Johnson — On Bothrodendron {Ci/clostigma) kiltorkense. 501 



of Sphenopteris Hookeri occurred. The most important find was the stem of 

 Archseopteris (1), previously known only by its isolated sterile and fertile 

 fronds. The object of the present paper is to present, in as complete a form 

 as impressions will allow, an account of tlie ancient club-moss Bothrodendron 

 [Cyclostigma) hiltorhense, Haught. sp. (2). I shall first give an account of 

 what has been learned of this species since its unearthing in 1851, and then of 

 the additions to our knowledge of it as revealed by an examination of the 

 specimens in the Dublin Museum and elsewhere, and of the collections made 

 last summer. At the outset I should like to acknowledge my indebtedness 

 to Professor Cole, Director of the Greological Survey of Ireland, Professor 

 Joly, F.R.S., Professor of Geology, Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. Smith 

 Woodward, f.r.s., British Museum (Natural History), and to Sir A. 

 Greikie, f.r.s.. Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, for the 

 ready facilities I have received in examining the Kiltorcan specimens in the 

 collections under their respective charges. 



There was such a difference of opinion amongst the early Victorian 

 palaeontologists as to the age of the beds in which the fossil plants of 

 Kiltorcan and other parts of Ireland were found that it was decided to send 

 a set of numbered specimens with drawings to M. Brongniart of Paris as a 

 recognized authority. The specimens were sent in December, 1856; the 

 reply was received by Dr. (later Sir) E. Griffith, of the Geological Survey, in 

 February, '^1857, and read before both the Royal Geological Society of 

 Ireland (3) and the Koyal Dublin Society (4). A duplicate numbered set of 

 specimens was retained in Dublin, and the remains of this set, with the 

 numbers still attached in some cases, are now preserved under my charge in 

 the Botanical Division of the National Museum, Dublin. M. Brongniart's 

 views are of particular interest in their bearing on Botlirodendron. He 

 wrote at length on three specimens — 3, 15, 19 — which I can readily recognize 

 from his excellent descriptions were Bothrodendron. He knew, he wrote, 

 nothing like this fossil, and did not venture to name even a family for its 

 reception. Further study of more material of it was necessary — a remark 

 Brongniart repeats of other specimens. He could not on the material sent 

 decide the age of the beds. The plants were, he concluded, specifically 

 distinct from, but generically like those of, the Carboniferous beds, thus 

 agreeing with the few Devonian plants then known. There is no record of 

 any further interchange of views or despatch of specimens, but two years 

 later, in 1859, Dr. Haughton published an illustrated account (2) of certain 

 Kiltorcan club-moss specimens. He assigned them to a new genus 

 Cyclostigma with three species — C. kiltorkense, C. minutum, and C. Qriffithii. 

 The genus was founded on the presence of alternating whorls of distant leaf- 



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