BY T. STEPHENS, M.A.^ F.G.S. 83 



Partly embedded in this drift, which at one time 

 must have deeply covered them, are the fragmentary 

 remains of a large fossil tree with an estimated length 

 of not less than sixty feet, the bulk of which has been 

 removed by denudation. The 'external appearance 

 somewhat resembles that of the fossil wood often found 

 in the upper members of our Permo-Carboniferous 

 series, but in this case the woody structure has not been 

 silicified, and the attempts which I have had made to 

 polish sections for closer examination have not been 

 successful. There is much variety in the outer portions 

 of exposed fragments .of the tree. Iron sulphides re- 

 placing the organic tissues and becoming subsequently 

 oxidised seem to have been the petrifying agents, and 

 there are traces here and there of white iron pyrites 

 (marcasite), or arsenical pyrites (mispickel) still unal- 

 tered. The latter is very abundant in the coal measures 

 of the Mersey district. Some portions have all the ap- 

 pearance of siderite. The interior of the tree seems to 

 have been little affected by the infiltration of iron in 

 any form, and much of it is practically identical witli 

 ordinary lignite. Judging from the arrangement of the 

 stumps of branches, the form of the tree must have re- 

 sembled that of a pine, and faint indications of mark- 

 ings like the " pits " which are the distinguis'hing 

 feature of coniferous wood may be seen here and there, 

 but no definite conclusion can be come to under this 

 head until after careful microscopical examination. All 

 that can be said now is that the tree is probably a pine 

 belonging to the Tertiary period, and that it came down 

 some ancient river from the country now drained by 

 the River Cam to its present position, where it ulti- 

 mately with the gradual subsidence of the land became 

 deeply embedded in the drift. 



Apart from the cjuestion of the history of this fossil 

 tree, I take the opportunity to mention that, not far 

 away, there is a group of large boulders resting on the 

 upturned edges of the ancient rocks which have all the 

 appearance of ice-borne erratics. They are more than 

 half-a-m.ile distant from what I have described as the 

 eastern boundary of the glacial drift, and their presence 

 here calls for future investigation. Forty years ago 

 there were numbers of massive boulders of granite, and 

 of altered sandstones and limestones with fossils of 



