﻿190 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 12, 



terized in particular by its remarkably tumid articulations, tbe stem 

 being much thicker in those parts than in the intermediate spaces. 

 With the two plants above-mentioned it agrees in the apparent want 

 of tubercles at the articulations ; but the ridges of its stem are much 

 broader than in either, and it is quite destitute of the wrinkled or 

 puckered appearance usually so striking in the Richmond Calamite. 

 Whether it belongs to what M. Brongniart considers as the true genus 

 Catamites, or to his Calamodendron, I am unable to say, as it pre- 

 serves no trace either of the bark or of the internal structure, in 

 which alone the distinctive characters are to be found. 



The specific name of giganteus, assigned by Mr. Bean to this 

 fossil (but not published), seems too near to that of gig as, long since 

 given by Brongniart to a very different species ; neither is it parti- 

 cularly appropriate to a plant which is surpassed in size by several 

 others of the genus. I would therefore propose to substitute for it 

 the name of Calamites Beanii. 



I may here observe that, in the opinion of M. Adolphe Brongniart, 

 the Calamite of Richmond in Virginia is quite different from the true 

 C. arenaceus of the Keuper formation. There certainly is a consi- 

 derable difference in the general aspect of the two plants, although I 

 have been unable to find any clear distinctive characters. C. are- 

 naceus is of a much more slender habit than the other, and never 

 exhibits those irregular transverse wrinkles which are so common 

 (though not constant) in the American kind. This latter, if really 

 distinct, should bear the name of C. Rogersii, in commemoration of 

 the eminent American geologist who first distinguished it from C. 

 Suckovii. The true C. arenaceus may then be considered as peculiar 

 to the Triassic system ; and it seems to be almost the only fossil 

 plant which is common to the upper and lower members of that 

 system, — the Keuper and the Variegated Sandstone. 



9. Cryptomerites? divaricatus, n. sp. Pl. XIII. fig. 4«, 4b. 



For the opportunity of describing and figuring this plant I am 

 indebted to Dr. Murray, in whose collection I observed two specimens. 

 It is, I think, undoubtedly a Conifer, and very distinct from any 

 fossil species hitherto known, although, from the absence of fructi- 

 fication, its precise affinities must remain somewhat doubtful. In 

 the best-preserved specimen, the ramification is pretty regularly bi- 

 pinnate, with alternate and rather distant branches : no tendency in 

 any part to a dichotomous division. The main axis of the specimen 

 (which is perhaps a principal branch) is stout, straight, and rigid : 

 its surface irregularly striated, without any appearance of distinct 

 areoles ; the branches and branchlets spread widely and stiffly, having 

 a rigid and wiry aspect, although the branchlets are very slender and 

 somewhat zigzag. Leaves apparently two-ranked, mostly alternate, 

 but placed at very irregular intervals, and often nearly opposite ; they 

 are compressed sideways, and taper regularly from their vertically 

 dilated decurrent base to a sharp point ; are of a rigid appearance, 

 most commonly straight, sometimes decidedly incurved ; have no 



