674 THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect VII. 



different beds, the perpendicularity of the upright trees is 

 probably accidental. This mine is most favourable for 

 observation, for it is in the open air, and exposes to view a 

 natural section of the strata of clay, slate, and coal, with 

 four layers of compact iron ore, in flattened nodules, 

 which are accompanied, and even penetrated, by vege- 

 table remains. The upper ten feet of the quarry consist 

 of micaceous sandstone, which is in some instances stratified, 

 and in others possesses a slaty structure. In this bed 

 are numerous vertical stems traversing all the strata, and 

 appearing like a forest of plants resembling the Bamboo, 

 or large Equiseta, turned into stone, in the place on 

 which it grew. The stems are of two kinds : the one long 

 and slender, from one to four inches in diameter, and nine 

 or ten feet high, being simply jointed and striated 4 solid 

 cylinders of sandstone, with a thin coaly bark. The 

 other, and less common species, are hollow cylindrical stems, 

 spreading out from the base like a root, but without ramifi- 

 cations.* 



11. Upright Trees in the Coal Measures of Nova 

 Scotia. — Though it is unnecessary to multiply examples 

 of the occurrence of trees in an upright position in the 

 carboniferous deposits, this phenomenon is so strikingly 

 displayed in the coal measures of Nova Scotia, and has 

 been so graphically described by Mr. Lyell, that I cannot 

 omit a short abstract of his observations on the erect 

 stems in the cliffs of the Bay of Fundy : — 



" In the coal measures on the southern shores of a branch of the Bay, 

 there are ten successive stages of erect trunks of trees, placed at right 

 angles to the planes of stratification, through a thickness of strata of 

 2,500 feet; the entire series of deposits is estimated to be five miles in 

 thickness. The strata are inclined at an angle of between 25° and 30°. 

 The coal measures rest upon red sandstone and marls, and are overlain 

 by shales containing modiolse. The trunks of the trees are mere hollow 



* Notice sur des Veg6taux Fossiles traversant les couches du 

 Terrain Houiller, par M. Alex. Brongniart, a Paris, 1821. 



