New-York tribune., 1842-04-01

|
| species of plants have been well determined By /
I! ijotanis,s. some of whom have devoted great
1 psr. of ,aeir lives to this study From, ,hi, It i
n be inferred that the carboniferous formation OF
Europe and America Is made up of com par,iively |
rcccn, plants. viii ;.llrde TO three four Of
the mos; Tecnar facts that lead to this conclusion
Inthe iits, place the boughs ard leaves OF Ferns |
are the 'nost frequently and striiingiy met in Ame
rica a. well in Europe. So perfectly have they I
been preserved thattherc be no doubt that they
are rea!lf' ferns and in some cases even their in
| horescence has been preserved the back Of the
lca%cs Where We have not The flowers s.and prints
remaining have found t;posSibe to distinguish
Tie different SPECIES Of fossils and ancient ferns
by attending TO the vcning of lheleavc<. AT lea,t
one hundred species determined in this way.
The most nunlcrous Of these vegetable veings
are those w!licl llavc=becn called Sigilldria-orI
| IrccaFcrls. Their stems are found TO be tuteG
vertically and in the fiutines little starsas
were-each Of which indicates the place where
the leaf was attached: and i, Is evident, a NJ.
-ADoLPHE BRoSGSIART= has shewn. that they are
recent Tree Ferns. One argument for believing
ibis that although the bark Of these trees is 50
well marked that forty-lwo species have been des
cribed, YET there IS ncver found any leaf attached
while we have in the same beds loose leaves in abun-
dance which have no trunks The natural Inference
i that they must have belonged to the arborescent
ferns: as for instance the section named Caulop
teris > admitted OK all TO have belonged to this
species. his fact is also important because the
tree ferns and especially. the C0ulortcriS are now
known be exclusively the inhabitants Of warm
and humid cinate--nuch more hot and moist than
in those parts Of the globe where coal now abounds.
For we find coal not only IN England and Nova
Scotia but as far north rs Mclye's =1,laNd and
BatiS Bay. in climate where the growth of Sicll
4, Il T.
thai when these vegetables existed there must
have becna warmer and probably a more cqua-
bic climate than now even in warmer lati;udcs.
For even in the tropical zones, where meet
with=largc dcvelopcments OF tie Caulopte11s,
their general growth is much smaller than these
fossil reinalus. SO is IL with all the plants OF the
fir ,ibc many OF them of winch find o>silre
mains in the coal now exist only in the Southern
atudcs where no coal is found The 4r0ucario
w,zlow find in Chill and othcrwarm parts OF the
g!ol;e, but the North, where its fossils
abcund in coal. The gigantic plants of the Equi
cetace0ns tubc are also found to be much smaller
now in hot laitudes tran are their foSsil'remains
This would lead to the Inference that the climate
in=Nor;hcrn latitudes was then much warmer and
more mest than it is now in anv Part of the globe
| The same thing is made evident by {, comparison
pt these to>si! .Stoi1ioria wththosc which now at
tain their grcutest size III the island. of the Pacific
Ilav, also found several plants as the 1Astero
plyi|'tes in the Apalachan chain, this year, which
! have also from Noya.Scotia and Europe, and
which cannot certainly be referred 10 any living
families. These all, however, bcspeak terrestrial
! vc"e,ntioa though occasionally found mixed with
marine shells and corals.
| Another class Of fossils common in coal shaleS
| is tic p3dOdcndr0-somcwllat allied in form to
! the modern 2ycop0dimms, or white MOSES. Though
tile mosscs OF the present day more than
mere shrubs in the warnest regions, yet al
the carboniicrous period they attained an cnor-
nous deveorcmcnt being 80, GO or even 20 feet
high
There have been two theories to explain how
these plants could have been carried into the sea, |
estuarcs or lakes, and drawn beneath the water
and accumulated III the strata so to form coal. !
One of them asserts that the plants must have
been dred and buried in the water since we |
| find them intcrcollatcd between different states or
slalcs just plants lie between the leaves of Ii
botanSt'S herb0rsmm and pres scd together, so
have these ferns been found ilaltencd between the
seams of fslale. They have been carried from the |
place where they grew, driftcd to certain
distance, water. logged and sunk i'll the mus, and |
! other strata deposited above them, forn4 |
this INTERPOLATION between the different leaves of
/ clay
Burmnn. believed from seeing the roots, ,thatthc
plants grew on the spot where we now find them
But when we come to observe that these roots ter
inmate in different strata j, will seem evident thar
they were carried down, sunk and stuck in the.
mud snags now in the Mississippi. In the
quarlzosc sandstone St Etcnne, near Lyons.
are found vast number Of these LeptdOdendra.|
and Sigilaria. no one apparently can doubt thai
these drltlcd tn their present position. and that
they were afterwards covered with sand brought
down by rivers. Many appearances favor this hy
i /
shells then vegetable matter and then mixture
of fresh water and marine shells.
But tHoHel, these facts may be thus planned the
discoveries that are being made lead geoogistS tc
come round more and more To the opposite view of
the case-to the hypothesis which refers the growth
otfarge hcds c coal to the increase on the spot
after the manner Of peat, ii is seen in cold and
dark climates This may appear contradictory TO
wnat=l sid with regard TO a change of climate
since the carbuniteroGs cru but ii is rot
sarily 50. Tie opin;onof WERNER, confirmed By
the specuIaiions of BnoNGSlART, led me 10 be-
ievc contrary To my early impressions, that by far
the greater part of the coal had grown in the spot
where it is found. Accommodating Ike peat on
the land the land must have been submerged again
and agaa 10 allow the strata Of sand and mnd TO
be snpciiinpoSed Is we now find them.
liz cxcavating for coal at Bnlgray near Gus-
gov, in 1885, many upright trees were found with
their roots terminating in bed of coal and only;
three years age in cuttiNg section rt the Bolton
Railroad in lancashire eight were
found in a vertical position; they were referable
TO the LcOidodcni1d species and allied TO the L y
cOp0diHms, or club moses. All were within 10 or
80 feet OF each other. and some of them were i
feet in circumference at the bottom The roots
spread in all directions aud reached beds of clay,
and also spread the seams of coal
! There is no doubt that these trees grew where
lcv found nid ha, the roots are in their orig
inal position. The seaE Of coalhas possibly been