﻿1851.] BUNBURY FOSSIL PLANTS OF SCARBOROUGH. 191 



prominent lateral rib or angle, but are rather faintly and irregularly 

 striated, perhaps in consequence of the shrinking of their tissue. 

 Those towards the base of each twig are often (but not constantly) 

 rather shorter than the rest. The main axis bears leaves of the same 

 form as the others, but very distantly placed, and very stiff and 

 straight, looking almost like spines. I could perceive no trace of 

 anything like fructification. 



I saw another specimen, of what I believe to be the same thing, 

 in Prof. Phillips's collection ; but in this, the ramification is more 

 crowded and irregular, the branches and twigs apparently less stiff, 

 everywhere more wavy or zigzag, and in parts remarkably so. 



The ramification and general form of this plant show, I think, that 

 its place is in the Coniferous order, and not among the Lycopodia. 

 By the form of its leaves it reminds one of the Cryptomeria, and of 

 the Araucaria excelsa and Cunninghamii ; but as the same form of 

 leaves is found in both those genera of recent Conifers, which differ 

 widely in other respects, it cannot suffice to determine positively the 

 immediate affinities of our fossil. These indeed must remain un- 

 certain until something be known of its fruit ; but in the mean time 

 I assign to it the provisional name of Cryptomerites, without meaning 

 to affirm that it is truly a congener of the Cryptomeria Japonica. 



10. Palissya? Williamsonis[-ni], Ad. Br. Tableau, p. 106. 



Lycopodites Williamsonis, Ad. Br. Prodr. p. 83 ; L. & H. Foss. Fl. 

 t. 93. 



Lycopodites uncifolius, Phill. Geol. Yorks. i. p. 119. tab. 8. fig. 3. 

 Walchia Williamsonis, Morris, Cat. Brit. Foss. p. 25. 



Although one of the most common fossil plants of the Gristhorpe 

 beds, this is still in need of further examination, to determine with 

 more precision its real affinities. Brongniart remarked some time 

 ago, that it was rather a Coniferous plant than a Lycopodium ; and 

 in his 'Tableau des Genres' he accordingly enumerates it among the 

 Conifers, but seems uncertain as to its genus ; for at page 40 of that 

 work he speaks of it as a Walchia, whereas at pp. 68 and 106 he 

 notices it under the new genus Palissya. The Coniferte and the Lyco- 

 podia are, in truth, in many cases so like one another in the outward 

 appearance of their leaves and branches, and even of their fruit, that 

 it is no wonder that in the fossil state it should be difficult to di- 

 stinguish them. The difference of size, which is in general sufficiently 

 striking in the recent forms of the two orders, will afford us no as- 

 sistance among the fossils. Of course, where the internal structure, 

 either of the stem or of the cones, can be ascertained, there is no room 

 for doubt ; but, unfortunately, in the fossil remains this is very rarely 

 the case. The best outward mark of distinction that I know of, is 

 the dichotomous ramification of the Lycopodiums, contrasted with 

 the pinnate arrangement of the branches in the Conifers. Even this 

 sometimes fails us ; for although the regularly dichotomous mode of 

 division never, I believe, occurs in the Conifers, it is by no means 

 obvious in some Lycopodiums, where, on the contrary, the stem ap- 



