towards the yielding substance
in the inside, so as to produce the groove or crest,
as Woodward calls it, on the under side, in the
same manner as the floor in coal works is apt to
rise where the measures are soft, and the roof and
sides have been secured. While the principal
mass of the plant was reduced to a soft state, and
gradually carried away, or assimulated with
mineral infiltrated matter, the central pith, being
unsupported, would sink towards the underside,
and this the more sensibly where its texture was
most distinct, while its anterior extremity would,

102

probably, go into putrefaction with, and be lost in
the more tender part of the plant. The mineral
matter introduced would now form an envelope
round the pith, where this resisted decomposition
for a sufficient length of time, and when it was
ultimately removed, if the surrounding mass was
still sufficiently pervious, be also filled with ar-
gillaceous matter; or, if it was too much indu-
rated, be left empty, which is the case occa-
sionally. The epidermis or external integument
of the vegetable, appears to have resisted decom-
position the longest, as in many cases it has been
preserved from putrefaction, in the manner neces-
sary to change it into coal : its place more fre-
quently, however, is occupied by a ferrugineous
micaceous film. It, therefore, appears, that the
original plants must have undergone a destruction
by putrefaction, and the vacuities thus occasioned
been very rapidly filled with mineral matter.
This is evident from the reliquium, in its present
state, exhibiting no minute traces of organization,
nor any signs of bituminized vegetable matter, so
frequent in siliceous and opaline wood, except in
the epidermis, and from the close similarity which
this substance bears with that of the surrounding-
stratum ; whereas, in shells, &c. which have evi-
dently undergone a very gradual lapidifying pro-
cess, there is generally a very perceptible dif-
ference between the matter substituted and the
surrounding mass.

Several conclusions interesting to the science

103

of Geology, will readily be drawn. The formation
of these strata, from the deposit of water, is clearly
ascertained ; also, that the argillaceous strata in
question, must have been, when originally de-
posited, of nearly the same thickness as they now
are, as appears from the undisturbed position of
the vegetables of which they were once the bed,
and are now the tomb. On the other hand, the
shale of coal or slate clay, appears to have ori-
ginated from a great number of successive depo-
sitions, which must have been of a very diluted
consistence, when vegetation became extinct in
the plants of which they now bear the impres-
sions. All these strata must be supposed to have
been successively at no great depth from the sur-
face of the water resting upon them, that these
plants might be supplied with air ; and the situa-
tion in which they are found, precludes the possi-
bility of any motion of that sea sufficiently violent
to disturb the bottom. The general diffusion of
this, and several of the following species, strongly
suggests the belief, that all the coal strata through
which they are dispersed, owe their existence to a
similar origin."

Such were Mr. Steinhauer's opinions in 1818.

Count Sternberg, in describing it from the mines
of Radnitz, adverted to its affinity with Euphor-
biaceae, or Cacti.

M. Adolphe Brongniart, in his paper in the
Memoires du Museum, objects to this affinity, and
suggested that it belonged rather to the family of

104

Aroideae ; an idea which, we confess, appears to
us by no means well founded. In his last work,
he refers the genus to Lycopodiacese, an opinion
in which we are equally unable to concur. Mr.
Artis adopts Count Sternberg's suggestion, that it
was akin to Cacteae.

Having prefaced thus much, we will next proceed
to describe the accompanying plates ; and then to
see how far they corroborate or contradict Mr.
Steinhauer s opinions.

Plate 31, fig. 1, represents the appearance of a
nearly perfect specimen of this species, as it was
laid bare by a fall of shale from the roof of the
Bensham coal-seam in Jarrow Colliery. It is view-
ed from below, and, consequently, represents the
under side. The central part, three feet in dia-
meter, is concave ; the whole surface being very
distinctly covered with wrinkles^ which, when
attentively examined, are seen to be caused by
depressed semicircular spots, compactly arranged
in a spiral manner ; in the centre of which is a
roundish scar, to which a little fine coaly matter
usually adheres. From this centre, arms, twelve
in number, proceed on all sides ; every one, when
seen of length sufficient, dividing into two branches.
The whole plant is flattened. As we recede from
the centre^ and approach the fore part of the arms,
the circular tubercles, so well known, become
more distinctly marked ; and upon all the branches
the leaf-like bodies remain attached. Upon seve-
ral of the arms, the course of an internal central

105

axis could be traced by a furrow, or depression in
the fossil, as represented in the drawing.

Two other entire individuals have occurred, one
of which having fallen whole from the roof, af-
forded an opportunity of examining the upper sur-
face of the arms, which exhibited all the well
known characters of the fossil ; but the upper
part of the centre itself was too much damaged to
have its structure made out.

Plate 31, fig. 2, is an ideal vertical section, for
the purpose of making more apparent what was
the relative position of the parts when in situ.

Plate 32, is a diminished figure of a very fine
specimen of a branch, showing that it was covered
with tubercles, having an irregularly spiral arrange-
ment. The bodies that proceed from these tuber-
cles are too much crushed, to enable us to judge
of their form.

Plate 33, is another specimen of the same kind
as the last, with the tubercles more distinctly
shewn ; the spiral arrangement is here very much
obscured.

Plate 34, is a portion of the arm from which the
processes that arise from the tubercles have been
cast; the spiral arrangement is here more dis-
tinct. ^

Plate 35, is a section of an imbedded stem from
the Mountain Limestone district of Weardale, in
the Sandstone of which formation it is abundant;
it also occurs in the Limestone of the same group
of rocks, near Wooler, in Northumberland, at

106

Birdy House, near Edinburgh, and in Fifeshire.
The specimen shews that the axis was a woody
core^, communicating by means of woody elonga-
tions with the tubercles on the outside ; this core
has evidently contracted, since the plant was im-
bedded, and now lies almost loose in the cavity of
the stem.

Plate 36, is a fragment of the stem in Ironstone,
from Dysart in Scotland, from the Mountain Lime-
stone formation ; the specimen had been irregu-
larly pressed and bruised before it hardened ; and
its core is seen to be very excentrical.

From all that has now been adduced, it would
seem that the following inferences maybe drawn.

1. That Stigmaria was a prostrate land plant,
the branches of which radiated regularly from a
common centre^ and ^ finally^ became forked. What
the nature of the centre itself was, it is difficult
now to conjecture ; we only know, that it really
belonged to the system of the stem, by the scars
still remaining upon its surface. Perhaps, what
seems in the fossil state to have been a continuous
homogeneous cup, or rather dome, may, in re-
ality, be nothing more than the arms squeezed
into a single mass where they came in contact,
their lines of separation being no longer traceable.
If a domed centre was the natural character of
the genus, it was unlike any thing we now have ;
but is it not possible, that the domed appearance
may have arisen from the plant when imbedded
having been growing from the summit of a small

107

rounded hillock ? Of its roots, nothing is known ;
but if small, and proceeding, as they no doubt
did, from the very centre of the dome, they would,
necessarily, be broken away with the mass of
shale which separated from the plant, when it
was left hanging in the roof of the coal mine.

2. That it was a succulent plant. Of this the
compression of the stems seems to offer a proof ;
to which may be added, the frequent excentricity
of its core, or woody axis, which may have been
owing to some inequality of the pressure to which
it was subjected. But if this evidence is thought
insufficient, at least, the specimen, represented at
Tab. 35, which is by no means an uncommon
state of the fossil, must be considered a strong
corroboration of the opinion. It is well known,
that if recent succulent plants, that are old
enough to have formed a woody axis, are placed
in a situation in which decay takes place, the
soft parenchyma of the bark, and of the inter-
stitial medullary rays of the wood deliquesces,
and leaves the woody axis loose within the still
undecayed external portion ot the bark. We
have had occasion ourselves to notice this in
Cactus Pereskia, and old stems of Opuntia. If
this axis be examined, it will be found covered
with woody prolongations, which were the chan-
nels of communication between the buds and
the wood. A structure more analogous to that
of Stigmaria, can scarcely be wished for.

3. That it was a Dicotyledonous plant. This

K

108

may be inferred from the existence of a central
woody axis, from which the bark has separated.
If it were a Monocotyledonous plant, no such
separation would have taken place, and no Cryp-
togamic plant has a solid central axis, with a dis-
tinct cortical integument.

4. 77?^^ the tubercles upon the stem are the
places from which leaves have fallen. This is proved
by the great regularity with which they are
arranged upon the older stems. Roots never
proceed from a stem with any kind of symmetry :
hence, Steinhauer's conjecture, in this respect, is
inadmissible.

5. That the leaves were succulent and cylindrical.
There is, no direct evidence of this ; but it seems
probable that such was the case, from the crushed
and shapeless state of the flat specimens, and
from Steinhauer's observations on such as were
embedded without compression. Mr. Artis's
figure represents them as somewhat cylindrical ;
but we have never been able to discover an in-
stance of the forking that he speaks of, and figures
in some specimens of leaves. With regard to
their length having been as much as twenty feet,
as Mr. Steinhauer states, we think there must
have been some mistake in the observations upon
which that report was made.

What the analogy is, that this curious plant bore
to species of the present day, it is, perhaps, im-
possible to demonstrate. That it did not belong
to Aroideae, as Brongniart once surmised, is ap-

109

parent. Was it a Lycopodiaceous plant, allied to
Isoetes, as that ingenious author now conjectures?
We think assuredly not. Indeed, we are so much
at a loss to discover in what the resemblance con-
sists, that we think that opinion must be aban-
doned, especially as it can scarcely now be
doubted, that Stigmaria was Dicotyledonous. The
only point of structure that seems to us to render
it probable that it was a Lycopodiaceous plant, is
the bifurcation of the branches, a chareicter which,
unless accompanied by other evidence, cannot be
considered of great importance.

We must look, then, among succulent Dicoty-
ledons for an analogy ; and Euphorbiaceae, Cacte®,
and Asclepiadeae, at once suggest themselves. In
fact, if we compare the axis of Stigmaria with
that of Cactus Pereskia, the resemblance is most
striking ; but then it is probable that the axis of
any succulent Dicotyledonous plant would ex-
hibit the same appearances, so that the loose axis
of Stigmaria would indicate a relation to Euphor-
biaceae, or Asclepiadeae, as well as to Cacteae.

The Stapelias of the Cape of Good Hope, or
the Carallumas of India, have a trailing habit,
similar to that of Stigmaria; but, it must be
confessed, this is but a rude kind of analogy.
We should rather incline to the belief, that it is
between Euphorbiaceae, or Cacteae, that the Bo-
tanist has to decide, if an existing analogy must
be found; and if we take the former in prefe-
rence, it is rather because their fructification is so

K 2

110

minute as to be easily lost or overlooked in a
fossil, and that they have a greater tendency to
the development of leaves; while Cacteae, on
the other hand, have so highly developed a flov^er,
that it could not be overlooked, or lost ; besides,
the fructification of Euphorbiaceae is deciduous,
that of Cactese persistent. We have left the
succulent families of Crassulaceae and Ficoideae
out of the question, because no existing genera
of those orders approach Stigmaria in the smallest
degree.

We presume, that the specimens of Stigmaria,
here represented, are all referable to one and the
same species, in different states ; at least, we can
discern no characters that we dare trust to dis-
tinguish them. Of Mr. Artis's species, Ficoidites
furcatus is from near the extremity of a branch,
with the leaves on ; F. verrucosus is a branch
that has lost its leaves ; and F. major seems to be
the lower part of the same, where the tubercles
are more deeply impressed.

Plaze

37

PECOPTERIS ADIANTOIDES.

