British Association Meeting. 



533 



cud), and their position is so much what they would have if the swelled por- 

 tion had emitted rootlets, that I think they must be points in the stem from 

 which roots have been given off, such as we sec constantly in water plants and 

 marsh plants. 



Fig. 1.— Reduced rough sketch of Sig'llaria 

 (Favulana tessellata), showing the position 

 Of the root-scars. 



Fig, 2.— A few of the leaf-scars (a) and rootlet- 

 scars (b) of the natural size. 



Such roots from the nodes or varices of the plants are indeed common 

 enough in all rooting stems ; but there is no reason to believe these stems were 

 sunk in the earth up to this point. All the appearance of the plant is against 

 this. In a specimen of F. tessellata from Poynton Colliery, the nodes occur at 

 distances of a foot apart, while the specimen is only six inches wide. The 

 freshness and sharpness of the scars below these points, too, sufficiently nega- 

 tives this idea ; for in the underground portions of Sigillaria the leaf-scars are 

 much obliterated, and the rows irregular, even before we reach the true Stig- 

 maria scars on the large bifurcating roots. 



But if the Sigillaria grew in water, as there is the strongest reason to 

 believe they did— and the author referred here to Mr. Binney's observations 

 and the conclusions of Prof. Rogers— it is likely enough certain of the species 

 should have this rooting habit. And the structure I look upon as one more 

 scrap of evidence (in addition to the extremely fine nature of the sediment ill 

 which they grew, and the sea-shells, and annelides, and worm-tracks intermixed 

 with them) of the watery habitat of the coal-plants. 



I am not now arguing for the water being salt ; I think that can be well 



