CALAMODENDRON. 



27 



in fig. oh, and will be at once recognised by all who have investigated the microscopical 

 characters of coal, as frequently occurring in the charcoal or " mother-coal/' and which, 

 as far as I know, has never been clearly traced to any particular fossil plant. This speci- 

 men also affords evidence of the thick scales, or divisions of the receptacles, with their 

 leaflike ends, and of the sporangium-bearers, all in their natural positions, connected with 

 the central axis, and not separated and disarranged, as most generally met with. A 

 highly enlarged sporangium (magnified forty-five diameters) full of sporelike bodies, 

 taken from this specimen is given in fig. 5«. 



The structure of the central axis of the cone, as seen in fig. 5, and as previously shown 

 in specimens Nos. 5 and 6, PL IV, figs. 1 and 2 (p. 23, &c.), appears to have had its middle 

 composed of tubes having a pseudo-A^ascular structure, surrounded by a zone of something 

 which has not been preserved, and now shown by a blank space in the specimen. Next 

 comes a zone of larger-sized tubes, of a hexagonal form, from which spring the receptacle 

 divisions (or scales and leaves), and the sporangium-bearers. 



§ 7. Description or Specimens Nos. 12, 13, 14, 15, and IG. 



[Plate VI.] 



In the strata near where the nodules containing the fossil wood showing structure 

 occurred no specimens of Asteroj^Jiylliies or of the fructification of that genus of plants 

 were found except those previously described ; but in my cabinet are three specimens, 

 from the Carboniferous strata, of the fructification of })lants most probably allied to 

 Calamodendron, which are worth describing. In all their characters, but more especially 

 as regards size and shape, they bear great resemblance to the specimens of fructification 

 before mentioned. Unfortunately none of them afford any evidence of internal structure ; 

 we get only an outside view of the sporangia, and see nothing of their internal parts or 

 contents, as we see in my specimens from the coal-seams. 



Plate VI, fig. 1 (No. 12), represents a stout stem, having traces of ribs and 

 furrows, and seven joints, at which knots appear. Prom these last-named parts, on each 

 side of the stem, are seen to proceed seven cones, each about half an inch in length, 

 springing outwards in a nearly horizontal direction in the specimen. These cones do not 

 expose any trace of a central axis ; but are composed of crown-shaped masses, most 

 probably of sporangia, contained in receptacles, arranged around an axis. Eight or nine 

 of these can be seen in one cone. Unfortunately the specimen being in soft shale, no 

 evidence can be obtained of its internal structure, so as to ascertain if the sporangia con- 

 tained any spores. If it is not the same as Dr. Goeppert's Ajjhyllostachys Jiigleriaria^ 

 it is very closely allied to that plant. 



^ ' Ueber Aphyllostacliys, eine neue fossile Pflanzengaltung aus der Gruppe der Culamarien, so M'ie 



