THE FOSSIL FLORA OF THE SOUTH WALES COAL FIELD. 599 



Remarks. — It seems to me very doubtful if the Lepidodendron that Zeiller identifies 

 as Lepidodendron dichotomum is really Sternberg's plant, and I do not think that the 

 figure given by Presl* at all settles the point, or makes up for the imperfect figures 

 of Sternberg's original description. Nor am I aware on what grounds Presl identifies 

 his example as the Lepidodendron dichotomum, Sternb. Judging from Presl's fig. 1, 

 it appears to me much more like a Lepidophloios than a Lepidodendron, and it is 

 difficult to understand how this figure, presuming it is correctly drawn, could afford 

 data for the enlarged figures given by Presl at fig. la. 



Transition Series (Lower Pennant Series). 



Locality. — Cwmbwrla, Swansea. 

 Horizon. — Hughes' Vein. 



Lepidodendron longifolium, Brongt. 



Plate, figs. 1-3. 



Lepidodendron longifolium, Brongt., Prodrome, p. 85, 1828. 



Lepidodendron longifolium, Unger, Syn. plant, foss. (under Species dubice), p. 132, 1845. 



Lepidodendron longifolium, Unger, Genera et species plant, fos. (under Species dubice), p. 260, 1850. 



Lepidodendron longifolium, Schimper, Traite. d. paleont. veget., vol. ii. p. 22 (Eef. in part \), 1870. 



Lepidodendron dichotomum, Sternb. {in part), Ess. flore monde prim., vol. i. fasc. i. p. 23, pi. iii., 1820. 



Lepidodendron Sternbergli, Ett. {not Brongt.), Steinkf. v. Radnitz., p. 54, pi. xxvi. figs. 1-2, pi. xxvii., 

 pi. xxviii., 1854. 

 (?) Lepidodendron longifolium, L. and H, Fossil Flora, vol. iii. pi. clxi., 1836. 

 (?) Lepidodendron dichotomum, Geinitz (in part), Vers.d. Steinkf. in Sachsen, p. 34, pi. iii. fig. 1. 



Remarks. — Unger in 1845 classed Lepidodendron longifolium among his Species 

 dubice ; and though nearly fifty years have elapsed since then, I am afraid we must still 

 regard it as an imperfectly known fossil. 



It may be well to give here a short historical outline of the species. 



Sternberg (I.e.) in 1820 described a Lepidodendron under the name of Lepidoden- 

 dron dichotomum, of which he gave three plates. The plants figured by him on his plates 

 i.-ii., owing to their very different foliage from that on the specimen figured on his 

 plate iii., were named Lepidodendron Sternbergii by Brongniart in his Prodrome in 

 1828. The plant figured by Sternberg on his plate iii., on account of the great length 

 of its narrow leaves, was named by Brongniart Lepidodendron longifolium. That 

 Lepidodendron Sternbergii, Brongt., and Lepidodendron longifolium, Brongt., form two 

 distinct species, and are not different conditions of a single species, is, I think, generally 

 accepted, and no other conclusion, I believe, could be arrived at by any one who has 

 had the opportunity of examining specimens with the long narrow foliage of the plant 

 figured by Sternberg on his plate iii. With these remarks, I shall pass from Sternberg's 



* In Sternb., Vers. ii. p. 177, pi. lxviii. fig. 1. 



