W. Carruthers — Coal Plants from Brazil. 155 



as sporangia are found on scales at the base of the cone, and not 

 in the middle or upper portions of it, as many of the author's speci- 

 mens clearly proved." 



Being unable to understand precisely the structure of the cones in 

 Mr. Binney's collection from this abstract (made obviously by some 

 one ignorant of the subject with which the author was dealing), and 

 being engaged in working out the points treated of in this paper, I 

 asked Mr. Binney for some additional information, but he informed me 

 that he was about to publish a full account with illustrations, and there- 

 fore wished to reserve his more detailed description till then. As, 

 however, the statements published in this quotation are in opposition 

 to the views I formerly published, and have more fully explained above, 

 it is necessary that I say a word or two on the more important points 

 contained in it. 



There can be no doubt, as there stated, that the little discs were 

 borne on the scales of the lower half of the cone of Flemingites, seeing 

 that the original specimen was the lower half of a cone ; but it is also 

 equally certain that these little discs were borne as well on the scales 

 of the middle and upper portions, for the British Museum has recently 

 acquired a complete specimen, in which they are to be found on all the 

 scales from the top to the bottom. The specimen to which I have 

 already alluded as figured by Lindley and Hutton under the name of 

 Lepidostrohus variabilis, shows also this structure. Besides these I 

 have seen two specimens from Burdie House which, though not so 

 well preserved, are equally decisive as to this point. So that what- 

 ever is the nature of Mr. Binney's cone with Lepidostrobus-like 

 sporangia on the upper half, it has nothing whatever to do with 

 Flemingites. 



It is also certain, if the points I have stated in this paper are of any 

 value, that the sporangia on the lower half of the cone do not contain 

 macrospores. 



But the cone described in this abstract cannot belong to any of these 

 palseozoic Lycopodiacc(B, as it would be an anomaly in the vegetable 

 kingdom, and would contradict the ascertained laws of vegetable 

 morphology, if a plant which had its true leaves arranged in spirals, 

 had its modified leaves, forming the fruiting cone, arranged in whorls. 

 The words of the abstract imply a still less possible structure, for it 

 gives Mr. Binney the credit of believing the leaves of the lower 

 portion of the cone to be arranged in spirals, as described and 

 figured by me, while in the upper portion they are arranged in whorls, 

 but this must be one of those errors which the person making the 

 abstract has unwittingly made. 



Nceggerathia olovata, sp. nov. Frond sessile flat, entire, elongate- 

 obovate, attenuated towards the base ; nerves dividing dichotomously, 

 parallel. (Plate YI. Fig. 1.) 



Odoiitopteris Plantiana, sp. nov. Pinnules broad at the base, irregu- 

 larly lobed, obtuse at the apex, basal pinnules large, much and irregu- 

 larly lobed ; nerves arcuately parallel, dichotomous. (PI. V. Pigs 2 & 3.) 



I have associated the name of Mr. Plant with this species, as it is to 

 his intelligent investigation of these deposits that I am indebted for 

 the interesting specimens I have described. 



