358 CALAMITES. [CH. 



evidence of internal structure or of the direct association of 

 the cones with Calamitean foliage. 



Palaeostachya vera sp. nov. Fig. 98. 



In 1869 Williamson^ described a fragment of a strobilus 

 which showed certain anatomical features indicative of a close 

 relationship or even identity with Galamites. Some years later ^ 

 a much more perfect example was obtained from the Coal- 

 Measures of Lancashire, and the additional evidence which it 

 afiforded definitely confirmed the earlier views of Williamson. 

 The cone was more fully described by Williamson in 1888, 

 as "the true fruit of Galamites!' It is clearly a form of 

 Weiss' genus Palaeostachya', Williamson and Scott^ refer to 

 it in their Memoir as Calamites pedunculatus. It is preferable, 

 however, to retain the generic designation Palaeostachya for 

 cones of this type. As the name P. pedunculata has pre- 

 viously been adopted by Weiss^ for a cone figured by William- 

 son^ in 1874, and afterwards referred to by that author in 

 writing as P. pedunculata, it is proposed to substitute the 

 specific name vera ; this specific name being chosen with a 

 view to put on record the fact that it was this type of cone 

 that Williamson first proved to be the true fructification 

 of the Calamite. 



The axis of P. vera is practically identical in structure with 

 a Calamitean twig. There is a hollow pith in the centre of the 

 stele surrounded by a ring of 16 — 20 collateral bundles, each 

 of which is accompanied by a carinal canal as in a vegetative 

 shoot. As the pedicel of the strobilus passes into the cone 

 proper it undergoes some modification in structure, but retains 

 the characteristic features of a Calamite. The diagrammatic 

 longitudinal section of fig. 98, which is copied from a drawing 

 by Williamson^, shows the broadening of the vascular strands 

 at the nodes, and here and there a carinal canal is seen internal 

 to the wood. 



1 Williamson (Tl^). 2 ma. (882). 



3 Williamson and Scott (94), p. 900. * Weiss (84), PL xxi. fig. 4, 



5 Williamson (74), PI. v. fig. 32. e Williamson (88^), PI. ix. fig. 20. 



