(121) 
Each specimen on display, with the exception of the 
very large ones, is placed upon a separate wooden block, 
and each one is labeled, giving the generic and specific 
name; the family, order, or class of plants to which it is 
referred; the geologic period and subdivision in which it 
belongs, and the locality or region where it was collected. 
All essential information of a botanical and geological 
nature in relation to each specimen is, therefore, included 
in the label. Whenever a figure of any specimen can be 
obtained this is placed on the same block with the specimen, 
and pictures of ideal landscapes, showing the extinct vege- 
tation of certain geologic periods, as well as restoration of 
certain extinct plants, are displayed in their proper cases. 
The series of exhibits begins in the first cases to the left 
as one enters the east hall of the basement. The sequence 
of the specimens in the wall cases corresponds to that of 
the floor cases. 
In floor- and wall-cases Nos. 1 to 4 may be seen repre- 
sentatives of Eozoic and Paleozoic Time: Laurentian, 
Cambrian, Lower Silurian, Upper Silurian, Devonian and 
Carboniferous Periods. In floor- and wall-case No. 1 are 
specimens of graphite of Eozoic age and of anthracite and 
bituminous coal of Carboniferous age, showing the trans- 
formation of vegetable matter into the ultimate condition 
of pure carbon in the form of graphite or ‘“‘black lead” 
in the oldest rocks. Other specimens in this case, classed 
as algae, are of uncertain botanical relationship, as the 
structure of the primitive plants was not well adapted for 
preservation as fossils. For example, some organisms ap- 
pear as mere filamentous strips of graphite in white lime- 
stone, without any trace of the original structure remain- 
ing, while others may be seen as casts and impressions which 
closely simulate in general appearance different parts of 
the seaweeds now existing. In this series of problematic 
fossils are also included a number of forms at one time 
definitely classed as plants but now by some assumed to 
be of animal or inorganic origin; namely, Scolithus, which 
