26 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JANUARY 
second paper, the same authority makes a study of certain spec- 
imens contained in the Williamson collection and originally 
included by Williamson in the genus Myelopteris, but which he 
finds to be in reality quite distinct. He therefore separates 
them under the name of Rachiopteris Wiltiamsont.” This species 
is quite distinct from our Topeka specimen with respect to the 
character of the vascular bundles, which are concentric, and thus 
show a distinct approach to the type represented in Anguopteris 
evecta. On the other hand, the mucilage passages, which are 
also of the type found in Angiopteris, are essentially the same 
as those of the Topeka specimen, differing only in distri- 
bution.” 
From the review thus presented, it is quite clear that our 
specimen must be regarded as a species of myelopteris, accord- 
ing to the name adopted by Renault and Williamson, and 
retained by me as expressing its probable relations, but that it 
differs specifically from any of the specimens heretofore 
described. It may be concluded further that the present mate- 
rial represents the stipe of a frond, rather than the stem 
proper. 
Heretofore the representatives of this genus have been 
derived wholly from the Carboniferous of Europe. The material 
now at hand from the Upper Carboniferous of Kansas thus 
affords important evidence as to the wider geographical range 
of these plants, while the well preserved condition of portions 
of its structure permits a further discussion of its possible affin- 
ities. I have, therefore, carefully passed in review such species 
of living plants as are available in the Botanic Gardens of 
McGill University, as affording a possible solution of this ques- 
tion. In prosecuting these studies, I have had in view the sug- 
gestions of earlier investigators, as well as those which natu- 
rally arose in my own mind upon making a preliminary 
examination of these fossils. I have, therefore, carefully exam- 
ined Cordyline terminalis, Phoenix — Kentia Fosteriana, 
# Ann. Bot. 8: 207. 
at * Ann. Bot. 8: pl. 13, fig. 8. 
