128 



FOSSIL PLANTS. 



would almost do for a representation of the Stipmria, if the latter had the central axis 

 preserved, which it unfortunately has not. There is the same internal radiating cylinder, 

 the same space occupied by lax cellular tissue, which gradually passes into tubes or 

 elongated utricles, arranged in radiating series, apparently diverging from circular open- 

 ings, and parted by large bundles of muriform tissue containing vessels barred on all 

 their sides, extending to the outer bark. The accompanying woodcut (fig. 5) will give 

 a much better idea of its structure than our laboured description. 



"This specimen clearly proves, by the evidence of internal structure alone, that 

 Stigmaria is the root of Siffillaria, each of them having an inner radiating cylinder com- 

 posed of barred vessels, a space occupied by lax cellular tissue, and an outer radiating 

 cyhnder composed of tubes or elongated utricles. 



27. Carruthers {Sigillaria, Sfc, 1866). — For the views of this author see page 65 

 of this Monograph. 



28. ScHiMPER {Su/iilaria). — Professor Schimper^ classes Sigillaria under the Lyco- 

 podinees, and in the family Sigillaria. He writes — " Trunci cylindrici, simplices vel 

 apice pluries furcati, longitudinaliter sulcati vel laeves, foliorum cicatricibus regularibus 

 spiraliter dispositis ornati, cylindro axili continuo vel radiis medullaribus (fasciculis 

 vascularibus ?) pertuso medullam crassum includente instructi, caeterum e parenchymate 

 (vivo succulento) cortice solido tecto compositi. Radices crassse, pluries dichotomse, 

 longissimse, horizontaliter expansae, radiculis longis, simplicibus, crassiusculis, spiraliter 

 dispositis, articulatione circulari insertis. Folia graminiformia triplicata nervo simplici 

 percursa, post lapsum cicatrices relinquentia ovatas, ovato-hexagonas, exacte hexagonas, 

 vel transverse rhonibeas, vasorum cicatriculis tribus notatas, medio punctiformi, duabus 

 lateralibus semilunaribus ; cicatriculis trunci decortati binis, approximatis hie illic in 

 unam confluentibus, ovalibusve linearibus. Fructificatio spicaeformis, sporangiis bractearum 

 basi dilatata insertis. 



" D'accord avec la plupart des auteurs modernes, je range les Sigillariees dans I'ordre 

 des Lycopodiacees, malgre la presence des rayons medullaires dans le cylindre ligneux, 

 dont, d'apres M. Brongniart, les ' vaisseaux rayes et reticules ' seraient ' disposes en series 

 rayonnantes ' comme dans les Cycadees, ce qui a engage ce savant a reunir ces plantes 

 aux Gymnospermes. La nature des vaisseaux, en grande partie scalariformes, le vaste 

 parenchyme qui recouvre le cylindre ligneux, la forme reguliere des cicatrices foliaires et 

 celles des feuilles elles-memes, enfin la mode de fructification, qui est celle des Lyco- 

 podiacees, sont des caracteres qui rapprochent ces singuliers fossiles plutot des 

 Lepidodendrees que de tout autre type vegetal. D'apres plusieurs observations recentes, 

 la vegetation souterraine des Lepidodendron aurait meme une grande ressemblance avec 

 celle des Sigillaria. Cette vegetation etait formee par des racines puissantes, ramifiees 

 par dichotomic repetee, s'etendant horizontalement ^ de grandes distances et garnies de 



1 'Traite de Paleontologie Vegetale,' tome ii, premiere partie, p. 76, 1870. 