From the Bensham Coalseam in Jarrow Col-
liery.

With this beautiful species we commence our
illustrations of Fossil Ferns, by far the most re-
markable of the tribes that formerly covered the
crust of Great Britain, and the most susceptible of
positive determination. If the species that are
found in a fossil state are not capable of being
reduced to the genera of modern Botanists, this is
of little importance, when we consider how arti-
ficial those genera are, how bootless is the labour
of attempting to reduce the fossil species to those
of the existing aera, and how probable it is that
those principles of determining genera by the
arrangement of the veins, and by the divisions of
the leaves, which Adolphe Brongniart has so judi-
ciously pointed out with regard to fossil species,
may be sooner or later adopted by Botanists in
the recasting the genera of modern ferns.

The species now before us belongs to a genus
called Pecopteris, which is characterized by the

112

leaves being once, twice, or thrice pinnate, and by
the leaflets having a perfect midrib, from which
forked veins proceed more or less at right angles
with it.

With reference to modern ferns, it may be com-
pared, as our valued friend Dr. Hooker reminds us,
with Adiantum obtusum, from vv^hich its venation
distinguishes it, and also with certain Aspidia,
Polypodia, and Asplenia. Compared with fossil
species, it is so like Pecopteris oreopteridis, a
plant found in the slaty clay of Manebach and
Radnitz, that we can find nothing, except its being
twice the size of that species to distinguish it.

It appears to have been bipinnate, with its
leaflets nearly of equal size, adherent to the
rachis by their base, of ten or eleven pair with an
odd one, each being oblong and entire, with a very
rounded apex.

Note.

We are requested by Mr. Witham to say, that the Pinites
Eggensis, figured at t. 30 of this work, was communicated
by Mr. Nicol, its original discoverer.

38

PECOPTERIS HETEROPHYLLA.

From the high main Coalseam in Felling Col-
liery.

It was found in great abundance in one small
district of that seam, but has not been met with
any where else.

This species is so nearly the same as Pecopteris
aquilina, figured by Schlotheim from the Coal
measures of Manebach and Mandflech, that it may
almost be considered the same. It appears, how-
ever, to differ essentially in the leaflets being nar-
rower, more tapering to the point, and much
longer ; and also, as far as we can judge from our
specimens, in that species having been of a more
gigantic habit.

If compared with recent species, we would at
first sight pronounce it to be a Pteris, and even Pt.
caudata, a plant that occupies at the present day
the same station in North America, that Pt. aqui-
Ima holds in Europe ; and upon comparing the
fossil with the recent plant, this idea is so much
strengthened, that we cannot doubt that their

L 2

114

nature was the same. Nevertheless in this, as in
all similar cases, close resemblance proves, upon
very accurate comparison, not to be the same as
identity ; for in the fossil the lateral veins are all
simple, in the recent Pterides that resemble it the
veins are all dichotomous.

The fossil seems to have been a pinnate plant,
with its lower pinnae deeply pinnatifid into linear
almost falcate segments, traversed by a single
midrib^ from which arise numerous simple veins ;
the upper pinnse entire, and nearly as long as those
with the pinnatifid structure, from which they
abruptly change without any pinnatifid appear-
ances upon themselves. Each pinnatifid pinna is
about 2| to 2 inches long, and its segments about
one-sixth of that length ; or if the pinnae are
longer, the leaflets are in the same proportion.

Fig. 1. is the natural size; fig. 2. is magnified
a little.

Flau. 30

39

SPHENOPTERIS CRENATA.

From the Bensham Coalseam in Jarrow Col-
liery.

To this genus Sphenopteris are referred all
Fossil Ferns, with twice or thrice pinnated leaves,
the ultimate leaflets of which do not adhere to the
rachis by their whole base, and are traversed by
one or two principal veins in each lobe.

The subject of this plate is closely allied to
Sphenopteris tridactylites, from which it differs
in the lobes of its leaflets being shallower, and
never toothed, or in any degree divided. S. hyme-
nophylloides is another fossil species with the
aspect of this ; but it has the partial rachis bor-
dered with a membranous continuation of the base
of the leaflets^ so as scarcely to come within the
character of Sphenopteris, and is, moreover, an
Oolitic species.

This has in some respects the aspect of modern
Dicksonias, but we know no species with which it
can be strictly compared.

The principal rachis seems to have been dis-

L 3

116

proportion ably thick, for the size of the leaflets,
and of the partial rachis, which is in no way bor-
dered with membrane, but distinctly rounded.
The leaflets were oblong, rather dilated at their
base, and divided on each side into about six en-
tire crenatures, which become gradually smaller
towards the apex. To each leaflet there is one
principal midrib, from which one single vein
diverges into each crenature, losing itself before it
reaches the margin.

I

7>„l>: hy Ri-fflwav S"ns. T. ,n"tm July . 18:^^.

40

ODONTOPTERIS OBTUSA.

Odontopteris obtusa. Ad. Brongn. prodr. p. 60. Histoire des
Vegetauxfossiles, p. 255. t. 18, Jig. 3. 4.

The specimens from which the accompanying
figure was taken, were communicated by Professor
Buckland, from a Coal Pit belonging to Arch-
deacon Corbett, at Leebotwood, four miles from
Church Stretton, and nine miles from Shrews-
bury.

It is evidently the same as the plant found by
Mr. Brard in the Coal measures of Terrasson.
The specimens we have seen are, like those ex-
amined by Adolphe Brongniart, mere fragments ;
they nevertheless appear distinct from any of those
with which we are acquainted in a more perfect
state.

What is represented may have been the extre-
mity either of a pinnatifid leaflet, or of a pin-
nated leaf; there is nothing in the specimen to
show which. The lobes are oblong, rounded at

L 4

118

the end, nearly three times as long as broad,
reckoning from the common midrib to their apex,
and gradually diminishing in size till they termi-
nate in one broad blunt lobe, at least twice as
large as any other. The veins of each lobe are
once or twice dichotomous, but obscurely marked,
and all originate in an indistinct common midrib,
passing through the axis of the leaflet ; there is no
midrib to the lobes. By this arrangement of the
veins, Odontopteris is characterized as a fossil
genus.

41

NEUROPTERIS CORDATA.

Neuropteris cordata. Ad, Brongn, Hist, des Vegetaux fossileg,
p, 229. t. 64. f. 5.

Like the last, from Leebotwood Coal Pit, and
communicated by Professor Buckland. It has also
occurred in the mines of Alais and St. Etienne in
France.

It appears to have been a fern of large size,
judging from the unusual dimensions of the leaf-
lets, from a fragment of a rachis represented at b,
from crushed remains of other portions of a still
wider rachis, and from a flattened cast, three
inches wide, of a fossil found in its vicinity, which
has been the stem of some arborescent fern. The
latter is unfortunately in too imperfect a state to
be represented or even described.

The leaflets have generally no attachment to the
rachis, but are found lying loose in the shale;
from which it may be inferred that they were not
suddenly buried in consequence of some convul-

120

sion, but were probably shed by the tree at the
period when they naturally disarticulated. They
are from 3 to 4^ inches long, of an oblong figure,
acute at the apex, cordate at the base^ very black
and shining, and with no other midrib than what
is produced by the united bases of their veins,
which diverge from the axis of the leaflets, form-
ing curved dichotomous lines that reach the
margin. The margin itself is perfectly entire.
At irregular intervals the veins are more than usu-
ally well marked ; we know not whether this is
accidental, or characteristic of the species.

Among the large leaflets are found others of a
nearly circular form, not more than half an inch
in diameter, and having veins radiating and dicho-
tomizing with great regularity from their base,
which is cordate. These, with the existence of
which, as well as of the evidence of the gigantic
habit of our fern, Brongniart was unacquainted,
were doubtless the diminutive basal leaflets of one
of the pinnated divisions of the leaf, such as are
found upon the recent Pteris atropurpurea, and
upon the fossil Neuropteris heterophylla. They
are represented aa a in the plate.

The leaflets of this plant have very much the
aspect of the wild Osmunda regalis, which has also
a tendency to the production of small leaflets at
the base of the larger. But with this p^i77id facie
similarity, all comparison ceases, for the recent
plant would be a Pecopteris if found in a fossil
state.

42

CAULOPTERIS PRIM^EVA.

By permission of the Geological Society, we are
enabled to publish the annexed representation of
the only well defined specimen that has yet been
found in the Coal measures, of what was certainly
the stem of a tree fern. It was discovered in the
Coal mines of Radstock, near Bath, and was ori-
ginally pointed out to us by Mr. Lonsdale.

If it be compared with the recent stems of such
a Fern as Dicksonia arborea, or any of the West
Indian Cyatheas, in which the scars of the leaves
are very much elongated, it is impossible not to
perceive their striking resemblance, particularly
when some of the fibrous matter that clothes the
recent stems has rotted away.

The specimen before us is a compressed frag-
ment, with both its sides nearly equally perfect.
Its surface is depressed into shallow sinuous fur-
rows, that form very elongated rhomboidal ridges^
the upper part of which is marked with a long
oval scar, very much broken at the edges, and on
the* surface; these scars are from three to four

122

times as long as broad, and are disposed in a spiral
manner, about four scars of each spire occupying
one of the compressed sides of the fossil ; so that
it may be supposed that eight leaves went to the
making up of one complete turn of the spire when
the plant was growing. Over all the intervals
between the spires, in patches of various sizes,
extends a sort of coaly covering, looking like a cor-
tical integument, and having a great number of
very minute transverse cracks. There is no trace
of any internal organization.

We have already, in the preface to this volume,
pointed out the error of considering the fossils
called Sigillarias, as the remains of Tree Fern
stems ; the subject of this plate will make this
sufficiently apparent, if compared with any of the
known species of Sigillaria. What the latter may
have been, it is, perhaps, impossible to determine;
we shall, however^ in the next part of this work,
endeavour to show what their structure was, and
to point out such analogies as can be detected be-
tween them and recent plants.

43

Fig. 1—2.
CYPERITES BICARINATA.

From the Leebotwood Coal Pit, communicated
by Professor Buckland.

It is a very remarkable circumstance that we
have no published evidence of the existence of Glu-
maceous Monocotyledons* in the Coal measures,
for the fossils called Poacites appear to have been
narrow Monocotyledonous leaves, not belonging
to the tribe of Glumacese.

In figuring this under the name of Cyperites,
we do so rather from inability to match it v^ith the
leaves of any other family, than from any convic-
tion that it really belongs to Cyperaceae.

In all Gramineae, Palms, or narrow^-leaved Mo-
nocotyledons, that w^e have noticed, there is uni-
formly a midrib, with which the other veins are
more or less parallel ; and it is for the purpose of
comprehending all such fossil leaves that the genus
Poacites has been constructed. It is only in the

* Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p, 292.

124

order Cyperaceae, and in the genus Cyperus, that
we have remarked any deviation from this kind of
structure. In some species of Cyperus, the mid-
rib becomes so indistinct and flat, particularly on
the upper surface of the leaf, that in a cast
it would be altogether obsolete ; while at the
same time two lateral veins become unusually
highly developed. This happens in Cyperus pro-
cerus, Roxb, (Wallich's Cat. No. 3329,) and is
the characteristic structure of the present fossil.

It is found in short fragments, lying with Neu-
ropteris cordata, appears to have been a long,
narrow, ensiform leaf, and of a rigid texture. It
has no visible midrib, but has two parallel, simple
ribs, depressed on the upper side, and prominent
on the lower, rather nearer to the margins than to
each other, and each accompanied by two very
fine veins, of which the two inner are rather more
remote from the main ribs than the outer. No
trace of any other veins can be detected in the spe-
cimens that have come under our inspection.

