SIG1LLARIEAE. 261 



form of impressions with an outer crust I of coal. Through the kindness of 

 their discoverer I have had the opportunity of inspecting them carefully, 

 and I have thereby fully satisfied myself of the correctness of his statements. 

 But I would observe at the same time that the specimens require to be 

 examined with extreme care and in various lights, and that the details 

 of the organisation are by no means so apparent on the dull black rind of 

 coal as on the tables appended to the memoir. The cones are described as 

 different species of Sigillariostrobus, and the one which shows strict proof of 

 Sigillaria-nature is named Sigillariostrobus Tieghemi J . The specimen consists 

 of the lower portion of the cone placed on a tolerably long stalk surrounded 

 by linear leaves. The rows of scars on the stalk allow of an approximate 

 determination of the plant as Sigillaria scutellata, Brongn., or S. periploca, 

 Boulay, a species which is particularly abundant in the seam from which the 

 cones come. The leaves which bear sporangia all stand out from the stem, 

 the macrospores lie on their cushions which are narrowed into the shape of a 

 wedge, and the lamina is broadly lanceolate, pointed and one-nerved. There 

 is really therefore a perfect resemblance to Goldenberg's Sigillariostrobus, 

 which was only a little smaller. In the other and similar species also, which 

 occurred in the form of large fragments from different parts of the cone, 

 Zeiller could find only the same kind of macrospores. He considers the 

 possibility 2 , which in fact there really is, that these Sigillaria-cones may 

 have been isosporous, though the considerable size of the spores is not 

 in favour of this, and he also raises the question whether the two forms of 

 spores might not have been produced on different cones, in which case the 

 cones that contained the microspores could not be recognised as such when 

 preserved in coal. In fact on one of his cones (Sigillariostrobus nobilis 3 ) there 

 was no trace of a spore to be seen. Renault 4 has just published a preliminary 

 communication on a spike-like fructification which he classes with Clathraria 

 or Leiodermaria, but without stating his reasons. He says : 'The general 

 appearance of this spike, its dimensions, the form and length of the bracts, 

 their disposition in close spirals and the diameter of the axis bring it 

 very near to, if they do not identify it with, the spikes which are often met 

 with among the leaves at the extremity of the stem of Sigillaria Brardii.' 

 That is all. It is stated that pollen-sacs in large numbers were attached 

 on the under side of the horizontal basal portion of the spike on both 

 sides of the median nerve, and that orange-yellow pollen-grains of elliptic 

 outline were to be obtained from them. I was unfortunately unable to 

 see the specimen, which was just then being engraved, and a drawing of 

 it did not give me all the information which I required. 



When then Renault goes on to say, ' The Sigillariae with smooth 



1 Zeiller (12), t. u, f. i. a Zeiller (12), p. 273. 3 Zeiller (12), t. 12, ff. i, 2. 



Renault (9). 



