WILLIAMSONIA. 181 



The late Professor Williamson devoted a considerable time 

 during the earliest years of his scientific life to the investigation 

 of the fossils to which Carruthers gave the name Williamsonia. 

 2^o one has had opportunities of studying this genus as it 

 occurs in the rocks near Scarborough equal to those enjoyed by 

 Williamson ; and it is interesting to find that the most recent 

 work has tended to support many of the conclusions arrived at 

 by this observer. As early as 1834 "Williamson 1 expressed the 

 opinion that Zamites gig as was connected with Williamsonia, and 

 in his very able paper, published in 1870, 2 this author is confirmed 

 in the view of the organic connection of these two sets of fo--il-. 

 This opinion was -.lunvd also by Brongniart, 3 who received an 

 unusually fine collection of English Williamsonias from the late 

 Mr. Yates. These specimens are now in the Natural History 

 Museum, Paris, and many of them wei'e drawn for Brongniart 

 with a view to publication, but the work was unfortunately 

 never completed. The drawings were afterwards made use of 

 by Saporta in his comprehensive work on Jurassic plants. In 

 describing the Yates specimens, Saporta expresses himself strongly 

 against the generally accepted view as to the union of Williamsonia 

 and Zamites. He does not hesitate to separate the Zamites fronds 

 from any connection with the Williamsonias. There is, he admits, 

 " une certaine conformite appareute entre les appareils floraux 

 aux<]iiels on pent loisser le noni de Williamsonia et le Zamites 

 gig as, tel quo le fait voir le remarquable empreinte de la collection 

 du Museum de Paris (voy. pi. Ixxxi. fig. 1). Xous avons tout bien 

 do considerer les Williamsonia comme representant 1'inflorescence 

 d'une monocotyledone primitive, revelant un type de Pandanees 

 plus ou moins analogue aux Yuccites, aux Podocarya, aux Eolirimi 

 de Andrae, etc." * 



A recent examination of the Yates Collection in Paris, and 

 .a comparison of the numerous specimens in the Museums of 

 London, Cambridge, Whitby, Scarborough, Leeds, and other towns, 

 liave led me without hesitation to regard the pinnate Cycadean 



1 Williamson (37), p. 230. 



2 Williamson (70), p. 663. 



3 Brongniart (49), p. 62. 



4 Saporta (75), p. 55. 



