64 DESCRIPTION OF FOSSIL TREES DISCOVERED 



escarpment named the Scuir of Eig, not however, I believe, in situ, but 

 among fragments of rocks of the oolitic series. These beds are so similar 

 to those of Troternish in the Island of Skye, that it is difficult, on minute 

 comparison, to distinguish them. According to Messrs Sedgewick and 

 Murchison, the Troternish beds are the upper strata of the great oolitic 

 series, and resemble the Cornbrash and Forest Marble. The fossils of the 

 lias generally are of a light brown colour, but this is remarkably dark, be- 

 ing of a deep black hue when viewed by reflected light, and dark-brown 

 when seen by transmitted light. 



The tissue in a transverse slice viewed with the naked eye, is disposed 

 in concentric layers, the boundaries of which are very distinctly marked. 

 The medullary rays are numerous, and in the tissue are scattered oval or 

 roundish lacunae of various sizes. In a slice about three inches in diameter, 

 and including only part of one side of the stem or branch, I have counted 

 thirty-three woody layers. 



Plate XV. Fig. b. Represents the entire breadth of three layers and 

 part of a fourth, as seen in a transverse slice under the microscope, and 

 magnified in the same degree as the three upper figures of the same 

 plate. It is seen that the transverse sections of the elongated cellules of 

 the Eig fossil, are much less in diameter than those of the fossils of the 

 English lias. Two of the lacunae are represented : they exhibit the appear- 

 ance of large oblong apertures in the woody tissue, generally filled, when 

 the slice is somewhat thick, with reticulations. The medullary rays, al- 

 though very distinct, are frequently not continuous from the centre outwards, 

 but are interrupted at the outer margin of the woody layers. The tissue 

 in other respects resembles that of the recent Coniferae, and of the fossil 

 genera Peuce, Pinites, and Pitus. 



Fig. 7. Represents a portion of a transverse slice, magnified nearly in 

 the same degree as the large figure in Plate XXX. of the Fossil Flora, 

 or about 150 times. Here the tissue is seen to present the same aspect ; 

 and although several series of cellules differ more or less in appearance 

 from others, I am unable to see in them any real difference, nor have I 

 any where found a tissue resembling that represented in the Plate just 



