CONIFERiE IN THE SECONDARY SERIES. 489 
Fragments of trunks of Coniferous wood, and 
occasionally leaves and cones occur through all 
stages of the Oolite formation, from the Lias to 
the Portland stone. On the upper surface of 
the Portland stone, Ave find the remains of an 
ancient forest, in which are preserved large pros- 
trate silicified trunks, and silicified stumps of 
Coniferse, having their roots still fixed in the 
black vegetable mould in which they grew. 
Fragments of coniferous wood are also frequent 
throughout the Wealden and Green-sand forma- 
tions, and occur occasionally in Chalk.* 
It appears that the Coniferae are common to 
fossil iferous strata of all periods ; they are least 
abundant in the Transition series, more numerous 
in the Secondary, and most frequent in the Ter- 
tiary series. Hence we learn that there has been 
no time since the commencement of terrestrial 
vegetation on the surface of our Globe, in which 
large Coniferous trees did not exist ; but our pre- 
sent evidence is insufficient, to ascertain with ac- 
curacy the proportions they bore to the relative 
numbers of other families of plants, in each of 
the successive geological epochs, which are thus 
connected with our own, by anew and beautiful 
series of links, derived from one of the most im- 
portant tribes of the vegetable kingdom. 
* There is in the Oxford Museum a fragment of silicitied coni- 
ferous wood, perforated by Teredines, found by Rev. Dr, Faussett, 
in a chalk flint at Lower Hardres, near Canterbury. 
