ON THE ORIGIN OF COAL. 161 



clay, and rock. In all the floors that I have 

 examined, which are eighty-four in number, re- 

 mains of Stigmaria Jicoides have been met with. 

 The floor of the feather edge coal, consisting of a 

 few inches of brown coloured clay resting on 

 rough sandstone, in a former paper read before 

 the British Association in Manchester, was sup- 

 posed to be the only exception, but latterly 

 numerous instances of the occurrence of the 

 Stigmaria have been found in the floor of that Coal. 

 It is the only Coal in the whole of the Lancashire 

 and Cheshire Coal-field which exhibits evidence 

 of a strong current of water in its roof and floor, 

 and it is a very irregular seam, often found wanting 

 altogether. It presents the only example in 

 Lancashire of the " Simon'''' fault of the Forest 

 of Dean Coal-field. The rest of the floors all 

 indicate great quietude of deposition, indeed, the 

 greatest of any of the beds, and where they are 

 thick and full of Stigmaria, the seams of Coal 

 above them are generally valuable, shewing an 

 intimate relation between the soil and its pro- 

 duce, if the theory of the vegetable matter now 

 forming Coal, having grown where it is found, 

 be true. 



Coal floors shew no evidence of strong currents 



