April, 1911.] The Ancient Vegetation of Ohio. 321 



testimony to what once existed. Though not reported in the 

 Coal-measures of Ohio, the aggregations and often large masses 

 of resinous bodies, amber, fossil coral, and a multitude of similar 

 substances by their varying quantities show the exact character 

 of the vegetation. With the flora many animals commingled; 

 and where they were most abundant, their fossil remains are 

 found. Little is known of the characteristic plants of the upland 

 vegetation. There are descriptions of about 150 species for Ohio 

 (14, 19, 24, 25), but most of the interesting fossil plants were 

 found in the roof of Coal No. 1, that is in the marshes near the 

 base of the Coal-measures. In Ohio this stratigraphical position 

 is "more than two thousand feet above the base of the series, as 

 revealed in the geosynclinal basin of West Virginia, which was 

 first filled with strata of the Coal-measures and long before any 

 similar formations took place upon the ancient marginal Waverly 

 plateau of Ohio" (1.) 



The flowering plants (Anthophyta) had not yet appeared. 

 Bacteria (22, 23) and other fungi were present, no doubt, in great 

 abundance. Liverworts and Mosses (Bryophyta) were probably 

 in existence but they still held an unimportant place. There 

 were principally ferns (Pteridophyta) which at this time had 

 reached their greatest development and differentiation. Their 

 first appearance is as strange and distinctive among plants as 

 that of the brachiopods among the animals. They were in part 

 more primitive than now and in part more ad^'anced representing 

 transitional types; but they surpassed all other forms in number 

 and persistency of type. There were scouring rushes (Calamo- 

 phyta) of much higher and varied organization and of greater 

 height and diameter than the present forms. The several species 

 of the Sphenophyllales long since extinct, were of tree-like aspect, 

 bearing small wedge-shaped leaves, and sporophylls in cones; 

 most of them are found as undergrowth beneath the shade of 

 giant lycopods. The Equisetales had hollow jointed stems with 

 very small narrow leaves; they are mostly extinct plants of which 

 but one genus, Equisetum, has survived. The Calamariales also 

 long since extinct, grew in dense thickets; they often were of tree- 

 like aspect and dimensions, with narrow distinct leaves in which 

 the stomata were deeply set. The branches and leaves were 

 placed in whorles on jointed hollow stems which arose from 

 underground rhizoms and increased in diameter by the growth of 

 a cambial zone; their wounds were healed by a development of 

 cork. There were the Lycopods (Lepidophyta) the largest of the 

 carboniferous plants, in the form of Lepidodendron and Sigillaria, 

 both with long needle-shaped leaves and stomata in deep furrows 

 on the under side, often protected by a hairy covering; the trees 

 were surface-rooted, the roots spreading out in all directions from 

 the trunk. There were the Cycads (Cycadophyta) , fern-like gymno- 



