defined species of late Carboniferous age. The specimen 
in hand (number 266138, Mazon Creek, Grundy County, 
Illinois) shows an incomplete inflorescence 130 mm. long, 
bearing, near the apex, apparently spirally disposed strob- 
ili, of which forty-two are visible. At the base these ap- 
pear to be nearly opposite and distichous. We have sawed 
the specimen transversely to the long axis, and observed 
at this plane only two subopposite strobili. It would seem 
that in this specimen the arrangement is really distichous, 
as conventionally described, but this is not always the 
case. Figure 5 shows a pair of ovulate buds lying adja- 
cent to the axis which bears them. Leaves envelop the 
whole structure, but it is not possible to determine 
whether they were borne upon the same axis as the 
strobili. Figure 6 shows four ovulate strobili attached to 
the axis of the inflorescence. A single ovule is borne in 
each strobilus. Figure 7 illustrates a series of four stam- 
inate strobili, one of which is attached to the axis, a sec- 
ond, nearly opposite to the first, is detached in this plane 
but is connected below, and the other two are from a still 
lower series. Renault (1879, pl. 17, fig. 1) figured a spec- 
imen from Grand Croix which had five strobili attached 
spirally on an axis. It is certain that Cordaianthus shulert 
has a similar arrangement of the strobili. Grand’ Eury 
(1877, pl. 26, fig. 11) illustrated a specimen of Cordaian- 
thus baccifer which shows a densely packed series of strob- 
ili arranged spirally upon a common axis. 
Not much histological detail can be gleaned from our 
slides of the axis. The transverse sections show a nearly 
round, distyostelic stele, except at the nodes where the 
strobili and bracts arise. Here the sections are greatly 
elongated, and the stele presents a flattened appearance. 
The pith is not very extensive (0.8 mm. X 4.5 mm.) and 
the xylem forms a broad zone of wood. Cortical tissues 
are not well preserved. One can determine the nature of 
[5] 
