393 
some have relied on Ceesar’s account, and have believed that at the 
time of his visiting this island no fir-trees grew here, others have 
supposed that they have been subverted, with the vast forests, which 
were felled by the Roman soldiery; and others report that the 
remains of considerable forests of this tree have been seen within the 
memory of man. But their subversion, most probably, took place, 
at an epoch much more distant than that of the invasion of this 
island by Julius Caesar. 
A. specimen of the petrified larch-tree ^Ldvicitcs ^ , from IVfount 
Krappe, in Hungary, is represented at Plate II. Fig. 6, purchased 
by Mr. Strange, from the Butean collection. Plate II. Fig. 8, repre- 
sents a specimen of petrified hazel (Corylites), described in the 
Butean catalogue, as from the Kiesengeberg in Bohemia.^ The 
petrified oak (DryitesJ, is said to be very frequently found ; it pos- 
sesses a darker hue than the recent wood : a specimen, from the 
neighbourhood of Vienna, bears strong characters of its original 
state. The same observation applies to a specimen of the ash 
(Melites) ; of the petrified alder (Cletrites), from Bohemia; and 
of the box-tree (BucitesJ, also from Bohemia. The fossil wood 
of the beech-tree (Onytites Syssites, vel PhegitesJ, of the laurel 
(Daphnites), of the sandal tree QSandalites) , of the willow (Salicifes), 
of the mulberry-tree (3Ioricites), of the vine (T^itites), and several 
others, have been described by different authors. But imagination, 
in many instances, has so much assisted conjecture, respecting 
the kind of tree from which the fossil wood has originated, that 
opinions respecting this circumstance should be received with great 
caution; since very frequently the supposed resemblance is founded 
on colour, and on direction of fibres, which may have undergone 
considerable changes, and have even owed those particular appear- 
ances to the influence of circumstances dependent on^ a subter- 
ranean situation. Whilst in some their vague and indistinct marks 
are insufficient to allow of any opinion being adopted, respecting 
3 E 
VOL. I. 