The want of midrib, and the presence of lateral
veins, will therefore be the distinguishing charac-
ters of the genus Cyperites.

Fig. 1. represents the fossil of its natural size.

Fig. 2. is a magnified representation, to show
the secondary veins.

43

Fig. 3.

LEPIDOPHYLLUM INTERMEDIUM.

From the Leebotwood Coal mine.

We find nothing among the fragments or the
specimens communicated by Professor Buckland,
to which this leaf can be supposed to have be-
longed. It is of the same nature as that repre-
sented at t. 7 of this work, and is as it were inter-
mediate between that species and Lepidophyllum
majus.

The strong midrib, peculiar outline, want of
lateral veins, and apparent texture of these fossils,
seem to point out a greater degree of affinity with
the Coniferous genus Podocarpus, than with any
thing else among recent plants. At least, no dif-
ference can be discovered upon comparison of the
two, except such as may indicate a want of spe-
cific identity.

V;,f,yM'.> l'jfe- Son■^■. Lo'l^OH . IhIv 1(I32.

44

CYCLOPTERIS BEANII.

For an excellent drawing and description of
this very remarkable plant, we are indebted to
Mr. William Williamson, of Scarborough, for a
careful account of its usual appearances to Mr.
Dunn, and for the examination of a specimen to
Mr. Bean, of the same place. From these mate-
rials we are enabled to draw up the following
account.

It was found by Mr. Williamson, Sen. in the
deposit of plants in the Upper Sandstone* and
Shale (of Phillips,) at Gristhorp Bay, where only
two specimens have, however, been detected.
We ought, therefore, perhaps, to have called it
Williamsoni, rather than Beanii ; but we had
given the name to the specimen, obligingly sent

* My father has some doubt, whether it is the upper or lower
Sandstone and Shale in which the plants are found at Gris-
thorp Bay. From circumstances connected with the neigh-
bouring strata, he seems to consider it an uplifting of the
latter." W. Williamson, Jun.

M

128

us by Mr. Bean, before we knew by whom it was
discovered.

The plant appears to have grown to a consider-
able length ; Mr. Williamson's drawing measures
18 inches ; it consisted of a flexuose axis, gradu-
ally tapering from the base to the apex, and hav-
ing four or five longitudinal furrows distinctly
impressed upon its lower part. From this axis,
and almost at right angles with it, spring nume-
rous imbricated leaflike bodies, each of which is of
an oblong figure, broader on one side than the
other, decreasing from an inch and a quarter to
less than half an inch in length, perfectly entire
at the margin, and marked with five equal-sized
veins that radiate from the base to the circumfe-
rence in a flabelliform manner, dichotomizing so as
to fill the margin as full of their ramifications as the
base. The dilatation of one side of these bodies,
which is the cause of their obliquity, is in all
cases towards the extremity. Their stalk is not
a mere lateral expansion of the border of the axis,
but originates from across the axis, as the leaflets
of Palms from their petiole.

Such being the structure of this plant, it be-
comes an enquiry of some difficulty to determine
how to name the parts that have been described,
and thus to judge of the real nature of the fossil.
It looks at first sight like a pinnated leaf, of which
the axis is the petiole, the lateral foliaceous bo-
dies the leaflets. But we only know one tribe of
plants in which the leaflets are set on across the

129

petiole, and that is the Palm tribe ; and we have
no modern instance of a flexuose petiole in Palms,
nor of a form of leaf like this decreasing gradu-
ally from the base to the apex. Is it the pinnated
leaf of a Cycadeoidea? among the remains of
other species of which it was found ; certainly not:
for the setting on of the leafy parts is at variance
with that of Cycadese, and the veins are dichoto-
mous. Is it a pinnated Fern? Its veins agree,
but the setting on of the leafy bodies again renders
this improbable.

We believe it to be not a pinnated, but a creep-
ing Fern, such as many Hymenophylla and Poly-
podiums found in tropical countries at this day.
The flexuose axis appears to have been a creeping
stem, or rhizoma, and the foliaceous bodies to have
been leaves growing from that creeping stem,
small, when young, at the upper end, and full
grown only towards the base of the specimen. If
this view of the subject is correct, then this will
have been a Cyclopteris, of which one other sup-
posed species, the curious C. digitata, has already
been found in the Oolite.

2

45

SPHENOPTERIS AFFINIS.

Communicated by Mr. Witham. It occurs in
a fine hard blue mountain limestone in the great
Lime quarries near Gilmerton, a little south of
Edinburgh, where it is associated with finely pre-
served remains of other ferns, Lepidodendra, Le-
pidostrobi, Stigmariae, &c.

This beautiful species is nearly related to the
subject of the next plate, from which it diflfers
principally in being smaller in all its parts, with
shorter lobes to its leaflets, and a larger number of
divisions. It may be a mere variety of it ; but if
so, it is too well marked to be omitted.

The leaf was bipinnate, the leaflets being deeply
pinnatifid into five segments, each of which is
divided into from three to five linear obtuse seg-
ments, which are broadest at the upper end, and
marked with from one to three parallel veins.

Puh -by Riiffiwavt Sons. London ruly. 7S.j2

46

SPHENOPTERIS CRITHMIFOLIA.

From the roof of the Bensham Coal main in
Jarrow Colliery.

This is so like Sph. Artemisiaefolia, a species
described and figured by Count Sternberg, and by
Ad. Brongniart from the Newcastle Coal field,
that we were at one time disposed to believe them
identical. But, upon comparing this with the
magnified representations of the latter Botanist,
we have come to a different conclusion.

It was a bipinnate fern, with pinnatifid seg-
ments, the four or five divisions of which are split
into about three long linear obtuse lobes, each of
which has from one to three veins. In Sp. Arte-
misiaefolia are the contrary ; the segments have
from five to nine divisions, the lobes of which are
broader, far less deeply split, and marked with
from five to seven veins. In this they agree, that
the main petiole is forked near its middle.

M 4

: I
I

f

4

47

SPHENOPTERIS DILATATA.

From the roof of the Bensham Coal seam, in
Jarrow Colliery.

At first sight, we took this for the Sphenopteris
obtusiloba, of Brongniart; but an attentive ex-
amination of its veins shews that it is not only
not that species, but that it would belong to
the genus Odontopteris, to a species of which,
O. Schlotheimii, it nearly approaches, if its leaflets
were not contracted into a sort of petiole at their
base.

It is distinguished by the final divisions of the
segments of the leaves, or the leaflets, being either
entire, or two-lobed, or even three-lobed ; the
lobes being, in all cases, sensibly dilated at the
apex, and the divisions themselves placed widely
apart, and contracted into a sort of petiole at their
base.

n

m

48

SPHENOPTERIS CAUDATA.

From the roof of the Bensham Coal seam, in
Jarrow Colliery.

Apparently this is very nearly the same as
Sph. Virletii, than which it is far smaller. It
occurs in fragments so much broken that it is
impossible to say what has been the degree of
division of the perfect leaves. All that we have
seen are pinnated portions, with long, narrow,
taper-pointed leaflets, pinnatifid at the base,
crenated at the apex, both segments and crena-
tures being rounded and one-veined.

We should conjecture, from their general ap-
pearance, that these were fragments of some very
decompound leaf, of which they are merely the
terminal portions.

I

^1

49

NEUROPTERIS LOSHII.

Lithosmunda minor, &c. Lluid, lithophyl. Brit, ichnogr,p, 12.

t. 4./. 189.

Neuropteris Loshii. A. Brongn. prodr. p. 53. Hist, des veg.
foss, p, 242. t, 72, 1, and 73.

In shale, from Felling Colliery. This speci-
men is an impression of the under side of the leaf.

This fern first appears in Lloyd's rare Litho-
phylacium, published in 1760, in which work a
lower pinna, without the large terminal pinnule,
is figured from the Coal mines, near Gloucester.
It has since been found in those of Yorkshire, and
Northumberland^ in the North of France, and even
in Pennsylvania.

It seems to have been a fern of considerable
size, the part now represented being only a portion
of the upper extremity of a bipinnate leaf. Towards
the base, the leaflets of the pinnae are all nearly
equal in size, of an oblong or ovate figure, dimi-

140

nishing to the apex ; but, towards the upper ex-
tremity, the terminal leaflet is much larger than
the rest, and of a more elongated figure. The
difference in form between the lower and terminal
leaflets of this species, will give an idea of the
relation that the two forms of leaflets in N. cordi-
folia bear to each other.

PubUfkcd. hyRxdgway i. Sons. Zondorv. OciT 163.

50

NEUROPTERIS SORETTI.

N. Soretii. Ad. Brongn. Prodr. p. 53. Hist, des Veyetmix
foss. 1.244. t. 70./. 2.

/

/

This very distinct Neuropteris, from Felling
Colliery, does not appear distinguishable from a
species found in the Anthracite of Savoy^ by
M. Soret, after whom it has been named.

It occurs in broken fragments, appearing to
have belonged to a bipinnate leaf, of which some
of the pinnules bear as many as thirteen pairs of
leaflets. Of these the terminal one is, in the speci-
men now represented, not much larger than the
lateral ones ; but in Brongniart's figure it is very
considerably larger, and differently formed ; this,
however, is as likely to be owing to different por-
tions of the leaf of the same species having been

N

142

preserved, as it is to indicate a specific difference.
The lateral leaflets are very exactly oblong, obtuse
at each end, and do not overlap each other, ex-
cept towards the extremities of the pinnules.

I-^^lijkeA hy Ridg^^'O-y &■ Sorus. Z^,ndon,. OctV 1832

51

NEUROPTERIS ACUxMINATA.

Filicites acuminatus. Schlotheim Petrefaktenkunde, p. 412.
^.16./4.

Neuropteris smilacifolia. Sternb. tent. fl. prim. p. xvi.

europteris acuminata. Ad. Brongn. prodr. p. 53. Hist, des
Vegetaux foss. 1. 229. t, 63. 4, copied from Schlotheim^

/

From Felling Colliery.

Except in its leaflets being less cordate, we do
not distinguish this from the very rare fossils found
in the Coal measures of Kleinschmalkalden, and
figured by Baron von Schlotheim. Those speci-
mens and ours are both in nearly the same state^
so that it is impossible to say to what kind of stem
or rachis they belonged.

M. Brongniart points out their general resem-
blance to some species of Lygodium. If they

N 2

144

really belonged to such plants, and the very re-
markable similarity between them and the barren
leaflets of L. microphyllum makes such a conjec-
ture not improbable, the species must have been a
climber, and the part now represented a lateral
pinnule of a much branched axis. In recent Ly-
godia the base of the leaflets, when cordate, varies
so much from that to a merely ovate form, espe-
cially in L. microphyllum, pubescens, and the
like, that we do not doubt that circumstance to
be unimportant as a specific distinction.

The principal objection to this having been a
Lygodium, appears to us to consist in the great
breadth of the petiole of the Fossil, and its
slender character in the recent species. In the
specimen now before us, (the only one that has
been discovered,) the petiole is, at its widest part,
about two lines broad, and looks as if it had been
flat. But the venation of the leaflets, wide near
the middle, and gradually becoming more and
more dense towards the margin, in consequence
of the dichotomizing of the veins, is altogether
that of Lygodia.

jliiac/ 1 oLfie.'-l

52

NEURGPTERIS GIGANTEA. \

Filiciteslinguarius. Schloth. Petrefaktenkunde, p. 411, Ejusd.
Flor. der vorw. t. 2. f. 23.

