Whaley Bridge to Norton and Froghall in Staffordshire.*

Many of the shales contain vast numbers of the shields of Cyprides, a little crustacean, no bigger than a pin's-head, akin to a creature that now swarms our ditches and stagnant ponds. Some shales are completely filled with the remains of this creature; mingled along with them are also found the remains of fishes, which are as characteristic of the coal measures as the fossil ferns and plants themselves. Although these fish remains are often found in a fragmentary condition, our knowledge of them is very far from being meagre. To such a precision has the science of anatomy arrived, that a mere tooth or scale is often enough to indicate the nature of the individual to which it belonged; and to establish the existence, in former times, of a particular order of animals. Agassiz has classified the fossil fishes into four grand divisions, the Placoids, the Ganoids, the Cycloids, and the Ctenoids; of these, the two former occur most abundantly in the Palazoic rocks—whilst the Cycloid and the Ctenoid orders commenced in the secondary formation. The Placoids and the Ganoids reached their maximum of existence during the earlier geological ages, and have gradually been dwindling down ever since, till they are now represented by only a few genera. The Cycloid and the Ctenoid orders have been constantly increasing in number since their creation, and swarm in every sea at the present time. The fossil-fish remains of the carboniferous rocks belong, therefore, to the two first orders-the Placoids and Ganoids. The placoid fishes, represented in our seas by the common skate, were covered by a tough skin, which supported thick layers of tubercled plates-their tails were heterocercal, or unequally lobed; the spinal column, instead of ending abruptly, as it does in the common herring, and all our commoner fishes, passed on to the extreme point of the upper half of the tail. This feature characterised all the fish that lived in the earlier geological epochs; the teeth varied a great deal in shape, some being sharp and pointed, others having a smooth and plate-like form; they did not sink into the jaw, as in the ganoidal order, but were bound together by the tough integument which formed the lips. The second great order of Agassiz is the Ganoidal, so called from the resplendent appearance of the scales, which possessed the hardness of enamelled bones, and overlapped the fishes like a coat of mail.

Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society, vol. 2.

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They were mostly sauroid fishes; their head was encased in a set of large, massive, long plates, and the jaws were furnished with several rows of sharp teeth, the front ones being generally larger than the others. In the carboniferous rocks of Great Britain, upwards of forty species of ganoidal fishes have been discovered. These had a wide range in size, measuring from two to three inches, to twenty, or even thirty feet in length. The palæoniscus was one of the smallest fishes that existed during this period, being about two or three inches in length, and must have swarmed the ancient rivers or seas as plentifully as the common stickle-back. Its scales are extremely common in the upper shales of the coal measures; they are ornamented by a fine striated appearance, and are of a rhomboidal form. Other fish remains are very commonly met with. The Eurynotus was rather longer than the palæoniscus. The scales of the Acanthodes were small and spined, and the form of the animal was somewhat similar to the conger eel. The scales of the Megalichthys, or great fish, are also commonly met with; these are of a quadrangular form, of a bright and shining appearance, and are beautifully enamelled-they are met with from half an inch in length: mingled with them are found the scales of the Holoptychius, or Rhizodus, as it is now called; these scales are often much larger than those of the Megalichthys, and are of an oval form. The fish first took its name from the appearance of its scales, which means, "wrinkled all over;" they, however, lack the resplendent and often iridiscent appearance of the other enamelled scales. The only living representatives of these sauroid fishes, are the genera Lepidosteus and Polypterus, containing between them about seven species. The former inhabits the rivers and lakes of North America; it has a long tapering snout, armed with rows of sharp teeth. The latter is found in the Nile and other African rivers. Upwards of sixty species of fossil fishes are known as belonging to the coal measures; their remains are found from a single scale, tooth, or spine, to almost perfect animals, and their forms, when once recognised, are characteristic of the strata in which they occur, not being found in any other formation.

A few other animal remains have been met with in the coal strata of different countries. In the nodules of ironstone, fossil beetles are sometimes met with. In the ironstone nodules, abounding in Colebrookdale, the wings of several neuropterous insects, akin to the dragon fly, were discovered by Dr. Mantell.

In an old Sigillaria trunk, in one of the Nova Scotian coal-fields, Sir Charles Lyell discovered the remains of a land shell ; this simple discovery proves that the atmosphere even then must have been fit for respiration by animal beings. The remains of saurians or batrachians have also been found. The labyrinthodon was an animal of a frog shape, and of the size of a small ox; three species of it have been found. It seems to have frequented the beach during the ebbing tide, where it left the impression of its feet upon the sands; these feet impressions are often found in the flag stones of our stone quarries. The impressions of rain drops are also frequently met with, and these actually show, by their slanting direction, the quarter from which the winds blew at the time. This one fact also proves that the different atmospheric phenomena of wind and rain, heat and cold, were similar then to those of the present day. Is it not astonishing that a slab of sandstone will do so much towards interpreting the past? Like the tables of stone committed to Moses, we may read the hieroglyphs on nature's vast tablet, and go back into the past to peruse her ancient history.

In this manner were formed our coal beds, now of such national importance to us, and such were the animals that lived, and the plants which grew, during that solitary and bygone period.

