Fossils in Coal. 
197 
the galleries of these instructive coal-mines are over- 
hung. The roof is covered as with a canopy of 
gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of most 
graceful foliage flung in wild, irregular profusion over 
every portion of its surface. The effect is heightened 
by the contrast of the coal-black colour of these 
vegetables with the light ground-work of the rock to 
which they are attached. The spectator feels himself 
transported, as if by enchantment, into the forests of 
another world; he beholds trees, of forms and 
Fig. 52. Plalyschisma ocula l Morris. A Pernio-Carbouiforous 
univalve. Harper’s Hill, Newcastle (N.S.W.) 
characters now unknown upon the surface of the 
earth, presented to his senses almost in the beauty 
and vigour of their primeval life. ,, 
If we grant that coal represents the growth 
through long periods of a luxuriant vegetation — trunks, 
branches, leaves and seeds or spores — we have to 
consider under what conditions these <n*eat thick 
o 
masses of organic materials accumulated. 
Did the vegetation which forms coal grow just 
l Strzelecki s I’Liys. Descript. New South Wales, Piute xviii. 
