Manchester Memoirs, Vol. li. (1907), No. 7- 



VII. On the Structure of Syringodendron, the Bark of 



Sigillaria. 



By Katharine H. Coward, B.Sc. 



Piatt Exhibitioner of the University of Manchester. 



(Communicated by Professor F. E. Weiss, D.Sc, F.L.S.) 



Read December nth, igo6. Received for publication, fanuary 2gth, iqoj. 



In the spring of this year, some preparations of a 

 plant from the Lower Coal Measures of Shore were sent 

 to the Manchester Museum by Mr. Lomax, of Bolton. 

 These were so different from any specimens yet received 

 that it was very difficult to determine to what plant 

 they belonged. They were evidently tangential sections 

 through the bark of some large plant, but the block from 

 which they were cut contained no remains of the vascular 

 tissue of the plant. The greater part of the tissue 

 consisted of elongate periderm cells between which were 

 embedded at fairly regular intervals large oval patches 

 of thin-walled cells sharply differentiated off from the 

 surrounding tissues, and about half an inch long by a 

 quarter broad. (See Fig. 1 of the Plate.) 



Professor A. C. Seward has suggested that this bark 

 may have been that of a Sigillaria in the condition 

 known as Syringodendron, which is characterised by the 

 possession of similar large oval marks generally arranged 

 in rows. A comparison of the sections with several 

 specimens of Syringodendron in the Manchester Museum 

 confirms Professor Seward's identification. The patches 



March nth, igcj. 



