Arthur Hollick

“ The occasional striking similarity of purely inorganic concretions to living organisms, both animal and vegetable, is well known; but in this instance the resemblance to a hymenomycetous fungus appears to be too perfect to be regarded as an accidental simulation. ”

“ Murrill, so far as its nearest living relationship is concerned; but its antiquity should preclude a reference to the living genus Polyporus, and it is clearly different from any of the fossil forms described under that genus or under the fossil genus Polyporites, all of which are from the Tertiary or more recent geological horizons, except Polyporites Bowmanni Lindley and Hutton, [1] from the Carboniferous of England, which is generally considered by paleontologists to be a fish scale and not a fungus. ”

“ Neither the name of the collector nor the date of collection is recorded, the labels merely reading: "Fossil plants below Seam 3, Elk Ridge Colliery, Pocohontas Field, W. Va." This colliery is situated near Ennis, McDowell County, in the southern part of West Virginia.
Figs. 1, 2. Pseudopolyporus carbonicus.
The fossilizing medium is a highly ferruginous, fine-grained arenaceous shale, which has completely replaced the vegetable tissue. In fact, the question may be raised whether the specimen is actually of organic origin. ”