when coal was formed must be very limited, when we reflect how
seldom the fructification of coniferous trees has been met with
in the coal-measures. A very doubtful fragment, supposed to be a
cone, is given in Lindley and Hutton's work, under the title of
Pinus anthracina; but it is believed by Carruthers to be a fragment
of a Lepidodendroid branch. Lyell never saw a fossil fir-cone of
the Carboniferous epoch, either in the rocks or museums of North
America or Europe. Bunbury never heard of any other example than
that noticed by Lindley and Hutton. Principal Dawson is disposed
to think that the suberin of cork, of epidermis in general, and of
spore-cases in particular, is a substance so rich in carbon that
it is very near to coal, and so indestructible and impermeable to
water, that it contributes more largely than anything else to the
mineral. Sir Charles Lyell remarks--"To prevent ourselves, therefore,
from hazarding false generalisations, we must ever bear in mind the
extreme scantiness of our present information respecting the flora
of that peculiar class of stations to which, in the Palæozoic era,
the coal-measures probably belonged. I have stated elsewhere my
conviction that the plants which produced coal were not drifted from
a distance, but nearly all of them grew on the spot where they became
fossil. They constituted the vegetation of low regions, chiefly the
deltas of large rivers, slightly elevated above the level of the sea,
and liable to be submerged beneath the waters of an estuary or sea
by the subsidence of the ground to the amount of a few feet. That
the areas where the carboniferous deposits accumulated were low,
is proved not only by the occasional association of marine remains,
but by the enormous thickness of strata of shale and sandstone to
which the seams of coal are subordinate. The coal-measures are often
thousands of feet, and sometimes two or three miles, in vertical
thickness, and they imply that for an indefinite number of ages a
great body of water flowed continuously in one direction, carrying
down towards a given area the detritus of a large hydrographical
basin, draining some large islands or continents, on the margins of
which the forests of the coal period grew. If this view be correct,
we can know little or nothing of the upland flora of the same era,
still less of the contemporaneous plants of the mountainous or alpine
regions. If so, this fact may go far to account for the apparent
monotony of the vegetation, although its uniform character may
doubtless be in part owing to a greater uniformity of climate then
prevailing throughout the globe. Mr. Bunbury has successfully pointed
out that the peculiarity of the carboniferous climate consisted
more in the humidity of the atmosphere and the absence of cold, or
rather the equable temperature preserved in the different seasons of
the year, than in its tropical heat; but we must still presume that
colder climates existed at higher elevations above the sea."
The plants of the coal-measures are evidently terrestrial plants.
Brongniart agrees with Lyell in thinking that the layers of coal have
in general accumulated in the situation where the plants forming
them grew. The remains of these plants covered the soil in the same
way as layers of peat, or the vegetable mould of great forests. In a
few instances, however, the plants may have been transported from a
distance, and drifted into basins. Phillips is disposed to think that
this was the general mode of formation of coal-basins. He is led to
this conclusion by observing the fragmentary state of the stems and
branches, the general absence of roots, and the scattered condition
of all the separable organs. Those who support the drift theory, look
on the coal plants as having been swept from the land on which they
grew by watery currents at different times, and deposited in basins
and large sea-estuaries, and sometimes in lakes. The snags in the
Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and other large rivers, are given as
instances of a similar drifting process.
