and a Caryolke from Nova Scotia, 111 



5. In connection with the absence of the usual remains of wood 

 as mineral charcoal from this trunk, it may be stated that the 

 bast-like tissue of the inner bark of SigUlarice is abundant in 

 some of the coal of the Joggins ; whilst the discigerous tissue* 

 is prevalent in the great Pictou coal-seam. In the former case 

 the decomposition of the vegetable matter was probably sub- 

 aerial, or like that of a forest-soil ; whilst the conditions of the 

 latter were those of peaty bogs. 



Carpolite from the Coal-Formation of Cape Breton. 



All the best authorities on coal-plants are disposed to refer 

 the seeds or fruits known by the generic names Trigonocarpum 

 and Rhabdocarpus to phaenogams, and probably to gymnosperms. 

 In this case they may have belonged to Coniferce or Sigillarioe, or 

 to both. That they belonged in great part to the latter is, I think, 

 rendered probable by their occurrence very abundantly in the mid- 

 dle part of the coal-measures where SigUlarice abound, by their 

 various forms corresponding rather to the many species of /S^i^iZfoWoE 

 than to thefew of Conifers, and by their abundant occurrence in the 

 interior of hollow stumps of Sigillarios and in the surrounding 

 beds. Still these fruits or seeds may have belonged to very dif 

 ferent plants ; and as an example of the type of structure most 

 frequently associated with SigUlarice^ I have prepared a short 

 notice of a species of which very well-preserved specimens exist 

 in my collection, and to which I have assigned the name of 



Trigonocarpum Hookeri. 



Numerous specimens of this species occur in a thin calcareous 

 layer in the coal-measures near Port Hood, Cape Breton. They 

 are not compressed, and are fossilized by calc-spar and iron- 

 pyrites. Their form is ovate, — the length being 0-3 inch, and 

 the breadth 0*2 inch. The external surface is rough and destitute 

 of distinct markings. Internally they present the following struc- 

 tures : — 1. An outer coat (^to), which is thick, carbonaceous, 

 and apparently of a dense cellular structure. This corresponds 

 to the outer supposed " fleshy coat" of Lindley and Ilooker ; but 

 in this species I think it must have been firm and hard, like the 

 outer coat of the seeds of pines, which it much resembles in ap- 

 pearance and structure. 2. An inner coat (tegmen or emhryo-sac) 



* Ibid. vol. xii. p. 631. 



