168 FLORA OF LOWER COAL MEASURES OF MISSOURL 



However, a new generic appellation was given in 1876 by Weiss^ to 

 this group, the principal characters of the genus Calamitina being the same 

 as those already published for Cycloclaclia. Just as other paleobotanists had 

 referred to the latter genus as a synonym of JEquisetites or Macrostacliya, so 

 Weiss quotes it in the discussion of his new genus, and it is interesting to 

 note that Kidston, who uses Weiss's name for the Macrostachian stems, in 

 his valuable report containing the results of his examination of the Paleozoic 

 types pubHshed by Lindley and Hutton in the "Fossil Flora," identifies^ the 

 type of Cydodadia major L. and H. as "probably Calamitina varians, Sternb. 

 sp., var. inconstans, Weiss." But in a footnote Mr. Kidston states that while 

 Cydodadia "is the oldest name for these fossils," the type is so imperfect that 

 from it satisfactory generic characters can not be obtained." This, together 

 with the fact that the name was independently applied to an altogether 

 different class of plants by Goldenberg, led him to conclude that "under 

 the circmnstances it is perhaps better not to resuscitate the genus Cijdo- 

 dadia." Still, although the same name was used by Goldenberg,^ 1 know 

 of no case in which a paleobotanist has referred the figure in the Fossil 

 Flora to any other group of stems than those included in Macrostacliya and 

 Calamitina. Mr. Richard Howse, in his Catalogue of the Fossil Plants 

 from the Hutton Collection,* in which Cyclocladia major, Macrostachya 

 infundihdiforme, Calamites verticillatus, and others are combined with Hip- 

 purites gigantea L. and H., describes five stems labeled as Cydodadia major, 

 of which the four specimens not figured are clearly of the Macrostachian 

 stem type, all of the five being generically identical, though the one figured 

 is verj' poor. 



From the foregoing review it appears (1) that Cyclocladia was the first 

 name to be applied by its authors originally and exclusively to this type of 

 Calamarian remains, and that its generic identity as such has since been 

 o-enerally recognized by paleontologists; also (2) that prior to the founda- 

 tion of either Macrostachya or Calamitina its characters had been described 

 and illustrated, and its generic value as representing the Macrostachian 

 group of stems had been developed. 



' Steinkolilen-Calamarien, vol. i, p. 126. 



-Notes on the Pala'ozoic species mentioned in Lindley and Button's ''Fossil Flora;'' Proc. 

 Eoy. Phys. Soc. Ediub., vol. x, 1891, p. 371. 



spiora saraepontana fossilis, pt. i, 1855, p. 19. 

 M888,p.l7. 



