It was suggested long ago by Bakewell, from the occurrence of the same peculiar kind of fireclay under each bed of coal, that it was the soil proper for the production of those plants from which coal has been formed.[48] [48] “Introduction to Geology,” by Robert Bakewell, 5th ed., p. 179. 1838. It has, also, been pointed out by Sir William Logan, as the result of his observations in the South Wales coal-field, and afterwards by Sir Henry De la Beche, and subsequently confirmed by the observations of Sir Charles Lyell in America, that not only in this country, but in the coal-fields of Nova Scotia, the United States, &c., every layer of true coal is co-extensive with and invariably underlaid by a marked stratum of arenaceous clay of greater or less thickness, which, from its position relatively to the coal has been long known to coal-miners, among other terms, by the name of _under-clay_. The clay-beds, “which vary in thickness from a few inches to more than ten feet, are penetrated in all directions by a confused and tangled collection of the roots and leaves, as they may be, of the _Stigmaria ficoides_, these being frequently traceable to the main stem (_Sigillaria_), which varies in diameter from about two inches to half a foot. The main stems are noticed as occurring nearer the top than the bottom of the bed, as usually of considerable length, the leaves or roots radiating from them in a tortuous irregular course to considerable distances, and as so mingled with the under-clay that it is not possible to cut out a cubic foot of it which does not contain portions of the plant.” (Logan “On the Characters of the Beds of Clay immediately below the Coal-seams of South Wales,” Geol. Transactions, Second Series, vol. vi., pp. 491-2. An account of these beds had previously been published by Mr. Logan in the Annual Report of the Royal Institution of South Wales for 1839.) From the circumstance of the main stem of the Sigillaria, of which the _Stigmaria ficoides_ have been traced to be merely a continuation, it was inferred by the above-mentioned authors, and has subsequently been generally recognised as probably the truth, that the roots found in the underclay are merely those of the plant (_Sigillaria_), the stem of which is met with in the overlying coal-beds--in fact, that the _Stigmaria ficoides_ is only the root of the _Sigillaria_, and not a distinct plant, as was once supposed to be the case. This being granted, it is a natural inference to suppose that the present indurated under-clay is only another condition of that soft, silty soil, or of that finely levigated muddy sediment--most likely of still and shallow water--in which the vegetation grew, the remains of which were afterwards carbonised and converted into coal.[49]