264 



Mr. E. W. Binney on Fossil Calamites in 



erect position, with the exception of a slight bend in its upper 

 part, as shown in the drawing. It was almost cylindrical, and 

 measured twenty-one inches from the base to its highest part, 

 which was exposed. Its greatest diameter, which occurred 

 near the top, was one and a half inches ; it then tapered 

 slightly towards the bottom, and terminated in a club-shaped 

 end. The exterior was covered with a coating of fine coal of 

 about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, which on being re- 

 moved exposed the usual ribs, furrows and joints, character- 

 istic of Calamites. The interior showed no trace of structure, 

 being composed of the same kind of silty clay as the matrix 

 in which the fossil was found. 



The following is a sketch of No. 1 as it appeared in the cut- 

 ting, one-eighth the natural size of the fossil. The upper 

 part had been removed before we saw the specimen. 



Fi'^ 2. 



I'he joints or nodi were 

 ten in number, and occur- 

 red at irregular distances, 

 but nearer together at the 

 upper and lower extremi- 

 ties than in the middle of 

 the fossil. 



At the joints small cir- 

 cular depressions were seen, 

 from which proceeded root- 

 lets. These could be traced 

 from eight to eleven inches 

 in length without reaching 

 their terminations. They 

 went down into the silty 

 clay, the higher ones ma- 

 king an angle of about 15° 

 with the horizon ; but the 

 angle gradually increased 

 as they went lower, until 

 they at last described an 

 angle of about 45°. 



The rootlets appeared to have been originally cylindrical 

 and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter; but they were 

 now compressed, and their outsides covered with a thin coat- 

 ing of carbonaceous matter. On a careful removal of the 

 outside a delicate longitudinal stria could be perceived on the 

 rootlets; there also appeared something like a pith in their 

 middle. 



Altogether the rootlets could not be well distinguished from 

 those of Stigmaria. They also appeared to come from the 



