142 Mr Seward, Notes on the Binney Collection 



value in the recognition of the two allied species. These two types 

 have been referred to as species of the genus Lepidodendron, the 

 name used by Witham and Williamson in their descriptions of 

 L. Harcourtii and L. fuliginosum. It is, however, more usual and 

 in accordance with present methods to speak of Williamson's 

 species as Lepidophloios fuliginosus, and there are reasons for 

 applying the same generic designation to Witham's species. It is 

 unnecessary to refer to the characteristic differences between the 

 two genera, Lepidodendron and Lepidophloios, but brief reference 

 may be made to the facts which have led to the adoption of the 

 latter name for Williamson's species. In the British Association 

 Report for 1880 Cash and Lomax 1 published a note in which they 

 record the discovery of a petrified stem having the external characters 

 of Lepidophloios and the internal structure of Williamson's species 

 Lepidodendron fuliginosum. The specimen was afterwards ex- 

 amined by Kidston 2 , who confirmed the statement of Cash and 

 Lomax ; Kidston expressed the view that this stem with the 

 L. fuliginosum type of structure was identical with the plant 

 figured in 1831 by Lindley and Hutton as Lepidodendron acerosum 3 . 

 The specimens referred by Binney to Halonia regularis were so 

 named on evidence supplied by Mr Dawes, himself a student of 

 Palaeozoic plants, who described the stem from which the sections 

 were prepared as exhibiting externally the characteristic Halonial 

 tubercles. It would occupy too much space to review at length 

 the evidence supporting the application of the generic term Lepi- 

 dophloios to such Lepidodendroid branches as exhibit those surface 

 features for which the genus Halonia was originally proposed, or to 

 discuss the evidence in support of the use of the genus Lepidophloios 

 for stems exhibiting the type of structure which Williamson referred 

 to the species Lepidodendron fuliginosum. There are indeed good 

 grounds for the application of the generic designation Lepidophloios 

 to such stems as exhibit the anatomical characteristics of William- 

 son's species, whether or no the stems are preserved in such a 

 manner as to show Halonial characters. 



2. Description of the Specimens. 



Slide 1 (Binney No. 31). Text-figure 1, PI. in. fig. 3, PI. IV. 

 figs. 8 and 12. 



A figure of this transverse section, magnified 3| diameters, 

 is given by Binney in his Plate xin. fig. I 4 . The section, 

 3'8 cm. x 2'5 cm. in diameter, was cut from a stem in course of 



1 Cash and Lomax (80). 



2 Kidston (93), p. 547 and (90) p. 351. 



3 Lindley and Hutton (31), PI. vil. 



4 Binney (72). 



