VARIOUS KINDS OF FOSSIL PLANTS 



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13 



Fig. 6. — Impression oi Neuropteris Leaf, sliowiiig details of veins, the leaves in 

 partial relief. (Photo.) 



Beautiful specimens of this kind are to be seen in the 

 Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh where the coiled 

 bud of a young fern leaf has been separated from the 

 rock on which it was pressed, and mounted on glass. 

 Such specimens might be called mummy plants, for they 

 are the actual plant material, but so decayed and 

 withered that the internal cells are no longer intact. 

 In really well preserved ones it is sometimes possible 

 to peel off the plant film, and then treat it with strong 

 chemical agents to clear the black carbon atoms away, 

 and mount it for microscopic examination, when the 

 actual outline of the epidermis cells can be seen. 



