( 529 ) 



XXV. — On Lepidophloios, and on the British Species of the Genus. By Eobert 

 Kidston, F.R.S.E., F.G.S. (With Two Plates.) 



(Read July 4, 1892.) 



Introduction. 



Though the genus Lepidophloios, in regard to species, is a comparatively small one, 

 yet it derives considerable importance from its occurring throughout the whole of the 

 Carboniferous Formation, as well as in the peculiar characteristics of the plants comprised 

 in it. 



The fragmentary condition in which the specimens are usually found has given 

 rise to the creation of several genera, which can all be shown to merely represent different 

 conditions of growth and preservation of one generic type. There are, also, other points 

 in the structure of Lepidophloios which require further investigation, and the object of 

 the present paper is to attempt to clear up some of these, about which, much confusion 

 still exists. 



The genera which must be united with Lepidophloios, Sternberg, are Lomatophloios, 

 Corda ; Halonia, Lindley and Hutton ; Pachyphlceus, Goppert ; and Cyclocladia, 

 Goldenberg (not L. and H.). 



The natural way of treating this subject would have been to deal with each of the 

 above-mentioned genera separately ; but in the literature of the subject, which is very 

 extensive, such a mode of treatment would lead to a considerable repetition of references, 

 as most authors mention more than one of the genera under discussion. I have, therefore, 

 deemed it better to treat this part of my subject chronologically. 



Review of the Literature of the Subject. 



1720. Volkmann. Silesia subterranea, p. 129, pi. xxii. fig. 4. 



This author gives the earliest known record of the genus Lepidophloios, and figures 

 a small fragment of bark, fusiform in shape, which he mistook for a larch cone, with which 

 he identifies his fossil. 



1826. Sternberg. Essai fiore monde prim., vol. i. fasc. 4, p. 13. 



Sternberg here founds his genus Lepidojioyos, which he defined as follows : — 

 " Caudex arboreus rudimentis petiolorum squamatus, cicatrice triglandulosa sub- 

 squamis." 



VOL. XXXVII. PART III, (NO. 25). 4 L 



