FOSSIL FERN-STEMS. 133 
CauLopteris (fern-stem). Lign. 31.—Stems not chan- 
nelled, marked with discoidal, oblong, or ovate scars, ar- 
ranged longitudinally ; vas- 
cular cicatrices numerous. 
The fragment of stem 
here figured, resembles the 
trunks of some recent tree- 
ferns in its proportions, and 
in the number, disposition, 
and size, of the scars of the 
leaf-stalks ; but these mark- 
ings differ in their more lan- 
ceolate form, and pointed 
terminations, and in their 
peculiarly striated surface, 
from those of any known 
existing species. 
PsaRouites ( Stdicified 
Fern-Stems).—In the New 
Red sandstone, near Hillers- Lien. 31. 
dorf, Cre neighbourhood CAULOPTERIS MACRODISCUS. Coal. 
of Chemnitz, in Saxony, silicified stems, apparently of tree- 
ferns, occur in great numbers. They are remarkably beautiful, 
and the organization of the original is so well preserved by 
the silex, that slices, examined by the microscope, display 
the peculiar structure almost as perfectly as if the plants were 
recent : transverse sections exhibit the arched bundles of 
vascular fibres which compose the ligneous cylinder, sur- 
rounded by the cellular tissue. From the stellated markings 
produced by sections of the vessels that compose the tissues, 
and which are visible to the naked eye, these fossils have 
obtained the popular name of Staaren-stein, or Star-stone. 
The external surface of the specimens I have examined has 
a ligneous structure, and is of a dark reddish brown colour ; 
internally the stems are of a dull red, mottled with various 
