32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 3, 



not unlike that of the young branches of Lepidodendron elegans, 

 being marked with wavy and often intersecting striae which form im- 

 perfect areoles ; but, on closer examination, we find that these areoles 

 are not symmetrical or well-defined, nor do they bear any distinct 

 scars of insertion. 



I now proceed to describe what is most remarkable in this fossil, — 

 the leaves or appendages which it bears. On all the stems, and par- 

 ticularly on the largest, we observe great abundance of what appear 

 to be acicular leaves, certainly much resembling those of some species 

 of Lepidodendron. These are very closely crowded, very narrow, 

 sharp-pointed, and with few exceptions, strongly incurved ; for the 

 most part indeed they are at first inclined downward, or towards 

 the base of the stem, and then strongly curved in the opposite di- 

 rection. Some of them show rather indistinct appearances of a 

 central rib or ridge. The largest stem is thickly clothed throughout 

 its length, and its lateral branches most densely, with these apparent 

 leaves ; they are now seen, indeed, only on the right and left sides, 

 or margins of the stem, as it lies imbedded in the stone, but I con- 

 ceive that they did exist likewise on the side which is now laid bare, 

 and which is marked with the pits already mentioned. One of the 

 smaller stems is clothed with them along the whole length of one 

 side ; on the remaining two they appear partially, occupying only 

 certain portions, and being scarcely discoverable on others. But, 

 besides these acicular leaves, which much resemble those of a Lyco- 

 podium, the smaller stems bear what are indisputably the leaves or 

 fronds of a small Fern, apparently in an early and imperfectly deve- 

 loped state. These spring alternately from the two sides of the stem, 

 but not uniformly, for they are wanting where the stems are most 

 thickly clothed with the acicular leaves ; some of these latter, how- 

 ever, are visible between the insertions of the fronds. The largest 

 frond is about an inch long. They are of an oblong outline, narrow 

 in proportion to their length, and much resemble the pinnae of some 

 of the more delicate species of Pecopteris, of the section TJnitce, such 

 as P. plumosa and P. dentata. The back of the rhachis, where it is 

 exposed to view, appears to be clothed with minute, narrow, pointed 

 scales or appendages, resembling in miniature the supposed *' acicular 

 leaves" on the stem. 



Such are the appearances presented by this singular fossil. That 

 both the kinds of leaves, or leaf-like appendages, which I have de- 

 scribed, really belong to the stems, and that the appearances are not 

 due to any casual juxtaposition, will, I think, be quite evident to 

 every one who examines the specimen. Mr. Richard Brown, the dis- 

 coverer of the fossil, supposed it to be a peculiar species of Lepido- 

 dendron, bearing two different kinds of foliage, — namely, the leaves 

 proper to that genus, and the fronds of a true Fern ; and thus in fact 

 combining in one plant the characters of the two families. Now, it 

 is certainly true that the two orders* of Club-mosses and Ferns, 



* I assume what I think has been sufficiently proved by M. Brongniart, that the 

 Lepidodendra belonged to the family of Lycopodiacece, or were at any rate most 

 closely related to them. 



