FOSSIL PLANTS. 



PLATE I. 



Catamites cannasformis. 



SCHLOTH. 



The very beautiful specimen represented in this Plate 

 comes from the shale lying immediately above the Ben- 

 sham coal-seam, in Jarrow Colliery. 



Owing to the fact that towards their base the stems 

 and branches of Calamites are very similar in several of 

 the so-called species allied to Calamites cannwformis, abso- 

 lute certainty cannot be claimed for the present reference. 

 It is, however, that adopted by both Lindley and Hutton, 

 in speaking of this specimen, and that likewise followed 

 in the " Catalogue, ?? p. 6. 



Unfortunately, beyond mere mention, the Hutton 

 papers do not contain any details respecting this, in 

 some respects, unique fossil. 



It is from a structural point of view that it derives 

 importance, since it shows us in a most clear and precise 

 manner the mode of attachment of branches to stem, or 

 branchlets to branch — for it is, of course, impossible to 

 say whether the central column be the main stem of a 

 somewhat slender plant, or the branch of a larger in- 

 dividual, although the latter alternative is probably the 

 right one. 



We have here, then, a horizontal section of a Calamitean 

 stem or branch, from seven points of the circumference 



A 



