49 



has not yet been developed. Some time ago, Mr Yates shewed 

 me a drawing of an interesting little specimen from the cabinet 

 of Mr. Ripley of Whitby, which had dropped out from the centre 

 of a large broken collar, and consisted of a small circle of 

 elongated and nearly straight scales, shewing that in some 

 instances the whole organism consisted of a mass of these scales, 

 with very little of the woody axis in the centre, so clearly proved 

 to exist in many other examples. This shews that the larger 

 expansion of the axis is a consequence of the higher develope- 

 ment of the plant ; and it is singular that, with one exception, 

 every specimen I have seen exhibiting this large developement 

 of the central axis, also carries along with it the proof that it 

 has supported some additional organ, shewing apparently a con- 

 nection between the two, and so far supporting my view ; for, 

 of course, as the germ expanded and escaped at the upper part 

 of the bud, the increasing size of the fruit would be accompanied 

 by an increase in the axis, which was to give it support, and to 

 furnish it with nourishment during the ripening of its seeds. 



That the "collar," in its matured condition, has been sur- 

 mounted by something, is then certain, and that this appendage, 

 whatever it was, has been apparently articulated to the top of 

 the woody axis. There is then nothing in the scales of the 

 collar, which can justify us in concluding that they have any 

 relation to either " sepals, petals," or " dilated stamens," 

 as suggested by Mr. Yates, or that the " oval or pyriform 

 cavity," left by the decay of the woody axis, was the seat of 

 the germ, except in a very young state, when the cavity in 

 fact did not exist ; and this even in a totally different sense to 

 what is suggested by the allusion " to the capsule of a Poppy 

 or the berry of a Nymphaea." Whether my naked cone, or the 

 bracteated one in the Scarborough Museum, furnish us with the 

 appendage necessary to complete the plant, is not yet certain. 

 The rarity of these cones is what might be expected, if, as is 

 probable, only a limited number of the trees were so far 

 advanced as to furnish ripened fruit at the time of their being 

 entombed. 



As, supposing these fossil " collars" to be Cycadean, and to 

 be connected with the fructification of the plants the missing 



