Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlv. (1901), A^^. T. 7 



selaginoides. Whether such star-shaped groups can be 

 derived from the divided phloem cells cannot, of course, 

 be determined in the case of a plant known to us only in 

 the fossil condition ; but there seems a considerable degree 

 of probability of such a development in the numbers of 

 groups of cells showing an intermediate condition between 

 the two groups of cells. The preponderance of the divided 

 phloem cells in the younger, and of the star-shaped groups 

 in the older specimen, as stated above, also favours 

 this hypothesis. But whatever be the relationship of 

 these different groups of cells, they both make up part of 

 the phloem region of Lepidophloios, and the excellent state 

 of preservation of these preparations shows us that, in the 

 living condition, this phloem region was not occupied by 

 large lysigenous secretory sacs, as seemed possible from 

 less well-preserved specimens, but consisted of a definite 

 tissue, which has much of the appearance of a true 

 phloem, as indeed Seward' admits in his description 

 of Binney's specimens. It bears a very marked re- 

 semblance to the phloem, consisting of sieve tubes 

 and companion cells, in some aquatic stems such as 

 Potamogeton or Elodect, and is very similar to the 

 phloem figured by Bower^ around the central stem of 

 Psilohivi with which member of the living LycopodiacecB 

 he considers the Lepidodendnt have the greatest anatomical 

 resemblance. There is no evidence of the partial 

 disorganisation of the cell walls during the life of the 

 plant, the probability of which has been suggested by 

 Seward, and we must therefore consider such appearances 

 as he describes in the case of the specimens in the Binney 



1 Seward, A. C. (II.), p. 155- 



* c.p. Schenck, H. Vergkichende Anatomie der submersen Gewdchse. 

 Bibliotheca Boianica. No. i, 1886. 



» Bower, F. O. Annals of Bot, Vol. vii., 1893. 