Osmunda gigantea. Sternb. Flor, der vorw. 3. p. 29. 33.

Neuropteris gigantea. Sternb. Tent. ji. primord. p. t. 22.
Ad. Brong. prodr. 54. Hist, des Veget.foss. t.G9.

From the Coal measures of Saarbruck, Eschwei-
ler, Wettin, and Kleinschmalkalden, according to
Schlotheim, and of Schatzlar, according to Stern-
berg, and also of Newcastle, our specimen having
been procured from Jarrow Colliery.

With the modern genus Osmunda, to which it
has been referred, it does not appear to have any-
thing in common except the form of its leaflets.
Its stature was probably considerable, the frag-
ment figured by Sternberg having a rachis so

N 3

146

stout, that it could scarcely have belonged to a
leaf less than several feet long. What is shown
upon the accompanying plate is a pinna only, of a
bipinnate leaf.

Publxpied. by Ridffway & Sotis. Zond^n. OctT IS 3 2.

53

SPHENOPTERIS? BIFIDA.

Communicated by Mr. Witham, from the moun-
tain lime-stone of the lime quarries of Birdy
House, near Edinburgh.

So little has this the appearance of a Fern, that
you would say it had surely been a root of some
aquatic plant, or at least its submersed stem, with
such dissected leaves, as we now find floating in
ditches, or pools, and belonging to Myriophyl-
lum, Utricularia, Ranunculus, and the like.

In fact, if we compare it with Utricularia mi-
nor, we shall see that in both plants the leaves
have the same dichotomous divisions^ terminating
equally in fine subulate points ; nor do we know
how fragments of such Utricularias as U. minor,
intermedia^ and many others, are with any cer-
tainty to be distinguished from many species of
Trichomanes and Hymenophyllum. Compare,
for instance, U. intermedia with Brongniart's figures
of several species of Sphenopteris, {Hist, des veg.
foss. t. 48. /. 3.— ^. 49. /. 2, (^c.) and you will at
once remark the almost perfect identity of outline,

N 4

148

division, and venation. Nevertheless, as this is a
bipinnated plant, it probably was not an ytricu-
laria, all the known species of which are simple ;
and it is also not likely to have been a part of
any species of the other genera above alluded to.
On the contrary, it must, with the imperfect know-
ledge we possess about it, be arranged in the genus
Sphenopteris, in the vicinity of S. myriophylla,
from which it is known by its leaves not having
more than three or four primary divisions, and
these not radiating from a common centre, and re-
peatedly dichotomous, but arising from a flexuose
axis, and simply bifid.

P^Uyhei ky R.^wa.y * Scms.Lorvdon,, OctK

54

SIGILLARIA PACHYDERMA.

Euphorbites vulgaris. Artis Antediluv. phyt, 1. 15.

Rhytidolepis ocellata. Sternb. Flor. der Vorwelt, fasc. 2.
p. 36. 1. 15.

Sigillaria pachy derma. Ad, Brongn. Prodr. p. 65.

#

A class of Fossils, the larger stems of which
occur in great abundance, not only in the various
members of the Coal formation proper, but also in
many of the beds of the subjacent mountain
limestone series.

These stems have often escaped compression,
and stand perpendicularly across the strata, some-
times having roots proceeding from them on all
sides ; they are generally, if not always, sur-
rounded by an envelope of fine crystalline bitumi-
nous Coal, as much as an inch in thickness. The
longitudinal flutings which are the characteristic
marks of this Fossil, generally are indistinct on

150

the lower part of the larger stems, but this is not
always the case.

That these plants have been hollow, and of little
substance, is proved by their extreme thinness
when horizontal, and by their being frequently
composed, when upright, entirely of sand-stone,
within the outer coating of Coal. This is often of
a nature different from the rock in which they
are embedded, and also frequently contains im-
pressions of Ferns or other plants ; and the internal
layers of sand-stone when separated, instead of
being horizontal, present a dished appearance.

Plate 54, represents one of these Fossils found
immediately above the Coal in Killingworth Col-
liery, near Newcastle. It is figured and de-
scribed in the Transactions of the Natural History
Society of Newcastle^ vol. 1, page 206, by Mr.
Nicholas Wood, who also presented the specimen
to the Museum of that Society. The lower part
was 2 feet in diameter, coated with coal, and in-
distinctly fluted ; the roots were embedded in
shale, and could be traced 4 feet or more from the
stem, branching and gradually growing less (one
of the larger of these is shewn at fig. 2) ; these
roots, as well as the whole of the stem, were com-
posed of fine grained white sand-stone, totally dif-
ferent from the rock in which the lower portion of
the Fossil was enveloped, but agreeing perfectly
with a bed surrounding the higher part.

For the purpose of examining this Fossil, Mr.
Wood had the stone surrounding it removed,

151

during which operation we had an opportunity of
visiting it twice in the mine, and of taking drawings
and measurements. At the height of about 10 feet
the stem was partially broken and bent over, so as
to become horizontal ; and here it was considera-
bly distended laterally, and not more than an inch
thick, having the flutings comparatively distinct.

This stem formed one of a considerable group,
not less than 30 being visible within an area
of 50 yards square, some of them larger than
this individual, all presenting the same general
characters, and appearing to have grown where
they now stand. The specimen under review,
conveyed the idea of having been able, by the
aid of its strong spreading roots, to withstand
the force of the current which had prostrated and
scattered its weaker congeners. Above the height
of 10 feet, however, it had been partially broken^
and overthrown, the stem having a south west
direction.

The perpendicular trunks of this Fossil are
often the cause of serious accidents to the colliers,
as the coaly envelope, weakening the cohesion of
the strata, causes them to detach themselves, and
suddenly slip out of the roof, after the seam of
coal has been removed from below, when they
leave circular holes, 1 to 3 feet in height, some-
times 4, or even 5 feet in diameter.

Such are the Geological facts connected with
Sigillarise. The next question is, what analogy
did they bear to existing plants ? According to

152

Mr. Artis, they were related to Euphorbiace-ae ; in
the opinion of Schlotheim, Palms are their kindred.
Von Martins refers them to Cacteae ; Brongniart
formerly considered them completely different
from any thing at present known ; but now, with
Count Sternberg, places them among Filices.

Of these opinions, the only ones that require
examination are those of Artis, Von Martins,
Von Sternberg, and Brongniart.

The arguments that have been adduced in sup-
port of the analogy of Sigillaria with the trunks
of Tree Ferns, are not very clear ; they seem to de-
pend more upon a supposed resemblance between
the scars left upon the surface of Sigillarise, and
the thick cortical integument that enveloped their
trunks, than upon any thing else. The resemblance
between the scars of Tree Fern stems and those
of Sigillaria, appears to us to be altogether ima-
ginary, for in all the stems of modern Tree Ferns
there is uniformly a ragged margin, a spiral
arrangement, a denseness of situation, and a size
which are wholly at variance with what occurs
in Sigillaria ; and as to the presence of a distinct
cortical integument, there are two difficulties in
the way of admitting that as proof of an analogy
between Tree Ferns and Sigillaria, either of which
seems to us to be fatal.

Firstly, In Sigillaria this cortical integument
overlaid the whole surface of the stem, and the
leaves were evidently articulated upon it (as ap-
pears by the cleanness of the scars they have left

153

behind), being connected with the woody, or, at
least, central axis, by one or two bundles of ves-
sels that passed through a thick cortical mass.
Now, in Tree Ferns, the leaves are not articulated
with the stenij leave no clean scar behind when
they fall away, and have, for the most part, no
woody axis, with which they may be connected
by bundles of vessels ; but, on the contrary, are
mere prolongations of certain sinuous woody
plates, which form the hollow cylindrical stem.
Secondly, it is plain that the cortical integument
of Sigillaria was of the nature of true bark, that is,
separable freely, without tearing, from the woody
axis, as is evinced by the remains of the decor-
ticated specimens that are so common ; while, in
Tree Fern stems, the cortical integument is of the
nature of that spurious bark in Palms, and other
Monocotyledonous trees, which is not more sepa-
rablefroni the axis than strips of the wood itself.

Another argument against the identity of Sigil-
lariae and Tree Fern stems, is furnished by M.
Brongniart himself, although he does not admit
its value. That excellent observer remarked in
the Coal mines of Kunzwerk, near Essen, a stem
of Sigillaria, the position of which enabled him
to follow it nearly its whole extent. The stem
was laid parallel to the floor of the gallery, at
about the height of the eye of the observer ; near
the base it was about a foot in diameter, and ap-
peared broken, not terminated naturally. It was,
like all stems deposited in the direction of strata.

154

compressed so as to be almost flat. Following
this stem in the gallery, he was astonished to find
that it extended uninterruptedly to more than
40 feet, its diameter gradually diminishing, so that
it was not more than 6 inches across at its upper
end. That end, instead of terminating suddenly^
was divided into two branches, each about 4 inches
in diameter, which diverged for a few inches, and
was then interrupted by a partition in the rock.
Now this bifurcation, which M. Brongniart consi-
ders strongly corroborative of the affinity of Sigil-
laria and Ferns, is of no value whatever, as an
evidence of dichotomous ramification ; because in
all cases when a lateral bud developes from a pre-
existing axis, or when two terminal buds deve-
lope together, bifurcation must obviously be the
consequence ; but it will not be dichotomy, unless
the developement of terminal buds repeatedly
takes place, to the exclusion of all other buds —
which was not observed. Besides, we do not
know that Tree Ferns would grovv in a dichoto-
mous manner, if they were to branch. On the
contrary, we know that when they have been seen
accidentally to branch, they are not dichotomous, as
is proved by a plant of Dicksoniaarborea now grow-
ing in the Garden of the Horticultural Society.

Had the hypothesis just objected to been sup-
ported by a Botanist of less knowledge than
M. Brongniart, we should have been satisfied to
refute it by referring to the figure of a true Tree Fern,
Caulopteris primseva, at t. 42 of this work, and

155

to those of Sigillaria, which immediately fol-
low this article ; but we have thought it due to
M. Brongniart's high reputation to go at length
into the question.

With regard to the opinion of Mr. Artis, that
Sigillaria was related to succulent Euphorbias, and
of the learned von Martins^ that they may be com-
pared to Cacteae, there can be no doubt, that, as
far as external characters go, it approached these
plants more nearly than any others now known,
particularly in its soft texture, in its deeply chan-
nelled stems, and, what is of more consequence,
in its scars, placed in perpendicular rows between
the furrows. It is also well known that both these
modern tribes, particularly the latter, arrive even
now at a great stature ; further, it is extremely
probable, indeed almost certain, that Sigillaria was
a Dicotyledonous plant, for no others at the pre-
sent day have a true separable bark. Nevertheless,
in the total absence of all knowledge of the leaves
and flowers of these ancient trees, we think it bet-
ter to place the genus among other species, the
affinity of which is at present altogether doubtful.

1

I

I

1

I

■'i

.London. Oct': 1832.

55

SIGILLARIA PACHYDERMA

{Corticated.)

See t. 54.

A portion of the same species as the last, from
the shale of Killingworth Colliery.

The surface of this specimen is deprived of its
bark, so that the scars which remain are merely
the places through which the vessels of the stem
passed into the leaves.

