46 MR ROBERT K1DST0N ON 



assigned by FEISTMANTEL to these fossils. I cannot think that the specimens figured 

 as Sigillariostrobus Feistmanteli (loc. cit., pi. xi. figs. 1-2) are specifically identical with 

 that given by Goldenberg (Flora Sarsep. foss.) on his pi. b figs. 18-25. 



Grand 'Eury gives the restoration of a cone that he names Sigillariostrobus rugosus* 

 and which he believes is referable to Sigillaria lepidodcnd rifolia, Brongt. One would 

 like, however, to be in possession of the original data from which the figure is produced. 

 According to Mons. Zeiller, the specimen from which the restoration was made is very 

 incomplete, and badly preserved in the upper portion. t The Sigillariostrobus mirandus, 

 Grand 'Eury,| of which the figure also appears to lie a restoration, seems to be of even 

 more doubtful Sigillarian affinity. 



The stem of Sigillaria seems to have very rarely branched, and never to have pro- 

 duced the much dichotomised ramification so characteristic of the Lepidodendra. In 

 some cases the Sigillarian stem appears to have been a narrow conical trunk, as shown 

 in Goldenbkrg's § and other figures. || Goldenberg's stem was over 18 feet in height, 

 and must, therefore, have attained considerable age. We can easily imagine on such a 

 specimen the foliage would be confined to the upper portion, it having fallen from the 

 lower and older part of the tree. That the leaves were articulated, and shed after a 

 shorter or longer interval, is, I think, indicated by the clearly defined leaf-scar they 

 leave behind them. If the leaves were articulated, as I believe they were, this may 

 account for the rarity of specimens being found with their foliage attached. 



All Sigillarise had not, however, these thick, short, cactus-like stems, for Goldenberg 

 figures portions of two other stems which show little or no diminution in their girth in 

 the parts which have been preserved.^! In the Museum, Newcastle-on-Tyne, there are 

 two very good decorticated stems of this type, and another in a similar condition in the 

 Sunderland Museum. 



The Sunderland Museum specimen is specially interesting, as it shows most beautifully 

 how the ribs increase in number as the stem advances in age. The portion of the trunk 

 which is preserved is about 6 feet G inches high. It is slightly " bottle-shaped " at the 

 base, where it measures about 5 feet in circumference. In this part of the stem 

 there are 29 broad ribs. About one-third up the stem many of these wide ribs bifur- 

 cate, and when about two-thirds from the top, there are 40 ribs, with a circumference of 

 stem of about 3 feet. All these additional ribs have not, however, arisen by a division 

 of the primary basal ribs, for about two-thirds from the base new ribs with narrow, 

 pointed extremities** are inserted between the older ones ; thus about 6 inches below the 

 broken-over extremity there are 45 ribs, though the stem is considerably smaller in 



* Flore i 'nrh. ilu Depart, de la Loire et da centre de la Franc?, p. 160, pi. xiv. fig. 4, 1877. 



+ Arm. d. Sc. Nat., 6 e . air., " Bol.," vol. xix. p. 257. 



J Lor. cit., p. 160, pi. xiv. tig. 5. 



§ Loc. cit., pi. b tig. 13. 



|| Grand 'Euky, Qeol. and Paieont. dv Batevn houiL da Oard, 1890, pi. xiii. tigs. 7, 8, 9, 10. 



" Loc. cit., pi. x. fig. •;. 



** See Zkii.i.kk, Flore Joss. Bassin houil. d. Valenciennes, pi. lxxviii. fig. 3 (Siy. Icevigata). Ibid., pi. lxxxv. tig. 1 

 (S. trssellata). 



