1896.] 



Trees in Coal Formation of Nova Scotia. 



363 



The material thus obtained has proved rich in Batrachian remains, 

 but less favourably preserved for extraction and study than in some 

 of the previous specimens ; and though I published a preliminary 

 note on the material in the ' Canadian Record of Science ' in 1894, I 

 was desirous to revisit the coast and to study the mode of occurrence 

 of the trunks in these new beds as well as to ascertain if additional 

 material could be obtained from them before reporting to this Society. 

 This I was enabled to do in the summer of 1895, when I succeeded in 

 obtaining from the reef extending seawards from one of the beds, the 

 bases of two additional stumps, the upper parts of which had, how- 

 ever, been removed by the waves. 



One of the trees discovered by Mr. McNaughton was in Group 4, 

 Section XIII, and upper part of Coal-group 26 of the section in my 

 " Acadian Geology." It was, therefore, about 190 ft. below the bed 

 at Coal-mine Point in which the original reptiliferous trees were 

 rooted. The lower part of the trunk was filled to the height of 

 18 in. with black and grey coaly and arenaceous matter of laminated 

 structure, and containing the animal remains, which were of dark 

 colour and much injured by the percolation of ferruginous water. 

 Above this, to the height of about 7 ft., the trunk was filled wit'i 

 sandstone. It was 22 in. in diameter at the base. This tree bad 

 been rooted in a grey shale or underclay 5 ft. thick, and the stem 

 w T as enclosed in a sandstone about 7 ft. in thickness. The top of the 

 trunk is cut off by a shaly underclay, on which were seen a few ob- 

 scure footprints of small reptiles, and on this rest coaly layers and 

 clay partings, of Coal-group 20, 2 ft. 4 in. thick, and roofed by a 

 tough, bituminous shale with shells of Naiadites, Cyprids, and fish 

 scales. The remains of the two additional stumps found in the reef 

 were similar to that in the cliff, but only the basal part of their pro- 

 ductive material remained. So far as yet studied, the bones in these 

 three stumps belong to species already known, as follows : — 



Hylonomus Lyelli, f scattered bones of several individuals, and one 



H. latidens, 1 nearly complete skeleton. 



Hylerpeton longidentatum, three individuals. 



H. Dawsoni, two individuals. 



Dendrerpeton Acadianum, three individuals. 



JD. Oweni, one individual. 



Fritschia curtidentata, one individual. 



There are also considerable portions of cuticle with horny scales 

 and ornamental appendages, apparently belonging to Hylerpeton and 

 Dendrerpeton, and also specimens of their ventral armour, and a few 

 remains of Millipedes. 



The other tree, taken out by Mr. McNaughton, was rather more 

 than 204 ft. vertically below the preceding, and, in round numbers, 

 400 ft. below the original bed at Coal-mine Point. It was in Divi 



vol. lxix, 2 c 



