1006 REPORT—1896. 
phylum possessed well-marked cambial growth. One may hazard the guess that 
this interesting group may have been derived from some unknown form lying at 
the root of both Calamites and Lycopods. The existence of the Sphenophyllez 
certainly suggests the probability of a common origin for these two series. 
In few respects is the progress made recently in fossil botany more marked 
than in our knowledge of the affinities of the Calamarieze. ven so recently as 
the publication of Count Solms-Laubach’s unrivalled introduction to ‘ Fossil 
Botany,’ the relation of this family to the Horsetails was still so doubtful that the 
author dealt with the two groups in quite different parts of his book. This is 
never likely to happen again. The study of vegetative anatomy and morphology 
on the one hand, and of the perfectly preserved fructifications on the other, can 
leave no doubt that the fossil Calamariez and the recent Equiseta belong to one 
and the same great family, of which the paleozoic representatives are, generally 
speaking, by far the more highly organised. This is not only true of their 
anatomy, which is characterised by secondary growth in thickness just like that of 
a Gymnosperm, but also applies to the reproductive organs, some of which are 
distinctly heterosporous. In the genus Calamostachys we are,I think, able to trace 
the first rise of this phenomenon. 
The external morphology of the cones is also more varied and usually more 
complex than that of recent Equiseta, though in some Carboniferous forms, as 
in the so-called Calamostachys tenuissima of Grand’ Fury, we find an exactly 
Equisetum-like arrangement. 
The position of the Sigillaria as true members of the Lycopod group is now 
well established. The work of Williamson proved that there is no fundamental 
distinction between the vegetative structure of Lepidodendron, which has always 
been recognised as lycopodiaceous, and that of Stgillaria. Secondary growth in 
thickness, the character which here, as in the case of the Calamodendrez, misled 
Brongniart, is the common property of both genera. Then came Zeiller’s dis- 
covery of the cones of Sigillaria, settling beyond a doubt that they are hetero- 
sporous Cryptogams. A great deal still remains to be done, more especially as to 
the relation of Stigmaria to the various types of lycopodiaceous stem, At present 
we are perhaps too facile in accepting Stigmaria jicoides as representing the 
underground organs of almost any carboniferous Lycopod. 
We are now in possession of a magnificent mass of data for the morphology 
of the paleeozoic lycopods, and have perhaps hardly yet realised the richness of 
our material. I refer more especially to specimens with structure, on which, here 
as elsewhere, the scientific knowledge of fossil plants primarily depends. 
It is scarcely necessary to repeat what has been said so often elsewhere, that 
the now almost universal recognition of the cryptogamic nature of Calamodendreve 
and Sigillarie is a splendid triumph fur the opinions of the late Professor 
Williamson, which he gallantly maintained through a quarter of a century of 
controversy. 
Perhaps, however, the keenest interest now centres in the Ferns and fern-like 
plants of the carboniferous epoch. No fossil remains of plants are more abundant, 
or more familiar to collectors, than the beautiful and varied fern-fronds from the 
older strata. The mere form, and even the venation of these fronds, however, 
really tell us little, for we know how deceptive such characters may be among 
recent plants. In a certain number of cases, discovery of the fructification has 
come to our aid, and where sori are found we can have no more doubt as to the 
specimens belonging to true Ferns. The work of Stur and Zeiller has been 
especially valuable in this direction, and has revealed the interesting fact that a 
great many of these early Ferns showed forms of fructification now limited to the 
small order Marattiacee. I think perhaps the predominance of this group has 
heen somewhat exaggerated, but at least there is no doubt that the marattiaceous 
type was much more important then than now, though it by no means stood 
alone. In certain cases the whole fern-plant can be built up. Thus Zeiller and 
Renault have shown that the great stems known as Psaronius, the structure of 
which is perfectly preserved, bore fronds of the Pecopteris form, and that similar 
Pecopteris fronds produced the fructification of Asterotheca, which is of a marat- 
