140 THE MEDALS OF CREATION. Cuap. VI. 
of them trail on the ground, but there are a few erect 
species, one of which (Lycopodiwm densum) is abundant in 
New Zealand. 
The fruit of the Club-mosses is an oval or cylindrical cone, 
which in some species is situated at the extremity of the 
branches, and constitutes an imbricated spike. Now asso- 
ciated with the stems of the Lepidodendra, and very often 
in masses of their foliage, and in some instances attached to 
the extremities of the branches, are numerous oblong, or 
sub-cylindrical, scaly cones, garnished with leaves. These 
have received the names of Lepidostrobi (scaly-cones), and 
are unquestionably the fruit of the trees with which they 
are imbedded. 
Lepipostrosus. Lign. 40.—A cylindrical strobilus or. ~ 
cone, imbricated from above downwards, composed of winged 
scales, terminating in rhomboidal discs: the axis traversed 
by a longitudinal cavity or receptacle. 
These fossils have long been known to collectors, and are 
figured by Martin (Petrif. Derbiensia), Parkinson (Org. 
Rem. vol. i. pl. ix.), and others. They are cylindrical im- 
bricated bodies, rounded at both extremities, from two to 
six or seven inches in length, and one or two inches in cir- 
cumference. When broken asunder, a cylindrical cavity is 
exposed, which is sometimes hollow, but commonly filled 
with mineral matter; and when specimens are found im- 
bedded in shale, the cone is fringed with linear-lanceolate 
bractez, as in Lign. 40, fig. 3. These fruits, like the fronds 
of ferns, often form the nuclei of ironstone nodules, and the 
leaves are frequently replaced either by a white hydrate of 
alumine, or by the mineral called galena, or sulphuret of 
lead, and the receptacles filled with the same substances. 
The specimens from Coalbrook Dale are generally in this 
state of mineralization, and possess great brilliancy ; they 
are interesting examples of the electro-chemical changes 
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