68 Contributions towards Establishing the General Character 



However, the idea occurred to me to examine the rock which the work- 

 men had removed, especially those portions which had been in imme- 

 diate contact with the fossil : this immediately led to the discovery of 

 the cuticle adhering to those portions, in the condition of a rotten car- 

 bonaceous layer, which, on being removed, shewed the wrinkles and 

 scars of Stigmaria. Nor was this all ; the appendages were seen to be 

 attached to wherever the scars were visible, and to penetrate the rock 

 in regular directions. Thus, the evidences as to the fossil being a Stig- 

 maria were conclusive ; and it may be added, that the running out of 

 its branches, in the manner of wide- spreading roots, was placed beyond 

 dispute. 



The well-known appendages, so often seen attached to the branches 

 of Stigmaria, have, in general, been looked upon as leaves. They are 

 nearly always flattened ; occasionally, however, they are observed to 

 be round, or, rather, vermicular — thus reminding one of the fibrils of the 

 yellow water lily {Nuphar lutea) ; and there is little doubt, from the 

 form of the scars which they leave when detached, that they were of this 

 form originally. A beautiful and instructive example, shewing the ap- 

 pendages completely vermicular, has been figured by Sternberg.* 



Steinhauer says, he found traces of these appendages proceeding from 

 a branch " in every direction, to the distance of 20 feet," — a statement 

 •which Lindley and Hutton think has originated through some error of 

 observation, since they have never been able to trace them to a distance 

 of more than 3 feet ; but, it would appear, from the researches of Mr 

 Logan, in the coal-mines of South Wales, that the length which Stein- 

 hauer gives to the appendages is not at all exaggerated, — the former 

 having " traced them in a vertical direction, 7 or 8 feet from the stem, 

 and more than 20 feet horizontally." f Up to the present time, I have 

 never seen them exceed 18 inches. 



Artis in his " Antediluvian Phytology," represents the appendages as 

 forked.J I cannot say whether this character has been observed by 

 any other observer. Once I saw an appearance of the kind ; but still I 

 cannot urge it with any degree of confidence. 



One of the most important circumstances connected with the append- 

 ages, is the regular manner in which they are arranged around the 

 branch to which they are attached. Steinhauer appeals to this circum- 

 stance as a proof that Stigmaria was a root which grew at the bottom of 

 fresh water lakes, and which " shot out its fibres in every direction 

 through the then yielding mud."§ The following extract from the 

 " Fossil Flora" is to the same effect : — " The leaves also, which thickly 

 surrounded the arms, could not, under any circumstances, even sup- 



♦ « Flore du Monde Primitif," Parts 5 and 6, Tab. xv., fig. 4. 

 t Buckland's Anniversary Address to the Geological Society, delivered in 

 1841, page 34. 

 X Plate III. 

 § " Transactions of the American Philosophical Society," N. S., Vol, i., p273. 



