39 



of Cycadites, in compliance probably with the authority of Brown 

 and Buckland, and he has figured a portion of a frond under 

 the name of Cycadites lanceolatus* , which appears to be iden- 

 tical with the Zamia Mantellii of Brongniart, or Z. Gigas of 

 Lindley. Several years afterwards it received from our coun- 

 tryman, Dr. Lindley, who published the figure of part of a 

 frond in the Fossil Flora of Great Britain (I. 165), the 

 name of Zamia Gigas. Hence it has been commonly known 

 by this name among us, although, I confess, the specific name 

 Gigas does not seem to me appropriate, since the whole plant 

 probably did not exceed three feet in height, being of the ordi- 

 nary dimensions of our recent species. Besides these figures of 

 the leaves, representations of various parts supposed to belong 

 to the inflorescence were published by the Rev. Dr. Young of 

 "Whitby, in his Geological Survey of the Yorkshire Coast, 

 after drawings by Mr. Bird. 



The occurrence of cycadiform plants in the Yorkshire Oolite 

 derives a high degree of interest from the fact, that stems of 

 plants belonging to the same natural order are found in the 

 Oolite on the southern shores of our island. These have been 

 described and illustrated in a most instructive manner by 

 Professor Buckland in the Geological Transactions, (New 

 Series, vol. II. 1828,) and in his Bridge water Treatise, (vol. 

 I. p. 496, 503.) We are, however, deprived of the anticipated 

 satisfaction of connecting these facts together by the considera- 

 tion that, whilst the cycadiform stems of the Portland Oolite 

 are destitute of leaves, on the other hand the leaves of the 

 Yorkshire Oolite are not connected with stems at all re- 

 sembling those of the south of England. 



The pinnate leaves of the fossil Zamia of the Yorkshire coast 

 have unquestionably a very close resemblance to the leaves of a 

 recent Zamia. But here the analogy seems to cease. The stem 

 of the fossil does not resemble the stem, or the mode of growth, 

 of any recent species of Zamia, that I have ever seen. The 

 fossil stem is much smaller in diameter and more elongated, and 

 the leaves are placed much more widely apart than in the recent 



• Geology of Yorkshire, I. p. 164, 168. Plate X. Fig. 8. 



