Vol. 68.] 



m THE ' PERMIAN EOCKS OT HAMSTEAD. 



65: 



have been secured. The stems are thin, and closely set with leaves 

 about 2 mm . long. Occasionally, certain of the upper layers of 

 fine-grained sandstone under the conglomerate contain this species 

 in abundance, so that some of the rock-laminae are covered with a 

 confused matting of impressions. Of the actual carbonaceous 

 substance of the plant nothing is left : all the specimens (like 

 those of W. piniformis) are replacements by very fine sand. 



An allied form, quoted as W. hypnoides (?), has been found at a 

 depth of 850 feet in the Claverley boring, on 

 Eig. 10. — Cast the eastern border of the neighbouring Forest- 

 of pith-cavity of- Wyre Coalfield, and 15 miles west of 

 o/Cordaites. Hamstead. The containing strata are assigned 

 by Dr. Gibson to the Keele Group or Upper 

 Carboniferous. On the Continent the species 

 W. imhricata occurs in the Saarbriicken Coal- 

 field in the Upper Carboniferous rocks, but only 

 in the Ottweiler or very highest division of that 

 system. It is a common and characteristic 

 fossil of the Rothliegende of Germany, but it 

 is not recorded from France. Possibly, it is by 

 French geologists included under the broader 

 specific name of W. piniformis. 



CoRDAiTEs (Aetisia). (Fig. 10.) 



A single cast of the pith-cavity of a plant was 

 found in fairly coarse red sandstone. As similar 

 casts have been met with elsewhere, and inter- 

 preted to be the result of the infilling with 

 sediment of the stem of Cordaites, we may 

 safely presume the presence of that genus in 

 [Natural size.] these rocks. The Hamstead specimen is 2J 

 inches long, and about 1 inch broad. 



(3) Footprints of Amphibia or Reptilia. 



These are footprints made by creatures of amphibian or reptilian 

 affinity. As might naturally be expected, the footprints vary 

 both in size and in shape. The same foot would, of course, 

 leave diff'erent markings under different conditions, dependent 

 upon the consistency of the ground, upon the rate of progress of 

 the animal, etc. Further, after the impression had been made, it 

 became liable to distortion by desiccation and compression. It 

 has been found possible, however, to group the Hamstead fossil 

 footprints into a number of types, each type in all probability 

 having been made by a different species of animal. The majority 

 of the animals leaving these footprints were distinctly plantigrade, 

 and in walking impressed the whole of the foot from front to heel. 

 A few of the animals, however, appear to have been digitigrade. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 272. 3 a 