Could we but go back to the time when these things were in being, a far different scene to the present would meet our vision. The forms which then existed being chiefly extinct, it would appear as though we were transported to another planet; our northern hemisphere would be seen dotted with islands in the neighbourhood of large continents; each island clothed to the water's edge with the most luxuriant vegetation. The continents would be seen watered by majestic rivers, which carried down vast quantities of drift wood to be entombed in their estuaries. The deltas of these rivers were also covered with a rank luxuriance of vegetation, all of extinct forms, and of succulent structure. The sigillaria with its fluted trunk, rose like a Doric column, crowned with a graceful foliage of fronds, that hung most gracefully half way down the The lepidodendron, with its sculptured bark, clothed with long leaflets, waved with every breath of wind. In the swampiest places, the tall calamite reared its stiff and monotonous form, and formed a prominent object in that strange and bygone

stem.

scene.

Numbers of palm trees graced the picture, their elegant

forms standing out as conspicuous objects in the group. The whole of this rank and dense forests would perhaps, "be bound together by innumerable creeping plants, climbing to the topmost branches, and enlivening, by the bright colours of their flowers, the dark and gloomy forest beyond." On the higher grounds, trees of the coniferous tribes grew, their tall and tapering forms combining a contrast of shapes, with the crested fronds of the palm and the imbricated foliage of the lepidodendra. Through these forests the sluggish river slowly wended its way; its finny inhabitants ever and anon rising to the surface, causing the dimmed light, which broke through the verdure, to glisten upon the sheen of their enamelled coats. But, in these gigantic and primeval forests, the oak reared not its noble head; the willow, the ash, and the elm, had not then been called into being; neither were there the choristers of the woods to enliven them by their songs: a few insects that frisked in the sunshine, a solitary scorpion, that may be, hybernated in the hollow trees, a land crab or two that crept sideways along, or the monster frog which frequented the beach, these were all the land inhabitants of that solitary period. The sun rose then as now, but no lark greeted him with matin song. The evening sunset tinged the old palm forest with its glory, and the silvery moon shed her beautiful light upon the dark forest, and the rippling waters; but there were no admiring eyes to behold the scene. All was still, save the howling of the hurricane through the forest, and the crash of falling trees, which were conveyed on the bosom of the river, to be interred in its estuary. The bellow of the distant volcano would, perchance, be heard, and the roar of the neighbouring breakers might fall upon the ear. noises, no sounds broke upon the stillness of that primeval forest. Nature was then a vast laboratory, preparing for a future inhabitant, forming the sandstones which should build his house, and entombing the fuel that should warm his hearth; and yet, even whilst these processes were slowly being carried on, the goodness of the Creator was not unmanifested, for types of animal life, by the myriad, enjoyed His bounty, and basked in the sunshine of His smile.

But, save these solitary

The history of coal mining is one of great progress. Coal is mentioned by several ancient writers Theophrastus, Siculus Flaccus, St. Augustine, and others; and it is generally supposed to have been known to the Roman occupants of our island. Cinders and pieces of coal having been found in Roman roads and walls,

and Roman coins in beds of cinders. There is, likewise, reason for supposing that the British aborigines were not ignorant of it; their hammer heads, wedges, and flint axes, having been found along with fragments. The term "coal" is, by many, supposed to be of British origin. A people who are known to have wrought veins of lead, tin, and copper, could hardly have remained ignorant of a substance which often lies so much nearer the surface than those minerals; and then fragments of coal were so continually washed out of their native beds, and borne into the plains by floods and currents. There is historical evidence of coal having been known in the ninth century, during the occupation of the Saxons. It is also mentioned shortly after the Norman conquest. There is also a curious document extant, which records the gift of certain lands to work coal, to the monks of Dunfermline, about the twelfth century. In more modern times, coal was discovered at Newcastleupon-Tyne, in the year 1234. In that locality, owing to denuding processes, many seams of coal were exposed along hill sides, which first attracted attention to it. In the year 1238 the high grounds in the neighbourhood were worked; in 1330 the coal fields of Colliery, near Lanchester; in 1343 the collieries of Morrington and Ferry Hill; and, in 1500, those of Gateshead, Whickham, Tynemouth, &c., were separately commenced. A charter was granted to the town of Newcastle to dig coal there, in the reign of Henry III. In the year 1280 it began to be employed in London; but at first only by smiths, brewers, soap boilers, and others. The innovation, however, was complained of as being injurious to human health; and, in 1316, Parliament petitioned the king, Edward I., to prohibit the burning of coal. A proclamation was accordingly issued against the use of sea coal, as it was then termed. But such were the advantages of coal, and so high were the prices of timber, that the proclamation does not seem to have been much heeded; and, in 1400, it was generally used in London. In 1661, the time of old Fuller, 200,000 chaldrons of coals were annually imported into London. In 1773 600,000 chaldrons were used; in 1793, 800,000 chaldrons. The duties of coals carried coastways, besides those in London, amounted in 1788 to £182,745, at 5s. 6d. per chaldron. All the duties on coals in England, in 1783, amounted to £445,811, and in 1784, to £462,550. In Scotland, for both these years, the duty amounted to £3,000. The sum total of the duties, in 1788, was £306,728. Since coal