A Pictorial Atlas of Fossil Remains, consisting of coloured illustrations selected from Parkinson's "Organic remains of a former world," and Artis's "Antediluvian phytology."

by Gideon Algernon Mantell

Fig. 1.
STEM OF LEPIDODENDRON WITH ROOTS.

Fig. 2.

In the Instance of the upright stems of Sigillariæ in the same coal-field, the roots were also unequivocally Stigmariæ. Fig. 3, represents one of these erect stems, sixteen Inches high and twelve inches in diameter at the top, which dropped from the roof of the bed after the coal had been removed. Part of the coaly bark remains at c. The decorticated part of the trunk is covered with minute scales as far as the point h, a few inches below the first ramification of the roots. The carbonaceous crust investing the roots was thick at the upper part, but gradually became thin, and at a, and b, was a mere friable pellicle, that fell off upon the slightest touch.

Fig. 3.
STEM OF SIGILLARIA ALTERNANS, ¹/₁₂ natural size.

Fig. 4.

The exact position of the tree in relation to the underlying coal is shown in the above section. Fig. 4. Immediately over the coal there is a bed of hard shale, six inches in depth, in which no fossils are found; this is overlaid by a softer shale abounding in coal-plants; all the upright stems were rooted in the six-inch shale. Upon clearing the base of this tree, a complete set of conical tap-roots was discovered, arranged as in the annexed sketch. Fig. 5. There are four large tap-roots in each quarter of the stump, and five inches below these another set of smaller tap-roots; the total number amounting to eighteen. The horizontal roots are seen to branch off in a regular manner, the base being divided into four nearly equal parts by deep channels, extending from the centre to the points i, k, l, m.