FLORA OF THE CARBONIFEROUS EPOCH. 59 



two exceptions) opposite to the interspaces of the whorls above 

 and below, there was also at each node a re-arrangement of 

 the wedges of vascular and cellular tissues. 



Schimper considers Calamites as having an analogy with 

 Equisetum in its fructification. He looks on them as fossil 

 Equisetacea3. Annularia and Sphenophyllum are considered 

 as establishing a passage from the Equisetaceas to the Lycopo- 

 diacege. Some gigantic fossil Equiseta had a diameter of 

 nearly 5 inches, and a height of 30 or more feet. The 

 branches, which adorned the higher part of them in the 

 form of a crown, are simple, and have at their extremity a 

 spike of the size of a pigeon's egg, and organised exactly like 

 the spikes of living Equiseta. The subterranean rhizomes are 

 well developed, and gave origin, like many Equiseta, to 

 tubercles which had the fonn and size of a hen's egg. 



The characters of Equisetum of the present day and 

 Calamites, are exhibited in woodcut 47. They show a marked 

 resemblance in the fructification. (See also page 31.) 



Plants of Calamites have been seen erect by Mr. Binney, 

 and he has detennined that what were called leaves or branches 

 by some are in reality roots. Mr. Binney gives a full descrip- 

 tion of various Calamites, under the name of Calamodendron 

 commune, in his Memoir published by the Pal^ontographical 

 Society, 1868. There are between 50 and 60 species recorded.* 



In Spitzbergen, in rocks of the Carboniferous epoch, there 

 have been found Calamites, Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, and 

 ferns, apparently the same as those found in the Carboniferous 

 epoch in Europe — Calamites radiatus, Lepidodendron Velthei- 

 mianum, Sigillaria distans, Stigmaria ficoides. Some species 

 — Sigillaria INIalmgreni, Lepidodendron Carneggiannum, and 

 L. Wilkianum — seem to be peculiar to Bear Island. 



According to Carruthers the Equisetacea? are represented 

 in Britain by the two genera Calamites found in primary beds, 



* See Eemarks on the Structure of Calamites by W. C. William- 

 son, Philos. Trans., 161, p. 477. 



