Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Hi. (1908), No. 3. 



III. "The Cone of Bothrodendron viundum (Will.)." 



By D. M. S. Watson, B.Sc, 



Research Student in the Geological Department, the Victoria Universicy 

 of Manchester. 



{Received and read, November 12th, jgoy.) 



In 1880, Williamson described a small hermaphrodite 

 lycopodiaceous cone from a longitudinal section of a 

 specimen obtained from one of the coal balls of the 

 Halifax Hard Bed. He had previously described in 

 detail the large and very characteristic macrospores and 

 isolated microsporangia. 



In 1893 he figured a portion of the cone not shewing 

 the axis. 



Solms Laubach ('91) briefly refers to this description 

 of Williamson's, and states in addition that " the structure 

 of the axis is essentially that of the type oi Lepidodendron 

 Harcourtii" (p. 237). 



This description probably means nothing more than 

 that the axis is Lepidodendroid and has a pith. I 

 believe that Williamson was unacquainted with a trans- 

 verse section of the axis, so that this description of Solms 

 Laubach's may be founded on other sections, possibly 

 those in the Cash collection. 



These are, so far as I know, the only references to 

 this type of cone ; probably the rarity of whole cones 

 and their usual bad preservation have discouraged 

 investigators. 



Only five individual complete cones are known to me, 

 but isolated sporangia and spores are very common. 



January yth, igoS. 



