18460 DAWSON ON FOSSILS FROM NOVA SCOTIA. 135 



nences, which appear to have been connected with fibres or bundles 

 of vessels, whose remains extend outward and downward through 

 the outer part of the cast. I have sent with this paper specimens of 

 the trunk and roots, and a sketch of the fossil as it appeared when in 

 situ (fig. 2), trusting that, when examined by more competent bota- 

 nists, they may give interesting information respecting the nature and 

 affinities of Stigmaria. I also send a figure of a specimen of Stig- 

 maria (fig. 3), seen in a bed below the roots above described, whose 

 rootlets have penetrated two thin beds of sandstone and a bed of 

 shale. 



4. Sternbergia. — Fragments of plants of this genus are frequently 

 found in the sandstones of the Pictou coal-field, usually in beds 

 which also contain Calamites. They are in the state of stony casts, 

 always invested with a thin bark or coating of lignite, whose outer 

 surface is smooth and without transverse wrinkles. The inner sur- 

 face of the coating of lignite has longitudinal ridges which adhere 

 strongly to the surface of the transversely striated cast, and leave 

 marks or small furrows when removed. Though specimens of this 

 kind are not rare, and vary in diameter from half an inch to two and 

 a half inches, I have seen none with any trace of roots, leaves or 

 fruit, or even of a conical termination ; all are cylindrical fragments, 

 and so similar in their markings, that they may have belonged to 

 one species. Transversely ridged stems, of a character very difi'erent 

 from the above, are however occasionally found in the carboniferous 

 beds of this province. These are stony casts, having irregular and 

 often large transverse markings, and enclosed in a thick coat of lig- 

 nite or fossil wood. In two specimens of the latter kind, transverse 

 sections of the portion with structure, show cellular tissue appa- 

 rently with medullary rays, and much resembling the wood of Co- 

 niferae. 



The fossils last mentioned are probably, as suggested by Mr. 

 Dawes with reference to the British species of Sternbergia, casts of 

 the pith of trees. It appears evident however, that the first-men- 

 tioned species (named I believe Artisia approximata in Mr. Lyell's 

 list) was a plant having a very large pith and a comparatively thin 

 woody envelope — in short a gigantic rush-like plant, perhaps leaf- 

 less and nearly cylindrical, like some modern species of Juncus. 

 To show the rush-like character of this curious fossil, I have sketched 

 (fig. 4) a specimen from the Pictou coal-field, and a portion of the 

 stem of a common species of Juncus from a swamp near Pictou ; 

 both showing the transverse structure of the pith, the marks left in 

 it by the internal ridges of the envelope, and the smooth or longitu- 

 dinally striated outer surface. 



The above notices of some of the fossils of the coal-formation of 

 Nova Scotia have been selected from the results of my late obser- 

 vations, from a belief that they may be serviceable in the eluci- 

 dation of important geological questions now in process of discus- 

 sion, and intimately connected with the palaeontology of the coal 

 period. 



