IN NEWCASTLE COAL PITS. 
457 
J->indley and Hutton state (Fossil Flora, Vol. 
page 16 ) that “ It is the beds of shale, or 
’‘^gillaceousschistus, which afford the most abnn- 
^Uint supply of these curious relics of a former 
^^orld ; the fine particles of which they are com- 
posed having sealed up and retained in wonderful 
Perfection, and beauty, the most delicate forms of 
the vegetable organic structure. Where shale 
Borins the roof of the w'orkable seams of coal, as 
h generally docs, we have the most abundant 
display of fossils, and this, not perhaps arising 
®o much from any peculiarity in these beds, as 
^*‘om their being more extensively known and 
Examined than any others. The principal de- 
posit is not in immediate contact with the coal, 
^at about from twelve to twenty inches above it ; 
aiid such is the immense profusion in this situa- 
^•on, that they are not unfrequently the cause of 
''ary serious accidents, by breaking the adhesion 
af the shale bed, and causing it to separate and 
^all, when by the operation of the miner the coal 
"'Jfich supported it is removed. After an exten- 
fall of this kind has taken place, it is a cu- 
'‘^oiis sight to see the roof of the mine covered 
"'dh these vegetable forms, some of them of great 
^aauty and delicacy ; and the observer cannot 
^“^il to be struck with the extraordinary confusion, 
''dd the numerous marks of strong mechanical 
dctiou exhibited by their broken and disjointed 
''amains.” 