It has long since been shewn by Brongniart,
that all Sigillarias are to be found in two states;
firstly, that in which the bark remains unin-
jured (corticated)', in these the scars are clean,
broad, and well defined; and, secondly, that in
which, the bark being destroyed, nothing remains
but the passage through which the vascular
system of the leaf communicated with the stem

158

(decorticated) ; in these the scars are narrow,
small, sometimes indistinct, and often double, or
reniform.

According to Mr. Artis, a further difference in
character is to be expected in the same species.
He states, that in Euphorbites vulgaris, which
seems to be a very perfect state of this Sigillaria
pachyderma^ the surface of the younger part has
the scars in single rows, rhomboidal with a reni-
form impression near the upper end, with a decur-
rent line on either side; but that in the same
stem when old, every other furrow widens, and
becomes concave, while the alternate ones con-
tract, so that between each fluting there is two
rows of scars instead of one. As we have not veri-
fied this observation, we think it better for the
present to consider the double and single rowed
specimens as belonging to different species.

56

SIGILLARIA ALTERNANS.

(Corticated,)

Syringodendron alternans. Sternb. Jlor. der voriv, 4. p. 50.
t.oS.f.2. (Corticated.)

From Cramlington Colliery, in Northumberland.

This specimen consisted of the coal itself,
and when sliced and examined microscopically^
shewed traces of tissue, the nature of which we
hope some day to have an opportunity of ex-
plaining. Count Sternberg procured it from the
Coal mines of Eschweiler.

The double row of approximated oval scars,
each with a smaller scar in the centre, is the diag-
nostic sign of this Fossil.

o 2

Publirfhed T^y Rid/jway Sr Scrui. Londcrt. OctV 1832.

57

SIGILLARIA RENIFORMIS.

{Decorticated,)

Palmacites sulcatus. Schloth. Petrefaktenkunde, p. 396. 1. 16.
f.\. {decorticated.)

Palmacites canaliculatus. lb. t. 16./. 2. (decorticated.)

Sigillaria reniformis. Ad. Brong. in Ann. des Sc. 4. p. 32. t. 2.
/. 2. (corticated.) — Prodr. p. 64.

Rhytidolepis cordata. Sternh. Tentflor. prim. p. 23.

? Syringodendroii pulchellum. Sternh. Fl. der vorw.fasc. 4.
p. 48. t. 52./. 2. (decorticated.)

The Coal mines of Eschweiler, Essen, and
Waldenburg, in Germany, and of Newcastle,
have all produced this Fossil, which also appears
from Von Schlotheim to occur in the Greywack6
of the Harz, and in the Quadersandstein, near
Gotha.

In its corticated state it presents impressions of
roundish kidney shaped scars, in the centre of

J 62

which is a point, and at a little distance on each
side a curved mark : when stripped of its bark, as
in the accompanying specimen, it has oval conti-
guous scars, arranged in pairs.

Sternberg's Syringodendron pulchellum, from
the Argillaceous Schist of Waldenburg, with the
scars of the decorticated specimen a short distance
apart, is apparently this same species at a more
advanced age.

I

PicbUfhed ity Rittgwa^ if: -Sot's. London. Octri832-

58

SIGILLARIA CATENULATA.

(Corticated.)

? Lepidolepis syringioides. Sternb. fior. der vonv.fasc. 3. p. 40.
t.:n.f.2. {corticated.)

In Coal from Jarrow Colliery.

Unless this is the Lepidolepis syringioides re-
ceived by Count Sternberg from the mines of St.
Ingbert, it is an undescribed species, remarkable
for the appearance of its oval scars, which^ touch-
ing one another at the ends, form a kind of
chain ; the spaces between the furrows are about
two inches across.

I

Ml

i'iiUr

' 2 Natural Sizf

PuJ>h,p,,,i h\j\jv^ayA-.\0,u,:J.of^>n. Oct'' IS3Z

39

SIGILLARIA OCULATA.

{Corticated.)

Palmacites oculatus. Schloth. Petrefaktenk. 394. 1. 17. (cor-
ticated.)

Syringodendron complanatum. Sternb. Fl. der vorw. fasc, 3.
p. 40. t. 31./. 1. (decorticated.)

Rhytidolepis. Cotta Dendrolith. t. 17.

Sigillaria oculata. Brongn. Prodr. 64.

From Killiiigworth Colliery.

This remarkable species is readily known by its
oval scars, v/hich are almost as broad as the spaces
between the furrows, and which, having a well
defined smaller scar in their midrib, have some
faint resemblance to an eye, or to that appear-
ance which naturalists call ocellatcd; it is very
nearly the same as Sigillaria notata^ which is
chiefly distinguished by the form of its scars.

This seems to have been a small species.

1

Pr,h!tfh--,f hy Ri,f,iwny Soii.r Zundon .Tnti:* Jfi.'i'i

60

PECOPTERIS POLYPODIOIDES.

? P. Polypodioides. Ad. Brongn. Prodr. p. 57.

? Pecopteris crenifolia. Phillips* Geol. Yorks, p, 148. t. 8.
/.II.

We are indebted to Mr. Bean, of Scarborough,
for fine specimens of several very interesting fossil
plants from the Yorkshire Coast. They all belong
to the Oolitic series, and will be gradually figured
by us in this v^ork.

That which is the subject of the present plate
is among the most remarkable. In the first place,
it is a Fern in which traces of the fructification
are extremely well preserved : a case so rare, that
Adolphe Brongniart was only acquainted with
six instances when he wrote his Prodromus in

p

168

1828 ; and, secondly, it has a very striking resem-
blance to one of the commonest of the recent
Ferns found in this island.

It occurs very rarely in the shale of a rich bed
of fossil plants at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough,
first discovered by Mr. Bean ; our specimen lies
among fragments of a very narrow Poacites,
and of a Pterophyllum. The w^hole leaf, or frond,
seems to have had an oblong outline, and to have
been perhaps seven or eight inches in length,
of which rather more than three inches now re-
main. Its rachis is so much destroyed, that
nothing can be determined as to its original
surface. The leaf was pinnatifid nearly down
to the midrib ; the segments were nearly linear,
about an inch long, with an obtuse termina-
tion ; each segment is traversed by a strong
middle rib, upon which, nearly perpendicularly,
are implanted veins, which bifurcate a little be-
yond the midrib ; of this bifurcation one arm is
directed obliquely towards the apex of the seg-
ment, and is stopped about half way between the
midrib and the margin, by a round spot, which
indicates the presence of a sorus^ or mass of fruc-
tification ; the other arm again bifurcates, and
apparently reaches the margin ; at least we thought
we distinctly made this out, by holding the spe-
cimen in a particular light ; we are, however, by
no means sure, that its divisions do not stop short

169

of the margin ; the fact is, that the veins are so
very indistinct, that we have found much difficulty
in detecting them at all. The margin of the
segments looks, in some places, as if it had been
divided into little teeth; but, in others, it is evi-
dently quite entire; and we have no doubt, that
the former appearance is only caused by the
breaking up of the black carbonaceous matter
that has given the impression.

It is evident that our Fossil is referable to
Adolphe Brongniart's genus Pecopteris; but as
the figures, illustrative of that genus, are not
yet published, we have no means of knowing to
what species ; we conjecture only, that it must
be his V , polypodioides , from the aptness of the
name, and from its having been procured by him
from the lower Oolite.

If we compare it with recent Ferns, we can-
not fail to be struck with its great resemblance
to the very common Polijpodium vulgare ; a plant
extremely variable in size, and in the outline of
its segments^ but in many states scarcely distin-
guishable from the fossil. In both, the outline
of the leaf and of the segments, the arrange
ment of the veins, and the situation of the sori,
are the same ; but in the Fossil the margin of
the segments appears to have been entire ;
while, in the recent species, it is, we believe,
always serrated. Beyond this, we really find

i> 2

170

so little of moment, that we doubts whether, if a
recent Fern were discovered, with so much si-
milarity, and so little discrepancy, it would be
considered more than a variety of Polypodium
vulgare.

V

61

LYCOPODITES FALCATUS.

Young and Bird. Geol. Sui'v. Yorks, t. 2.f. 7.

No doubt this is the Plant, with small round
crowded sessile leaves," figured by Messrs. Young
and Bird, in their Geological Survey of the
Yorkshire Coast. By those Gentlemen it was
obtained from the sand-stone of either the Saltwick
or Hawkser Cliffs. The beautiful specimen, from
which our drawing was made, was sent us by
Mr. Bean, from the under shale at Cloughton,
where it is of very rare occurrence.

Like the last, this is again an instance of re-
markable resemblance between the plants of the
Oolitic series, and those of the present day. With-
out taking any particular species, for that would

r 3

172

be difficult, where comparison has to be established
between so imperfect a relic as this, and species
that, throughout a whole group, are exceedingly-
similar to each other, — we should say, compare this
with such plants as Lycopodium complanatum, or
any of the same section, and the likeness will
be found so extremely strong, as to leave no doubt
of their complete analogy.

Such recent plants are, on the one hand, allied
to Ferns, with which they agree in the presence
of vascular tissue, more or less perfect in their
axis, and in their mode of curling up in the
nascent state ; on the other hand, they resemble
mosses, from which they are known by their ra-
mifications, and very different organs of repro-
duction. Their stems divide by forking repeat-
edly ; and are covered closely with leaves^ which
are arranged in two rows, having their edges
vertical with respect to the axis of growth, not
horizontal. These leaves are placed alternately,
and are furnished with lateral smaller leaflets, of
the nature of sti pulse.

In the Fossil, the figure of the larger leaves is
distinctly and strongly falcate, with an obtuse
extremity, and with a perfectly entire margin.
Of the smaller leaflets but very imperfect traces
are to be discovered ; they, however, certainly
exist, although they are not shewn in the mag-
nified drawing at fig. 2.

Unless this be the Lycopodites Williamsonis,

173

of Adolphe Brongniart, from the lower Oolite, a
species of which neither figure nor description
have yet been published, it must be altogether
new ; for we can meet with no trace of it in any
other work than that above referred to. It is one
of the prettiest species that have yet been obtained
in the rich beds of fossil plants at Scarborough.

p 4

•1

!

MagJLifi.ed

Pr<l>!(r>v^l iv Ridijvtiw* -Sons- Latul/ni .Tntir IS ^

62

T^NIOPTERIS VITTATA.

Scitaminearum folium. Sternb. Flor, der Vorw. 3. p. 42. t. 37.
/.2.

Scolopendrium. Young and Bird. Geol. Surv. Yorks. f. 9,

Tgeniopteris vittata. Ad. Brongn. Prodr. p. 62. Hist.desVeget.
Foss. 1. 263. t. 82./. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Scolopendrium solitarium. Phillips' Geol. Yorks. p. 147. t. 8.
/.5.

From the shale of the Gristhorpe bed, near Scar-
borough ; communicated by Mr. Bean. It has
also been detected at Hoer, in Scania, and at
Neuewelt, near Bale; it is regarded by Ad.
Brongniart as one of the most common in the
Jurassic formations, and as a species characte-
ristic of his third period of vegetation.

176

Our figure represents a cast of the upper sur-
face of a leaf, of which the extremity has been
destroyed. It was rather more than five inches
long, of a narrow lanceolate form, terminating
rather abruptly, and unequally at the base. Its
veins are close together, quite perpendicular to
the midrib, and either very simple, or once
forked ; its stalk is continuous with the midrib,
and seems to have been smooth.

