336 
PETRIFIED FOREST OF 
abounds in ammonites, terehrce, trigonice, &c.) is a 
bed of limestone, much resembling, in appearance, 
some of the tertiary lacustrine limestones. Upon 
this stratum is a layer of what appears to have been 
an ancient vegetable soil ; it is of a dark brown 
colour, contains a large proportion of earthy lignite, 
and, like the modern soil on the surface of the island, 
many water-worn stones. This layer is called the 
dii't-bed by the quarrymen ; and in, and upon it, 
are a great number of silicified trunks of coniferous 
trees, and plants allied to the recent cycas and 
zamia. Many of the stems of the trees, as well as 
the plants, are still erect, as if petrified while grow- 
ing undisturbed in their native forest ; the former, 
having their roots in the soil, and their trunks ex- 
tending into the superincumbent strata of limestone. 
On a late visit to the quarries, a large area of the sur- 
face of the dirt-bed having been 'cleared, preparatory 
to its removal for the purpose of extracting the 
building-stone from beneath, several stems, from two 
to three feet in height, were exposed, each standing 
erect in the centre of a mound or dome of earth, 
which had evidently accumulated around the base 
and roots of the trees ; presenting an appearance 
as if the trees had been broken, or torn off, at a 
short distance from the ground. Portions of trunks 
and branches were seen, some lying on the surface, 
and others mibedded in the dirt-bed ; many of 
these were nearly two feet in diameter, and the 
united fragments of one tree measured upwards of 
thirty feet in length. The silicified jilants allied to 
the cycas are found in the intervals between the 
trees ; and I dug up from the dirt-bed several tliat 
