30 D. P. PENIIALLOW ON 



2ncl. The coal was originally in the form of a soluble resin, which, while in the fluid 

 state, was brought in contact with surrounding vegetation, which it jiermeated. Subsequent 

 soliditication resulted in its assuming the forms of the tissue elements permeated, and the 

 characteristic features of their structure were impressed upon the resulting filaments as 

 surface markings. 



This hypothesis appears to satisfy all the necessary conditions, although it receives no 

 support from modern examples, since, so far as I am aware, even kauri resin does not occur 

 in such forms. It, nevertheless, not only seems to explain the absence of superficial mark- 

 ings in one case and their presence in another, but it aftbrds an adequate explanation of the 

 variable diameters presented by the coal rods. It also seems to explain the origin and 

 character of the cementing matrix as the residue of plant structure. That this matrix does 

 in all probability consist of the residue of plants easily subjected to decay, at least in i:iavt, 

 has already been shown,' and again appears from our more recent cxaniinations of the 

 Pittsbui-g coal. 



It may be objected that, were such a hypothesis tenable, we should still find bulky 

 [lortious of plants full}- impregnated with resinous matter, and retaining many of their 

 original features of form and size. To this the rejih' maybe made, in the first instance, that 

 the vegetation concerned may have been of the nature of ferns, Ij'copods- and equiseti, 

 which, being relatively small and deficient in hard, vascular structure, decayed rapidly, and 

 were soon lost in the surrounding mass, while, furthermore, the coarse, scalariform structure 

 of such plants is just such as would produce the markings on the coal rods as found. 



In the second place, we find in tlie peculiar aggregation of the rods and their fragment- 

 ary character, as also in the character of the cementing matrix, direct evidence that after the 

 resinous matter had solidified there was a general breaking up of the mass, a redistribution 

 of the material, and its final deposition in practically the same situation — a view which is 

 strongly emphasized both by the often shal}' character of the coal and by the presence of the 

 teeth of fish. Water also served to bring in the sedimentary deposits which formed the 

 overlying strata and effected a solidification of the mass, with fusion of the rods, as we now 

 find it. 



If these two hypotheses are found, upon further examination, to be untenable, then it 

 would seem as if our last resort were to be found in assuming the occurrence of resin- 

 producing vegetation of a character which is not represented by modern plants, and for the 

 solution of this point we can only wait until future developments enable us to examine such 

 plant remains as may be found associated with these coals. 



The conclusions derived from the foregoing may be summarized as follows : 



1. The resin in the Kootanie woods does not occur in plates, nor is it at all excessive in 

 quantity over other woods of the same species. 



2. The actual amount of resin produced, as represented in the size and number of resin- 

 passages, is less than the average for the same species. 



3. The occurrence of resin bears no relation whatever to the splitting up of the wood in 

 process of seasoning. 



4. The peculiar splitting up of the timber in seasoning arises from structural and organic 

 peculiarities. 



' " American Geologist," x., 336. 



'•' That it did include lycopods is evident from the presence of the spores of such plants in the coal. 



