1865.] DAWSON— COAL-FOEMATIOIs'. 135 



ferently arranged, and the woody cylinder must have been much 

 thicker in proportion. 



The tissues of Calamodendron are by no means infrequent in the 

 coal, and casts of the pith arc common in the sandstones ; but its 

 foliage and fruit are unknown. (Fig. 31, PI. VII., a to c.) 



5. Calamites. — Nine species of true Calamites have been recognized 

 in JSTova Scotia, of which seven occur at the Joggins,the most abundant 

 being C. SucJcovii and O. Cistii. The Calamites grew in dense brakes 

 on sandy and muddy flats. They were unquestionably allied to Equi- 

 setacece, and produced at their nodes either verticillate simple linear 

 leaves, as in C. Cistii, or verticillate branchlets with pinnate or verticil- 

 late leaflets, as in 0. Suckovii and 0. nodosus. The Calamites do not 

 seem to have contributed much to the growth of coal, though their 

 remains are not infrequent in it. The soils in which they most fre- 

 quently grew were apparently too wet and liable to inundation and 

 silting up to be favourable to coal-accumulation. I have elsew^here 

 shown that some of the species of Calamites gave off numerous ad- 

 ventitious roots from the lower parts of their stems, and also multi- 

 plied by budding at their bases*. 



Of the genus Equisetites one species has been found in Cape Breton; 

 but it has not as yet been recognized at the Joggins. (Fig. 88, PI. 

 XII.) 



6. Asteropliyllites, &c. — Five s-pecies oi Astero2:)JiylUtes, one oi An- 

 nularia, five of 8pJieno])Jiyllum, and three of Pinnidaria, have been 

 found in Nova Scotia. I place these together as probably allied 

 plaijts. The Pinnularice were apparently slender roots, with thin 

 epidermis, cellular bark, and a central axis. The others were pro- 

 bably low plants growing in wet places. I am not aware that 

 they contributed to any great extent to the accumulation of coal ; but 

 as their tissues were scalariform, similar to those of ferns, it would 

 not be easy to recognize them. A beautiful specimen of Spheno- 

 phyllum emarc/inatum from New Brunswick, in the collection of Sir 

 W. E. Logan, has enabled me to ascertain that its stem had a simple 

 axis^of one bundle of reticulato-scalariform vessels, like those of Tme- 

 sipteris as figured by Brongniart. These curious plants were no 

 doubt cryptogamous, having a habit of growth like that of Equise- 

 taceoi, leaves like those of ferns or Marsiliacem, and fructification 

 and structure like those of Lycopodiaceai. They were closely allied 

 to Asteropliyllites and Annidaria. 



7. Filices. — Of the numerous species of ferns in the Carboniferous 

 rocks of Nova Scotia, only a very few have been recognized at the Jog- 

 gins. This may in part be due to the soft and crumbling character 

 of the shales ; but after much examination I am inclined to believe that 

 the flora of the Joggins was originally poor in ferns. While the 

 coal-field of Sydney, Cape Breton, has afforded forty-six species, 

 the Joggins and its vicinity have as yet yielded only six or seven. 

 Of these by far the most abundant is AletJiopteris lonchitica, which ap- 

 pears throughout the Middle Coal-formation under a great number 

 of varietal forms. It is also found abundantly at Springhill. At 



* Quart. Jourii. Geol. See. vol. x. p. 34 



l2 



