FOSSIL PLANTS. 



659 



acute at one end, and obtuse at tlie otliei' ; an 

 elevated line runs through the axis, and there is 

 in many an inner circle, with marks of a scar. 

 Their seeds, which are small, probably grew in 

 heads or clusters, and in pairs, not adherent to 

 the calyx. They were probably seeds of a dico- 

 tyledonous plant, but of what kind it is impos- 

 sible to form a conjecture. 



Lepidostrodus. Oblong bodies (5, c, cut 230,) 

 are of frequent occurrence along with the fragments 

 of the lepidodendron and ulodendron. They are 

 evidently seed vessels, somewhat similar to the 

 cones of the coniferse, and have been conjectured 

 to be the cones of the lepidodendrons and ulo- 

 dendrons. Although found plentifully associ- 

 ated with the stems of these fossils, no specimen 

 has occurred where they were actually attached. 

 Two or three species have been distinguished. 

 L. ornatns, I. variabilis, and I. comosus. They 

 consist of a conical axis, around which a quan- 

 tity of scales are compactly imbricated, and 

 pointing from the base upwards, (cut 230, fig. 

 c.) Sometimes, however, in specimens, (cut 

 231, fig. c,) they are apparently turned down- 

 wards, which is perhaps owing to their having 

 been forcibly compressed from above downwards. 

 The specimens vary much according to their 

 age. 



Lepidoph/llum. (Fig. d, cut 230.) These lance- 

 olate figures appear to be tSie leaflets of the lepi- 

 dodendron. 





Ulodendron. The plants to wlueli the fossil 

 fragments so frequently found in the coal strata 

 must have belonged, and to which the name of 

 ulodendron has been given, must have borne a 

 near resemblance to the lepidodendron ; indeed, 

 by some, the former are supposed to be only 

 older specimens of the latter, with their areolse 

 altered by age and the lateral expansion of the 

 bark. There are grounds for supposing, how- 

 ever, that the ulodendrons are distinct plants, 

 and that they may have formed a family allied 



to the lepidodendrons. The general markings of 

 the bark will be seen from the figure to be some- 

 what different in shape from the areola; of the 

 lepidodendron; and interspersed over the surface 

 of the bark at irregular intervals are larger 

 scars, which may have been the points of at- 

 tachment of branches or masses of inflorescence. 

 " They are," says Mr Lindley, " connected with 

 these scars, two considerations of much impor- 

 tance. 1st. That the supposed masses of inflo- 

 rescence were not only neither terminal, nor dis- 

 posed spirally upon the stem, but were also pro- 

 duced upon the old trunks, and not upon the 

 young branches, circumstances at variance with 

 any thing we know of recent coniferse or lyco- 

 podiacese ; and, 2dly. That the scars are placed 

 one beneath the other, and not spirally, or alter- 

 nately upon the stem. The stems were most 

 likely cylindrical, though the fossils have been 

 rendered flat by pressure. Two species have 

 been enumerated, u. majua, and u. minus, but 

 the latter may only be a younger specimen of 

 the former. 



BOTHRODENDRON PD^XTATnM, Lvidlei/. TwO 



specimens were found in the Kewcastle coal seam. 

 " Upon the surface of the stem are discoverable 

 a considerable number of minute dots, an-anged 

 in a quincuncial manner, something less than 

 half an inch apart, and it is probable that these 

 may be the scars of leaves, at intervals of ten or 

 twelve inches; the stem is marked vrith deep 

 circular concavities four or five inches across, 

 at the bottom of each of which is a distinct 

 fracture, indicating that something has been 

 broken out, while the sides of the concavities 

 have concentric marks, as if from the pressure 

 upon the rounded scales. Fragments were 

 found in these cavities, which show that they 

 are the points of attachment of very large cones, 

 consisting, as far as can be made out from what 

 is left of rounded polished scales, three-tenths of 

 an inch thick, attached to a central axis, and fit- 

 ting accurately to each other. Upon the whole, 

 they have so completely the appearance of the 

 base of such a strobilus as that of Finns Lani- 

 bertiana, that we cannot doubt that the plant 

 belonged to the natural order coniferas. In re- 

 cent plants, however, we have nothing at all 

 like this in the manner in which the cones ap- 

 pear, for it seems as if they grew from the old 

 trunk, unless, indeed, we are to suppose, of which 

 there is no proof, that the plant knew no seasons, 

 but gi'ew with such rapidity that its branches 

 had acquired by the second year a diameter of 

 seven or eight inches."* 



SiGiLLARiA. This is a genus of which there 

 are several species, very commonly found in the 

 coal fields. The stem is conical, deeply marked 

 at intervals with furrows, but not jointed. Nu- 



* Fossil Flora, Vol. II. 



