THE MARYLAND CYC ADS. 453 



and bears the number 1479a. This piece weighs 0.45 kg. and measures 

 5 by 8 by 13 cm. The specimen is somewhat hollow at both ends, but 

 the depression at the summit is Uttle more than a "crow's nest" and 

 does not exceed 10 cm. deep. It is elliptical, 6 cm. by 17 cm. in diam- 

 eter. The base presents a great cavity in the loss of nearly the entire 

 medulla and part of the woody zone. It is 17 cm. deep, elliptical, and 

 13 cm. by 20 cm. in diameter at the lower end, tapering to half those 

 dimensions above. There are several lesser cavities leading out of this 

 into the wood and armor, like so many chambers, and there is one small 

 cavity adjacent to the broken side which penetrates to the wood. These 

 various losses afford excellent facilities for examining the interior of 

 the trunk. 



The color is light ash verging on white, the rock is soft and brittle, 

 and would have been utterly destroyed if it had l^een exposed to con- 

 ditions of erosion. It is also light in weight, the whole weighing only 

 45.8 kg. 



One of the most remarkable features, possessed by this specimen 

 alone, is a sort of girdle that passes entirely around the trunk near the 

 middle. This is produced by the change in the angle that the leaves 

 made to the axis all around on this line, those below it being somewhat 

 deflexed, while those above it were decidedly ascending. The result 

 is a V-shaped groove between the lower and upper leaf scars. This 

 condition strikingly recalls the foliage of the tree yuccas of Mexico, in 

 which a similar encircling line divides the erect and still green and 

 growing upper leaves from the older, more or less dry, reflexed lower 

 ones at the summit of the leafless trunks. In this specimen the encir- 

 chng line passes just at the summit of the large opening on one side, 

 and the upward tendency of the leaves on that side is much less marked 

 than on the other, where, indeed, there are some indications that it 

 may have been partially due to pressure, but it is difficult to believe 

 that any conditions of compression could have caused the regular change 

 that exists in the angle of the leaves to the axis. (Locahty: PL LXXX 

 No. 43.) 



