of the S/indsfoiie of Ayrshire. 287 



which has seklom been got out of the quarry entire, but it has 

 most unfortunately been broken in its joiu-ney to Edinburgh. 



While hunting among the debris of the quarry I was fortunate 

 enough to discover a curious fossil, which I have every reason to 

 believe is original ; it bears a considerable resemblance to a piece 

 of taiian, being divided into regular parallelograms by double 

 lines intersecting each other at right angles (PL V. fig. 1.). On 

 submitting it in September last to the inspection of Mr. Lands- 

 borough and other gentlemen in the neighbourhood, they all de- 

 clared that it was new to them. I also showed it to the manager 

 of the works and to several of the most intelligent of the overseers 

 and colliers (most of whom had been born in the village, and 

 passed the greater part of their lives in the works), and they all 

 said they had not before met with it. I may therefore, I think, 

 consider it unique. Mr. Landsborough, to whom it has since been 

 sent for more minute inspection, writes thus : " I think, after 

 attentive consideration, I have got an excellent name for your 

 beautiful fossil, Dictyodendron Patricii; deriving the generic ap- 

 pellation from SIktvov, a net — how like it is to network ! — and 

 hevhpov, a tree (we have Dictyosijjhon {SLKrvov-aicfxov) in recent 

 botany for the same reason), and dedicating it by the specific 

 name to yourself as the discoverer." 



We now come to that class of fossils which is peculiar to, and 

 the distinguishing feature of, the coal-measures, the Stigmarice. 

 Of these the Stigmaria ficoides is the principal. Three varieties 

 will be found in the collection. The most curious of these is 

 Stigmaria radiata : this species consisted of a central stem or 

 shoot, which is said, at times, to have attained the height of 20 

 to 30 feet, and from which branches radiated in every direction, 

 arching over and bending downward. At the time the British 

 Association was at Glasgow, a specimen of this stem was exhibited 

 between 4 and 5 feet in length, and which is now deposited in the 

 Geological IMuseum of that city. Brongniart, in his ' Histoire des 

 Vegetaux Fossiles,^ comes to the conclusion that " the StigmaritB 

 and Sigillaria constitute a peculiar and extinct family (belonging 

 probably to the Gymnospermous division of the Dicotyledons), but 

 of which neither the fruit nor the leaves are as yet known. These 

 fossils, it is evident, are neai'ly related to each other ; and A7ia- 

 bathra ought likewise to form a part of the same group. Perhaps 

 Stigmaria is only the root of Sigillaria." It is unnecessary to 

 quote the passage further. Stigmaria nodosa is likewise met with 

 in the quarry. 



The Trigonocarpum o/ivaforme (or fruit of the palm-tree) is 

 very scarce, being found only in one part of the cpiarry of vei-y 

 limited extent — in the lowest stratum next to the shale. I pos- 

 sess two or three specimens, one of which is in the matrix. 



