Carrutkers — Secondary Cycadean Fruits. 103 



fossils, so that it can throw no light on the matter, Corda, after a 

 fresh examination of Z. familiaris, Ung., has shown it to be Cjca- 

 dean : and the remaining species, Z. crassus, is most probably Cyca- 

 dean, although the materials for its determination are not entirely 

 satisfactory. 



A singular fossil occurs at Eunswick Bay in the Lower Oolite, to 

 which Lindley and Hutton give the name of Zamia gigas. James 

 Yates, Esq., and Prof. Williamson, have examined the structure of 

 this plant. Prof. Williamson originally considered the " collar" 

 (the so-called fruit of the fossil) as a series of protecting scales, 

 beyond which the axis was prolonged to support a cone.^ Mr. 

 Yates, whose extensive acquaintance with Cycadem is well known, 

 and who has greatly helped me in my investigations, not only with 

 his advice but also by presenting his large collection of dried speci- 

 mens of Cycadean stems, foliage, and fruit, to the British Museum, 

 saw no indication of this cone in the numerous specimens he ex- 

 amined. He says, regarding this fossil,' that its pinnate leaves " have 

 unquestionably a very close resemblance to the leaves of Zamia. 

 But here the analogy seems to cease. The stem does not resemble 

 the stem or the mode of growth of any recent species of Zamia, and 

 a still greater difficulty presents itself in its fruit." Mr. Yates con- 

 siders that the "collar" contains the fruit, and Prof. Williamson 

 seems to have ultimately arrived at the same conclusion, for he says' 

 the fossil contains two distinct forms of fruits. " The one, a curious 

 scaly axis, prolonged in a peculiar pyriform manner, which latter 

 part has been invested by a cortical substance, consisting of oblong 

 cells arranged perpendicixlarly to the axis. This was probably the 

 antheriferous portion. The second form consists of a concave disk, 

 which has evidently terminated the woody axis, and been margined 

 by a peripheral circle of radiating bracts. On the upper portion of 

 each of these bracts are two small oblong depressions which may 

 have supported two ovules." I have examined numerous specimens of 

 this fossil in the British Museum, but have been unable to determine 

 satisfactorily anything in regard to the precise structure of this ano- 

 malous fruit. It presents so many peculiarities unknown in the 

 fruit of any modern Cycad, that for the present at least, and not- 

 withstanding its Zamia-like leaves, I must consider it a doubtful 

 Cycad. 



The cones I am about to describe have several features in com- 

 mon, which show that they belong to this Order. They have all the 

 simple arrangement, or phyllotaxis of the scales of the cones. The 

 peduncle, when indications of it are present, as in C. elegans and C. 

 truncatus, is larger than in Coniferous cones of the same size. The 

 cones are converted into iron pyrites, a mineral condition unfavour- 

 able to the preservation of structure, but the arrangement of the 

 mineral shows that the general direction of the parts of which the 

 cone was composed was at right angles to the axis (Plate VI., 

 Fig. 2.) A specimen from the collection of the late Kobert Brown, 



1 Proceedings of York Phil. Soc , 1847, p. 46. 2 lb. p. 39. 



3 Transactions of the British Association, 1854, p. 103. 



