. The testimony of the rocks; . of the grasses, save that the better preserved bractsterminate in fan or kidney-shaped leaflets, with a simplevenation radiating from the base. It is probably a fern,more minute in its pinnules than even our smallest speci-mens of true maidenhair. Its stipes, however, seems pro-portionally stouter than that of any of the smaller fernswith which I am acquainted. But the state of keeping ofthe specimen is not good, nor do I know that another hasyet been found. Further, in the same beds Dr. Flemingfound a curious nondescript vegetable, or rather part of avegetable,
. The testimony of the rocks; . of the grasses, save that the better preserved bractsterminate in fan or kidney-shaped leaflets, with a simplevenation radiating from the base. It is probably a fern,more minute in its pinnules than even our smallest speci-mens of true maidenhair. Its stipes, however, seems pro-portionally stouter than that of any of the smaller fernswith which I am acquainted. But the state of keeping ofthe specimen is not good, nor do I know that another hasyet been found. Further, in the same beds Dr. Flemingfound a curious nondescript vegetable, or rather part of avegetable, with smooth narrow stems, resembling those of * Mr. Page figures, in his Advanced Text Book of Geology (p. 127), a few circular markings from the Forfarshire beds, which he still regards as spawn, probably that of a Cnistacean, and Avhich certainly differ greatly in appearance from the markings found enclosed in the apparent spathcs. 38* 450 ON THE LESS KNOWN the smootli-stemmed organism of the Caithness flagstones, Fig. but Tinlike it in the circumstance that its detached nearly123. parallel stalks anastomose with each other bymeans of cross branches, that unite them inthe middle, somewhat in the style of theSiamese twins. I have heard the doctorsuggest, but know not whether he hasplaced the remark on record, that these par-allel stems may have been but the internalfibres of some larger plant, whose more suc-culent portions have disappeared; and cer-tainly, while such instances of anastomosisare rare among the stems of plants, they arecommon enough among thoir internal fibres^as all who have examined the macerateddebris of a kitchen-garden or a turnip-field must have had occasion to remark. We somQtimes, how-
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