Any one would naturally be led to consider
this very analogous to the recent Scolopendrium
officinale, for its general aspect and mode of
venation are strikingly similar ; but Brongniart
has met with a specimen which has traces of
round impressions upon it, which may have
been sori ; and, if so, this could have been no
Scolopendrium, but must have been more like
some simple-leaved Aspidium or Polypodium^ to
which Brongniart compares it rather than to
Scolopendrium,

63

GLOSSOPTERIS PHILLIPS 1 1.

G. Phillipsii. Ad. Brongn, Hist, des V^get.foss. 1. 225. *.61.
bis.f.d. t. 63./. 2.

Pecopteris longifolia. Phillips' Geol. Yorks. p. 189. t.S.f.S,
P. paucifolia. Id. p. 148.

Communicated by Mr. Bean, from the shale
of the Gristhorpe bed, near Scarborough. We
are also indebted to Mr. Dunn, the Vice-President
of the Scarborough Philosophical Society, for the
accompanying drawings from the pencil of Miss
Helen Thornhill.

Neither Brongniart, nor Phillips, appear to
have known the real structure of this species,
both these accurate observers having seen only
leaflets separated from their stalk; they, there-

178

fore, took it for a simple leaved Fern and the
former compares it with certain species of Gram-
mitis and Acrostichmn,

It was, however, as will now be seen, a plant
with four-parted leaves, the stalk of which was
continuous with the leaflets; the latter were of a
figure, varying in form from linear-lanceolate
(fig. 2.) to oval, (fig, and in length from an
inch and a half to four inches. The veins are
many times dichotomous, anastomozing into a
sort of net-work next the midrib.

What we find very singular in this Fossil is,
that the leaflets are four, not five, in number, as
is the case with modern Ferns of a similar habit;
on this account we are unable to compare it with
any recent species. Adolphe Brongniart, indeed,
points out simple leaved Aspidia as analogous;
but, as we have just said, he was unacquainted
with the true structure of the plant.

We cannot doubt, that figures 1 and 2, are
varieties of the same species ; their diflPerences in
form are only such as we find in diflFerent indi-
viduals of the same modern species ; and it is not
improbable, that the broad leaved form (fig. 1.)
may be the barren leaf, while fig. 2 is the fertile
leaf.

I

\

Plate t

Fig 7

Pubhpied by RidgwayiH Sorts l.orulcn. Jan^

64

CYCLOPTERIS DIGITATA.

C. digitata. Ad. Brongn. Hist, des Veyet. foss. 1. 219. /. 61.

bis.f.2, 3.

Communicated by the Geological Society, from
the same locality as Pterophyllum minus, figured
in t. 67.

We have no doubt of its being the same as
Cyclopteris digitata, figured by Brongniart, from
Scarborough ; but in his specimens the ends of
the lobes of the leaf were truncated, and uneven :
w^hile in ours^ which are^ however, very much in-
jured, they appear to be rounded. Brongniart,
also, represents his leaf as composed of a single
expanded plate; in these specimens it is certainly
divided into two or three lobes, as we have repre-
sented it.

180

We confess we have some doubt of this having
been a Fern ; its texture, and general appear-
ance, together with its irregular lobing, being very
much at variance with any modern Ferns that we
are acquainted with. It, however, answers well
enough to the artificial character of the genus;
and it is not worth disturbing its name, unless
some better evidence of its nature than we at
present possess shall be discovered.

Piillifhfd hy Rt/tqwov * ! "W.v. ].fln/lon ran '' I6.33

65

POLYPORITES BOWMANNI.

A single specimen of this very remarkable
Fossil was discovered by J. E. Bowman, Esq.
of the Court, near Wrexham, among the ejected
shale of a Coal-pit, near the entrance of the Vale
of Llangollen, in the county of Denbigh.

It was about an inch in diameter, of a deep
blue-black colour, with a blue lustre here and
there, probably caused by the alumine of the
shale having been brought out by exposure to
rain. Along with the specimen, we received from
its discoverer some extremely useful Notes, of
which we have availed ourselves in the following-
account.

Fig. B. 1. in the annexed plate, represents the
Fossil of its natural size, and as it appears to the
naked eye, with the exception of its being shown
much paler than the original, for the sake of dis-
tinctness. Fig. B. 2. is the same, much mag-
nified.

182

It appears to have been a roundish oval body,
flat, and marked externally, near the margin, with
numerous zones, which follow the border with
tolerable regularity; across these zones run rather
close lines, converging towards some common
centre. The whole of the middle part is even,
and unmarked by lines, except in a few patches'
as at b, where the cuticle seems to have been
removed; in these patches the lines are much
more close than those at the margins, and do not
converge towards a centre, but have directions
that are not in accordance in the different patches,
neither do they correspond with the converging
lines near the margin. In one or two places, as
at a, dots, arranged with great regularity, are
more or less distinctly indicated. The apparent
centre of the specimen, which is a good deal in-
jured, seems, by the direction of the lines, to have
scarcely been the organic centre. A portion only
of the margin was preserved, and the specimen
had no sensible thickness.

In a second specimen, subsequently found by
Mr. Bowman, and the only other that has oc
curred, the principal part of the characters now
described were equally found, with the addition,
that the margin seemed nearly complete; from'
which it seems, that the figure of the Fossil must
have been what Botanists call roundish-ovate, the
base of such a figure being the border where' the
concentric zones and cross converging lines are

183

situated ; the apex, wanting both these, being
smoother, more polished, and irregularly indented
with minute depressed dots.

It is a matter of great doubt, whether this
really belongs to the vegetable kingdom ; Mr.
Bowman remarks, that his second specimen
might be taken for the scale of a fish, or of some
great Saurian Reptile; and we admit it now,
without daring to offer any decided opinion about
it, chiefly on account of its resemblance, in some
points, to some Cellular* plants of the present
aera.

There are certain Fungi belonging to the genera
Boletus, Polyporiis, Thelephora, DcEdalea, &c., which
attach themselves to their support by one side,
projecting forward from it, and increasing by
periodical additions to their margin, in conse-
quence of which that part assumes a zoned ap-
pearance; when these shrivel, they contract into
lines or wrinkles, that form radii, lying across
the zones. On their upper surface these Fungi
are smooth, or more or less velvety or hairy ; on
their under side they are perforated with holes
perpendicular to the surface, forming what, in the
language of Botanists, is a hymtnium porosum.
It is to these plants that we would compare our
Fossil ; especially the spots at a, a, showing dots
arranged methodically, to portions of the hymemum

* Cellulares. Introduction to the Natural System of Botany ^
p. 307.

ib4

porosum. It may be supposed, that the Fossil
shews the upper surface, or the pileus; the hy-
menium being prevented by its pores from sepa-
rating from the shale so as to leave an impression.
In that case, b, c, will be portions from which
the cuticle has been torn, and a a, will be still
deeper wounds, which, having passed right through
the pileus, lay bare that portion of the hy menium
porosum^ which was connected with the pileus.

For the purpose of ascertaining what the effect
would be of compressing a recent Fungus of this
description, we took a withered dry specimen of
the common Polyporus versicolor from off a de-
cayed stump, and having enclosed it in plaster of
Pans, we separated the mould so formed, when
we obtained such an appearance as is represented
at A. ; the spaces a were, however, only made
visible by scraping through the pileus with a
sharp penknife.

The principal objection to this Fossil being
really a Fungus, analogous to those with which
we have compared it, consists in the lines in the
spaces b, c, fig. B. 2. not being in accordance
with the radial lines near the margin. It might,
indeed, be supposed, that the former have been
caused by the pressure of another Fungus lying in
a somewhat different direction ; to this, however,
several objections will obviously present them-
selves ; or, it may be assumed, that the pileus
was composed, internally, of two or three layers,

186

the organic tissue of which was not in corre-
spondence.

With these very unsatisfactory Notes, we com-
mend our Fossil to the enquiries of our readers ;
remarking only, that if it is a Fungus, it is perhaps
the first that has been discovered in the Coal
Flora, and that it may be worth considering
whether the Cafyolithes umbonatus of Sternberg,
referred with doubt to Cyclopteris by Adolphe
Brongniart, may not also be something of a
similar nature.

Q 2

66

PTEROPHYLLUM COMPTUM.

Cycadites comptus. Phillips' GeoL Yorks. p. 148. t. l.f. 20.

Among the rocks of the Oolitic series, appear,
for the first time, remains of plants related to a
tribe called, by Botanists, Cycadeae.* In their
recent state they are small plants, having a thick,
fleshy, roundish, or oblong, or occasionally cylin-
drical and elongated stem, which is never branched,
and which is covered with a hard dry coating of
scales^ that once were the bases of leaves that have
fallen off. Their leaves are of a hard leathery
texture, are divided in a pinnated manner, and
when young are curled up at the points like those
of ferns : their veins are, in all cases, undivided,

* Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, p. 245.

Q 3

188

and proceed in nearly parallel lines from the base
to the apex of the segments. These plants are in-
creased by means of male and female flowers,
which are dioecious, and collected in terminal
cones, composed of scales, after the manner of a
Pine-cone. They inhabit countries having a tro-
pical, or sub-tropical temperature, especially the
Cape of Good Hope, the West Indies, and South
America, and are capable of enduring the extre-
mity of drought without injury.

Of the Oolitic formation they are the cha-
racteristic plants, indicating a climate totally dif-
ferent from that which must have been prevalent
when the Coal-measure plants were produced,
and, in all probability, by no means unfit for the
habitation of man.

The stems of these plants are known, when in a
fossil state, by the name of Birds' Nests their
characteristic marks, and the proofs of their ana-
logy with modern species, have been amply ex-
plained by Professor Buckland, in the Transactions
of the Geological Society.

Their leaves were, when first discovered, mis-
taken for fern leaves, from which they are known
by their pinnated mode of division, combined with
simple veins, which have the arrangement above
described.

No remains of their fructification have hitherto
been identified in a satisfactory manner. It is, how-
ever, not improbable that the impressions found

189

in the Oolite, having somewhat the appearance
of a large flower, one of which is represented by
Messrs. Young and Bird, (t. 1. f. I. and 7.) are
fragments of this fossil cone, broken transversely.
If this be so, the parts called petals, in such
fossils, will be the scales of the cone, and the
stamens^ and pistillum, will be the fractured
axis.*

Of the fossil impressions of this tribe, some re-
present the segments of the leaves, connected with
the general midrib only by the middle of their
base : these are referred, by Adolphe Brongniart,
to his genus Zamia ; all others have the segments
connected with the general midrib by the whole
of their base ; they are not, however, on that ac-
count, combined into one other genus ; but as
they possess certain well-marked modifications of
the veins, they are separated into three genera,
distinguished thus : —

1. Vein solitary, forming a thick midrib . . Cycadites,

2. Veins numerous, of equal thickness . . Pterophyllum.

3. Veins numerous, some thicker than the rest Nilsonia,

To the genus Pterophyllum, belongs the sub-
ject of the accompanying plate. The specimen is
from the shale of the cliff at Gristhorpe, near Scar-
borough, and was communicated by Mr. Bean.

* We have also been obliged with a cast of one of these
Fossils, taken in plaster of Paris by Mr. Williamson, the
active and intelligent Curator of the Scarborough Museum.

Q 4

190

The leaf appears to have been about 1 1 inches
long, and to have been widest at a short distance
below the apex, which is destroyed : at the base
it gradually tapers into a stalk. The segments, in
the widest part of the leaf, are about an inch long,
are rounded at the end, and slightly curved for-
wards, so as to have a somewhat falcate ap-
pearance ; they vary in width from three to nearly
six lines, and as they approach the base become
altogether truncate.

r

1

I

\

67

FrG. 1.

