PALEOZOIC CONE-GETs^US LEPIDOSTEOBTJS. 223 



and hide tlie region of insertion of the ligule, and ia the absence of a groove on the 

 dorsal surface of the sporophyll between lamina and heel. The absence of any pad of 

 sterile tissue on the floor of the sporangium, and the presence of a ridge of sclerised 

 tissue to right and left of the median line of the sporophyll pedicel, in place of fairly 

 uniform sclerisation, are other characters which distinguish L. oldhamius f. minor from 



the type form. 



It is possible, however, that this cone may eventually prove to be identical with 

 Maslen's Z. oldhamius (a).* The two cones agree in the diameter of the axis and 

 apparently also in the number of xylem elements which pass into the sporophyll trace. 

 Z. oldhamius f. mi^ior is somewhat more slender than Z. oldhamius (a), but this may 

 be due to the fact that in the former case we possess only the apical part of the cone, 

 whereas in Z. oldhamius (a) the apex is unknown. It is impossible, however, to 

 compare Z. oldhamius (a) and Z. oldhamius f. minor in detail because, in the specimens 

 described under the former title, the structures outside the axis have scarcely survived, 

 while, in the latter, the sporophylls and sporangia are well preserved, though nothing 

 can be seen of the internal structure of the axis. 



The 



(iv.) LEPIDOSTROBrS OLDHAMIUS, "Will., f. PILOSTJS. 



(Plate 27. figs. 50-54 ; Text-figs. 2, 3 (A, B, & C), 4.) 



(1) Material. 



The British Museum (Nat. Hist.) possesses a single section of a cone from Oldham 

 (V, 8871, General Collection) which Williamson f figured, and to which he devoted a 

 few lines of description. This section shows remarkable resemblances to two cones from 

 Shore, Littleborough, preparations of which are included in the collections belonging 

 to University College, London, to Manchester University, and to Mr. D. M. S. Watson. 



seven transverse sections in tlie University College and Watson Collections have 

 obviously been cut from the same cone, which, for purposes of description, we may distin- 

 guish as Cone A. Taken in the following order they form a series passing downwards 

 from the apex of the cone :— U. C. L., C.16.C?; Watson, A. 92 ; U. C. L., C.16.c; 

 Watson, A. 93 ; U. C. L., C. 16. h ; Watson, A. 94 ; U. C. L, C. 16. a. A set of transverse 

 sections of a second cone, which we may call Cone B, is preserved in the Manchester 

 University Collection. The foUowmg is the order of the sections from the apex of the 

 cone downwards :—R. 387; E. 386.5; H. 386. a; B. 385. & ; B. 385. a. In both A 

 and B the extreme top of the fructification is preserved, but A is the more complete, 

 since it includes a lower region of the cone than is seen in B. Cones A and B and the 

 Williamson section referred to above resemble Zejpidostrobus oldhamius, but they have, 

 at the same time, certain peculiar features which seem to render it advisable to distin- 

 guish them in some way. Tor this purpose I propose to use the provisional name 

 Zepidostrobus oldhamius. Will., f. pilosus. 



♦ ilaslen, A. J. ('99), p. 361. 



t WiUianifion, W. C. ('94), pi. 8. fig. 56, & p. 27. 



2l2 



