ljr THE STORY OF THE EARTH. 



are usually large macrospores, such as are found 

 in the lower part of the fruit of the living Selagi- 

 nclla : and the fossil Triplosporites. The fossil 

 Is of the coal, termed Catamites^ are closely 

 ited to the living Equisctum, although the 

 grow to a comparatively large size. Ex- 

 ally the plant terminates downward in a cone. 

 trunk is divided transversely by nodes, and 

 the internal east of the internodes is tinted. At 

 the nodes the stein gives off leaves in circles, and 



these leaves supported leaflets arranged in whorls. 

 The leaves are known as Asterophylites % with needle- 



3 ; Annularis with blade-shaped leaf- 

 lets ; and SphctlOphyllum, with wider wedge-shaped 

 leaflets. There arc also several types of fruit, 

 which closely resemble the fruit of Kquisetum, 

 except that some of the leaves do not bear spo- 

 rangia, and thus form a protective covering to the 

 others. The Spores are of the same size in the 

 living and fossil types. 



The ferns of the coal known under such 

 names as Alethopteris y Neuropteris y Odontopteris y 

 Sphenopterity closely resemble existing ferns, in so 

 far a- can be determined; for the fructification is 



not often preserved. Four of the eight existing 



families of ferns are known in the coal measures. 

 Tree ferns have been described. 



Animals of the Coal Forests* 



Terrestrial shells are not preserved in many 

 logical deposits, and only two genera are 



known from the Coal Measures. They are both 

 small, and were found in a bed of underclay, m 



ij ei about two inches thick, in N itia, 



probably swept down by the ram, as shells in a 



