CALAMITES PSEUDO-BAMBUSIA. 



FALSE-BAMBOO CALAMITE. 



Generic Character. 



Stem jointed, longitudinally striated ; impressions at the articulations usually 

 forming rings round the trunk. 



Specific Character. 

 CALAMITES pseudo-bambusia. Articulations more or less distant according 

 to the size of the plant ; stria intercepted at the articulations. 



Synonyms. 



Catamites pseudo-bambusia. Caudex arboreus, lineis parallelis striatus, ad in- 

 ternodia secundum magnitudinem plantse plus minus distantia, suturis interceptus. 

 Sternberg. Essai, part 1, p. 26, tab. 13, f. 3. 



Phytolithus (arundineus) graminis ? Martin, Petref. Derb. pi. 25. 



Description and Locality. 



Stem arborescent, sometimes five feet in length, simple, cylindrical, striated, 

 jointed. 



Articulations contracted, very distinct. 



Stria of the stem cut off at each articulation. 



Found imbedded, in the clay which fills the fissures of a very fine grit stone, 

 called by the workmen 'Delf/ which forms a stratum from 20 to 25 feet thick, in 

 the quarry at Leabrook, near Wentworth in Yorkshire. 



Immediately under this stratum there is a thin bed of very good coal; and at a 

 considerable depth below this bed there is a second bed of coal eight feet thick, 

 which is covered in particular places with immense masses of fossil plants. In the 

 quarry at Leabrook, the space between the two beds of coal is partly occupied by a 

 strong grit stone, and consequently there are no fossil plants ; but in other parts the 

 eight feet-coal is covered with a bed of shale, in which great numbers of these plants 

 are found. Indeed it is of very common occurrence throughout the whole of the coal 

 formations of England. 



Observations. 



The first figure represents part of the middle of a stem of this plant ; and the 

 second, the upper termination of the stem, to show its gradual diminution, and ending 

 in a point. 



This plant is also referrable to the bambusites of Dr. Martius. 



