On Spores in the Carhoniferoiis Formation of Scotland. 89 



described certain cones containing macrospores, which he 

 referred to Sigillaria,^ but, unfortunately, these were not 

 attached to their parent stems, hence their Sigillarian nature 

 was not satisfactorily established. 



Subsequently, however, Goldenberg's views were proved 

 to be correct, when in 1884 Zeiller described similar cones 

 to those figured by Goldenberg, still attached to their parent 

 stems, which bore all the characters of the genus Sigillaria? 



Zeiller figures and describes several Sigillariostrohns, some 

 of which contain macrospores with smooth, and others with 

 apiculate, outer surfaces. These two forms are represented 

 by Dawson's Sporangites gktbra and S. papillaia.^ The 

 minute size of the figures given by these authors, prohibits 

 us from identifying any of our forms with theirs, as there 

 occur several varieties of both smooth and apiculate macro- 

 spores. It is, therefore, seen that plants belonging both to 

 Lepidodendron and Sigillaria possess macrospores so similar 

 in size and external structure, that the spores belonging to 

 these two genera cannot be separated from each other when 

 found in an isolated condition. 



A good deal of discussion has taken place as to the affini- 

 ties of Lepidodendron and Sigillaria with recent genera. 

 That they are both Lycopodiaceous seems to us to be clearly 

 established. 



Among recent Lycopods, the three genera to which Lepido- 

 dendron and Sigillaria approach most closely are Lycopodium, 

 Selaginella, and Isoetis. 



In the first the fructification is isosporous ; in the two 

 last heterosporous, and it is to this latter division that 

 Lepidodendron, and most probably Sigillaria, belong, though 

 as yet only the macrospores have been observed in Sigillaria, 

 — no Sigillarian cone having been discovered which reveals 

 the arrangement and contents of the sporangia of the upper 

 portion where the microspores would most probably occur. 



1 Flora Sarfepontana fossilis, Pis. B., Figs. 18-25 ; lY., Fig. 3 ; X., Figs. 1, 2. 



2 Ann. d. Scienc. Nat., 6e ser., Tome xix., p. 256, Pis. XL, XII. 



3 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxii., p. 165, PI. XII., Figs. 80, 81 ; also 

 Acadian Geol., 1868, p. 491. 