PTEROPHYLLUM MINUS.

P. minus. Ad. Brongn. in Annates des Sciences, vol. 4. p. 219.
t. 12./. 8. Prodr.p. 95.

From the Upper Sandstone of the Oolitic rocks
at Scarborough. Our specimen is in the collection
of the Geological Society.

This species was first detected in a small
collection of Fossil Plants found in the Sand-
stone quarries at Hor, a village to the North of
Lund, in Sweden. It is well characterized by its
narrow leaves, and short, broad, truncated seg-
ments, which are extremely unequal in size.
Brongniart represents their margin as absolutely

192

perpendicular to the midrib ; but in this specimen
they have an oblique direction towards, what we
take to be, the base of the leaf. No trace of veins
was left in the grit which received this impression.

67
F[G. 2.

PTEROPHYLLUM NILSONI.

Aspleniopteris Nilsoni ? Phillips^ Geol. Yorks.p. 147. t. 8./. 4.

Sent by Mr, Bean, from the shale of the Gris-
thorpe cliff, near Scarborough.

Except that this is so much smaller, it bears
great resemblance to P. comptum, from which it
may be distinguished by the greatest width of the
leaf being near the middle, and by its segments
being not only more rounded at the end, but also
less falcate.

P-Lhltp>yii Ijv JiuJ^wav A- Sons London Jnn '' T8:13

68

NEUROPTERIS RECENTIOR.

Pecopteris recentior. Phillips' Geol. Yorhs. p. 148. t. 8./. 15.

From the shale at Gristhorpe, near Scarbo-
rough ; communicated by Mr. Bean.

The genera Odontopteris and Neuropteris are
known from each other by the veins of the former
proceeding into the segments directly from their
base, without collecting into a distinct midrib,
and by the veins of the latter gradually diverging
from the midrib as they approach the point of the
segments. In general appearance, the two ge-
nera are extremely alike, and their species have
sometimes a most remarkable resemblance, as
the present with Odontopteris Brardiiy and the

196

next species with O. crenulata, both of which
are Coal-plants.

This must have been a fern of large size. Its
rachis in one part is nearly half an inch in dia-
meter; but it must be observed, that in many
fossil ferns that part is much thicker in proportion
to the lateral branches from it, and to the size of
the whole leaf, than in recent species. It was,
probably, tripinnate; the last pinnae were more
than six inches long, and very narrow ; the seg-
ments attached to the midrib by their whole
base, having an oblong falcate figure, seeming to
have been blunt, and about half an inch long.
The remains of the veins are very indistinct, but
seem to have been arranged as represented in our
figure.

I'late fi9

r>. l Ul)w"i by Bidf/w.-cv X- Son.s Lnruiot, . .Tat\. '- 18 :

69

NEUROPTERIS LIGATA,

Pecopteris ligata. Phillips^ GeoL Yorks. p,l4Q. t, S. f.l4.

Communicated by Mr. Bean, from the same
locality as the last.

The leaf was either bipinnate, or tripinnate ; its
rachis was slender, and quite in the modern pro-
portion to the lateral branches from it. The pinnae
are so broken, that it is impossible to tell their
length, but they seem to have exceeded six inches
in the lower part of that portion of the leaf com-
prehended in our plate. The segments were
united to the principal midrib by their whole base,
from which they tapered upwards into a falcate
lanceolate figure, having its margin distinctly

198

toothed beyond the middle ; the length of the
segments was rather more than half an inch, and
their breadth, at the base, about two and a half, or
three lines.

70

SI GILL ARIA ORG A NUM.

Syringodenclron organura. Stetmb. Flora der Vorw. p. !23.

M3./1.

From Jarrow Colliery.

This species, although published by Count
Sternberg, is not taken up by Adolphe Brong-
niart. It differs from S. pachydenna, already re-
presented at tab. 54 and 55 of this work, in the
scars of the corticated specimen being round,
instead of angular, and in those of the decorticated
specimens being mere dots, instead of a half
circle.

The accompanying figure represents both the
surface of the wood, and that of the bark ; the
latter of which is much thinner than that of
S. pachy derma.

Very large specimens are, occasionally, met

K

200

with; sometimes, as much as 2 or 3 feet in dia-
meter.

Neither in this, nor in any other instance that
we have seen, is there any trace of articula-
tions at regular distances ; and, nevertheless, from
the state in which Sigillariae often occur, one
would be led to expect such a structure ; for they
are commonly broken across, as if such were the
case. This was particularly remarked in a groupe
of such stems, which were met with in large
quantities, (as many as 10 in 16 yards,) while
driving a store drift in Jarrow Colliery.

Puthjhed ty Ridawny A Sons, lotdon April , rHJJ

Tl

SIGILLARIA RENIFORMIS,

( corticated.)

See p. 161,

This plate represents the fossil figured at t. 57,
in the state in which it existed before its bark was
destroyed.

It will be remarked, that, w^hile the scars upon
the decorticated specimen consist of two distinct
oval spaces, of a regular figure and size, those
upon the outside of the bark had a roundish figure,
but slightly indented at the two opposite sides.

Such specimens as this, in which all the sharp-
ness of the angles of the recent plant is com-
pletely preserved, shew^ in a very satisfactory
manner, that they cannot have been long agitated
in water before they were deposited ; and that,

R 2

202

if they were originally drifted at all, it can only
have been for very inconsiderable distances. In
our judgment, they are sufficient alone to destroy
the theories of those who fancy that the remains
of tropical plants, found embedded in Europe, must
have been drifted by currents from equatorial re-
gions.

Fuhhfhji iySid^avif Sons, London Aprtl IS 13

72

SIGILLARIA? MONOSTACHYA.

Communicated by M. De Cardonnel Lawson,
Esq., from a sand-stone quarry, of the Coal-
formation, at Cramlington, in Northumberland.

This is so like a single rib, or fluting, of a Sigil-
laria, that it is difficult to believe it can be any
thing else ; and yet it is as difficult to understand
how one longitudinal portion of a Sigillaria should
be separated from another, in the way this has
been separated ; for not only is there not the
smallest trace of tearing, but the whole speci-
men stands out in very high relief. The outer
coating is coal ; the scars project in pairs, more
than the one-eighth part of an inch from the sur-
face of the fossil.

Along the centre runs a sort of depressed line,
the nature of which is unknown.

R 3

J.E BowtTWJi . deU

ahcde exceeding one half the natural size

Pttbhihfd bv Jf uiaway Sc Sons London Afrrtl. If!

Natural Size of Scales
and intermediate Grvoves.

-Publifhtd In £idpway&.Sons.ZoniUn.^rU.7SJJ

r

Pitl/hfketi hv Ridpwav Sons, London. April. tS3.).

73, 74, 75.
FAVULARIA TESSELLATA.

Phytolithus tessellatus. Steinhaiier in Am. Phil. Trans, v. 1.
t. 7./. 2.

? Palmacites variolatus. Schloth. petrefakt. t. 15. /. 3. A.
Sigillaria tessellata. Ad. Brongn. Prodr. p. 65.

Found in the Old Coal-formation.

This curious fossil was first noticed by the
Rev. Henry Steinhauer, in the work above referred
to, where a fragment, in iron-stone, is represented
from Shelf.

What seems to be the same thing, was after-
wards figured by Baron von Schlotheim, from the
Coal mines of Essen, in Westphalia, and from
Wettin ; but, in both these instances, very indif-
ferent specimens were all that had been met with.

R 4

206

For being able to publish the truly beautiful
figures at t. 73 and 74, and for the following
description, we are indebted to J. E. Bowman,
Esq. of the Court, near Wrexham.

The fossil is of tine -grained Sandstone, and
was found in a bed of the same, overlying the
Coal strata, at Garthen Colliery, near Ruabon,
Denbighshire. The whole was about a yard long,
of which this alone was preserved.

It retains, on one side, some of the carbonized
vegetable substance, which, also, fills the cavities
of many of the scars ; it is clearly and beautifully
detached from its matrix on three sides, and some-
w^hat flattened, so that a transverse section would
be an oval. The rows of scars run longitudinally,
or parallel with the axis of the stem, with beau-
tiful regularity, each row being separated by a
groove ; the rows are narrower, and more strongly
marked on the sides, which, from its shape, would
appear to have been subjected to the least pres-
sure, or, at the narrow ends of a transverse oval
section. The scars in the middle of the areae, are
somewhat club-shaped ; the central lobe much
elongated, and very various in width, and not so
deeply sunk as the shorter lateral ones.

Length of the fossil, nearly 14 inches, slightly
tapering upwards.

Widest diameter at the broad end, or base,
5 inches.

207

Narrowest diameter at the broad end, or base,
3^ inches.

Widest diameter at the narrow end, or apex,
4| inches.

Narrowest diameter at the narrow end, or apex,
2^ inches ; but, here, it has been exposed to some
greater additional pressure ; and there is an addi-
tional irregularity in the surface.

There is no indication of a central woody axis.

It appears to have been the stem of some plant,
the leaves of which were placed so close together,
that their bases, which were square, were in con-
tact. In the total absence of almost all informa-
tion beyond that which we have given, it is impos-
sible to offer even a guess as to its probable affinity,
further, than that it was Dicotyledonous, with an
ultra-tropical constitution.

Possibly, it was allied to Sigillaria, with which
Adolphe Brongniart combines it; and this is^ in
some measure, confirmed by the presence of bark,
as is shewn at t. 74. But it does not appear to
us advisable to unite it with that genus ; on
the contrary, we should geologically distinguish
this Favularia elegans, and some others, from
Sigillaria, by the highly important circumstance
of the leaves having been in contact at their base,
as is proved by their scars. When growing, the
appearance of the two genera must have been
very different on that account ; for^ while Sigil-
laria had its stem loosely furnished with leaves,

208

after the manner of the common forms of plants
of the present day, Favularia must have been a
mass of densely imbricated foliage.

This specimen is a further proof, that neither
the period which intervened between its removal
and final deposit, nor the distance it was drifted,
could have been considerable. Its angles are
as sharp as if it had been newly gathered.

Tab. 73, is a view of this Fossil, of rather less
than half the natural size. \

Tab. 74, represents the scars of their natural
size. Both these are from the pencil of Mr.
Bowman.

Tab. 75, is an old and worn specimen, from the
Bensham Coal-seam, in Jarrow Colliery ; the
principal part of it is decorticated, and has a cir-
cular depression in the centre of each scar^ instead
of the long conical spot, which is found in the
same situation on the outside of the perfect bark.

r

76

4

CARDIOCARPON ACUTUM.

Adolphe Hrong. Prodr. p. 87.
Sternb. Flora der Vorw. t. 7. /. 8 ?

In shale, from the Bensham Coal-seam, in Jar-
row Colliery.

Fruits are, as is well known, extremely rare
-in the old Coal-formation, if we except the fossils
called Lepidostrobi ; a few specimens, apparently
belonging to Monocotyledones, and this genus,
Cardiocarpon, being the only others that are men-
tioned by authors.

The species now represented, occurs, occa-
sionally, in the shale, and always^ or, at least,
most commonly, in groupes ; as is the case in the
present instance. This circumstance makes it
probable, that they were clustered together, when
they were growing on the plant, and that they

210

were either deposited where they grew, or that
they had been drifted but a short distance.

Each grain is lenticular, always acute at one
end, and sometimes so at the other, but more
generally obtuse. The acute end (d) appears to
have been the apex, and the obtus-e end the base.