The vegetation of the coal epoch seems to resemble most that of
islands in the midst of vast oceans, and the prevalence of ferns
indicates a climate similar to that of New Zealand in the present
day. In speaking of the island vegetation of the coal epoch,
Professor Ansted remarks (Ancient World, p. 88)--"The whole of the
interior of the islands may have been clothed with thick forests,
the dark verdure of which would only be interrupted by the bright
green of the swamps in the hollows, or the brown tint of the ferns
covering some districts near the coasts. The forests may have been
formed by a mixture of several different trees. We would see then,
for instance, the lofty and widely-spreading Lepidodendron, its
delicate feathery fronds clothing, in rich luxuriance, branches
and stems, which are built up, like the trunk of the tree-fern, by
successive leafstalks that have one after another dropped away,
giving by their decay additional height to the stem, which might at
length be mistaken for that of a gigantic pine. There also should we
find the Sigillaria, its tapering and elegant form sustained on a
large and firm basis--enormous matted roots, almost as large as the
trunk itself, being given off in every direction, and shooting out
their fibres far into the sand and clay in search of moisture. The
stem of this tree would appear like a fluted column, rising simply
and gracefully without branches to a great height, and then spreading
out a magnificent head of leaves like a noble palm-tree. Other trees,
more or less resembling palms, and others like existing firs, also
abounded, giving a richness and variety to the scene; while one
gigantic species, strikingly resembling the Norfolk Island pine,
might be seen towering a hundred feet or more above the rest of the
forest, and exhibiting tier after tier of branches richly clothed
with its peculiar pointed spear-like leaves, the branches gradually
diminishing in size as they approach the apex of a lofty pyramid of
vegetation. Tree-ferns also in abundance might there be recognised,
occupying a prominent place in the physiognomy of vegetation,
and dotted at intervals over the distant plains and valleys, the
intermediate spaces being clothed with low vegetation of more humble
plants of the same kind. These we may imagine exhibiting their rich
crests of numerous fronds, each many feet in length, and produced
in such quantity as to rival even the palm-trees in beauty. Besides
all these, other lofty trees of that day, whose stems and branches
are now called Calamites, existed chiefly in the midst of swamps,
and bore their singular branches and leaves aloft with strange and
monotonous uniformity. All these trees, and many others that might
be associated with them, were, perhaps, girt round with innumerable
creepers and parasitic plants, climbing to the topmost branches of
the most lofty amongst them, and relieving, in some measure, the dark
and gloomy character of the great masses of vegetation."
Hugh Miller remarks--"The sculpturesque character of the nobly-fluted
Sigillarias was shared by not a few of its contemporaries.
Ulodendrons, with their rectilinear rows of circular scars, and
their stems covered with leaf-like carvings, rivalled in effect the
ornately relieved torus of a Corinthian column. Favularia, Halonia,
many of the Calamites, and all the Lepidodendrons, exhibited the most
delicate sculpturing. In walking among the ruins of this ancient
flora, the palæontologist almost feels as if he had got among the
broken fragments of Italian palaces erected long years ago, when
the architecture of Rome was most ornate, and every moulding was
roughened with ornament; and in attempting to call up in fancy the
old Carboniferous forests, he has to dwell on this peculiar feature
as one of the most prominent; and to see in the multitude of trunks
darkened above by clouds of foliage that rise upon him in the
prospect, the slender columns of an older Alhambra, roughened with
arabesque tracery and exquisite filigree work."
_FLORA OF THE PERMIAN EPOCH._
[Illustration: Fig. 55-56.]
[Sidenote: Figs. 55 and 56. _Walchia piniformis_, Sternb., a common
species in the Permian rocks of Europe. Fig. 55. Plant with leaves
and fructification. Fig. 56. Fructification, natural size.]
The nature of the vegetation during the Permian period, which is
associated with the Carboniferous, under the reign of Acrogens, has
been extensively illustrated by Goeppert. Brongniart has enumerated
the fossils in three different localities, which he refers doubtfully
to this period. 1. The flora of the bituminous slates of Thuringia,
composed of Algæ, Ferns, and Coniferæ. 2. Flora of the Permian
sandstones of Russia, comprehending Ferns, Equisetaceæ, Lycopodiaceæ,
and Noeggerathiæ. 3. Flora of the slaty schists of Lodève, composed
of Ferns, Asterophyllites, and Coniferæ. The genera of Ferns here met
with are those found in the Carboniferous epoch; the Gymnosperms are
chiefly species of Walchia and Noeggerathia (the latter is supposed
by Schimper to be a Cycad); Lepidodendron elongatum, Calamites gigas,
and Annularia floribunda, are also species of this period. Walchia
is a conifer characteristic of the Permian epoch, of which there are
eight species described (Figs. 55 and 56). It has a single seed to
each scale of the cone, and two kinds of leaves, the one short and
imbricated, the other long and spreading. Among the plants of the
Permian formation Goeppert enumerates the following:[17]--Equisetites
contractus, Calamites Suckowi, C. leioderma, Asterophyllites
equisetiformis, A. elatior, Huttonia truncata, H. equisetiformis,
many species of Psaronius, one of the filicoid plants,
Hymenophyllites complanatus, Sphenopteris crassinervia, Sagenopteris
tæniæfolia, Neuropteris imbricata, and many other species of these
genera; several species of Odontopteris, Callipteris, Cyclopteris,
Dioonopteris, Cyatheites, Alethopteris, Noeggerathia, Cordaites,
Anthodiopsis, Dictyothalamus, Calamodendron, Arthropitys; besides
species of Sigillaria, Stigmaria, and Lepidodendron. Various fruits
are also mentioned, under the names of Rhabdocarpum, Cardiocarpum,
Acanthocarpum, Trigonocarpum, and Lepidostrobus.
