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XIX. — On Lepidophloios Scottii (a new species from the Oalciferous Sandstone series 

 at Pettycur, Fife). By Wm. T. Gordon, M.A., B.Sc, Carnegie Research Scholar in 

 Geology, Edinburgh University. Communicated by Professor Geikie, D.C.L., 

 LL.D., F.K.S., etc. (With Three Plates.) 



(MS. received April 3, 1908. Read February 17, 1908. Issued separately November 23, 1908.) 



As Carnegie Research Scholar in Geology under Professor James Geikie, D.C.L., 

 LL.D., F.R.S., at Edinburgh University, I have entered upon a systematic examination 

 of fossil plants from Pettycur, Fife. Though many plants have been described from 

 this locality, nothing systematic, as far as I know, has ever before been attempted. The 

 main objects of this research are to endeavour to connect the various strobili obtained 

 at the locality in question with the stems on which they were borne ; to describe any 

 new species met with, and to give some account of the mode of occurrence of the material 

 in which the plants are enclosed. Some of these objects have already been attained, but 

 others will require further study to decide. 



The material at my disposal was handed over to the University by Dr John S. 

 Flett, H.M. Geological Survey, and has been further added to by my own collection. 



The fossil to be described in the present paper occurred in a block lying loose on the 

 shore at Pettycur. In my preliminary note I mentioned that the same fossil had been 

 collected by Dr D. H. Scott, F.R.S., on 4th December 1899, and that that specimen 

 seemed to have been on the outside of a block, and partially weathered away. In it 

 the middle cortex — a tissue almost completely decayed in my specimens — is well pre- 

 served. From the general look also of the material from which it came, I conclude that 

 my specimens were derived from quite a different block of the limestone. I have seen 

 other specimens in Dr Kidston's collection, and Mr D. M. S. Watson, B.Sc, tells me 

 that there are specimens in Manchester Museum which may belong to this species ; the 

 fossil, therefore, is apparently not a rare one. Dr Scott's specimen does not show the 

 complete circumference of the stem, but it must have been 25 mm. or thereby in 

 diameter, with a central xylem cylinder of 4 mm. Unfortunately, the longitudinal 

 sections cut from this stem are considerably out of the vertical, and do not show some 

 very important points connected with the xylem. 



The material in my own collection was all obtained from one block measuring roughly 

 2 x 1 x 1 ft. This block split along two planes, one across and one parallel to the plane 

 in which the stems were lying. Five stems were exposed longitudinally, and were 

 clothed in parts with leaf-bases. Part of one of these stems and the whole of a sixth 

 were in the third piece of the block, and from them complete tranverse sections were cut. 



The whole block had a rudely bedded appearance, while the partial decay of the 

 xylem and central cortex in one stem, and the subsequent penetration of the specimen 

 by stigmarian rootlets (fig. 8, a), point to conditions of deposit similar to those present 



TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN., VOL. XLVI. PART III. (NO. 19). 68 



