ROOM I. FOSSIL CONIFERS. 53 



of the stem in this tribe of vegetables. The internal structure 

 is in most instances exquisitely preserved, and sections under 

 the microscope exhibit the organization of the original as dis- 

 tinctly as in the recent state. Some of these fossils are very 

 beautiful objects under a 'slightly magnifying power, whether 

 viewed by reflected or transmitted light, owing to the rich 

 tints of crimson, yellow, brown, &c. of the silex into which 

 the vascular tissue is transmuted, i 



CONIFERS. Case F. [6. A.D.E.] The trees and plants that 

 are comprised under the term Coniferse, or cone-bearing, from 

 the form of their fruit, constitute an extensive and most 

 important tribe, which is divided into two families : the 

 Coniferce, strictly so called, as the Pine, Fir, Larch, Cypress, 

 &c. ; and the Cycadece, of which the Cycas and Zamia of 

 our conservatories are familiar examples. These families are 

 distinguished from all other dicotyledons by the remarkable 

 peculiarity of the seeds being originally naked or exposed, 

 and not enclosed within an ovary ; hence the botanical name 

 of the order Gymnospermous Phanerogamice . 



The conifers are all arborescent, dividing into numerous 

 branches, which are disposed with considerable regularity ; 

 many are among the loftiest trees on our globe. The leaves 

 are in most species acicular, or needle-shaped, narrow and 

 linear ; in two or three, however, they are broad and flat. The 

 structure of the wood, though dicotyledonous, is so peculiar, 

 that it may be readily detected in a fossil state. There are 

 no true vessels, and the ligneous fibres are disposed in series 

 which extend parallel with the medullary rays, having on the 

 corresponding surfaces, or laterally, rows of regular punctua- 

 tions or ducts, with a central pore surrounded by a discoidal 

 areola. These ducts or glands, when in double rows, are 

 placed side by side in the European pines and firs ; but in the 

 Araucaria (Norfolk Island pine) they are arranged alternately ; 

 and such is generally the case in the fossil coniferous wood of 

 the secondary and palaeozoic formations of England. 2 Vestiges 

 of the coniferse occur in the various deposits from the earliest 



1 A specimen, as seen by reflected light, is figured in " Medals of 

 Creation," PI. V.,fig. 1. 



2 See "Medals of Creation," PI. Y. p. 162; and "Wonders of Geo- 

 logy/' 6th edit. pp. 696, 724. 



