170 TEUNCI. 



are not able to speak with, certainty regarding the supposed 

 liliaceous or Drac&na-like stems from the Wealden, so frequently 

 mentioned by Mantell, since it is not easy now to identify the 

 particular specimens referred to by him." Mantell 1 refers to the 

 fossil stems discovered by Bensted at Maidstone, as nearly related 

 to Yucca or Dracana. On examining the large specimens of stems 

 in the British Museum, from the Iguanodon quarry 3 at Maidstone, 

 I was struck by their resemblance in external characters to the 

 stem of such recent cycads as Zamia Loddigesii, Miq., Z. Skinner i, 

 Warsz., and Z. pumila, L. 



In 1868 Carruthers referred to the Maidstone fossils under the 

 name Dractena Benstedtii of Kb'nig, 3 and expressed his opinion that 

 they exhibit a closer resemblance to the stem of a Pandanus than 

 to that of a Drafcena ; but he refers to certain specimens in the 

 British Museum which appear to show the remains of internal 

 woody tissue, and thinks it possible that a closer examination 

 might not lend support to the comparison with either rnono- 

 cotyledonous genus. In one or two of the Maidstone Kentish 

 Rag stems, there are portions of what closely resembles woody 

 tissue showing well-marked rings of growth, but a section cut 

 from this wood-like material proves it to be simply a deposit of 

 carbonate of lime formed in such a way as to closely simulate the 

 structure of wood. One of these so-called Draccena stems was 

 figured and briefly described in the Geologist for 1862, 4 but the 

 drawing does not give a very accurate idea of the specimen. 

 In a footnote to a paper by Bensted, Mackie 5 points out 

 the absence of any figure or description of Dracana Benstedtii 

 by Ko'nig. 6 Morris 7 gives this name as Kb'nig's, but adds after 

 the author's name "British Museum," and gives no reference to 

 any published account. In attempting to trace the geological 

 history of Monocotyledons, we are confronted on every hand with 



1 Mantell (1), vol. i. p. 186. 



2 Bensted. 



3 Carruthers (7), p. 154 (footnote). 



4 Mackie, Geologist, vol. v, p. 401, pi. xxii. 

 6 Bensted, Geologist, loc. cit. p. 336. 



6 Konig was sometime Keeper in the Mineralogical Department of the British 

 Museum. 



7 Morris (A.), Brit. Foss. p. 8. 



