﻿Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlix. (1905), No. IT. 3 



shows the structure of Binney's original Sigillaria vascu- 

 laris giving off branches which possess the organisation of 

 Lepidodendron selaginoides. The specimen was discovered 

 by Mr. James Lomax in a nodule from the Fieldhouse 

 Colliery (Halifax Hard Bed) near Huddersfield. The 

 nodule was about 1 foot 6 inches in length by 9 inches 

 broad and 3 to 4 inches in thickness. The depressed scar 

 of the axis as shown in fig. 2 of the Plate was visible on the 

 outside of the nodule after cleaning, while a similar one on 

 the other side was laid bare after a portion of the nodule 

 was removed. Externally, as seen in fig. 2, the stem shows 

 a ribbed and fluted aspect as if it might have belonged to 

 a Sigillaria of the Rhytidolepis type from which the leaf 

 cushions had disappeared. But Binney has already 

 shown (as stated above) that stems with this aspect 

 are found continually associated with branches having 

 rhomboidal markings of typical lepidodendroid character. 

 Like the specimen figured by Binney ('75) (plate XIX., 

 fig. 2), it shows the scar of a lateral branch, but the 

 latter, instead of forming a prominent protuberance, 

 is represented by an oval depression at one end of which 

 is the remnant of the lateral branch, which shows on its 

 surface somewhat indistinctly rhomboidal leaf cushions. 

 It is probable that we have here very much the same 

 structure as that described by Solms-Laubach* as typical 

 for lepidodendroid branching when the branches are of 

 unequal thickness. Where as in Knorrice this happens 

 commonly, " the thinner lateral branch will often impede 

 the further growth in thickness of the main stem and then 

 the base of the side branch is seen to be embedded in a 

 lateral groove which forms on the stem." 



In our specimen the lateral shoot is found at one end 

 of the depression, which becomes shallower towards the 



*Soln\s-Laubach ('87), p. 205. 



