GENERAL MORPHOLOGY 305 
at Mariemont in Belgium, are about to be described by Mr. Kidston: to 
him I am indebted for the information that this large Lycopod bore its 
sporangia associated with the leaves of certain portions of the stem, without 
any cone-formation, or alteration of the form or disposition of the leaves 
which bear them: the fertile and sterile portions are distinguished only 
by the presence or absence of sporangia. It is, in fact, a typical repre- 
sentative of the ‘‘Se/ago” type, but of dendroid dimensions. In this 
connection it is interesting to note that Solms Laubach mentions certain 
‘“‘remains of great size, remarkable for the unusual thickness of the axis 
—classed by Lesquereux with JZepidophloios. Weiss also has described 
a similarly colossal cone as Lomatophlotos macrolepidotus, but, unfortunately, 
Zz 
hi. 
fa. 
ae 
Fic 153. 
Lepidostrobus. Diagram showing axis and sporophylls in radial section. a=axis of 
strobilus; 4=sporophylls and sporangia; x=stele; 7, c=inner cortex; , c=middle 
cortex ; 0, c=outer cortex ; =pedicel ; /a=lamina of sporophyll ; Z=ligule; 2, ¢=leaf- 
trace; sf, w=wall of sporangium, (Enlarged after Maslen, from Scott, Studies in 
Fossil Botany.) 
there is no detailed account of it. The enormous size of the axis in 
these specimens gives rise to the suspicion that the fructification was not 
confined to special fertile shoots, but might occasionally appear on the 
leaves even of the main stem, which then increased in thickness, much 
as we see in the present day in the female flower of Cycas, and mutates 
mutandis in Lycopodium Selago. We naturally ask, on what sort of scars 
could such cones be seated as lateral organs?”! Kidston’s description of 
Pinakhodendron shows that the ‘Sedago” condition did actually exist in 
dendroid types, and thus resolves the difficulty. A similar condition is 
shown by the small Lycopodites ciliatus, Kidst., from the Middle Coal 
Measures,2 while the still earfier Zycopodites Stockii (compare Fig. 147 
above) also has its sporangia associated with leaves of the foliage type. 
Finally, the imperfectly known Lycopodites Reidit, from the Devonian of 
1 Fossil Botany, Engl. edn., p. 235- 
2 Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc., Glasgow, vol. vi., p. 37. 
U 
