74 STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



a useful arrangement. 1 Again, we may classify these 

 plants with reference to the structure of their wood. 

 We have ourselves distinguished the simple structure of 

 Arthropitys or Calamites proper from the more complex 

 organisation of Calamodendron, bet ween which the Arthro- 

 dendron form is intermediate. Then again it might be 

 possible to arrange them according to their foliage, and 

 as we shall see, considerable use has actually been made 

 of characters drawn from the leaves. For example, the 

 simple leaves of most Calamarieae contrast sharply with 

 the dichotomous leaves of the Archaeocalamites type. 

 A far better plan would be to classify the specimens 

 according to the fructification, the character on which 

 we should chiefly rely in the case of recent plants. 

 But we have not yet any scheme which combines all 

 these characters into a natural classification of the 

 plants themselves, and, from the nature of the material, 

 such a scheme is chimerical, though a slow approach 

 towards it may be made, as new evidence accumulates. 

 I may give a short summary of an attempt made in 

 this direction by the French palsobotanist Grand'Eury, 

 who has the advantage of knowing more about the 

 Calamarieae and other fossil specimens, as they occur 

 underground, than any other authority. His position 

 as a mining engineer has given him unrivalled oppor- 



1 Weiss's subgenera may be shortly characterised as follows : — Stylo- 

 calamites : branches few, and irregularly scattered (see Figs. 2 and 3). 

 Calamitina : internodes usually short ; branches in whorls, limited to 

 certain nodes, often surmounting internodes shorter than the rest. 

 Eucalamites : branches on every node, in some cases one, in others 

 many, on each. Archaeocalamites : ribs continuous, not alternating as in 

 the three former ; branches limited to certain regions of the stem, where 

 they are present on every node. See Steinkohlen-Calamarien, Part ii. 

 1884. 



