Carruthers— On a Fossil Cone from the Coal-measures. 439 
sheath, similar to those on the stem below. It would appear, from 
these two monstrosities, that the annulus and peltate scales of the 
spike are altered sheaths—or, that is to say, leaves. The scales sup- 
port numerous sporangia round their margin. If in a spike the 
scales were to assume the leaf form, and to bear the numerous spo- 
rangia on their surface, the spike or cone would exhibit an arrange- 
ment similar to that in Flemingites. 
I have excluded the contents of the sporangia from the points of 
similarity existing between Lepidostrobus and Lycopodiacee, because 
these exhibit other affinities. The sporangia of Lycopodiacee con- 
tain a fine powder composed of minute free bodies which ultimately 
produce spermatozoids, with the exception of Selaginella, which 
has two kinds of sporangia—one having contents similar to the 
other genera of the family, and the other containing three or four 
true spores, called oophoridia. The sporangium of Lepidostrobus 
Brownii, on the other hand, is filled with immense numbers of true 
spores; and if I am right in supposing the prominences on the spo- 
rangia of Flemingites as produced by spores, it agrees with Lepido- 
strobus in this respect, and both would be, as regards the sporangia, 
allied to Jsoetes. But there exists in the beautifully silicified spe- 
cimen of L. Brownii a quantity of minute granular matter, which I 
am inclined to consider as the minute spermatozoid-producing bodies 
which fill the sporangia of Lycopodium, and those on the inner 
leaves of Zsoe¢es, but which are found in the same sporangium with 
the true spores in Rhizocarpee. While, then, the more obvious 
characters in the structure of the cones ally these two genera to 
Lycopodiacee, the contents of the sporangia (a characteristic in 
regard to living plants considered of the first importance) place 
them nearer to Rhizocarpee. 
Posrscript.—Prof. Balfour, in a note to his paper, alludes to the 
discs which occur in the ‘ Resiniferous shale’ from the River Mer- 
sey, on the north side of Tasmania, and considers that they are pro- 
bably the same as the sporangia of Flemingites. By the kindness of 
Prof. Church, I have obtained some specimens of these dises. They 
exist in the same abundance in this shale,—forming 30 to 40 per 
cent. of the rock,—as the sporangia of Flemingites do in some coals 
and shales which I have examined. They are converted into a hydro- 
carbon, into the composition of which, however, a little over 5 per 
cent. of sulphur enters. ‘To this singular organic mineral Prof. 
Church has given the name of Tasmanite. (Phil. Mac. 1864, 
p- 465.) The discs differ from the sporangia of Flemingites both in 
structure and size. Although composed of two walls which are 
still separable, they contain nothing in their interior, so that they 
appear quite homogeneous. The sporangia of Flemingites have a 
diameter of from 5 to 7 hundredths of an inch, while the dises of 
Tasmanite which I have measured vary from 14 to 2 hundredths of 
an inch. 
I know of nothing in the vegetable kingdom to which the enormous 
abundance of these organic bodies in some deposits can be com- 
pared, except the so-called ‘sulphur-showers’ produced by the 
