BRITISH ASSOCiATlON MEETING. 
533 
end), and their position is so nmcli what' they would have if the sw elled por- 
tion had emitted rootlets, that I think 'they must be points in the stem from 
which roots have been given olF, such as we see constantly in water plants and 
marsh plants. 
Fipr. 1.— Reduced rough sketch of Sig-llaria 
(Fa%-ularxa 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 arc 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. tcuHclhda from Poynton Colliery, the nodes occur at 
distauces 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 Si fj (I I aria grew in water, as there is the sfrougest reason tO 
believe they did — and the author referred here to ^Ir. Binney's observations 
and the coucbisions of Prof. Kogcrs — it is likely enough certain of the species 
hould have this rooting habit. xVnd the structure I look upon as one more 
>crap of evidence (in addition to the extremely fine nature of the sediment ill 
which they grew, and the sea-shells, and annelidcs, 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 
