*82 Geology of Antigua. 
neath the ground. The fragments are not usually more than ten 
or twelve inches long, and are frequently split in the direction of 
the fibres. The most perfect specimen which has been found, is~ 
described by Dr. Nugent, as being the “trunk of a tree about 
twelve feet in tengtfffand as many inches in diameter, rent cross- 
wise asunder, but all the parts lying contiguous to one another.” 
The largest section which I saw, was eighteen or twenty inches 
in diameter, and about two feet in length. 
- Though these fossils are all silicious, they vary exceedingly in 
the perfection of the material and in the beauty of their colors. 
Sometimes they present a dull, compact, earthy aspect—some- 
times the grain is coarse and the fibres are indistinct; but when 
a combination of fine grain, variety and beauty of colors, and 
distinctnegs of structure, is found, the specimens are exceedingly 
elegant. Among these may be particularly specified, dendritic 
Moss agates, and the petrifactions of the loblolly (Pisonia 
subcordata. ) The cocoanut, also, is often very beautiful, espe- 
cially its involved fibrous roots. A person who has seen the tree 
in its natural state, would instantly recognize its petrifactions, 
The same may be said of many other specimens. Indeed, they 
are generally as distinct from each other, as the living fibre of one 
tree is from that of another. The most of these fossils, I do not 
doubt, are relics of shrubs and trees identical with those now 
growing upon: the island, though some of them are probably ex- 
either pure or mingled with: chalcedony, are abundant. “They 
often occur in veins of trap, and abound most in, the neighbor- 
hood of that formation. Fortification agates are also found in 
the form of nodules, both upon and» below the surface of the 
earth. 
The preceding details open to the geologist a most interesting 
field of speculation. The extent to which silex, in its purest and 
most interesting forms, here presents itself, is, I believe, within 
the same compass of country, without a parallel. It has converted 
into its own substance organized bodies of the most opposite char- 
acters, and in every variety of circumstances. It presents them. 
under all forms and of every degree of color and perfection. It re- 
s one of Midas’s touch, which changed every thing into gold. 
— ardly be expected that phenomena, so =i and compli- 
e referred to to a common oie | it is obvious, 
