1 76 Mr. Hawkshaw on Fossil Trees, S(c. 



perpendicularly, would be a much more marvellous thing than that they once grew 

 where they now stand. 



Admitting them to have lived where they have been discovered, and consi- 

 dering as a general rule that trees grow perpendicularly to the horizon, these fos- 

 sils would indicate, that the strata of the coal formation on which they rest, were 

 formerly in a plane parallel to that of the horizon., and have since been inclined 

 to the angle at which they now lie. 



With regard to the species of the trees, there is a difficulty in deciding upon it. 

 The friable and disintegrated state of the coaly envelope gave little or no clue to 

 the external markings of the bark. The great size of the stems and the appear- 

 ance of flutings would lead to the belief that they are specimens of the Sigillaria 

 pachyderma ; but this opinion depends chiefly on the flutings for its support, and 

 they are perhaps too indistinct and irregular to be very decisive evidence. 



Could the fossils be shown to be specimens of Lepidodendron Sternbergii, it would 

 be an interesting fact, in conjunction with the circumstance of the ground around 

 them being strewed with fossil specimens of Lepidostrobus variabilis, which M. 

 Adolphe Brongniart was of opinion belonged, as organs of fructification, to a Lepi- 

 dodendron. How far the absence of the rhomboidal scars in the lower part of spe- 

 cimens of so great dimensions should weigh against such a supposition, is for more 

 competent fossil botanists than myself to determine. 



Manchester, May 1839. 



