486 PEOCEEDrNGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5, 



but this is not wonderful, since in the Coal-formation the wood of 

 conifers is very abundant, while their foliage is extremely rare. 



Before leaving this ancient taxine conifer, it may be useful to 

 notice the deceptive appearances which its wood presents when im- 

 perfectly preserved. In some parts of my second specimen the woody 

 tissue has been entirely obliterated, and is replaced by a kind of 

 oolitic concretionary structure, apparently connected with the pre- 

 sence of iron-pyrites. In other portions the wood seems to have 

 been resolved into a homogeneous paste before silicification ; and this, 

 being moulded on minute granular crystals of quartz, assumes the 

 aspect of a tissue of fine parenchymatous ceUs — a deceptive appearance 

 very common in badly preserved fossils penetrated by calcareous or 

 siliceous matter. In other parts of the specimen the ceU- walls remain, 

 but in an opaque coaly condition, which conceals their spiral fibres 

 and discs. I am not quite certain that this last form may not repre- 

 sent the natural state of the heart-wood of the tree. In the first 

 specimen, that obtained by Sir W. E. Logan, the whole trunk appears 

 to be well preserved, with the exception of the medullary rays. 



4. PoAciTES, Knoeeia (fig. 5), Caebonized "Wood (fig. 6), etc. 



In addition to the plants above described, the Gaspe sections con- 

 tain, especially in the beds near the coal-seam, abundance of what 

 seem to be long parallel -sided leaves, with delicate longitudinal 

 striae, and varying from a fourth of an inch to an inch in breadth. 

 They may be placed provisionally in the genus Poacites, but are 

 perhaps leaves of Noeggeraihia. 



Fig 5 a There is also in the Collection of the Geological 



Survey of Canada a remarkable fragment, covered 

 tj\A with sharp, flat, angular scales. "Were it not for 



W^ its carbonaceous character, I should be inclined to 



^. - , regard it as of animal rather than vegetable origin. 



^^\ ' If a plant, it must, I presume, be referred to the 

 genus Knorria (see fig. 5). In the same collection 

 is a fiattened and obscurely marked stem, from rocks 

 of the same age at Kettle Point, Lake Huron. Its 

 markings are scarcely sufficiently distinct for descrip- 

 tion, but cannot be distinguished from those of some 

 Fig. 5. Knorria? of the varieties of Knorria imhrtcata. Another suite 



a, nat. size ; of specimens in the Museum of the Geological Survey 



b, magnified, indicates the existence of a large plant, the precise 

 nature of which it is perhaps at present impossible to determine. 



One of the specimens from Gaspe has the aspect of a long flattened 

 trunk, having in a few places the remains of a carbonaceous coating, 

 presenting longitudinal ribs like those of Calamites. It is crossed at 

 intervals by markings not quite at right angles to the sides of the 

 stem, each of which consists of a sharp ridge with a furrow at either 

 side. The specimen is four inches in breadth and about four feet in 

 length. Other specimens from Kettle Point vary from five inches 

 to one inch in breadth ; and some of them show traces of longitu- 



