Dr. Goppert on Fossil Palms. StS, 



at an elevation of 9000 feet. He found it on the ' Campanario,' the 

 highest point of the mountains of Angangues, 5 or 6 feet in dia- 

 meter, and 150 feet high; at other places very much smaller and 

 stunted, but still the same species ; and I have, as v^ell as Hartweg, 

 after carefully examining all these facts, come to the decided conclu- 

 sion that both names, P. hirtella and P. religiosa, belong to the same 

 species ; and that the error arose from describing imperfect speci- 

 mens, and not having cones of A. hirtella to compare with the. 

 ' Oyamel' of the Mexicans." 



Finding that Mr. Gordon's opinion coincided so entirely with his 

 own, in order to settle the point definitively, Dr. Seemann requested 

 his friend Dr. Charles Bolle, at Berlin, to examine Humboldt and 

 Bonpland's original specimens of P. religiosa, and to ascertain whe- 

 ther they had glabrous or hirtellous branches. In a letter just re- 

 ceived from that botanist, dated Berlin, Nov. 24, he says, — " I con- 

 gratulate you upon your power of divination, for the authentic 

 specimens of P. religiosa in the Royal Herbarium have certainly 

 hirtellous branches." We may therefore conclude that P. religiosa 

 and P. hirtella are identical, and consider the difference thought to 

 exist between them as entirely attributable to imperfect descriptions. 

 As the names were both given at the same time, it becomes a ques- 

 tion which of the two ought to be adopted. The name hirtella 

 might appear the most appropriate, as indicating a botanical cha- 

 racter ; but as that of religiosa is so much more diffused, and as the 

 plant is used in Mexico, on account of its elegant branches, for 

 ornamental purposes on religious festivities. Dr. Seemann determines 

 in favour of the name P. religiosa. 



Read further " Remarks on Fossil Palms." By Dr. Goppert, 

 Professor of Botany in the University of Breslau. 



These remarks are the result of a letter addressed by Dr. Seemann 

 to Dr. Goppert, requesting to be favoured with a brief summary of 

 all that is known of fossil Palms, and they have appeared to 

 Dr. Seemann of so much interest as to induce him to lay them 

 before the Linnsean Society. They are as follows : — 



" During the last, and even the first quarter of the present century,** 

 says Dr. Goppert, " so little was known of the structure of Palms, 

 and all that was known appeared so abnormal to the scientific men 

 of those days, that they were only too readily inclined to class with 

 the Palms almost all fossil plants presenting strange and anomalous 

 forms. This remark applies with full force to Sigillaria and Lepi- 

 dode7idron, genera belonging to the Palaeozoic formation ; and 

 startling as it may be, it cannot be very surprising to us, when we 

 consider that even in our own times notions equally erroneous 

 prevail to an almost incredible extent. For instance, a principal 

 share in the formation of coal is still ascribed by the generality of 

 geologists to the Ferns, although it has been proved by me, by a 

 series of careful observations on numerous carboniferous formations, 

 that such can be claimed only for the Sigillarias and Stigmarias ; that 

 a subordinate share only is due to the Araucarias and Catamites, con- 



