of the Fossil Plants of the genus Sigillaria, 5 



They are extremely al)undatit in the great coal-formations of the British 

 Islands, and are found in similar, and probably contemporaneous depo- 

 sits on the Continent, and in Nortli America. 



In some instances they appear to have attained a considerable size : 

 M. Adolphe Brongniart mentions a specimen discovered in one of the 

 coal-mines of Kunzwert, near Essen, in Westphalia, measuring forty 

 feet in length, while others do not appear to have exceeded ten feet in 

 an advanced stage of their growth. 



The genus Sigillaria may be readily distinguished by the stems of its 

 various species being externally marked with a number of longitudinal 

 furrows, and by each of the raised spaces or ribs between the furrows 

 having a single row of scars, in some cases nearly in contact, and in 

 others considerably apart. 



Various opinions have been entertained respecting the situation of 

 Sigillaria in the vegetable kingdom. Schlotheim supposed it to be allied 

 to the palms ; Von Martins to the Cactuses and the Euphorbias ; Brong- 

 niart to the Tree Ferns ; while Lindley and Hutton, as stated in the 

 *' Fossil Flora," appear inclined to agree with Von Martius, but do not 

 give any decided opinion on the matter. A few years have now elapsed 

 since these opinions were advanced. The late discovery, however, of a 

 silicified specimen of this plant, exhibiting its constituent tissues in a 

 nearly complete state, has induced Brongniart, the only author who has 

 since written on the subject, entirely to change his opinion. The import- 

 ance of this discovery will, it is hoped, be deemed a sufficient excuse for 

 the following abstract of the Memoir which that celebrated botanist has 

 published on this specimen.* 



In the neighbourhood of Autun in France, occur the remains of va- 

 rious vegetable fossils, such as Psaronius, Mcdullosa, Colpoxylon, and Co- 

 nifcrae, beautifully silicified, and displaying the nature of their respective 

 tissues. In addition to these, a small fragment of another fossil in the 

 same condition has been found and presented to the Museum of Paris ; 

 it is externally marked with certain characters which identify it with 



sellatus, and F. notatus of Steinhauer (1818) ; Palmacites of Schlotheim (1820) ; 

 Alveolaria (1820, as a division of Lepidodendron, and in 1826 changed to Favti- 

 laria) ; SyringodenAron (IS'iO), and Rhytidolepis (1822) of Sternberg ; Cactites and 

 JFttpAorfcifes of Von Martius (1821); Sigillaria and Clathraria {X) of Brongniart 

 (1822). The generic name Syringodendron, established by Sternberg, from decor- 

 ticated and demicorticated (?) specimens, is undoubtedly the one which, in justice 

 to its author, ought to be given to this fo3sil ; but fx'om the general currency of 

 Brongniart's name Sigillaria, there appears little chance of the latter supersed- 

 ing the former. 



* " Observations sur la structure interieure du Sigillaria elegans, compar^e k 

 celle de Lepidodendron, et de Stigmaria, et ^ celle des vegetaux vivants." — 

 Archives du Museum d^Histoire NatureU^, torn. i. 



