334 MR ROBERT KIDSTON ON THE FOSSIL PLANTS OF THE 



I am aware that Dr Stur* and Mr A. SEWARDt have described specimens of Spheno- 

 phyllum, which they believed showed the organic union of Asterophyllites {Calamocladus) 

 and SpJienophyllum, but the specimens on which this opinion is based appear to me to 

 represent much more probably merely examples of Sphenophyllum showing the dimorphic 

 condition of the foliage — specimens on which the divisions of the leaves extend almost 

 to the base. The preservation of the specimens figured by Stur and Seward does not 

 warrant any other conclusion. I possess specimens of a Sphenophyllum — probably 

 Sphenophyllum myriophyllum, Crepin — which, were it not for their good state of pre- 

 servation, would certainly be mistaken for Calamocladus, ,\ 



The opinion has been expressed that the Sphenophyllese were aquatic plants, a view 

 which originated from the occurrence of entire or only dentate leaves with other leaves 

 very much divided on the same specimen. In support of this opinion, there really seems 

 to be no proof, and in the case of Sphenophyllum cuneifolium, the divided saxifragse- 

 folium form of leaf is associated with the fructification (though it might also occur on 

 barren branches), which I believe no one doubts was aerial, and the structure of the 

 stem does not favour the idea that the plants were aquatic. 



Locality. — Woodhill Quarry, Kilmaurs. 

 Horizon. — Shale over Sandstone. 



Locality. — Bonnyton Pit, Kilmarnock. 



Horizon. — Shale above Whistler Seam. 



Locality. — No. 3 Pit, Springhill, Crosshouse. 



Horizons. — Shale above Major Coal and M'Naught Coal. 



Locality. — No. 3 Pit, Springhill, near Dreghorn. 

 Horizon. — " Lin Bed." 



Lycopodiacese. 



Lepidodendron, Sternberg. 



Lepidodendron ophiurus, Brongt. 



Lepidodendron ophiurus, Brongt., Prodrome, p. 85. 



Lepidodendron opliiurus, Sauveur, Veget. foss. d. terr. houil d. Belgique, pi. lix. fig. 2. 



Lepidodendron opliiurus, Zeiller, Flore, foss. d. bassin houil. d. Valen., p. 458, pi. lxviii. figs. 1-6. 



Sagenaria ophiurus, Brongt., Class, d. veget foss., p. 27, pi. vi. fig. 1. 



Sagenaria Martini, Kouig., Icones foss. sectilcs, pi. xiii. fig. 162. 



Phytolithus plantites (imbricatus), Martin, Petrificata Derbiensia, pi. xiv. fig. 4. 



* Die Carbon. Flora d. Schatzlarer Schichten, Abth. ii. ; " Die Calamarien der Carbon Flora," Abhandl. d. k. k. geol. 

 Reichsanstalt, Band xi. Abth. ii. p. 191, pi. xi. fig. 2. 



t Mem. and Proc. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc., Session 1889-90, vol. iii. series 4. 



\ See Kidston " On the Fructification of Sphenophyllum trichomatosum, Stur, from the Yorkshire Coal Field," 

 Proc. Roy. I'hys. Soc. Edin., vol. xi. p. 56, pi. i., 1892. 