The face of the grains exhibits two distinct ap-
pearances. In some, there is a slightly elevated
line running through the axis, from base to apex,
and a little scar placed at the very base, across
the elevated line, which is perpendicular to it,
and which seems to rise out of it. Others have,
distinctly, a circle (c) within the margin, the
axis of which is traversed by a line (/>), which,
at its upper end, has the distinct remains of a
small double scar [a, ) The former appear to be
grains seen from the outside ; the latter from the
inside.

Such being the structure of these grains, as far
as they retain any decided characters, we are jus-
tified in coming to the following conclusions about
them.

They, probably, grew in heads, or dense clus-
ters of some kind.

They were didymous ; that is to say, they grew
in pairs, applied by their faces, c being the line
of their commissure, /; the impression of their
woody axis, and a the scars caused by the pas-
sage of the vessels of the axis into each grain.

They were not adherent to the calyx ; for it

211

is to be presumed, that the little scar, described
as existing upon the outside, at the base of the
grains, indicates the former presence of a calyx at
that place.

Little positive, unfortunately, can be concluded
from these data, either as to the analogy of Car-
diocarpon with recent genera, or as to the fossil
genus to which it must belong.

It was, probably. Dicotyledonous : for, if it
had been Monocotyledonous, the grains would
have been more likely to adhere by threes^ than
by pairs. The most striking analogy that occurs
to us, is with Umbellifera ; to which, however, it
cannot have belonged, if we are right in consider-
ing the calyx inferior. Had we not ascertained
the character of the inner face of the grains, we
might have been induced to suspect some affinity
with Crucifercd ; but the commissure, and other
characters of the inside face, render this impos-
sible. Stellated might, also, be thought to resemble
it, if it were not for the inferior calyx ; but, upon
the whole, we incline to the belief, that, like many
other genera of the Coal aera, it has no very
positive modern analogy.

^ As to the fossil genera to which it may be sup-
posed to belong, we would, in the first place, re-
mark, that it is impossible Cardiocarpon should
be the fruit of Lepidodendron, or any other Lyco-
podiaceous genus, as Adolphe Brongniart has
conjectured ; this is sufficiently proved, by the

212

didymous structure of the fruit, independently of
many other considerations. To what other genera
it may belong, we do not feel capable of offering
any decided opinion. Supposing it to have fallen
from the stem of some species of Asterophyllites ;
then, one might indulge in the suspicion of that
genus having been related to Callitriche.

Plate 77

77

CALAMITES APPROXIMATUS.

Calamites approximatus. Sternh, Florader Vo7'iv.fasc.4, p,26,
Sckloth. Petrefakt. p. 399. Artis Antediluv. Phyt, t. 4.
Ad. Bivm^n, Hist, des Veg. Foss. 1. 133. t. 24. and t. 15.
/.7.8.

C. interruptus. Schloth. I. c. p. 400. t. 20. /. 2.

From the shale of Jarrow Colliery. Mr. Artis
had it from the soft sandstone, in Hober Quarry,
near Wentworth ; Von Schlotheim from the Coal
Mines of Manebach, Essen, Saarbruck, and
Wettin; and Adolphe Brongniart, from those
of Alais in the Department of the Gard, of Li^ge^,
of Kilkenny, and of Saint Etienne in the Depart-
ment of the Loire ; and, finally, from the Copper
Mines of Ekaterinebourg, in Russia.

It is thought to be readily known from most
others, by the very close joints of the stem ; but

214

it appears, from the specimen now represented,
that this approximation of joints is not universal ;
on the contrary, those towards the upper end are
as distant as in other species.

The bark is rather thick, and very much ob-
scures the furrows of the wood.

The three following forms are recorded by Adol-
phe Brongniart.

Var. 1. Joints very close, deeply impressed
and contracted.

Var, 2. Joints more remote, and less deeply
impressed.

Var. 3. A smaller kind, with close joints, and
very narrow ribs.

f>/rfk^^ by S.id^wav * Sons.Xondon. April. 7333

78

CALAMITES

(With Roots.)

From the Newcastle Coal-field.

Up to this time, we believe that no one has
seen what can be certainly considered the roots
of a Calamite. As every thing which tends to
the elucidation of the nature of this singular genus
is highly interesting, we have peculiar satisfaction
in, at length, being able to state what they are.

Of the three specimens represented in the
accompanying plate, A has the joints of its ex-
tremity but little contracted ; and, from the base
of the lowest articulation but one, there springs
an arm, with a descending direction, which is
irregularly branched ; from the articulation above
thisj springs another arm of the same nature.
These are, most undoubtedly, roots, as is proved
by the absence of all trace of symmetry in their

s

216

mode of ramifying. It, therefore, would seem
from this, that the lower end of a Calamite has
no contraction of the joints, but, on the contrary,
has them pretty regularly elongated. C we take
to be another instance of roots ; in this, however, the
specimen is much less distinctly preserved ; but,
at B, where the articulations become gradually
shorter as we approach the end, we have appear-
ances so similar to the supposed roots of C, that
it is difficult not to believe them, also, to be of
that nature ; and if this be the fact, then it would
appear, that the test of the root end of a Calamite
has still to be sought for, and that neither the
lengthened nor shortened joints are characteristic.
But to this we have to recur in the next subject.

We are uncertain to what species to refer these
fragments ; possibly, they are small specimens
of C. arenaceus.

Pui/zfhfd by Sidav/a,Y Ih S^ns. London. April. Jfi. fJ

79

CALAMITES CANNiEFORMlS.

Calamites cannaeformis. Schloth. Petrefaktenk. 398. t. '20. f. 1.

Sternb. Flora der Voriv. fasc. 4. p. 26. Ad. Brongn. Hist.

des Veget. Foss. 13 J. ^.21.
C. Pseudo-bambusia. Sternb. Flora der Vorw. t, 13./. 3. Artis

Antediluv. Phytol. t.Q.

This is one of the commonest species, being
found in almost every Coal-field in Europe.

It is readily known by its smooth surface, its
distant furrows, which usually terminate acutely,
and by its usually curved tapering figure.

We have placed the drawing now given of it in
the position which it should have, if the long
cylindrical bodies proceeding from it were leaves,
and the specimen itself the apex of a branch. But

s 2

218

we are rather inclined to believe it to be the base
of a stem, and the cylindrical bodies to be roots ;
for if we compare it with fig. B., in tab. 78, the
resemblance is so great, that we can scarcely fail
to recognize it ; and it is next to certain, that
that fossil is a root end. Besides, it will be re-
marked, that the tubercles which terminate the
ribs of the stem, originate near the points most
remote from the apparent apex ; but it is a con-
stant law in vegetation, that leaves originate from
that end of a joint which is next to the real apex ;
and there can be little doubt, that these tubercles,
because of their regular arrangement, indicate the
seat of rudimentary leaves. If this reasoning be
correct, then the accompanying figure is reversed,
and it is to be considered the base of the stem of
Calamites cannaeformis.

From these remarks, one useful conclusion may
be drawn ; namely, that the position of the tuber-
cles upon the stem of a Calamites, affords the only
certain evidence of base and apex ; the end at
which they are seated, will always be the upper
end. This is confirmatory of Adolphe Brong-
niart's opinion, that those curious rounded ends of
Calamites, with contracted joints, and short wide
ribs, which are frequently met with in collections,
are the bases of stems, and not their upper ends,
as Artis, and others, have imagined.

INDEX TO VOL. I.

'I'lie Svnonymes are printed in Italics.

Aspleniopteris Nilsoni Plate 67. Fig. 2.

Asterophyllites dubia 19. — 1.

foliosa 2. — 1.

galioides 25. — 2.

grandis 17. and 19, Fig. 2.

Ion gi folia 18.

tuberculata 14.

Bechera grandis 19. Fig. 1 .

Bruckmannia longifolia 18.

tuberculata 14.

Calamites, crushed portion of the stem 21.

approximatus 77.

cannaeformis 79.

Mougeotii 22.

interruptus 77.

nodosus 15, and 16.

with roots 78.

phragma of 20.

pseudo-bambusia 79.

s 3

1 N D P X .

Calamites tumidus Plate 15, and 16.

Cardiocarpon acutum 76.

Caulopteris primaeva 42.

Craigleith Fossil Branch 3.

Tree 2.

Cycadites comptus 66.

Cyclopteris Beanii 44.

digitata 64.

Cylindrus lapideus ByerleuSy Sfc 31, to 36.

Cyperites bicarioata 43, Figs. 1 and 2.

Euphorbites vulgaris 54.

Favularia tessellata 73, 74, and 75.

Ficoidites furcatus 31, to 36.

major 31, to 36.

verrucosus 31, to 36.

Filicites acuminatus 51.

linguarius 52.

Glossopteris Phillipsu 63

Lepidodendron acerosum 7.Fig.l,& PlateJ

dichotomum 4.

dilatatura 7. Fig. 2.

gracile • 9.

— imbricatum 12.

obovatura 19. bis.

ornatissimum 6.

selaginoides 12.

Sternbergii 4.

Lepidolepis syringioides 58.

Lepidophyllum intermedium 43. Fig. 3.

lanceolatiim 7. Figs. 3 and 4.

INDEX.

Lepidostrobus ornatus Plate 24.

variabilis 10, and 11.

Lithophyllum opuniicB majoris facie 31, to 36.

Lithosmunda minor^ Sfc. 49.

Lycopodites falcatus .... 61.

Neuropteris acuminata 51.

cordata 41.

— gigantea 52.

ligata 69,

Loshii 49.

recentior 68.

smilacifolia 51.

Soretii 50.

NcEggerathia flabellata • 28, and 29.

Odontopteris obtusa 40,

Osmunda gigantea 52.

Palmacites canaliculatus 67.

incisus 12.

oculatus 59.

sulcatus 57.

variolatus , , . . 73.

verticillatus 27.

Pecopteris adiantoides 37,

crenifolia 60.

heterophylla 38.

ligata 69.

■ longifolia 63.

paucifolia 63.

polypodioides 60.

recentior 68,

J \ I) fx.

Pence VV ithanii Plate 28, and 24.

Phytolithus tessellatus 73

verrucosus 31^ to 3«i.

Pinites Brandlingi 1,

Eggensis 30.

niedullaris 3.

Withami 2.

Pinus montana 12.

sylvestris, 12.

Polyporites Bowmanni 05.

Pteiophyllum comptum 6G.

minus 67, Fig. 1.

Nilsoni 67, — 2.

Rhytidolepis cordata . 57.

ocellata 54,

Schistus variolis depressis, Sfc 31, to 36.

Scitaminearum folium . 62.

Scolopendrium solitarium 62.

Sigillaria alternans 56.

eaten ulata 58.

monostachya 72.

oculata 59.

organum 70.

pachy derma 54, and 65.

reniformis 57, and 71.

tessellata 73.

Sphenophyllum erosum 13.

. Schlotheimii 27.

Sphenopteris affinis 45,

bifida 53.

INDEX.

Sphenopteris crenata IMate 39.

crithmifolia 46.

dilatata 47.

Stigmaria ficoides 31, to 30.

Syringodendron alternans 56.

complanatum 59.

organum 70.

pulchellum 57.

TcBTiiopteris vittata 62.

Tithymalus cyparissias 12.

Ulodendron niajus 5.

minus 6.

Variolaria ficoides 31, to 36.

Volkmannia polystachia 15, and 16.

Wideopen Fossil Tree 1.

1 illing, IM Inter, C:heiscM.

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