160 Mr. Thomas Hick on 



Since the publication of this account of the primary 

 condition of the stem of Catamites, I cannot discover that 

 anything has been added to it, a result which is doubtless 

 due to the fact that stems of a suitable age and in a proper 

 state of preservation are so rarely met with. In now 

 attempting to carry our knowledge somewhat in advance of 

 this, I shall base my statements upon an exquisite series of 

 sections prepared some time ago by Mr. James Binns, of 

 Halifax. 



One of the specimens is a transverse section of a young 

 stem, which is represented on Plate IX., Fig. i. It is roughly 

 elliptical in shape, but broader at one end than the other. 

 The length of the major axis is T \ inch, and the breadth of 

 the broader end, at the margin of the pith cavity, is -^ inch. 

 Except the central part of the pith, which has disappeared, 

 all the tissues are preserved, and that in a degree of per- 

 fection and clearness which is rarely met with in the 

 petrifactions of Carboniferous plants. The peripheral part 

 of the pith forms a zone of parenchyma, a, on the inside of 

 the primary vascular bundles, which has a breadth of 3 Jo- 

 inch. If complete, the pith would form a nearly elliptical 

 mass of tissue, the longer diameter of which would be -^ 

 inch and the shorter -g-f ^ inch. The periphery of the section 

 shows a number of irregular projections, which indicate that 

 the stem was not smooth but marked by longitudinal ridges 

 and bands. Some of them were merely narrow wing-like 

 extensions, b, but others, c, were broader. The latter were 

 not rounded, however, but flattened, and had more or less 

 angular edges. How far accident has entered into the 

 formation of these ridges it is impossible to say, but the 

 normal appearance of the tissue beneath them proves that, 

 to a large extent, if not wholly, they are natural. 



Surrounding the zone of pith are the primary vascular 

 bundles, d, Fig. 1, which are here 16 in number. Like those 

 of Equisetum, they are imperfect, the xylem consisting of 



