in Oolitic Sandstone, Yorkshire. 5 



the Middle Estuarine tSeiies, as for instance between Hayburn "Wyke 

 and Cloughton Wyke and at Scarborough. 



The very abundance of the upright stems is perhaps rather in favour 

 of the in situ hypothesis. This mode of occurrence is not only frequent 

 but appears, in many places at least, to be the rule in the sandstone. 

 The casts are often quite crowded and convey in a striking manner 

 the impression of a fossil Rohricht? A direct proof would be 

 established, however, if rhizomes or roots of the plant were found to 

 occur in connexion with the stems in such a manner that they must 

 have grown into the sand. The stems are often seen to attain a con- 

 siderable height in the rock, a couple of feet or more, and it is no 

 doubt largely due only to the fact that the vertical surface of the 

 sandstone cliffs generally does not quite coincide with the plane of the 

 stems that these cannot be traced further. In some cases, however, 

 the stems are found, when followed downwards, to disappear rather 

 abruptly into an intercalated shaly layer, and it is then possible, as 

 suggested by Phillips (I.e.), that their rhizomes have grown in that 

 layer though they are usually not preserved. It is difficult, however, 

 to establish a direct proof that such was the case. 



Towards the end of my stay in Yorkshire, Professor P. Kendall, of 

 Leeds, kindly conducted me to a place where he had discovered 

 upright Equisetites stems occurring abundantly in the sandstone. 

 The locality is at the Peak Alum Works close by the railway line 

 between Kobin Hood's Bay and Hayburn Wyke.^ After a short 

 search a few examples were found which appear to throw some 

 light on the question. The best specimen, which is shown here in 

 Plate II, Avas in a continuous wall of the cliff, but was broken out 

 and is now in the collections of the Palaeobotanical Museum at 

 Stockholm. To the right are seen remains of two upright stems 

 about 20 cm. high and with a diameter of 2-3 cm. From the lower 

 end of one of these stems arises a lateral shoot or rhizome which 

 continues for some distance almost horizontally at a right angle to 

 the mother-stem, the horizontal portion being completely flattened 

 and therefore looking very thin as seen from the side. About 25 cm. 

 from the mother stem, this horizontal shoot begins to bend, gradually 

 upwards and continues in another upright stem. At the bend there 

 arise from the shoot some sort of appendages, three in number, which 

 cannot be anything but roots. These run in a downward course, and 

 the two longest can be traced for a length of 7 cm. to the base of the 

 piece of rock. The whole specimen is such that it cannot be satis- 

 factorily accounted for except on the supposition that it is preserved 

 in the position of growth. A branch has grown for some distance as 

 a creeping rhizome and has then bent upwards to form another aerial 

 stem. The roots arising at the bend must be taken to have grown 

 into the sand, and it is probable that the sand had been accumulating 

 all the time round the growing plant. I think this explanation must 

 be admitted to be the more plausible one. To account for this complex 

 specimen as drifted and later deposited would require the assumption of 

 such improbabilities as might well be said to approach the impossible. 



^ Eeed-bed. 



- The stratigraphical conditions will be described in Professor Kendall's paper. 



