The Hazlehurst signal. (Hazlehurst, Miss.) 1883-1885, 1885-10-29
$500 A YEAR.


glomeratca But how, you will ask,
wero all these layers placed thcreP
Geology shows us that tho age JUST
before tho coal was ono OF submcrgence
that Is, most of the land was under
water: but later, there was q rising,
and great tracts Of swamp.land APP
pcared. In them grew trees and vcge-
tation totally unlike those OF to-day.
the ferns even being trees, and largo
ones, too The vegetation was won.
dcrfully profusc. Curious ilowcrless
plants called cryp,ograms were COM
mona sort of ground pine. A Lyco'
podia that lives now, four or five feet
high, in this wonderful time was sixty
or seventy feet high. One OF the COM
monest trees was the Sigillaria, which
grew to u height Of sixty or seventy
feet also, and then branchcd out with
long, narrow leaves, the trunk being
covered with curious scales. They are
frequently found in mines, and are OK.
tremely dangerous, as they hollow out.
become filled with sand and rock. and
when broken off below, shoot down
upon the miners. Their roots arc often
found spreading through the coal In
every direction.
The Lcp.odcndrons were another
form. and tree of this genus was
found In new castle mine forty feet
high and thirteen feet In diameter. The
branches were rs perfect as possible
and about twenty in number With all
this luxuriant foliage there were few,
II any, flowers, the great SCARED trees
and monster ferns forming the most
conspicuous objects out of the three
hundred and fifty coal plants that We
know Of. And with all this, there
were no birds; they had not yet come.
The only living animals were marsh.
loving insects, scorpions. crabs,
worms. a few Tri!obites. (or three.
legged crabs). the curious Crinoids,
and few reptiles; so that probably
the only sound heard was the croaklns
from the low reptiles that lived in tho
swamps.
A curious reptile called the Dendrcr.
pcton has been found coiled up in tho
trunk OF great fossil Sigillaria in
Nova Scotia. Ii had curious sculpt-
urcd head, was covered with scales.
and related to the great frog.liko
Labarynthodort that was as large as
sn elephant
In the coal measure near Westmore.
land, Pa, singular footprints are often
found. and one was traced for long
distance In layer one hundred feet be.
low the Pittsburgh coal The hind feet
were iive-toed. and the fore feet four.
tocd. The distance between the tracks
was about eight inches, showing 1t to
have been large animal 1t was ba-
trachian, so related to the frogs and
toads, and called the Thenaropus.
In tho Nova Scotia coal measure o
gigantic lizard, or snakc.lke creature,
has been. found, called the Eosarus,
that was the sea.serpcnt OF the ancient
sea.
Among the curious animals OF the
time wcre beautiful cup-shapcd corals,
shells. the Productus, Spirifcr aud Or.
this, and land-snail Pupa. Numbers
of coiled shells contained animals re-
lated to the cuttlc.iishcs, and many
other forms equally interesting.
Such were some of the inhabitants
and the general appearance OF the world
in this by.gono age--a time so remote
that we can form no conception OF its
duration. But even then nature, In
obedience to the great governing mind,
was storing up her treasures for the
benefit of man. who seems the culmina.
ton OF Divine evolutionary advance.
ment.-Proc C. +. Holder, IN Golden
Days.