288 [Jan. 3, 



part being somewhat hollowed to about the level of the coal itself : 

 the surface and edges of the broken part were smoothed or pro- 

 bably water-worn. The tree bared was not flattened, but pre- 

 served precisely the same appearance which I have noticed with 

 peat timber in Ireland, and was 4 feet in circumference. The 

 principal root extended southwards 22 inches, terminating ab- 

 ruptly. The other roots spread out in a similar manner, — not in 

 separate forks, but in an apparently continuous mass, showing that 

 the plant required a broad base for its support. There were no 

 appearances of a tap root ; in fact, the nature of the tree would 

 not require it ; neither were any fibrous filaments visible. The 

 trunk and roots were covered with a bark about half an inch 

 thick, the coaly matter of which being more brittle, though con- 

 siderably more compact in. its texture than either the body of the 

 tree or the circumjacent bed, also possessed a more smooth and 

 bright surface, when broken. 



The bark externally was either perfectly smooth, or marked by 

 irregular longitudinal strige, differing altogether from Calamites 

 or Sigillarige. Within the bark was the hollow cylindrical trunk, 

 about 2 inches across the cylinder, the coal composing which was, 

 as before observed, more earthy in its character, but was concen- 

 trically lamellar in its structixre ; some thin lamina being of a 

 brighter and better quality than the mass. 



The interior of the plant was filled with a blended mass of coal 

 and shale. 



The trees are all upright land bear undoubted evidence of having 

 grown on the spot. 



The thickness of coal in which the stumps are found is only 

 5 inches. On breaking the coal loith the grain, we met with 

 impressions (very faint however) 5f reed-like plants and Stigmarige. 



Beneath the coal was the bed in which the trees must have 

 grown, and this (as now compressed and indurated) is 3-^ inches 

 thick. It is composed, at the top and bottom, of a dark -brown or 

 brown-black bituminous shale, inclosing a band of fire clay, half 

 an inch thick. 



The shale bed contains impressions of the Lepidodendron, XJlo- 

 dendron, Stigmaria, and probably other species of plants, and I 

 discovered one fragment proving the existence of animal life — a 

 solitary scale of Megalichthys Hibberti. 



It is remarkable that, though our. field in general abounds with 

 the bivalve shells often described as Unios, I have only found one 

 specimen in the open woi'k, and that in an upper bed. 



There were no appearances of the roots passing into the shale ; 

 but from the peculiar arrangement of the central part of the trees, 

 I am induced to suspect that the shale may have occupied an in- 

 ternal position considerably above the level of that in the bed. 



On breaking through the shale, we discovered in a second seam 

 of coal what at first struck us as being a prolongation of the 

 roots ; but, on further search, another forest was found below 

 the first. In the upper bed we counted seventy-three trees in 



