

THE CARBONIFEROUS FLORA. 



119 



relation to our modern equisetums, or mare's- tails, but, 



as in other cases we have met with, are of gigantic size 



and comparatively complex structure. Their stems, in 



cross-section, show radi- 



ating bundles of fibres, 



like those of exogenous 



woods, yet the whole plan 



of structure presents some 



curious resemblances to 



the stems of their hum- 



ble successors, the mod- 



ern mare's-tails. It would 



seem, from the manner 



in which dense brakes of 



these Catamites have been 



preserved in the coal-for- 



mation of Nova Scotia, 



that they spread over low 



and occasionally inun- 



dated flats, and formed 



fringes on the seaward 



sides of the great Sigilla- FIG.. 42. Erect Sigillaria, standing 



(S ' J ggln8 ' 



ria forests. In this way 

 they no doubt contrib- 

 uted to prevent the invasion of the areas of coal ac- 

 cumulation by the muddy waters of inundations, and 

 thus, though they may not have furnished much of the 

 material of coal, they no doubt contributed to its purity. 

 Many beautiful plants of the genera AsteropJiyllites and 

 Annularia are supposed to have been allied to the Cola- 

 mites, or to have connected them with the RMzocarps. 

 The stems and fruit of these plants have strong points of 

 resemblance to those of Sphenophyttum, and the leaves 

 are broad, and not narrow and angular like those of the 

 true Catamites (Fig. 45). 



No one has done more than my friend Dr. William- 



