. Chamber's scientific reader : illustrated with wood engravings. Readers. 102 GEOLOGY. the banks of the rivers that swept in mighty volume to the carbonifer- ous sea. We see the lepidodendron x or scale-tree, with its pine-like leaves, beautiful scaly bark, and great cones, from which the seed of the ancient pine may be gathered in hundreds to this very day; the sigillaria2 or seal-tree, with its seal-stamped trunk and great pitted and branched roots, long thought to be a tree of a different species ; calamite3 or reed, rising high into the air, like the bamboo, with its joints and leafy bran
. Chamber's scientific reader : illustrated with wood engravings. Readers. 102 GEOLOGY. the banks of the rivers that swept in mighty volume to the carbonifer- ous sea. We see the lepidodendron x or scale-tree, with its pine-like leaves, beautiful scaly bark, and great cones, from which the seed of the ancient pine may be gathered in hundreds to this very day; the sigillaria2 or seal-tree, with its seal-stamped trunk and great pitted and branched roots, long thought to be a tree of a different species ; calamite3 or reed, rising high into the air, like the bamboo, with its joints and leafy branchlets; and many more, equally beautiful and well preserved. The animal remains found are numerous and strange. Corals are abundant and beautiful; but no sea-creature was more common than the encrinite, which rose on its long jointed stalk, bearing its cup-shaped body, with its hundred fingers, that moved on all sides to secure its prey, like the anemone of our own seas. The remains of encrinites are in some places so abund- ant as to form thick beds of limestone, called Encrinital Limestone ; and when these, hard as marble, are polished, they present a most beauti- ful surface, through which is seen the exquisite carving of the encrinite stars. The little joints of the stems are often found detached, with a hole through the centre ; these are known as Fairy Beads and as St Cuthbert's Beads; and when strung together, were used as a rosary, and no more beautiful ornament was ever hung round the neck of a saint. We also find star-fishes and sea-urchins ; and the spines of the latter may be seen running through the limestone like threads of burnished silver. The shells are very numerous and varied ; univalves and bivalves of both sea and land being everywhere found, and some of these can hardly be distinguished from shells gathered on our own shores, so perfect are they in form, colour, and structure. They may be detached from the rock, and collections made of them as easily as of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1872
