VEGETABLES. 185 



next. Yet in many instances, we find more than one branch at each 

 joint. These lateral branches, which have been very slender, are 

 rarely seen in the stone. The bands are frequently double, divided 

 by a cross line in the middle. On examining- the lower part of the 

 bed, we find several portions of the roots, the joints growing 

 shorter and shorter, till we find nothing but a mass of bands, which 

 gradually diminish in size, the reed tapering away. These roots, 

 or tapering ends, are generally black, or very dark brown. At 

 the upper part of the stratum, the reeds are broken off abruptly, 

 on meeting the sandy shale. According to tlie proportions of the 

 stalks and their joints, they must have risen to a great height in their 

 entire state. 



On comparing these petrified plants with a recent specimen of 

 the sugar-cane, saccharum ojficinarum, we perceive so striking a 

 resemblance, both in size and form, that we may consider our canes 

 as of the same family, if not of the very same species. 



These reeds occur also in the Stainton cliffs, about the same 

 distance above the alum rock. Their matrix at that place is rather 

 whiter and harder than at High Whitby, being something of the crow- 

 stone. They may probably be discovered at a similar height in the 

 strata, in several other parts of the district. 



Reeds of the same kind are found in the sandstone accompany- 

 ing coal, in other parts of Britain; as at the coal pits of Alloa in 

 Scotland. In these places, the stalks are almost always found 

 compressed and flattened ; but in our district they ai'e for the most 

 part in their natural cylindrical form. Yet a few of the canes at High 

 Whitby are found flattened ; and a few are lying across, in an irreg- 

 ular manner, instead of being in the usual upright posture. We have 

 only to add, that though the line of separation between each cane 

 and the surrounding matrix is very distinct, yet there is no appearance 

 of internal organization in the reeds, the inside consisting of the same 



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