264 



Antediluvian Zoology and Botany. 



also confirm this opinion : for it is observed that those stems 

 which have preserved any thing like their original perpendi- 

 cularity are filled v^^ith the argillaceous, siliceous, or other 

 matrix, in which they happen to be embedded, whilst those 

 which are inclined appear considerably compressed, and those 

 placed horizontally are wholly flattened. In the South Wales 



- coal basin some of 



'■^^^^^^^^^^""""'""^ the richest 



of 



iron 



masses 

 ore occur, 



moulded into the 

 forms of gigantic 

 compressed stems of 

 plants, and fluted 

 reeds or canes, (^fig. 

 49.) Leaves and 

 pericarps of various 

 unknown plants, and 

 impressions resem- 

 bling confervae and 

 gramina also occur 

 in all the coal for- 



mations. 



M. 



A. Erongniart 



Part of a fluted stem from this district, one of the vascular 

 cryptogamous plants of the coal ; resembles Calamites deco- 

 rktus of Artis's Antediluvian Pfiytology, pi. 24., and also 

 pi. 14. in the Histoire des Vegetaux Fossiles, par M. Adolphe 

 Brongniart. (The tubercles at the extremities of the strise 

 are not sufficiently marked in our figure.) 



has ascertained that 

 the vascular crypto- 

 gamous plants had a 

 vast numerical pro- 

 portion in our great 

 coal fields ; " and, in fact, of 260 species discovered in this 

 terrain or period, 220 belong to this class." 



Vegetables having some analogies to a few of the arundina- 

 ceous and succulent plants of the coal measures are occa- 

 sionally traced in subsequent formations, amongst which the 

 calcareous slate of Stonesfield is particularly distinguishable. 

 Ferns, flags, gigantic reeds, and euphorbiae occur in the lias, 

 Whitby alum shale, and incumbent sandstone. Perhaps the 

 most remarkable assemblage of plants of this tribe, after the 

 coal measures, is found in the limestone slate and carstone 

 of Tilgate Forest. Mr. Mantell enumerates impressions of 

 succulent plants, approaching to the euphorbiae, arborescent 

 ferns, or palms, and unknown vegetables in a carbonised 

 state; and considers that they assimilate to the vegetation of 

 hot climates. With the invaluable assistance of Mr. Brown, 

 in comparing these plants with recent specimens in his col- 

 lection, it has been found practicable to point out, in the fossil 

 Flora of Tilgate Forest, some genera which imperfectly ap- 

 proach such as are now in existence. Amongst these are the 



