X] CALAMOSTACHYS. 351 



Calamostachys Binneyana (Carr.). Figs. 94 and 95. 



In 1867 Carruthers^ gave an account of the structural 

 features of the species of cones named by him Volkmannia 

 Ludwigi and V. Binneyi, the generic term having been origin- 

 ally used by Sternberg ^ for some impressions of Carboniferous 

 strobili. Brongniart^ in 1849 referred to the various forms of 

 Volkmannia as cones of Asterophyllitean branches, and the 

 latter he regarded as the foliage-shoots of a Calamite stem. 

 In 1868 Binney^ published a description, with several illustra- 

 tions, of the cones named by Carruthers Volkmannia Binneyi, 

 and referred to them as the fructification of that type of 

 Calamite stem spoken of in a previous section of this 

 chapter (p. 311) as Calamites (Arthropitys) communis (Binney). 

 This cone is now usually spoken of as Calamostachys Binney- 

 ana ; the specific name Binneyana being suggested by Schimper** 

 in 1869 as more euphonious than that proposed by Carruthers. 

 In recent years our knowledge of both C. Binneyana and 

 G. Ludwigi has been considerably extended. We shall confine 

 our attention in the following account to the former species*. 

 Some excellent figures of the latter species may be found in 

 Weiss' Memoir^ on Calamarieae, 



One of the largest examples of Calamostachys Binneyana 

 so far recorded has a length of 3 — 4 cm. and a maximum 

 diameter of about 7-5 mm. The axis of the cone bears whorls 

 of sterile leaves or bracts at equal distances ; the linear bracts 

 of each whorl are coherent basally as a disc or plate of 

 tissue attached at right angles to the central axis of the cone. 

 The periphery of each of these discs divides up into twelve 

 linear segments, which curve upwards in a direction more or 

 less parallel to the strobilus axis, and at right angles to the 



1 Carruthers (67), PI. lxx. « Sternberg (26), PI. xlviii. and li. 



3 Brongniart (49), p. 51. * Binney (68), p. 23, PU. iv. and v. 



5 Schimper ((59), p. 330. 



8 For figures and descriptions of this type of cone vide Williamson (78), (80). 

 (89); Hick (93), (94) and Williamson and Scott (94). 

 7 Weiss (84), Pis. xxii.— xxiv. 



