. The testimony of the rocks; . c marks by which to distinguish them. We see,however, in some cases in these sections what would beotherwise unseen, — the flat naked seeds lying embedded intheir hollow receptacles between the scales, and in as per-fect a state of keeping as the seeds of recent pines that hadripened only a twelvemonth ago. Had not the vitality ofseeds its limits in time, like life of all other kinds, onemight commit these perfect fossil germs to the soil, in thehope of seeing the old extinct forests called, through theiragency, a second time into existence. Of three apparentspe
. The testimony of the rocks; . c marks by which to distinguish them. We see,however, in some cases in these sections what would beotherwise unseen, — the flat naked seeds lying embedded intheir hollow receptacles between the scales, and in as per-fect a state of keeping as the seeds of recent pines that hadripened only a twelvemonth ago. Had not the vitality ofseeds its limits in time, like life of all other kinds, onemight commit these perfect fossil germs to the soil, in thehope of seeing the old extinct forests called, through theiragency, a second time into existence. Of three apparentspecies of cones which occur in the Eathie Lias, the smallestseems to have resembled in size and appearance that of theScotch fir; the largest, which consisted from bottom totop, as seen in section, of from nine to ten scales, appears tohave been more in the proportions of the oblong oval conesof the spruce family ; while a cone of intermediate length,but of considerably greater breadth, assumed the rounded 478 ON THE LESS KNOWN. Fig. 132. form of the cones of the cedar. I have found in the same depositwhat seems to be the sprig ofa conifer, with four apparently-embryo cones attached to it inthe alternate order. These arerather more sessile than the youngcones of the larch; but the aspectof the whole is that of a larchtwig in early summer, when theminute and tender cones, pos-sessed of all the beauty of flow-ers, first appear along its conifers of the Pine and Araucarian type wemark the first appearance in this system, in at least Scot-land, of the genus Thuja. One of the Helmsdale plantsof this genus closely resembles the common Arbor Vitae(Thuja occidentalis) of our gardens and shrubberies. Itexhibits the same numerous slim, thick-clustered branch-lets, covered over by the same minute, sessile, scale-likeleaves; and so entirely reminds one of the recent Thuja,that it seems difficult to conceive of it as the member of aflora so ancient as that of the Oolite. But not
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