PROFESSOR W. C. WILLIAMSON ON STERNBERGI^. 341 



tensed his labours, M. Brongniart adds, ** mais cependant, 

 comme I'analogie de ces tiges, de ces feuilles et de ces 

 fruits avec la faraille des liiliac^es offre encore quelques 

 doutes, d'autres families monocotyledones pr^sentant 

 h peu pr^s les m^mes caracteres, nous preferons laisser ces 

 portions de vegetaux parmi les monocotjledones de faraille 

 douteuse." * He then enumerates three species : S. trans- 

 versa of Artis, S. approximata, and S. distans — but, of 

 course, without appending to them any descriptions. 



I am not acquainted with any further notice of these 

 plants, until the pubUcation of excellent drawings of speci- 

 mens from the English coal-measures, by Lindley and 

 Hutton, in the Fossil Flora of Great Britain.^ Without pre- 

 tending to add any thing to the existing knowledge respect- 

 ing the true aflfinities of these objects, the authors point out 

 the fact, that the specimens " are covered with fine coal, 

 which either adheres in the form of an even thick glossy 

 integument, or adheres in a powdery state" to the surface of 

 the stem." 



The examination of specimens from the coal formation of 

 Nova Scotia, by Mr. J. W. Dawson and Mr. J. S. Dawes, 

 in 1846, threw some additional lightupon the Stembergiae; 

 though without materially removing the obscurity which 

 invested this curious genus. Mr. Dawson remarks, that his 

 specimens « are in the state of stony casts, always invested 

 with a thin bark or outer coating of lignite, whose outer 

 surface is smooth, and without transverse wrinkles. The 

 inner surface of the coating of lignite has longitudinal 

 ridges, which adhere strongly to the surface of the trans- 

 versely striated cast, and leave marks or small furrows 

 when removed." Mr. Dawson also observes, " transversely 

 ridged stems, of a character very different from the above, 

 are, however, occasionally found in the carboniferous beds 



* Prodrome, p. 124. 



t Fossil Flora of Great Britain. Tab. 224 and 225, 1835. 



