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M! 



114 



THE GEOLOGICAL IILSTORY OF PLANTS. 



perhaps its most sinj^ular feature. They usually start 

 from the stem in four main branches, then regularly 

 bifurcate several times, and then run out into great 



Fio. 35. — Stem of Siffillaria Fio. 80. — Two ribs of Siffillaria Brownii. 

 Jirownii, reduciid. Natural size. 



cylindrical cables, running for a long distance, and evi- 

 dently intended to anchor the plant firmly in a soft and 



oozy soil. They were furnished 

 with long, cylindrical rootlets 

 placed regularly in a spiral man- 

 ner, and so articulated that when 

 they dropped ofif they left regu- 

 lar rounded scars. They are, 

 in short, the Stigmariw, which 

 we have already met witli in 

 the Brian (Figs. 38, 39). In 

 Fig. 33 I have endeavoured to 

 restore these strange trees. It is 

 not wonderful that such plants 

 have caused much botanical con- 

 Fio. 37.-Portion of lower trovcrsy. It was long before bot- 



part ot stem ol iS. Brownn. •' ,,, . i.ii 



Natural size. anists could be conviuced that 



