CHAPTER X 

 INVOLUTION 



TV yr ANY years ago, in the clay which in every 

 -^^ -^ part of the world is found underlying 

 beds of coal, a peculiar fossil was discovered and 

 named by science Stigmaria. It occurred in great 

 abundance and in many countries, and from the 

 strange- way in which it ramified through the clay 

 it was supposed to be some extinct variety of a 

 gigantic water- weed. In the coal itself another 

 fossil was discovered, almost as abundant but far 

 more beautiful, and from the exquisite carving 

 which ornamented its fluted stem it received the 

 name of Sigillaria. One day a Canadian geologist, 

 studying Sigillaria in the field, made a new dis- 

 covery. Finding the trunk of a Sigillaria standing 

 erect in a bed of coal, he traced the column down- 

 wards to the clay beneath. To his surprise he 



found It ended in Stigmaria. This branching fossil 



40& 



