28 PENHALLOW AND DAWSON 



microscopes as were theu available, I concluded that these strange plants were altogether 

 dissimilar from the Lepidodendra, Sigillariae and similar trees of the Carboniferous, and 

 the only plants which seemed to me at all similar were those " prototypal gymuosperms" 

 which Unger had discovered in the Devonian of Thuringia, and had named Aporoxylon, ' 

 and which, with several other strange and mysterious plants of these old rocks, he had 

 then recently described. 



I was also struck with the resemblance of the tissue to that of certain Taxine woods 

 when in a state of great disintegration. The wood of Taxus has remarkably long, cylin- 

 drical, and often somewhat tortuous fibres, and these are so loosely attached to each other 

 that they appear almost round in cross-section, and they readily separate in decay. This 

 property of the Yews gives them that remarkable toughness which commended itself to 

 our ancestors for their bows, and the same pecirliarity causes many of the fossil woods 

 which have been referred to the genus Taxites, to present a very loose a]3pearauce, while 

 when the outer walls of the cells are decayed, the inner lining seems quite cylindrical 

 and crossed with minute fibres. This resemblance caused me to propose for the new plant 

 the name Protofaxiles, a name, perhaps, somewhat iiufortunate, for though in my descrip- 

 tions, I disclaimed any intention to suggest a close alfinity to coniferous trees, botanists 

 have persisted in inferring that I regarded this wood as coniferous and allied to Taxus. 



A preliminary notice of the plant was communicated to the American Association at 

 its meeting in Springfield, in 1856 ; but its more detailed description was prepared at a 

 later date. 



I have always endeavoured, in describing fossil plants, to visit the localities where 

 they can be studied in situ, and to examine carefully their mode of occurrence and asso- 

 ciations. For this reason, in 1858, I spent a week in Graspé Bay, with the special object 

 of collecting and studying this and other fossil plants. I had the the advantage of Sir 

 W. E. Logan's notes on the various coast sections, on which he had indicated the several 

 places where plants had been found. I revisited G-aspé with the same objects and spent 

 a longer time there in the summer of 1869, assisted by Dr. Gr. M. Dawson and Prof. 

 Kennedy. The results of these visits were, among other things, the discovery of the 

 fructification and habit of growth of Psilophyton, of Lepidodendron Gaspiamim, Arlkrosligma, 

 and other ancient vegetable forms of the Devonian rocks, and the finding of several trunks 

 of Prototaxites at various points on the north shore of Gaspé Bay. At Little Graspé I also 

 found stumps with branching roots apparently rooted in situ in the shales and argillaceous 

 sandstones of the locality. Our researches were also rewarded by finding fish remains of 

 the genera Cephalaspis and Machceracanthus, and several other animal fossils which have 

 been described elsewhere. 



I also ascertained that these remarkable xjlants had probably grown in the clays and 

 sands in which Psilophyton and other j)lants had been rooted, and consequently, that, 

 though jprobably marsh i)lauts, they were not marine. They must have grown on low 

 flats, probably often inundated, though whether this was with salt or fresh water is 

 indicated merely by the negative fact that no properly marine organisms occur in the 

 containing beds. 



It was farther ascertained that the coaly outer bark is a constant accompaniment, and. 



' Palseontolagie des Thuringer Waldes, by Richter and Unger. 



