Mr. Wood's Account of?,ome Fossil Stems of Trees. 211 



of the roots is about two feet, but as seen in the drawing, it diminishes 

 in size upwards and about five feet from the base it is only about 12 

 inches ; the size does not diminish gradually, but at different places re- 

 sembhng joints. At this height it is nearly round, but above this the 

 rotundity is destroyed, apparently from the compression of the sur- 

 rounding strata. This irregular and broken section continues upwards 

 for about four feet, when a remarkable change takes place. Up this 

 height, nearly ten feet, the position is nearly vertical, or at right angles 

 to the line of stratification, but here it takes a sudden bend towards the 

 south-west, becomes flattened, and continues nearly horizontal between 

 the beds of the strata, or into the top of the bed of Micaceous Sand- 

 stone, No. 12, and between that and a bed of metal stone of a very 

 micaceous nature. No. 13. See Plate XIX., Figure 1. 



The thickness of the specimen diminishes rapidly when it approaches 

 a horizontal position, and when it becomes quite so, is only about half 

 an inch thick ; the Figure No. 3, will shew the face of the flattened 

 part from the dotted line on the stem a a to h b, the width of which is 

 about 19 inches. The flutings on the upright part seem very narrow, 

 and not well defined, but when flattened, they were very distinct, and 

 were from 2| to 3 inches in breadth, as shewn in the accompanying 

 specimen and Figure No. 3. How far the impression of the top ex- 

 tended along the bed of Sandstone, we could not determine, not being 

 able to follow it more than 2 or 3 feet ; but it did not for that distance 

 diminish in width, and apparently continued much further. 



Near the top, a branch apparently proceeded from the dislocated 

 part of the stem, as shewn in Figure No. 1, but it was so much 

 broken in this part as to leave the existence of the junction quite un- 

 determinable ; the Figure shews the appearance in situ, but whe- 

 ther it was a branch proceeding from this fossil, could not be satisfac- 

 torily ascertained. 



Within an area of 100 square yards, a very great many of the Fossil 

 Stems exist, many of them of much larger dimensions than the speci- 

 men presented, and several smaller ; in some instances they are nearly 

 close together, the roots of the one exhibited extending beyond an ad- 

 joining stem. In some of them the thickness of the carbonaceous coat- 



