HITHERTO KNOWN AS STERNBERGI^ 343 



M. Brongniart unites with the genus Lepidophloios of Stern- 

 berg. Receiving the above determination of M. Corda as an 

 established truth, and having enjoyed new opportunities of 

 studying the subject, M. Brongniart has, in a recent pubh- 

 cation,* modified his former opinions respecting Sternbergiae, 

 as published in his Prodrome. 



He does not appear to have been acquainted with the 

 observation of Mr. Dawson, that in some cases Sternbergiae 

 occurred in connection with wood of a coniferous type ; 

 nevertheless his acute mind led him to conclude, that some 

 forms of Sternbergia had no affinity to Lepidophloios. 

 Speaking of the piths of this latter genus, he observes, 

 " Ces axes peuvent avoir quelquefois et^ confondus avec les 

 vrais Artisia; et je crois que ceux figures par M. Sternberg f 

 sont dans ce cas ; mais je doute qu'il en soit toujours 

 ainsi, et je pense qu'il y a des tiges designees sous ce nom 

 encore mal connues, qui sont etrangeres aux Lepido- 

 phloios; eel les des mines d'Angleterre me paraissent surtout 

 dans ce cas." | Whilst M. Brongniart thus separates the 

 English Sternbergiae from Lepidophloios, he refrains from 

 giving any definite opinion of his own respecting them ; 

 but from the re-introduction of some of his previous remarks 

 amongst his observations on the Liliaceae, he would appear 

 to retain a vague impression as to the probable affinity of 

 the English Sternbergiae with some of the monocotyledonous 

 plants. With his accustomed caution, however, he adds, 

 that the characters which appear to ally them with Panda- 

 nus, for example, '' sont assez vagues et d^natur^s a laisser 

 des doutes sur la nature de ces vegetaux." 



Such, as far as I am aware, is the amount of what had been 

 accomplished by previous observers, when the examina- 



* Tableaux des Genres des Vegetaux Fossiles. Dictionnaire Universel 

 d'llistoire Naturelle, Paris, 1849. 

 t Fl des Vorw., 2, t. 53, f. 1-6. 

 J Tableaux des Genres, &c., p. 44. 



