Animals Before Man 



ferns abounded and mosses aud rushes took 

 upon themselves the dignity of trees, reaching 

 a height of from 50 to- 75 

 feet, and a diameter of 2 or 

 3. Some of the club-mosses 

 (Sigillaria) grew stiffly up- 

 right, without a branch, but 

 with leaves clustered thickly 

 around the upper part of the 

 stem, while others (Lepidoden- 

 dron),* after reaching a con- 

 siderable height, divided into 

 two branches, and these forked 

 again and again with the for- 

 mal regularity of trees drawn 

 by little children. Then there 

 were the horsetail rushes (Gala- 

 mites), perhaps the most abun- 

 dant of Carboniferous plants, with long, slen- 

 der, jointed stems, all combining to make a 

 tangled jungle of luxuriant vegetation. The 



* The Sigillarias and Lepidodendrons. are included in a group 

 called Lepidophytes, scale plants, because of the small stiff leaves 

 arranged in spiral rows about their trunks, like so many overlap- 

 ping scales. 



122 



A Caiamite, a rush 

 of Carboniferous 

 times. (After 

 Dawson.) 



