118 Proceedings of the Boijal Physical Society. 



is among the larger leaves of fossil Cycadacese, which are 

 diminutive in comparison with their modern representatives. 

 Its length, of which more than a foot is visible — its " strong, 

 woody midrib/'one-third of an inch in thickness, perfectly pre- 

 served in cylindrical form — its leaflets, half an inch in breadth, 

 all indicate a plant with dimensions approaching those of 

 Zamites gigas. That it, too, was a Zamites, is without doubt. 

 The exact outline of the leaf cannot be determmed, since the 

 rachis throughout its length gives rise to leaflets of which 

 only the proximal parts remain, without any indication of 

 the apices, and these portions are of nearly the same size 

 and form in all parts of the specimen. The length of the 

 leaflets, therefore, and their mode of termination are uncer- 

 tain; but as the present state gives a width of 4 inches, 

 perhaps 6 inches or more may have been the original width 

 of the leaf, which is seen in back view. The segments at 

 the upper part, equally with those below, are at right angles 

 to the rachis, and all are separated by well-marked intervals 

 from one another. Hugh Miller states erroneously that they 

 "were rectilinear, retaining their full breadth until they 

 united to the stem at right angles" (loc. cit., p. 477). The upper 

 margin does indeed pass to the insertion without deflection, 

 but the pinnse are distinctly constricted at the under margin 

 of the base. All remain attached to the rachis, the mode of 

 insertion evidently rendering the attachment persistent. The 

 union takes place in an oblique direction, so that the leaflets 

 occupy oblique planes, as in Z. gigas. They are, as shown in 

 the drawing, nearly opposite to one another on the two sides, 

 excepting in one place, where two on one side are opposite 

 to three on the other. The veins are strongly marked, diverg- 

 ing slightly from their wide origin at the base, so as to 

 terminate along the upper and lower margins. 



With the characters now described, resembling Z. gigas 

 chiefly in size, the Eathie leaf will be found most closely 

 related to Z. Feneonis (Brong.), which is a species of the 

 middle Oolites of France. The older figure of this, by 

 Ettingshausen (Lias. u. Oolith. Flora, Abhandl. der Geol. 

 Keichsanstalt, Wien, i., 1852, p. 9, t. iii.), which happens to 

 be copied at p. 39 of Hugh Miller's work, would lead us, I 