FOSSIL FLORA OF THE SECONDARY OR MESOZOIC PERIOD.
REIGN OF GYMNOSPERMS.
[Illustration: Fig. 57, Fig. 59.]
[Illustration: Fig. 58, Fig. 60.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 57. _Pinus sylvestris_, Scotch Fir.
Fig. 58. _Abies excelsa_, common Spruce Fir of northern
Europe.
Fig. 59. _Larix Europæa_, the Larch, indigenous on the
Alps of middle Europe.
Fig. 60. _Cedrus Libani_, Cedar of Lebanon.]
The Gymnospermous plants of the present day are included in two
natural orders, Coniferæ and Cycadaceæ. Under Coniferæ are enumerated
the various species of Pine (Fig. 57), Spruce (Fig. 58), Larch
(Fig. 59), Cedar (Fig. 60), Eutassa, Araucaria (Fig. 61), Sequoia,
Cryptomeria, Taxodium, Cypress, Juniper (Fig. 70), Salisburia,
Dacrydium, Yew (Fig. 71), etc.
[Illustration: Fig. 61, Fig. 65.]
[Illustration: Fig. 62-64.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 61. _Araucaria excelsa_, called also _Altingia_ or
_Eutassa_ or _Eutacta excelsa_, Norfolk Island Pine.
Fig. 62. Woody tubes of fir, with single rows of discs.
Fig. 63. Woody tubes of fir, with double rows of discs,
which are opposite to each other.
Fig. 64. Woody tubes of _Araucaria excelsa_, with double
and triple rows of discs, which are alternate.
Fig. 65. Longitudinal section of the stem of a Gymnosperm,
showing tubes of wood marked with punctations in one or more
rows, and a medullary ray composed of cells running across the
pleurenchyma.]
[Illustration: Fig. 66-69.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 66. Linear leaves of _Pinus Strobus_, Weymouth Pine,
in a cluster of five, with scaly sheath at the base.
Fig. 67. Cone of _Pinus sylvestris_, Scotch Fir.
Fig. 68. Cone of _Cupressus sempervirens_, common Cypress.
Fig. 69. Scale, _s_, of mature cone of _Pinus sylvestris_,
with two naked winged seeds, _m m_, at its base; _ch_ marks the
chalaza, _m_ the micropyle.]
The Coniferæ of the present day are distinguished as resinous trees
or shrubs with punctated woody tissue (Figs. 62, 63, 64, 65), linear
acerose or lanceolate parallel-veined leaves, sometimes clustered,
and having a membranous sheath at the base (Fig. 66). Male flowers
in deciduous catkins; female flowers in cones (Figs. 67, 68). The
seeds are considered by most botanists as being naked, _i.e._ not
contained in a true pistil (Fig. 69). Some of the conifers have a
succulent cone, as the juniper (Fig. 70), and the yew (Figs. 71-73)
has a succulent mass covering a single naked seed (Fig. 73). The yew
also has its pleurenchyma marked both with punctations and spiral
fibres. The arrangement of the punctations in the Coniferæ gives
characters which enable us to classify the woods into groups that
have some relation to the genera established from the reproductive
organs (see Figs. 62-65).
[Illustration: Fig. 70-73.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 70. Fruiting branch of _Juniperus communis_, common
Juniper, with linear acerose leaves and succulent cones.
Fig. 71. Branch of _Taxus baccata_, common Yew.
Fig. 72. Male flower of Yew, with bracts at the base.
Fig. 73. Fruit of Yew, consisting of a single naked seed
partially covered by a succulent receptacle.]
The natural order Cycadaceæ is not so largely represented at the
present day as it was during the Mesozoic epoch. Among the genera of
the present day are Cycas (Fig. 74), Zamia, Macrozamia, Encephalartos
(Fig. 75), Dion, Stangeria, etc. They are small palm-like trees or
shrubs, with unbranched stems, occasionally dichotomous, marked
with leaf-scars, and having large medullary rays along with pitted
woody tissue. The leaves are pinnate, except in Bowenia, which has a
bipinnate leaf. Males in cones. Females consisting of naked ovules
on the edges of altered leaves, or on the inferior surface of the
peltate apex of scales.[18]
_FLORA OF THE TRIAS AND LIAS EPOCHS._
[Illustration: Fig. 74-75.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 74. _Cycas revoluta_, one of the false Sago-plants
found in Japan.
