372 CALAMITES. [CH. 



several different ' forms ' of stems, which differ from Sternberg's 

 fossil in such points as the number of nodes between the 

 branch -whorls and the number of branches in each whorl. The 

 result of this system of nomenclature is the separation of portions 

 of one specific type under different form-names. It must be 

 clearly recognised that accurate specific diagnoses are practically 

 impossible when we have to deal with fragments of plants, 

 some of which are mere pith-casts, while others show the surface 

 features. The specimen represented in fig. 99 agrees with a 

 stem described by Ettingshausen' in 1855 as Galamites Oopperti, 

 and as a matter of convenience a member of the Galamitina 

 group showing such characters may be referred to as Galamites 

 (Galamitina) Gopperti (Ett.). The following list, which includes 

 a few synonyms of this form, may suffice to illustrate the 

 difficulties connected with accurate systematic determinations. 



Galamites {Galamitina) Gopperti (Ett.). Fig. 99. 



1855. Galamites Gopperti, Ettingshausen ^. 



1869. Calandtes {Calamophyllites) Oopperti, Grand'Eury^. 



1874. Gyolodadia major, Feistmantel*. 



1874. Galamites verticillatus, Williamson^. 



1876. Galamitina Gopperti, Weiss^ 



1884. Galamites (Galamitina) varians abbreviatus, Weiss'. 



1884. Galamites (Galamitina) varians inconstans, Weiss'. 



1887. Galamites Sachsei, Stur'. 



1888. Galamophyllites Gopperti, Zeiller'". 



This species is characterised by the smooth bark, which may 

 be traversed by a few irregular longitudinal fissures ; most of 

 the nodes bear a series of small leaf-scars, and at fairly regular 

 intervals a node is immediately succeeded by a circle of 

 contiguous branch-scars, 8 — 12 in a whorl. The pith-cast of 

 this type of stem has short ribbed internodes separated by 



' Ettingshausen (55), PI. i. fig. 4. ' Ettingshausen, loc. cit. 



3 Grand'Eury (69), p. 709. « Feistmantel (75), PI. i. fig. 8. 



' Williamson (74), PI. vii. fig. 45. « Weiss (76), PI. xvii. figs. 1 and 2. 



7 Weiss (84), PI. xvi a. figs. 10 and 11. s /jj^j. pi. ^xv. fig. 2. 



9 Stur (87), PI. 11. etc. " Zeiller (88), p. 363, PI. lvii. fig. 1. 



