358 MR. AETHUE JOHN MASLEN ON THE 



But not only is it generally impossible to refer isolated strobili to the corresponding 



vegetative organs, but it is almost as difficult to refer isolated sections of the same type 



of strobilus, with certainty, one to another. In 1892, Williamson, in the memoir before 



referred to, called attention to this. He there tells us :— '' I have for many years 



endeavoured to discover some specific character by which different Lepidostrohi could be 



distinguished and identified, but thus far my efforts have been unsuccessful ... I have, 



however, figured in Plates 8 and 9 some of the more distinctive modifications that I 



have observed " *. After briefly describirg a number of apparently distinct forms, 



including a series of sections of what is, apparently, a homosporous form from Oldham 



(memoir xix. figs. 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, C.N. f 568, 574), and pointing out that 



Mr. Binney, in his memoir on Lepidostrohus %^ had described sections cut from the same 



specimen under the name of Lepidodendron Sarcourtii^ "Williamson says : — '* I continue 



to shrink from giving specific names to examples which, in all probability, only represent 



types of forms reappearing in more than one species ] but, as in a previous memoir, I 



still recognize the opposite inconvenience of having no concise means of referring to any 



object figured. With a distinct understanding as to the meaning and purpose of such 



names, and since the Lepidostrohus under consideration is rather characteristic of the 



Oldham deposits, I will designate the type L. oldhamkis " §. 



Williamson gave a brief description of this type, necessarily incomplete owing to the 

 fact that he had no longitudinal section passing through the axis of the cone, although 

 such a section is contained in the Binney Collection at Cambridge, and was figured in 

 Binney 's memoir jj. 



At the beginning of this year I undertook, at Dr. Scott's suggestion, a re- examination 

 of the Williamson slides of Lepidostrohus with the object of discovering whether it was 

 not possible to make out at least some distinct forms. 



The collection contains two sections ot a cone of considerable size (C.N. 1776 a, 

 1776 b) collected by Mr. G. Wild, and exhibiting some of the structures in a very 

 beautiful manner. It is probably a comparatively recent addition to the collection, and 

 Mr. Wild informs me that he found it in the Lower Coal Measures, near Stalybridge. 

 One of the sections (C.N. 1776 a) has an extreme length of nearly 8 centims. ; it passes 

 through the cone in an oblique longitudinal direction, passing below into the xylem of 

 the axis and exhibiting the sporophylls and sporangia in approximately radial section, 

 while above it becomes more tangential. Figures drawn from this slide are shown on 

 PL XXXVIII. figs. 24-30 and 32-34. The other section from the same specimen is 

 more tangential and only shows numerous sections of sporophylls supporting sporangia, 

 similar to those shown on PI. XXXVIII. fig. 30. The extreme length of this section 



* " Organization," &c., Part XIX. (1893) p. 26. 



t Slides in the Williamson Collection have the letters C.N. (Cabinet Number) before the number in the series ; 

 those belonging to Dr. Scott are preceded by the letter S. 



+ " Observations on the Structure of Fossil Plants found in the Carboniferous Strata, Part II. Lcjiidostroh'm and 

 some allied cones." Palaeontographical Society, 1871, pi. 7, p. 46 



§ " Organization," &c., Part XIX. p. 28. 



11 Loc. cit. pi. 7. fig. 3, 