Fig. 75. _Encephalartos (Zamia) pungens_, another
starch-yielding Cycad.]
In this reign the Acrogenous species are less numerous; the
Gymnosperms almost equal them in number, and ordinarily surpass them
in frequency. There are two periods in this reign, one in which
Coniferæ predominate, while Cycadaceæ scarcely appear; and another
in which the latter family preponderates as regards the number of
species, and the frequency and variety of generic forms. Cycadaceæ
occupied a more important place in the ancient than in the present
vegetable world. They extend more or less from the Trias formation up
to the Tertiary. They are rare in the Grès bigarré or lower strata
of the Triassic system. They attain their maximum in the Lias and
Oolite, in each of which upwards of 40 species have been enumerated,
and they disappear in the Tertiary formations. Schimper describes
13 genera of fossil Zamiæ, and about 20 Cycadeæ. He thinks that
Trigonocarpum (15 species), Rhabdocarpum (24 species), Cardiocarpum
(21 species), and Carpolithes (9 species), are all fruits of
Cycadeæ. Many supposed fossil Cycads are looked upon by Carruthers
as Coniferæ. Zamia macrocephala, or Zamites macrocephalus, or
Zamiostrobus macrocephalus, is called by him Pinites macrocephalus;
Zamia ovata, or Zamites ovatus, or Zamiostrobus ovatus, is Pinites
ovatus; Zamia Sussexiensis is Pinites Sussexiensis. Among other
species of Pinites noticed by Carruthers are Pinites oblongus,
P. Benstedi, P. Dunkeri, P. Mantellii, P. patens, P. Fittoni, P.
elongatus. It is important to notice that in an existing Cycad called
Stangeria paradoxa the veins of the pinnæ rise from a true midrib
and fork, characters which render untenable the distinction usually
relied upon between the foliage of Ferns and Cycads.
[Illustration: Fig. 76.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 76. _Schizoneura heterophylla_, one of the fossil
Coniferæ of the Triassic system.]
In Brongniart's Vosgesian period, the Grès bigarré, or the Red
Sandstones and Conglomerates of the Triassic system, there is a
change in the flora. Sigillarias and Lepidodendrons disappear, and
in their place we meet with Gymnosperms, belonging to the genera
Voltzia, Haidingera, Zamites, Ctenis, Æthophyllum, and Schizoneura
(Fig. 76). The genus Voltzia is confined to the Trias, and though a
true conifer, it is not easy to correlate it with any living form. It
is apparently Abietineous, having two seeds to each scale, but they
are placed on the dilated upper portion of the scale. The leaves are
of two kinds, the one broad and short, and the other at the tops of
the branches long and linear. Species of Neuropteris, Pecopteris,
and other acrogenous coal genera are still found, along with species
of Anomopteris and Crematopteris--peculiar Fern-forms, which are
not found in later formations. Stems of arborescent Ferns are more
frequent than in the next period.
[Illustration: Fig. 77.]
The Jurassic period of Brongniart embraces the Keupric period or
variegated marls of the Triassic system, the Liassic epoch, the
Oolitic and the Wealden. The flora of the Keupric epoch differs from
that of the Grès bigarré of the Vosges. The Acrogens are changed as
regards species, and frequently in their genera. Thus we have the
genera Camptopteris, Sagenopteris, and Equisetum. Among Gymnosperms,
the genera Pterophyllum and Taxodites occur.
[Illustration: Fig. 78-79.]
[Sidenote: Figs. 77 to 81. Cycadaceæ of the Jurassic epoch of
Brongniart, and of the Oolite. Fig. 77. Zamites, one of the fossil
Cycadaceæ. Fig. 78. _Pterophyllum Pleiningerii_, leaf of a fossil
Cycad. Fig. 79. _Nilssonia compta_ (_Pterophyllum comptum_ of
Lindley and Hutton), from the Oolite of Scarborough. Lower part of
the pinnatifid leaf, with blunt almost square divisions. There are
numerous veins, slightly varying in thickness; while in Pterophyllum
there are numerous veins of equal thickness, in Cycadites there is a
solitary vein forming a thick midrib. Fig. 80. _Palæozamia pectinata_
(_Zamia pectinata_ of Brongniart, and Lindley and Hutton), a pinnated
leaf, with a slender rachis. The pinnæ are linear, somewhat obtuse,
with slender equal ribs. It is found in the Oolite of Stonesfield
(Lindley and Hutton).]
