Hermann Graf zu Solms-Lauhach. 



XXIU 



ferous plants of Falkeuberg in Silesia (1892-1910). The first part deals 

 chiefly with Zygopteris and Lcpiclodendron, in which he found the ligule, 

 discovered just before in another species, by Hovelacque. Part II (1893) 

 is devoted to the isolated type Protojoitys (Cycadofilices), of which he first 

 elucidated the structure. The third part, 1897, gives a full account of the 

 anatomy of Archeeocalamites ; while the fourth (1910), appearing after a long 

 interval, is perhaps the most important of all, describing those remarkable 

 polystelic Cycadofilices, Vdlkelia, Clacloo:ylon Kidstoni, and Steloxylon. 



In the meantime Solms published anotlier paper, of great importance, on 

 plants of a similar horizon, namely, XJnger's specimens from Saalfeld (1896). 

 Our knowledge of the genera Gladoxylon and Lkdaino'pitys, besides many 

 other forms, is to a great extent based on this work, to which the present 

 writer is especially indebted. 



In 1894 he described the structure of Sligmariapsu, perhaps representing, 

 as lie suggested, the underground organs of the smooth-barked Sigillarias. 



The memoir on Middle Devonian plant remains from the Lower Ehine 

 (1895) is of interest from the age of the fossils. The specimens were, how- 

 ever, fragmentary. It is worth noting that Solms at that time recognised 

 Dawson's Psilopli-yton 2Jrince2)s as a distinct and important type, though 

 sceptical as to its supposed fructification. It is only within the last year 

 that the work of Halle and of Kidston and Lang has established the group 

 Psilophytales on a firm basis and justified Dawson's conclusions. 



In the same year Solms gave an admirable account of a new type of 

 Splienophyllum cone, under the name Boivmanites Romeri, and added much 

 to our knowledge of the family. 



The work on Medullosa Leucharti (1897) is a valuable contribution to the 

 anatom)^ of one of the most remarkable groups of Palfeozoic plants. Tlie 

 existence of a class of plants, including Mcdidlosa, intermediate between 

 Ferns and Cycads, suggested by Williamson, was first recognised by Solms, 

 as far back as 1887. 



In 1899, besides a work with Steinmann on the Pihajtic Flora of Chili, 

 Solms published an account of the Triassic genus i^/c»?Y;mCT'ff, probably a late 

 representative of Sigillaria. 



His work on the petrified plants of Franz Josef's Land, in the Arctic 

 regions (1904), though the fossils were botanically of no great interest, 

 enabled him to determine the age of the Flora as approximately that of the 

 Wealden. 



Of his later fossil works, the chief is a paper with the singular title " The 

 Deep Black Fsaronius Haidingeri, of Manebach, in Thuringia" (1911). In 

 this he explained for the first time the true nature of the zone enclosing the 

 a,dventitious roots of Fsaronius, and showed that it is not part of the cortex, 

 as was generally supposed, but a dense felt of hairs, springing partly from 

 the stem, partly from the roots themselves. He thus confirmed an opinion 

 expressed some years before by Farmer and T. G. Hill. 



Solms' last fossil paper was on " Tidea ftingvlaris, a New Fossil 



