248 THE GROWTH OF COAL 



Stigmaria, are to be regarded as depriving them of the name 

 which clearly describes their function, we may call them under- 

 ground branches, though, V^y so doing, we set at nought both 

 their function and their mode of growth." 



Dr. Williamson, in a recent paper, expresses the same view 

 in the following terms ^ : — " At that period (the Carboniferous 

 age) no Angiosperms existed on the earth, and even the 

 Gymnosperms were very far from reaching their modern 

 development. Under these circumstances the Cryptogams 

 chiefly became the giant forest trees of that remote age. To 

 become such, they required an organization very different 

 in some respects from that of their degraded living representa- 

 tives. Hence we must not appeal to these degenerate types 

 for illustrations and explanations of structures no longer 

 existing. Still less must we turn to what we find in the 

 Angiosperms, that wholly distinct race which has taken the 

 place of the primaeval Cryptogams in our woods. Theprimseval 

 giants of the swampy forests had doubtless a morphology 

 assigned to them, adapted to the physical conditions by which 

 they were surrounded ; but if even their dwarfed and other- 

 wise modified descendants fail to throw light upon morphologi- 

 cal details once so common, still less must we expect to obtain 

 that light from the living and wholly different flowering 

 plants." 



With the remarkable trees above referred to, there co-existed 

 a vast multitude of ferns, some arborescent, others herbaceous, 

 tall, reed-like plants, the Calamites, allied to modern Mares'- 

 tails, a very remarkable family of plants allied to modern 

 Cycads and Pines ; the Cordaites, which seem to have grown 

 plentifully in certain parts of the coal areas — probably the 

 drier parts, so that their remains sometimes constitute the 

 greater part of small seams of coal. There were also true pine- 

 like trees, though these would seem to have grown most abun- 

 ^ Natural Science, July, 1892. 



