246 WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON 



long experience of the coal-fields of Lancashire and Cheshire. 

 He assisted in the discovery of the Torbane Hill mineral or 

 Boghead Cannel, a deposit once notorious as a subject of 

 litigation, and more recently as a bone of scientific contention. 

 Binney died on December 19, 1881. Etheridge said of him: "He 

 was a man of the highest honour and remarkably outspoken; 

 his sturdiness and strength of character being rarely equalled." 



Binney was the discoverer of some now famous fossils, notably 

 Dadoxylon (now Lyginodendrori) oldhamium, and Stauropteris 

 oldhamia. His best known work is the monograph, Observations 

 on the Structure of Fossil Plants, in four parts, published for the 

 Palaeontographical Society, from 1868 to 1875. Thus his work 

 on coal-plants overlapped that of Williamson. 



The first part is on Calamites and Calamodendron the names 

 are used in the old sense, for Binney kept up Brongniart's 

 distinction, though apparently not convinced of its validity. 

 In this memoir he described the "cone of Calamodendron com- 

 mune" now known as Calamostachys Binneyana. 



Part II, on Lepidostrobus and some allied cones, is remarkable 

 for the demonstration of heterospory in several species. 



Part III, on Lepidodendron, deals partly with stems re- 

 ferred to L. Harcoiirtii, but now separated as L. fuliginosum. 

 He also describes the structure of a Halonia and is led to the 

 conclusion that it is the root of Lepidodendron. This view has 

 not found favour, but our old ideas about Ulodendron and 

 Halonia have been so upset of late, that everything seems 

 possible ! 



Part IV is on Sigillaria and Stigmaria, the " Sigillaria" 

 described being 6". vascularis, since identified with Lepido- 

 dendron selaginoides , or L. vasculare, if we maintain Binney 's 

 specific name. 



Binney was not a great theoriser. His object was rather to 

 provide material for the botanists, he being essentially a geologist. 

 This he did admirably, for his monograph is illustrated by mag- 

 nificent drawings from the hand of Fitch, the famous botanical 

 artist. 



Binney stood more under the influence of Brongniart than 

 did his successor Williamson. 



