Johnson — On Bothrodendron [Cyclostigma) kiltorkense. 519 



B. kiltorkeme. — Tliougli absolute proof has been hitherto lacking, it has 

 been generally agreed that the cones described by Schimper from Kiltorcan 

 material sent to him by Baily, as Lepidosfrobtis, BaUyana, are really the cones 

 of B. kiltorkense. Schimper himself suggested the possibility that the cones 

 of Lepidostrobus were part of Baily 's Knorria. The specimens figured in 

 this paper should remove any remaining doubt. 



The foliage leaves clearly indicate the closest affinity with the fertile 

 ones. 



The cone of B. kiltorkense (Plate XLT, fig. 3) is short, terminal, and obconical 

 in shape. Its broad axis carries a large number of wliorls of closely crowded 

 sporophylls. It appears from the illustration (Plate XLI, fig. 4) tliat tlie axis 

 of the cone was either hollow or contained tissue which has disappeared in the 

 course of fossilizatiou. In the space enclosed by the cylindrical axis there is 

 a thin, irregularly shaped, carbonized body. Its nature is not obvious. 

 Fortunately there is a specimen, broken in tlie stone in such a way as to 

 show part of the cone in longitudinal section. The hollow axis with the 

 peculiarly shaped body in it is again observable, but more interesting is the 

 presence of a carbonized partition stretching across the space from one side to 

 the other of the axis of the cone, and suggesting the presence of a 

 diaphragm and vascular strand. I have already called attention to the 

 hollow cylindrical (crushed) axis of the stem, and suggested that the 

 transverse zonation or ridging seen in certain stems, both young and old, may 

 be due to the presence of nodal diaphragms. It looks as if the cone might 

 also have a hollow axis similarly separated into superposed compartments by 

 diapliragms placed at short intervals from one another with a slender central 

 axial vascular strand, often lost or displaced in course of fossilizatiou, in both 

 kinds of stems. It is worth noting here that a little secondary tliickening has 

 been observed in B. mundum, but nothing of the kind in its vegetative stem 

 or in that of any other Bothrodendron. 



The numerous impressions in the slabs show the sporopliylls from many 

 points of view, and from these a good idea of their general cliaraeters can be 

 obtained (Plate XLI, figs. 3-8). The sporophyll, traversed throughout its 

 length by a single vascular bundle attained a length of 20 cm. or more, and was 

 differentiated into a thick spatulate or sub-obtriangular fertile base, 16 mm. 

 long, 1-1'5 mm. broad at the point of attachment, and 3-5 mm. at its upper 

 end, and a long, narrow awl-shaped appendage or upper part, 2 mm. wide at 

 its point of connection with the distal end of the fertile base. These two parts 

 do not lie in one plane, but are generally set at an angle to one anotlier in 

 such a way that the free end of the sporophyll in the cone was directed out- 

 wards as well as upwards. The fertile base shows a median groove on the 



