174 WITHAMIA. 



the recently discovered specimens before us, would be practically 

 equivalent to assigning the plant to a position which appears to 

 be entirely at variance with the facts. I propose, therefore, to 

 institute the new genus Withamia for these spiny axes with 

 leaf-like appendages, and in doing so to place on record some 

 slight recognition of the immensely important service which 

 Witham of Lartington rendered to palseobotanical science. The 

 Internal Structure of Fossil Vegetables * is widely known as a 

 classic work marking the beginning of a new method of in- 

 vestigation ; but so far as I am able to discover, the name of 

 the author of this epoch-making book has not been made use 

 of as a genus of plants. We may define Withamia as follows : 

 A woody axis bearing two rows of spiny appendages, in the 

 axils of which are borne flat leaf-like appendages. 



Withamia Saportae, gen. et spec. nov. 



[PI. II. Figs. 1 and 2; PI. V. Fig. I. 2 ] 



Type. Specimens in the British Museum. 



There is a very strong likeness between Saporta's species, 

 C. armata, and the English specimens as regards the axis and 

 recurved spines, but the absence of any leaf-like appendages in 

 the former, and the difference in geological age, render it advisable 

 to adopt a new specific name for the present examples of the 

 genus. I have chosen as a specific designation the name of the 

 author who first described this form of fossil plant. The species 

 may be defined as follows : 



Axis having a breadth of about 1 cm., striated longitudinally, 

 bearing stout recurved spines arranged laterally in two rows, 

 and at slightly irregular intervals. In the axils of the spinous 

 processes there are attached more or less orbicular or obcuneate 

 leaf-like structures, having a distinct flabellate (Cyclopteris type) 

 venation. 



1 Edinburgh, 1833. 



- For Saportaia on PL II, substitute Withamia ; the former name being too 

 nearly identical with Saportcea (Fontaine and White, The Permian or Upper 

 Carboniferous Flora. Harrisburg, 1880). 



