PALAEOZOIC AIE-BREATIIING ANIMALS. 8S 



case with erect sigillariœ, there was a slight swelling or bulb. The lower part is imbedded 

 ill gray sandstone and shale for 5 feet 2 inches. Above this ai-e 2 feet 6 inches of gray shale. 

 Above this is a sandstone 12 feet thick, but the tree penetrates this only about 8 inches, 

 when it is broken off. Thus the total remaining height is 8 feet 4 inches. 



Five feet of the lower part of this tree are tilled with matter which must have been 

 introduced into it while it remained an open pit, accessible to land animals. This material, 

 while all probably introduced by rain-wash or accidental falling from the surface, is of varied 

 character. At the bottom there is a layer of mineral charcoal about an inch in thickness, 

 probably representing the wood or inner bark fallen in, and immediately above this is a 

 black shaly layer, with bones of small batrachians, remains of millipedes and coprolitic matter. 

 Above this is a hard material, composed partly of indurated calcareous clay and partly of 

 vegetable fragments arranged in very irregular layers, which have usually a shallow basin- 

 shape, being hollowed toward the centre. This is partly an eiiect of compression of the 

 vegetable matter, and is partly caused by the greater thickness of the earthy beds toward the 

 sides, a consequence of rain-wash from the surface. Here and there, throughout this part of 

 the stem, there are thin, black, coaly or shaly bands marking surfaces of some duration. 

 Toward the upper part of the productive five feet, sandstone predominates, but there are 

 still occasional dark beds. Throughout all these layers there are animal remains, which are, 

 however, more abundant in the dark and laminated beds. There is, more especially in the 

 lower part of the tree, much coprolitic matter, sometimes in distinct layers, and rich in phos- 

 phate of calcium. Under the lens it is seen to contain fragments of bones of small rejatiles 

 and of chitinous matter of millipedes or insects. It is in short in some places a very fine 

 bone-breccia and in others an indurated guano. 



This tree is remarkalile for the nnmlier of vertebrates which have left their remains in 

 it, and which belong to nine species, represented by portions of about 30 individuals. Piijxi 

 vetusta also occurs, though rarely, and there are numerous fragmentary specimens of milli- 

 pedes of the genera Xijlobias and Archiulus. This tree is further remarkable above all others 

 hitherto found for the great thickness of the productive layei's and the abundance of coprolitic 

 matter, which probably indicate that it remained open a long time, and that some of the 

 animals continued to live and subsist on their feebler companions for some time after they 

 fell into it. It results, however, from this that the bones of the smaller species are much 

 scattered. The devourers of these smaller animals would seem to have been the species of 

 Dendrerpetou whose bones are least scattered, and in some cases associated with carbonised 

 cuticle. One specimen of Dendrerpetou Acadianum is the largest yet found, the skull being 

 4 inches in length. It may have been nearly 3 feet long, and could not therefore extend 

 itself within its prison. 



The second tree found by Mr. McNaughton is in Division 4, Section XIII., Group 20, 

 of the section. It is thus 203 feet 7 inches below the original bed at Coal Mine Point, and 

 is about half way between this and the new tree in Group 26. It is remarkable as standing 

 on a bituminous shale, one of the few beds of this kind which have been elevated to con- 

 stitute forest soils. It is 22 inches in diameter, and is about seven in height ; but only about 

 18 inches of the lower part are productive, and are largely composed of a dark-coloured 

 laminated material, much damaged by the percolation of ferruginous water. The inclosing 

 beds are, in ascending order, coarse shale and sandstone 3 feet, sandstone 4 feet, and beds of 

 coal with shaly partings 2 feet. This tree seems to have contained renuiins of 13 individuals 

 of four or five species. 



