FLOKA OF THE SHASTA FORMATION. 275 



The central part of the medulla has decayed out, leaving a deep cavity 

 or hollow 7 cm. deep and 6 by 10 cm. in diameter. The whole interior 

 seems to be pure silica, and strong hydrochloric acid produced no reaction 

 when applied to the fracture at the summit or to the smooth base, but 

 over the rest of the surface there was a calcareous wash without appre- 

 ciable thickness, and when immersed in an acid bath it was removed 

 without materially altering the tissues or changing the color. 



The trunk stands 23 cm. high, and the diameters at the base are 

 17 cm. and 34 cm., respectively, giving a girth of 86 cm. About midway 

 of the trunk the girth is reduced to 78 cm., and near the summit to 60 cm. 

 Here it is much more flattened, the minor diameter being only 5 cm. 

 It weighs 58.47 kg. The remaining characters are specific and will be 

 described as such. 



The genus Cycadeoidea has been referred to an order distinct from 

 the Cycadales and called the Bennettitales, and to a family distinct 

 from the Cycadacea?, called the Bennettitacese. The reproductive 

 organs, according to Solms-Laubach, indicate a less advanced type of 

 vegetation than the living Cycadacese," and they should therefore precede 

 the latter in the ascending order according to the classification of Engler 

 and Prantl adopted in this paper. It should, however, be remarked 

 that the reference of, the leaf impressions of cycadaceous fossil plants to 

 the Cycadacese is made on account of our ignorance of their true system- 

 atic position, as no reproductive organs are found attached to them. It 

 is altogether probable that the trunk here described bore the leaves of 

 some of the genera found in the same beds, but it is impossible to deter- 

 mine which one of them. It will probably prove, should the connection 

 ever be made, that nearly all Mesozoic genera of cycads really belong to 

 the Bennettitales. 



I am unable to refer .the present trunk to any of the species of 

 Cycadeoidea hitherto described, and am therefore obliged to regard it 

 as forming a new species. I name the species after its discoverer, Dr. 

 T. W. Stanton. 



eMr.Worsdell has come to the contrary conclusion, but upon evidence which, so far as I am capable of 

 weighing it, is not satisfactory. The affinities of the Mesozoic fossil Bennetiites Oibsonianus Carr., by W. C. 

 Worsdell. Annals of Botany, Vol. XIV, No. 50, December, 1900, pp. 717-721. 



