482 PEOCEEDrSTGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 5, 



ject represented in fig. 1 e, which appears to be thus attached, may- 

 be an example in better preservation than usual. It consists of four 

 thick lanceolate leaves or bracts with single midrib, arising from a 

 flattened carbonaceous patch, which shows traces of similar leaves on 

 its surface. These leaves or bracts have evidently enclosed the fruc- 

 tification of some lycopodiaceous plant ', and, from their association 

 with Psilo^Jiyton jprinc&ps, I regard it as highly probable, though by 

 no means certain, that they belong to that species. 



The rhizomata of Psilophyton princeps occur in situ in a number 

 of argillaceous beds, in a manner which shows that they crept in 

 immense numbers over flats of sandy clay, on which their graceful 

 stems must have formed a thick, but delicate, herbage, rising to the 

 height of from two to four feet. The rhizomes and the bases of the 

 stems may possibly have been submerged ; but I should infer, from 

 the appearance and structure of the latter, that they were rigid, 

 woody, and perhaps brittle. In many beds in which the rhizomes 

 have not been distinctly preserved, the vertical rootlets remain, pro- 

 ducing an appearance very similar to that of the Stigmarian under- 

 clays of the coal-measures. Sir "W. E. Logan has noted in his detailed 

 sections numerous cases of this kind. 



When broken into fragments and imperfectly preserved, Psilo- 

 jpTiyton princeps presents a variety of deceptive appearances. When 

 perfectly compressed in such a manner as to obliterate the markings, 

 it might be regarded as a dichotomous fucoid or a flattened root. 

 When decorticated and exhibiting faint longitudinal strise, it presents, 

 especially when the more slender branchlets are broken off, the aspect 

 of a frond of Schizopteris or Trichomanites. When rendered hollow 

 by decay, it forms bifurcating tubules, which might be regarded as 

 twigs of some tree with the pith removed. Lastly, the young plants 

 might be mistaken for ferns in a state of vernation. In aU conditions 

 of preservation, the stems, rhizomes, and rootlets, if separated, might 

 be referred to distinct genera. I have little doubt therefore that 

 many imperfectly preserved Devonian plants of this general form, 

 noticed under various names by authors, may belong to this genus, 

 and some of them to the species above described. In particular I 

 may refer to certain dichotomous fucoids in the genera Fucoides and 

 Chondrites ; to a plant from the Hamilton Group of New York, figured 

 by Yanuxem in his Eeport, p. 161 ; to the dichotomous roots from 

 Orkney and Caithness described by Mr. Salter in the * Proceedings* of 

 this Society for last year ; and to the bifurcating plants with curved 

 tendril-Hke branchlets figured by Hugh Miller, *01d E-ed Sandstone,' 

 plate 7, and * Testimony of the Eocks,' p. 434. From the descrip- 

 tion in the former work. Chap. 5, it would appear that the author 

 had observed not only the stems but the rhizomes with their Stig- 

 maria-like areoles, though without suspecting them to belong to the 

 same plant. I have little doubt therefore that materials exist in 

 the Old Eed Sandstone of Scotland for the reconstruction of at least 

 one species of this genus. Various fragments which I have collected 

 induce me to believe that it may be found also in the Lower Coal- 

 measures. 



