FLORA OF THE CARBONIFEROUS EPOCH. 69 



and the scattered condition of all the separable organs. Those 

 who support the drift theory, look on the coal plants as having 

 been swept from the land on which they grew by watery 

 currents at different times, and deposited in basins and large 

 sea-estuaries, and sometimes in lakes. The snags in the 

 Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and other large rivers, are given 

 as instances of a similar drifting process. 



The vegetation of the coal epoch seems to resemble most 

 that of islands in the midst of vast oceans, and the prevalence 

 of ferns indicates a climate similar to that of New Zealand in 

 the present day. In speaking of the island vegetation of the 

 coal epoch, Professor Ansted remarks (Ancient World, p. 

 88) — "The whole of the interior of the islands may have 

 been clothed with thick forests, the dark verdure of which 

 would only be interrupted by the bright green of the swamps 

 in the hollows, or the brown tint of the ferns covering some 

 districts near the coasts. The forests may have been formed 

 by a mixture of several different trees. We would see then, 

 for instance, the lofty and widely-spreading Lepidodendron, 

 its delicate feathery fronds clothing, in rich luxuriance, 

 branches and stems, which are built up, like the trunk of 

 the tree-fern, by successive leafstalks that have one after 

 another dropped away, giving by their decay additional 

 height to the stem, which might at length be mistaken for that 

 of a gigantic pine. There also should we find the Sigillaria, its 

 tapering and elegant form sustained on a large and firm basis — 

 enormous matted roots, almost , as large as the trunk itself, 

 being given off in every direction, and shooting out their 

 fibres far into the sand and clay in search of moistm-e. The 

 stem of this tree would appear like a fluted column, rising 

 simply and gracefully without branches to a great height, and 

 then spreading out a magnificent head of leaves like a noble 

 palm-tree. Other trees, more or less resembling palms, and 

 others like existing firs, also abounded, giving a richness and 



