24 Erwin Hinckley Barbour 



plant or fibres whose aggregation into a spiral colony consti- 

 tutes the "Devil's Corkscrew." 



The mind must be disabused of the idea that the whole fos- 

 sil is one plant with bark, sap-wood, and heart- wood, such as 

 one finds in a modern vine coiled about some axis. Instead it 

 is, as the author believes, simply an aggregation of individual ^ 

 plant fibres twisting to the right or to the left without refer- 

 ence to any discoverable law. 



Some are frail forms with sweeping spirals, others robust 

 and with closely twisted coils. As in all the preceding forms, 

 we find here a superficies of matted fibres surrounding a core 

 penetrated frequently by tubules passing from wall to wall. 

 Microscopically there is exact identity with all the forms men- 

 tioned herein. (PlateXVI.,6;XVn., 2;XVIII., 1, 2.) In the 

 first sections ground, the author was so surprised at the per- 

 fection of the cellular structure and its admirable preservation, 

 that he suggested the possibility of this being the section of a 

 modern rootlet. That this is not so is shown by a series of 

 more than one hundred sections prepared since. 



We now have sections from every part of every form of the 

 Daemonelix group. The microscopic observations herein are 

 based on the study of numerous sections of each form. In no 

 case is any argument based on a number less than six sections 

 from a given variety. This is at least evidence that the in- 

 ferences drawn from a sufficient number of sections may yet 

 amount to conclusive proof, if that end has not already been 

 attained. 



This much is certain, that every well-cut section shows plant 

 tissue. In Daemonelix, as in other fossils, there are varying 

 degrees of perfection of preservation. Some are dense, com- 

 pact, and stony, yielding excellent sections ; others are sandy, 

 soft, and friable, yielding less satisfactory slides. But in the 

 very worst the organic structure is unmistakable, while in the 

 best it is admirable. 



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