390 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 22, 



2. Description of the Dukinfield Sigillaria. 

 By E. W. BiNNEY, Esq. 



The fossil described in this communication was discovered in the 

 colliery of Messrs. Swire, Lees and Co., at Dukinfield, about seven 

 miles east of Manchester. It was found in the Victoria pit at a 

 depth of 1100 feet from the surface, and in the floor of the Cannel 

 or Two-feet mine*. The following is a section of the beds in the 

 vicinity of the tree : — 



ft. in. 



Black mine (Coal) 4 6 



Grey metals, layers of rock and black shale 135 



Ironstone mine (Coal) 1 5 



Shale, with bands of ironstone 9 



Stone mine (Coal). 2 6 



Black shale, &c 12 



Cannel or Two-feet mine {Co xiu) 2 6 



Tender metals (containing the tree) 66 



Peacock mine (Coal) 2 4 



The dip of the strata is nearly due west, at an angle of 29°. 



The Cannel or Two-feet mine consists of sixteen inches of good 

 cannel and ten inches of ordinary coal. The floor is a dark-coloured 

 fire-clay, called by the miners " tender metal," containing numerous 

 nodules of ironstone. Its depth I traced to between three and four 

 feet, and it may extend much deeper. The geological position of 

 the Cannel-coal is in the lower part of the middle division of the 

 Lancashire coal-field, about 120 yards above the last thick seam in 

 the series, a position nearly the same as that of the deposits in which 

 the St. Helens' trees were discovered!, but the distance between the 

 two localities in a direct line is about twenty-eight miles. 



The fossil in question was first examined and noticed by Mr. M, 

 Dunn, and the tree had been removed and brought to Manchester 

 before I went down into the mine to view the place where it was 

 found. 



I examined the bed of fire-clay and the spot where the fossil had 

 lain, and found traces of the east root (that which appeared on the 

 rise of the strata), in the shape of four Stigmariae. From the nature 

 of the excavation, the stem and roots of the tree could not have 

 penetrated the floor to a greater depth than about three feet. The 

 latter at their commencement ran nearly level, but after a distance 

 of four feet, when they began to exhibit all the usual characters of 

 Stigmaria, they appeared to have gone in a slightly upward direc- 

 tion. None of the roots were traced to their termination. 



The floor, as before stated, is a dark fire-clay. Owing to its 

 colour, scarcely any traces of plants can be distinctly seen in it ; but 

 on a careful examination I found it to be entirely traversed by the 

 long stringy fibrils so characteristic of Stigmaria, and which have, 



* The fossil has since been presented to the Manchester Geological Society, 

 t Phil. Mag., March 1844 and October 1845. 



