PERSONALITY OF PLANTS 
and use, in the carbon of our pencils, portions 
of their very bodies. 
Everything was on a grand scale in the “Old 
Red Sandstone” age. ‘There were no real trees 
yet, but the Asterophyllites, with their tall, slen- 
der stems, looked much like Palms. The Eryp- 
togams were immense Mushrooms. Algae, 
Zostera and Psilophytons covered the shores 
with a tangle of seaweed vegetation. 
In the succeeding carboniferous period, the 
plant world reached the climax of its dominion. 
While the variety was still very much limited, 
its vigor and luxuriance were astounding. The 
Tree-ferns seem to have come down to us un- 
changed from that time, but other plant des- 
cendants have dwindled in size greatly. Our 
humble Mares’ Tails were then twenty or thirty 
foot trees called Calamities. ‘The Club-Mosses 
were giant Lepidodendruns. Other immense 
plants which have no direct descendants were 
the Sigillarias and the Lomatophylos. With its 
flexible, fluted and checkered stems, saw-edged 
leaves, and hanging garlands of parasitic Ferns, 
the carboniferous forest presented a remarkable 
scene. 
[24] 
