Reprinted from the Memoirs and Proceedings op the Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, Vol. 4.1. 



ON RACHIOPTERIS CYLINDRICA, WILL. 



By Thomas Hick, B.A., B.Sc, A.L.S., Assistant Lecturer in Botany, 

 Owens College, Manchester. 



In his ninth memoir " On the Organisation of the Fossil Plants of 

 the Coal Measures," l the late Professor Williamson described a series 

 of plant remains from the Lower Coal Measures of Halifax, under the 

 name of Rachiopteris cylindrica. The genus Rachiopteris he had 

 previously adopted for the reception of a number of isolated Fern 

 petioles whose connections were unknown, and in referring the speci- 

 mens to it, he only did so provisionally, as he was " far from certain " 

 at the time that they were " true Ferns." 2 As to the nature of the 

 fragments, he was undecided whether they were parts of roots or parts 

 of stems. 



The description given by Williamson in 1878 is a brief one, based 

 apparently upon a small nvimber of microscopic preparations, and, so 

 far as I cau discover, no further observations have been published on 

 the subject. In the present communication I propose to give a more 

 detailed account of the plant than was possible when Williamson wrote 

 of it, and then to consider whether or not the knowledge since acquired 

 throws any light upon its affinities. The specimens on which I have 

 mainly relied are a number of sections prepared by Mr. James Binns, 

 of Halifax, and now in the Cash Collection at the Manchester Museum, 

 Owens College, but these have been supplemented by others. 



Anatomy and Histology. 



Transverse sections of Rachiopteris cylindrical have a circular or 

 elliptical outline. The diameter of the circular ones varies slightly 



l Phil. Trans., 1878. 

 a Loc. cit. p. 350. 