[Illustration: Fig. 80.]
In the Lias the essential characters of the flora are the
predominance of Cycadaceæ, in the form of species of Cycadites,
Otozamites, Zamites (Fig. 77), Ctenis, Pterophyllum (Fig. 78),
and Nilssonia (Fig. 79), Palæozamia (Fig. 80), and the existence
among the Ferns of many genera with reticulated venation, such as
Camptopteris and Thaumatopteris, some of which began to appear at
the Keupric epoch. Coniferous genera, as Brachyphyllum (Fig. 81),
Taxodites, Palissya, and Peuce, are found. In the Lias near Cromarty,
Miller states that he found a cone with long bracts like those of
Pinus bracteata.
_FLORA OF THE OOLITIC EPOCH._
In the Oolitic epoch the flora consists of numerous Cycadaceæ and
Coniferæ, some of them having peculiar forms. Its distinctive
characters are, the rarity of Ferns with reticulated venation,
which are so numerous in the Lias, the frequency of the Cycadaceous
genera Otozamites and Zamites, which are most analogous to those
now existing; the occurrence of a remarkable group presenting very
anomalous structure in their organs of reproduction, to which
Carruthers has given the name of Williamsonia; and the diminution
of Ctenis, Pterophyllum, Palæozamia, and Nilssonia, genera far
removed from the living kinds; and lastly, the greater frequency
of the coniferous genera, Brachyphyllum and Thuites, which are
much more rare in the Lias. In the Scottish Oolite at Helmsdale,
Miller detected about 60 species of plants, including Cycadaceæ
and Coniferæ, with detached cones, and Fern-forms resembling
Scolopendrium. He also discovered a species of Equisetum, and what he
supposed to be a Calamite.
[Illustration: Fig. 81-82.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 81. _Brachyphyllum mammillare_, a Coniferous plant of
the Oolitic system, Yorkshire.
Fig. 82. _Equisetum columnare_, a fossil species of the
Oolite of Yorkshire.]
[Illustration: Fig. 83-85.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 83. _Araucarites sphærocarpus_, Carr., found in the
inferior Oolite at Bruton, Somersetshire.
Fig. 84. Termination of a scale of _Araucarites
sphærocarpus_, Carr.
Fig. 85. Section of a scale of _Araucarites sphærocarpus_,
Carr., showing the size and position of the seed.]
[Illustration: Fig. 86-87.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 86. The _Dirt-bed_ of the Island of Portland,
containing stumps of fossil Cycadaceæ in an erect position.
Fig. 87. _Cycadoidea megalophylla_ (_Mantellia nidiformis_
of Brongniart), a subglobose depressed trunk, with a concave apex,
and with the remains of the petioles disposed in a spiral manner, the
markings being transversely elliptical. It is found in the Oolite of
the Island of Portland, in a silicified state.]
There is an absence of true coal-fields in the secondary formations
generally; but in some of the Oolitic series, as in the lower Oolite
at Brora, in Sutherlandshire, and in the north-east of Yorkshire,
and the Kimmeridge clay of the upper Oolite, near Weymouth, there
are considerable deposits of carbonaceous matter, sometimes forming
seams of coal which have been worked for economic purposes.[19] Some
suppose that the Brora coal was formed chiefly by Equisetum columnare
(Fig. 82). In the sandstones and shales of the Oolitic series,
especially in the lower Oolite of the north of England, as at Whitby
and Scarborough, as well as in Stonesfield slate, the Portland Crag
of the middle, and the Portland beds of the upper Oolite, numerous
fossil plants are found. Peuce Lindleyana is one of the Coniferæ
of the lower Oolite. Beania (Plate II. Fig. 2) is a Cycadaceous
fossil from the Oolite of Yorkshire (Carruthers, Geol. Mag. vi. 91).
Araucarites sphærocarpus (Figs. 83, 84, 85) is found in the inferior
Oolite, and separate scales of Araucarian fruits occur in the Oolitic
shales of Yorkshire (Araucarites Phillipsii, Plate II. Fig. 11), and
in the "slate" at Stonesfield (A. Brodiei, Plate II. Fig. 10). The
upper Oolite at Portland contains an interesting bed, about a foot in
thickness, of a dark brown substance. This is the _Dirt-bed_ (Fig.
