OF CREATION. 87 



on each fluting. It is pretty clear that the leaves at- 

 tached at these scars were connected through the bark 

 with the central woody axis. 



The fossils that have received the name Stigmaria, 

 and which have heen supposed to be roots belonging to 

 Sigillaria, are in some places so extremely abundant in 

 the shales lying under coal seams, that in South Wales 

 they seem almost invariably to form a kind of floor on 

 which the coal rests. In this case the slender fibres 

 proceeding from the large roots are completely matted 

 together, and form an entangled mass, traversing the 

 bed in every direction. Like the Sigillaria trunk, these 

 roots appear to have consisted of a tough bark inclosing 

 a woody centre, the interval being filled with succulent 

 matter. The plants thus described probably belonged 

 to an extinct family, intermediate in character between 

 the cone-bearing plants or pines and the Cycadsese, 

 and they probably resembled the Zamia, although ex- 

 panded into a lofty forest tree, and giving off branches 

 as well as leaves. 



But while such is the nearest approach that we can 

 make to a description of their appearance, it must not 

 be imagined that we have arrived at any very certain 

 conclusions with regard to these vegetables. They 

 appear to depart so widely from those which are now 

 common in any part of the world, that we can only 

 suggest what may perhaps have been similar, and dare 

 not assert positively the existence of analogies, except 

 that there is little doubt that in endeavouring to 

 picture to ourselves the condition of the land during 

 the deposit of the coal, we must rather look to the 

 southern antipodal islands, and especially to New Zea- 

 land, for these analogies, than to other parts of the 



