262 Mr. E. W. Binney on Fossil Calamites m 



yards, ft. in. 

 Depth from the surface .... 10 

 Coal which burns to a white ash .10 6 



Interval 800 



Coal (Wigan yard coal) .... 2 6 



Interval 16 



Coal 026 



Interval . 24< 



Coal (Wigan four-feet coal) ... 1 1 



Interval 32 



Coal (Wigan seven- feet coal) ..210 

 The interval of eight yards is in my opinion the deposit in 

 which the fossil trees were met with. 



In a distance of about fifty yards of the cutting, on my first 

 visit to the place, I observed full thirty upright stems of Sigil- 

 lariae, besides several flattened ones lying in a horizontal posi- 

 tion. These trees exhibited no evidence of their former struc- 

 ture, being mere casts, having their insides filled with a similar 

 material to the matrix in which they were found imbedded. 

 Their outsides consisted of a coating of bright coal of about a 

 quarter of an inch in thickness, and were ribbed and formed 

 as Sigillariae usually are. In diameter they varied from one 

 to three feet : their heights ranged from two to twelve feet; 

 but, with one exception of a stem with another lying directly 

 across it, none of them could be traced to their termination 

 upwards. Some of them rested with their stems on the top of 

 the lower seam of coal ; others had their roots midway between 

 the two seams ; and others again were found just under and 

 in the floor of the upper seam. Most of the trees, which on 

 exposure retained their coaly envelope, presented the irregu- 

 larly ribbed and furrowed appearance which the Dixon Fold 

 and St. Helen's trees exhibited, and which some geologists 

 contend are not sufficient to identify them with Sigillariae; 

 but six specimens were decorticated, and showed well-defined 

 scars and all the other characters of Sigillaria rcniforinis, 

 alternans and organum. All the uprigJd trees had roots of' 

 Stigmarice "doith their rootlets traversing the silty clay in all 

 directions. 



Many stems of Calamites were found standing erect amongst 

 the last-described trees, some of which were traced four and 

 five feet in height without reaching their tops. These stems 

 varied in diameter from one to five inches : they showed no 

 structure internally, being mere casts filled with silty clay and 

 having a coaly envelope of about one-sixth of an inch in thick- 

 ness, which on being removed exposed the ribbed character 



