LEPIDODENDRON. 



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Specimen No. 19, Lepidodendron vasculare. Plate VIII, figs. 1 — 5, 7 — 9. 



Pig. 1 is a fragment of a Cone, one and eight tentlis of an inch in length, one and 

 one tenth of an inch across its major, and one inch across its minor axis. This Cone is 

 somewhat compressed out of its original cylindrical form, but not so much as is the 

 Specimen No. 17. The fossil has lost the upper portions of the scales or bracts, in 

 shelling out of its matrix, but it shows the rhomboidal scars of Lejndosfrobiis. They are 

 not so broad as those of the last-described specimen. It also came from the Upper Foot 

 Coal, near Oldham, and was found by Mr. John Butterworth, who has liberally allowed 

 me to slice and describe it. 



Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the specimen (natural size), showing the central axis 

 of the Cone in a fair state of preservation ; but the Sporangia connected with it are much 

 disarranged, so that it is impossible to say how many there were in its original state. 



Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section (natural size) of a portion of the Cone, showing the 

 central axis and the scales or bracts, arranged in spiral order, and supporting Sporangia 

 on each side of it. 



Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the Cone, magnified two and a quarter diameters, 

 showing the arrangement of the central axis, composed of hexagonal barred tubes, the 

 smallest being towards the outside, where there is a dark line, nearly circular, and not so 

 sinuous as in the last-described specimen. From this boundary-line spring bundles of 

 barred vessels, that pass through the zone of cellular tissue, and communicate with the 

 scales or bracts. These vessels traverse, in a highly inclined curve, a band of lax cellular 

 tissue, which has for the most part been replaced by carbonate of lime. The outside of 

 the axis exhibits elongated cells or utricles, arranged in radiating series, resembling those 

 found in Lepidodendron Harcourtii. In the inner portion of the axis appear two circular 

 bodies ; one (in the upper part of the figure on the right hand side) having a white space, 

 is the central axis of the plant, magnified in fig. 5 ; and the other (in the lower part 

 on the left hand side) shows one of the vascular bundles which communicated with 

 the scales or bracts. 



Fig. 5 is also a transverse section of the inner portion of the central axis previously 

 described, but magnified thirty-five diameters. The middle part is not very well pre- 

 served, but it sufficiently shows that the pith or medulla occupied by cellular tissue in^ 

 Lepidodendron Harcourtii is here formed of barred tubes, like those in Lepidodendron 

 vasculare and Sigillaria vascularis. 



Fig. 7 is a horizontal section of a single Sporangium and a portion of a pedicel of a 

 scale or bract, magnified five diameters. The former is so much disarranged that its 

 original form cannot now be well recognised; and no trace of Microspores can be seen, 

 the whole of the Sporangium having been changed into carbonate of lime. If any Micro- 

 spores ever were in the Sporangium, they may have been shed or destroyed before the 

 calcification of the Cone. 



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