86) made up of black loam, which, during the Purbeck period, formed
a surface soil which was penetrated by the roots of trees, fragments
of whose stems are now found in it fossilised. These consist of
an assemblage of silicified stumps or stools of large trees, from
1-3 feet high, standing in their original position, with the roots
remaining attached to them, and still penetrating the earth in which
they grew. Besides the erect trunks many stems have been broken and
thrown down, and are buried in a horizontal position in the bed.
They belong to Coniferæ and Cycadaceæ. One of these is Mantellia
nidiformis, shown in Fig. 87. Carpolithes conicus and C. Bucklandi
are fruits found in the Oolite. Some look upon them as fruits of
palms.
[Illustration: Fig. 88-89.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 88. _Kaidacarpum ooliticum_, Carr., fruit of a fossil
allied to Pandanaceæ, from the great Oolite near Northampton.
Fig. 89. _Pandanus odoratissimus_, Screw-pine, with
adventitious roots.]
Several species of Pandanaceous fruits have been found in Oolitic
strata. Buckland described one of them as Podocarya, which is
remarkable, as it consists of a single but many-seeded drupe. To
another form, more nearly allied to the existing plants, Carruthers
has given the name Kaidacarpum, and has described three species.
These fruits are made up of a large number of single-seeded drupes.
The species figured (Fig. 88) is from the great Oolite, near
Northampton. In Fig. 89 a representation is given of one of the
Pandanaceæ, the screw-pines of the present day.
_FLORA OF THE WEALDEN EPOCH._
[Illustration: Fig. 90.]
[Sidenote: Fig. 90. Fossil Wood, _Abietites Linkii_. A Coniferous
plant from the Wealden, showing punctated woody tissue and medullary
rays.]
The flora of the Wealden epoch is characterised in the south of
England by the abundance of the fern called Lonchopteris Mantellii,
and in Germany by the predominance of the Conifer denominated
Abietites Linkii (Fig. 90), and the presence of Araucarites
Pippingfordensis, as well as by numerous Cycadaceæ, such as species
of Cycadites, Zamites, Pterophyllum, Mantellia, Bucklandia, and a
remarkable genus having a fleshy fruit, and related to the ordinary
Cycadaceæ as Taxus is to the other Coniferæ, which has been fully
described in the Linn. Trans., under the name of Bennettites (Plate
II. Fig. 3). In the Wealden at Brook Point, Isle of Wight, Cycads
have been detected allied to Encephalartos. The fruits of them are
described by Carruthers as Cycadeostrobus. He describes the following
species:--Cycadeostrobus ovatus (Plate II. Fig. 1), C. truncatus, C.
tumidus, C. elegans, C. Walkeri, C. sphæricus, in the Oxford clay of
Wiltshire; C. primævus in the inferior Oolite at Burcott Wood and
Livingston, and C. Brunonis. Mantell states that he has found 40 or
50 fossil cones in the Wealden of England; they belong either to the
genus Cycadeostrobus or to the pines mentioned below as occurring in
the Wealden. The Wealden fresh-water formation terminates the reign
of Gymnosperms. Carruthers gives the following list of the remains of
Coniferæ which have been found in the secondary strata of Britain,
excluding the Trias:--
Upper Chalk.--Wood in flint nodules.
Upper Greensand.--Foliage and cone of Sequoiites Woodwardii; cone
of Pinites oblongus.
Gault.--Cones of Pinites gracilis and P. hexagonus, Sequoiites
Gardneri and S. ovalis.
Lower Greensand.--Water-worn and bored pieces of wood; cones of
Pinites Benstedi, P. Sussexiensis, and P. Leckenbyi.
Wealden.--Driftwood, foliage of Abietites Linkii; cones of
Pinites Dunkeri, P. Mantellii, P. patens, and P. Fittoni, and
of Araucaria Pippingfordensis; foliage (and drupes?) of Thuites
Kurrianus.
Purbeck.--Fossil forest _in situ_ at Isle of Portland; cone
"nearly related to Araucaria excelsa" in the Dirt-bed.
Portland Stone.--Driftwood Araucarites.
Kimmeridge Clay.--Cone of Pinites depressus.
Oxford Clay.--Driftwood and foliage of Araucarites.
Great Oolite.--Driftwood of Araucarites; foliage of Thuites
acutifolius, T. articulatus, T. cupressiformis, T. divaricatus,
and T. expansus, and of Taxites podocarpoides; detached cones at
Helmsdale, Sutherland.