82 



THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Erian and the Permian. They culminated, however, in 

 the Carboniferous period, and the coal-fields of southern 

 France have proved so far the richest in their remains. 



Lastly, a single specimen, collected by Prof. James 

 Hall, of Albany, at Eighteen-mile Creek, Lake Erie, has 

 the structure of an ordinary angiospermous exogen, and 

 has been described by me as Syringoxylon mirabile* 



E! 



FIG. 31. Erian fruits, &c., some gymnospermous, and probably of Cordaites 

 and Taxine trees (St. John, New Brunswick). A, Cardiocarpum cor- 

 ny turn. B, Cardiocarpum acutum. o, Cardiocarpum Crampii. D, Car- 

 diocarpum Baileyi. E, Trigonocarpum racemosum. E 1 , E 2 , Fruits en- 

 larged. F, Antholithes Devonicus. o, Annularia acuminata. H, As- 

 teropJiyllites acicularis. H 3 , Fruit of the same. K, Cardiocarpum 

 (? young of A.}. L, Pinnularia dispalans (probably a root). 



This unique example is sufficient to establish the fact of 

 the existence of such plants at this early date, unless some 

 accident may have carried a specimen from a later forma- 



* " Journal of the Geological Society," vol. xviii. 



