202 REMINISCENCES OF 



was printed in the fourth volume of the third series 

 of the " Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical 

 " Society of Manchester," session 1869-70. Though 

 it could not be proved that this strobilus was 

 actually a fructification of a Calamite, it presented 

 too many features of identity to leave any doubt on 

 my own mind that such was the case. But specimens 

 of the object were extremely rare, and nearly twenty 

 years had to elapse before additional examples were 

 obtained, which demonstrated the correctness of my 

 original conclusion. 



In November 1870 I sent in to the Royal Society 

 my first memoir " On the Organisation of the Fossil 

 " Plants of the Coal Measures "Part I. Calamites. 

 In a few days I received a note from the secretary, 

 then my old friend Professor Sharpey, asking me to 

 withdraw the expression Part I., since it bound the 

 Society to publish Part II. at some subsequent time. 

 I declined to do so, because I knew that a number of 

 parts would have to be published before the materials 

 already in hand were exhausted. 



I heard nothing further of the matter, and was 

 in ignorance about what followed, until, at a much 

 later date, I was told by the late Professor Duncan, 

 the well-known geologist, that the referees, animated 

 by the same spirit as the rest of the palaeo-botanical 

 world, had recommended that the paper should not 

 be published; but that there were others on the 

 Council who had too much confidence in me to 

 accept that decree, and through their resolution the 



