X] 



A RCHAEOCALAMITES. 



385 



from the base of the strobilus'. Kidston" 

 published an important memoir on the 

 cones of Archaeocalamites in 1883, in 

 which he advanced good evidence in 

 support of the view that certain strobili, 

 which were originally described as 

 Monocotyledonous inflorescences, under 

 the generic name Pothocites\ are the 

 fertile shoots of this Calamarian genus. 

 Kidston's conclusions are based on the 

 occurrence on the Pothocites cones, of 

 leaves like those oi Archaeocalamites, on 

 the non-alternation of the sporangio- 

 phores of successive whorls, and on the 

 close resemblance between his speci- 

 mens and those described by Stur. 

 Good specimens of the cones, formerly 

 known as Pothocites, may be seen in 

 the Botanical Museum in the Royal 

 Gardens, Edinburgh ; as they are in 

 the form of casts without internal 

 structure it is difficult to form a clear 

 conception as to their morphological 

 features. 



The fossils included under Arch- 

 aeocalamites have been referred by 

 different authors to various genera, 

 and considerable confusion has arisen 

 in both generic and specific nomen- 

 clature. The following synonomy of 

 the best known species, A. scrobiculatus 

 (Schloth.) illustrates the unfortunate 

 use of several terms for the same plant. 



W4, 



Fig. 103. Archaeocalamites scrobi- 

 culatus (Schloth. ). 



From a specimen in the Woodwar- 

 dian Museum, Cambridge. From 

 the Carboniferous limestone of 

 Northumberland. J nat. size. 



' An examination of the specimens in the Museum of the Austrian Geology 

 Survey did not enable me to satisfactorily verify the features of the cone as 

 described by Stur ; the impressions are far from clear. 



= Kidston (SS^). 



3 Vide Paterson (41); Lyell (67), vol. i. p. 149 etc. 



S- 25 



