Scientific Intelligence — Geology. 375 



and decomposition, to which the vegetation of the brown coal-forests 

 was subjected before it was buried between layers of earth, and pro- 

 tected from atmospheric influences, tiie deciduous-leaved trees lost 

 their organic connection sooner than the highly resinous wood of the 

 conifcrsD, and hence fell to pieces, whilst the latter were, for the 

 most part, preserved, — a view, so far as I know, in harmony with 

 the result of experience on the duration of these kinds of wood in 

 similar circumstances. I throw out this, however, only as a con- 

 jecture, which may perhaps be subsequently confirmed by an exa- 

 mination of different brown coal-deposits. 



(2.) The number of species is, on the whole, very small, in compa- 

 rison with the enormous mass of brown coal they have contributed 

 to form, from which we may conclude that the coniferae of the an- 

 cient world had a similar gregarious mode of growth with those that 

 now flourish on the earth. To prove this in certain beds, even for 

 single species, I collect as many specimens of diff'erent trunks or 

 fragments of bituminous wood as are to be found, and then examine 

 them. From this, the predominance of certain species at once ap- 

 pears; and though it may be justly remarked that several fragments 

 of one and the same tree may often occur, still frequent repetition of 

 this somewhat laborious process at last enables us to obtain a result 

 approaching nearly to certainty. 



(3.) The fossil species are remarkably distinct from those of the 

 present coniferous flora of Northern Germany ; few resemble our 

 Pinus abies and Picea, and I have hitherto only found a single spe- 

 cies with the structure of Pinus sylvestris^ or generally of the genus 

 Pinus, as limited by Richard and Link ; the greater part agree 

 with Cupressinea, if we may judge from the smooth bark of the 

 larger stems, the sharply-defined annual rings, the smaller number 

 of cells contained in a medullary ray, although there are exceptions 

 to this rule ; while the predominance, even quantitatively, of the 

 form of Taxus, of which I can well distinguish at least four species, 

 is remarkable. Among them are species of which the wood, formed 

 of cells with thick walls, is denser and more compact than that of 

 the existing Taxus, but also one species of uncommon lightness and 

 with large cells, similar to the wood of the North American Taxus 

 montana, Nutt., or Torreya taxifolia, Arnott. My present, as well 

 as former researches, shew as a whole that a great similarity pre- 

 vails between the flora of the brown coal and the flora of ihe tem- 

 perate zone of the United States of North America. This will 

 appear more decisively when I am able to bring together all the 

 results bearing on this point. 



All the species of Taxus observed in the brown coal differ remark- 

 ably from those now existing in the three or four fold striation of the 

 sides of the cells running at acute angles ; whereas in the latter, a 

 single fibre forms an almost horizontal spiral. In many brown coal- 

 deposits in Silesia, as well as in Prussian Saxony (Nietleben, near 

 Halle Worschen, Gramschiitz, Rossbach, near Weissenfels, Tenditz, 



