I. On Rachiopteris cylindrica, Will. 



By Thomas Hick, B.A., B.Sc, A.L.S., 

 ~~~~ X-*-€y 



Assistant Lecturer in Botany, Owens College, Manchester. 



Received October 6th. Read October 6th, 1896. 



In his ninth memoir " On the Organisation of the 

 Fossil Plants of the Coal Measures,"* the late Prof. 

 Williamson described a series of plant remains from the 

 Lower Coal Measures of Halifax, under the name of 

 Rachiopteris cylindrica. The genus Rachiopteris he had 

 previously adopted for the reception of a number of isolated 

 Fern petioles whose connections were unknown, and in 

 referring the specimens to it, he only did so provisionally, 

 as he was "far from certain" at the t;'me that they were 

 "true Ferns." t As to the nature of the fragments, he 

 was undecided whether they were parts of roots or parts 

 of stems. 



The description given by Williamson in 1878 is a 

 brief one, based apparently upon a small number of 

 microscopic preparations, and, so far as I can discover, 

 no further observations have been published on the 

 subject. In the present communication I propose to 

 give a more detailed account of the plant than was 

 possible when Williamson wrote of it, and then to con- 

 sider whether or not the knowledge since acquired throws 

 any light upon its affinities. The specimens on which I 



*Phil, Trans., 1878. 

 t Loc. cit. p. 350. 



Nov. 17, 1896. 



1r 



