HCit MR. W. C. WILLIAMSON ON THE HISTORY OF ZAMIA GIGAS. 



my chisel upon them for the purpose of making out some obscure points in their struc 



permission which led to important results. Prom the specimens thus br 



3 



under examination, I have selected the most important ; and after describing these indi- 

 vidually, I will endeavour, so far as the materials admit, to restore the entire plant. 



But in attempting this I would carefully distinguish between unquestionable facts and 

 dubious inferences. The facts to which I wish to call attention are reliable. How far 

 my interpretation of them may prove correct remains to be seen. 



Amongst the broken debris which falls from the cliffs of Hawsker and Runswick are 



numerous masses of- hard ferruginous sandstone belonging to the "Lower Sandstone and 



Shale" of Phillips. These masses appear to fall from a stratum about 20 feet thick, 



which is only separated from the Inferior Oolite by a few feet of carbonaceous shale. 



The ferruginous blocks furnish the specimens under consideration, associated with Cyca- 



dean fronds, fragments of coniferous wood, some ferns, and occasionally an undescribed 



jointed stem, having the outward aspect of a Calamite; of these, the Cycadean fronds 



ire l>y much the most abundant; this naturally attracted my attention when endeavour- 



ing to discover the complementary parts of the anomalous fossils. To suppose that the 



latter belonged to a plant of which no other traces had been preserved, was an improb- 



kble idea, n -atived by their comparative abundance and the small amount of mutilation 



t hey had undergone. Such traces could be found only amongst the vegetable remains of 



the same rocks; of these I have already enumerated the chief. With the ferns they 



could have no -relationship, and with the jointed stem they appeared to have as little. 



Nothing remained, therefore, but to seek for the missing portions either amongst the 



coniferous fragments or amongst the Cycadean fronds. All circumstances pointed to the 



latter as the foliage ; but a stem was wanted on which to reunite the detached parts. In 



18a* I found, on a huge block of sandstone at Hawsker, the cast of a stem between 1 



and 2 feet long and nearly 4 inches in diameter. Its surface was covered with scars 



n-embling those of a Cycad. It had evidently been moulded upon the bark of a tall 



-borescent plant. The rock was too large for removal, and beine unprovided with 



fat t ■ 



materials for taking a cast, I could only take a hasty sketch of the specimen and leave it 



cont "' " - ^^ yeaiS afterwards * found in m J cabm et a specimen of the sandstone 

 « un aming a large mass of mingled carbonaceous matter and Scarbroite, and on remov- 

 ing these touud that it had been part of a stem similar to that of which I had so often 

 d, dored the loss Its outer surface exhibited, with -eat clearness, the 



homboidal 



•ilr< idv ref 1 cjuuuueu, witn great clearness, the rnomboiciai scar: 



Hai n* ,i /'" C i ♦ • , Whicl1 d0Sely resemble " those of many living Cycadean stems 

 Ha g thus obtained two examples of these stems (of whi, h t' m M, fWafthtt. 



of these stems (of which, I may add, Mr. Carruthers 



informs me hp f a +i • OW3m8 l UJL wnicn, l may aaa, ivir. ^arruwK»o 



that the, had beirntr,! T < J, CXanil,le * ** ^^ MuSeUm ^ 1 deemed " V M ° 



specimen to AI Add 1 7/ "^ ?"* aS the Cycadean fronds - 0n f™ din S my 



tillon me „,r,i't ,, r * lm & m *' lle replied, "L'empreinte contenue dans cet echan- 



*g« d'uu Zami* Gi w ° cZ fT.!'??" d ' Une petite portion de F * COrCe de 



■i proldrmatiquc "TV a plUS P ° Ur "^P^ter l'histoire de cetto plante 



for doul-.ins the 'con-JiTe™ 7 ° Pini ° U ' * need scarcelv sa ^ left me Httle r00m 



. „„,.:.... T 0t mv P revi ous conclusions. Prom this brief sketch of the 



^^-uhjcct, i may 1)roc ; e ^;^; t 



specimens 



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