562 ME. B. KIDSTOU OiT THE OCCURRENCE OP 



York, in rocks belonging to the Chenning Group (Upper De- 

 vonian). In 1852 Goppert named it Sigillaria Vanuccemi* . 



Although several notes on this species occur in the literature 

 of fossil Botany, till the discovery of the British specimens, the 

 type figured by Vanuxem seems to have been the only individual 

 of the species known. 



Before fully stating the considerations which have led me to 

 place this plant in Lycopodites-\, in preference to retaining it in 

 Sigillaria, it is necessary to describe the specimens on which these 

 views as to the systematic position of this species have been 

 founded. 



For the specimens of Lycopodites (Sigillaria) Vanuxemi, which 

 have been submitted to me for examination, and of which are 

 figured on PI. XVIII. some of the more characteristic and better 

 preserved examples, I am indebted to the Council of the Kendal 

 Museum, as also to Mr. E.Bullen Newton, F.G.S., of the British 

 Museum, South Kensington, through whose ageucy they were 

 communicated to me. 



Description of Specimens. 



Figure 1. This specimen, of which fig. 1 shows (natural size) 

 the upper portion, is about 13 centim. long and about 2*5 centim. 

 wide, though its original breadth must have been greater, as its 

 full width is not shown in the fossil. The leaf-scars are more 

 distinct on the upper than on the lower part, where they are 

 somewhat obscured by coaly matter. They are hexagonal, about 

 6 millim. long by 5 millim. broad ; the angles formed at the point 

 of junction of the slightly raised boundary lines of the leaf-scars 

 are acute, though the two angles at the upper part of the leaf- 

 scar have occasionally a tendency to become rounded. No dis- 

 tinct trace of any vascular cicatricule is shown on this specimen. 

 The broadest part of the leaf-scar is slightly above the middle. 



Figure 2. This figure, which is natural size, shows the mode 

 of growth of the younger branches. The specimen is not very 

 distinctly preserved, but it exhibits at various points the form 

 and size of the leaf-scars, whose outline is defined by a carbo- 

 naceous stain. On the upper branches the leaf-scars are much 

 longer than broad, perfectly flat, and bear a single vascular 



* Fobs. Flora d. Uebergangsgebirges, p. 249 (1852). 



+ I have already stated my objections to the use of the generic name LycO' 

 podium for these fossils in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Aug. 1884, p. 114. 



